Evaluating the Performance of HEC-HMS and SWAT Hydrological Models in Simulating the Rainfall-Runoff Process for Data Scarce Region of Ethiopian Rift Valley Lake Basin
Open Access
- 1 January 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. in Open Journal of Modern Hydrology
- Vol. 10 (04), 105-122
- https://doi.org/10.4236/ojmh.2020.104007
Abstract
A number of physically-based and distributed watershed models have been developed to model the hydrology of the watershed. For a specific watershed, selecting the most suitable hydrological model is necessary to obtain good simulated results. In this study, two hydrologic models, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Hydrological Engineering Centre-The Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS), were applied to predict streamflow in Katar River basin, Ethiopia. The performances of these two models were compared in order to select the right model for the study basin. Both models were calibrated and validated with stream flow data of 11 years (1990-2000) and 7 years (2001-2007) respectively. Nash-Sutcliffe Error (NSE) and Coefficient of Determination (R2) were used to evaluate efficiency of the models. The results of calibration and validation indicated that, for river basin Katar, both models could simulate fairly well the streamflow. SWAT gave the model performance with the R2 > 0.78 and NSE > 0.67; and the HEC-HMS model provided the model performance with the R2 > 0.87 and NSE > 0.73. Hence, the simulated streamflow given by the HEC-HMS model is more satisfactory than that provided by the SWAT model.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- Impact and uncertainties of climate change on the hydrology of the Mara River basin, Kenya/TanzaniaHydrological Processes, 2012
- Modelling the rainfall–runoff process of the Mara River basin using the Soil and Water Assessment ToolHydrological Processes, 2012
- Predicting discharge and sediment for the Abay (Blue Nile) with a simple modelHydrological Processes, 2009
- Storm Event and Continuous Hydrologic Modeling for Comprehensive and Efficient Watershed SimulationsJournal of Hydrologic Engineering, 2007
- SWAT2000: current capabilities and research opportunities in applied watershed modellingHydrological Processes, 2005
- Decision Support for Watershed Management Using Evolutionary AlgorithmsJournal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 2005
- VALIDATION OF THE SWAT MODEL ON A LARGE RWER BASIN WITH POINT AND NONPOINT SOURCES1Jawra Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2001
- Application of environmental models to different hydrological systemsEcological Modelling, 2000
- A review of assessing the accuracy of classifications of remotely sensed dataRemote Sensing of Environment, 1991
- River flow forecasting through conceptual models part I — A discussion of principlesJournal of Hydrology, 1970