Abstract
Rainfall-runoff simulation is one of the key steps in hydrology. Conceptual models are frequently used in rainfall-runoff simulation. However, a major difficulty in practice remains on how to optimize the parameters of the model. This is often a time-consuming and labor-intensive task for the modeler when manual calibration is adopted together with employing the knowledge of the model structure and parameters. In this study, an automatic calibration tool was developed to calibrate the ARNO conceptual rainfall-runoff model using the simple genetic algorithm (SGA). SGA is a simple, powerful, and popular optimization method, which explores the search space for the global optimum and has been successfully employed in many optimizations problems. The ARNO model was calibrated automatically for rainfall-runoff simulation of the Pataveh basin, which is a sub-basin of Karun River basin in Iran. The simulation performance of the model was evaluated on the basis of various performance criteria. Efficiency coefficient and coefficient of determination reached values higher than 0.80 during calibration and validation. The values of the remaining performance statistics were acceptable. The results show that this model with employed automatic calibration tool can successfully be used for continuous rainfall-runoff simulation.
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Abbreviations
- b :
-
A parameter representing spatial distribution of the soil moisture capacity
- B :
-
Base flow
- B–C:
-
Blaney and Criddle method
- c :
-
Exponent used to represent drainage when saturation is not reached
- C :
-
A small integer
- CE:
-
Coefficient of efficiency
- D :
-
Drainage
- D max :
-
Maximum drainage that should be expected when the soil is completely saturated
- D min :
-
A drainage parameter
- EOPT:
-
An objective function
- \({{\rm E\overline Q} }\) :
-
Percentage error of mean discharge
- \({{\rm E\overline {Qp}}}\) :
-
Percentage error of mean annual peak discharges
- ESD:
-
Percentage error of standard deviation
- ESkew:
-
Percentage error of skewness
- ETa :
-
Actual evapotranspiration
- ET0:
-
Reference evapotranspiration
- ET0H-S :
-
Hargreaves and Samani ET0
- ET0P-M :
-
Penman-Monteith ET0
- ETp :
-
Potential evapotranspiration
- f′:
-
Scaled fitness function
- GA:
-
Genetic algorithm
- H–S:
-
Hargreaves and Samani method
- I :
-
Percolation
- I s :
-
Maximum percolation should be expected when the soil is completely saturated
- K :
-
Number of calibration years
- l :
-
Length of a gene
- L :
-
Chromosome length
- m :
-
Number of years in period of model performance evaluation
- M e :
-
Effective meteorological input
- N :
-
Population size
- n :
-
Number of days in period of model performance evaluation
- OBF:
-
An objective function
- P :
-
Precipitation
- P c :
-
Crossover probability
- P m :
-
Mutation probability
- P–M:
-
Penman-Monteith method
- \({\overline {Q_{\rm obs}} }\) :
-
Average observed flow over the considered period
- Q obs(t):
-
Observed flow
- \({\overline {Qp_{\rm obs} } }\) :
-
Mean annual observed peak discharges
- \({\overline {Qp_{\rm sim} } }\) :
-
Mean annual simulated peak discharges
- \({\overline {Q_{\rm sim}} }\) :
-
Average simulated flow
- Q sim(t):
-
Simulated flow
- R :
-
Surface runoff
- R 2 :
-
Coefficient of determination
- SD (Q obd) :
-
Standard deviation of observed runoff
- SD (Q sim):
-
Standard deviation of simulated runoff
- SGA:
-
Simple genetic algorithm
- S G :
-
Generic pervious surface area at saturation
- S I :
-
Basin impervious area
- Skew (Q obs):
-
Skewness of observed runoff
- Skew(Q sim):
-
Skewness of simulated runoff
- S P :
-
Basin pervious area
- S T :
-
Basin surface area (excluding the surface extent of water bodies such as reservoirs or lakes)
- Th:
-
Thornthwaite method
- U max :
-
Upper limit of the parameter
- U min :
-
Lower limit of the parameter
- V obs :
-
Observed flow volume
- V sim :
-
Simulated flow volume
- w :
-
Elementary area soil moisture at saturation
- W :
-
Basin average soil moisture content
- W d :
-
Moisture content threshold value in drainage calculation
- W i :
-
Moisture content threshold value below which the percolation is negligible
- w m :
-
Maximum possible soil moisture in any elementary area of the basin
- W m :
-
Basin average soil moisture content at saturation
- x :
-
Proportion of pervious area at saturation
- Δt:
-
Time step
- μ OBF :
-
Average of the OBF of all the chromosomes in the population
- μ OBF (90 %) :
-
Average of the OBF values of 90 % of best chromosomes in the population
- π :
-
Precision of the parameter in parameter estimation
- σ OBF :
-
Standard deviation of the OBF of all the chromosomes in the population
- σ OBF (90 %) :
-
Standard deviation of the OBF values of 90 % of best chromosomes in the population
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Khazaei, M.R., Zahabiyoun, B., Saghafian, B. et al. Development of an Automatic Calibration Tool Using Genetic Algorithm for the ARNO Conceptual Rainfall-Runoff Model. Arab J Sci Eng 39, 2535–2549 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-013-0903-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-013-0903-8