A Geomorphology-Based Distributed Hydrologic Model and Its Application to Chao Phraya River Basin
By D. Yang, S. Herath, K. Musiake
- An alternative hillslope discretization scheme is used in the distributed hydrological model.
- This scheme is based on the catchment area function and width function.
- The catchment is divided into flow intervals along the flow distance.
- Each flow interval consists of a series of symmetric hillslope elements.
- The number of hillslope elements is determined by the number of river segments with the same flow interval.
- The river network is lumped, and the main channel is used for routing the river flow.
- Spatial variations in the catchment, such as topography, land use, and rainfall, are represented by one-dimensional distribution functions.
- The hydrologic processes in the hillslope elements are described by physically-based governing equations.
- The runoff generated from the hillslope element serves as the lateral inflow of the river.
- The kinematic wave method is used to solve the river routing.
- The paper discusses the comparison between grid-based and geomorphology-based hydrologic models.
- The application of the alternative hillslope discretization scheme is presented in the context of the Chao Phraya River basin in Thailand.
