Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Effects of initial soil water content and saturated hydraulic conductivity variability on small watershed runoff simulation using LISEM

Hu, Wei; She, Dongli; Shao, Ming'an; Chun, Kwok P.; Si, Bingcheng

Authors

Wei Hu

Dongli She

Ming'an Shao

Profile image of Kwok Chun

Dr Kwok Chun Kwok.Chun@uwe.ac.uk
Lecturer in Environmental Managment

Bingcheng Si



Abstract

Abstract: Soil water content (θ) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) vary in space. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of initial soil water content (θi) and Ks variability on runoff simulations using the LImburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) in a small watershed in the Chinese Loess Plateau, based on model parameters derived from intensive measurements. The results showed that the total discharge (TD) and peak discharge (PD) were underestimated when the variability of θi and Ks was partially considered or completely ignored compared with those when the variability was fully considered. Time to peak (TP) was less affected by the spatial variability compared to TD and PD. Except for TP in some cases, significant differences were found in all hydrological variables (TD, PD and TP) between the cases in which spatial variability of θi or Ks was fully considered and those in which spatial variability was partially considered or completely ignored. Furthermore, runoff simulations were affected more strongly by Ks variability than by θi variability. The degree of spatial variability influences on runoff simulations was related to the rainfall pattern and θi. Greater rainfall depth and instantaneous rainfall intensity corresponded to a smaller influence of the spatial variability. Stronger effects of the θi variability on runoff simulation were found in wetter soils, while stronger effects of the Ks variability were found in drier soils. For accurate runoff simulation, the θi variability can be completely ignored in cases of a 1-h duration storm with a return period greater than 10 years, while Ks variability should be fully considered even in the case of a 1-h duration storm with a return period of 20 years. Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor A. Fiori

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 28, 2014
Online Publication Date Apr 1, 2014
Publication Date May 6, 2015
Deposit Date Jun 23, 2022
Journal Hydrological Sciences Journal
Print ISSN 0262-6667
Electronic ISSN 2150-3435
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 60
Issue 6
Pages 1137-1154
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2014.903332
Keywords soil water; saturated hydraulic conductivity variability; LISEM
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9431568
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02626667.2014.903332