ESA CCI Soil Moisture Assimilation in SWAT for Improved Hydrological Simulation in Upper Huai River Basin

The assimilation of satellite soil moisture (SM) products with coarse resolution is promising in improving rainfall-runoff modeling, but it is largely impacted by the data assimilation (DA) strategy. This study performs the assimilation of a satellite soil moisture product from the European Space Ag...

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Main Authors: Yongwei Liu, Wen Wang, Yuanbo Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018-01-01
Series:Advances in Meteorology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/7301314
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author Yongwei Liu
Wen Wang
Yuanbo Liu
author_facet Yongwei Liu
Wen Wang
Yuanbo Liu
author_sort Yongwei Liu
collection DOAJ
description The assimilation of satellite soil moisture (SM) products with coarse resolution is promising in improving rainfall-runoff modeling, but it is largely impacted by the data assimilation (DA) strategy. This study performs the assimilation of a satellite soil moisture product from the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) in a physically based semidistributed hydrological model (SWAT) in the upper Huai River basin in China, with the objective to improve its rainfall-runoff simulation. In this assimilation, the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is adopted with full consideration of the model and observation error, the rescaling technique for satellite SM, and the regional applicability of the hydrological model. The results show that the ESA CCI SM assimilation generally improves the streamflow simulation of the study catchment. It is more effective for low-flow simulation, while for very high-flow/large-flood modeling, the DA performance shows uncertainty. The less-effective performance on large-flood simulation lies in the relatively low dependence of rainfall-runoff generation on the antecedent SM as during which the SM is nearly saturated and the runoff is largely dominated by precipitation. Besides, the efficiency of DA is deteriorated by the dense forest coverage and the complex topography conditions of the basin. Overall, the ESA CCI SM assimilation improves the streamflow simulation of the SWAT model in particular for low flow. This study provides an encouragement for the application of the ESA CCI SM in water management, especially over low-flow periods.
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spelling doaj-art-73b42dd3e5704967ad1b23211da7c86a2025-02-03T06:08:08ZengWileyAdvances in Meteorology1687-93091687-93172018-01-01201810.1155/2018/73013147301314ESA CCI Soil Moisture Assimilation in SWAT for Improved Hydrological Simulation in Upper Huai River BasinYongwei Liu0Wen Wang1Yuanbo Liu2Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, ChinaKey Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, ChinaThe assimilation of satellite soil moisture (SM) products with coarse resolution is promising in improving rainfall-runoff modeling, but it is largely impacted by the data assimilation (DA) strategy. This study performs the assimilation of a satellite soil moisture product from the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) in a physically based semidistributed hydrological model (SWAT) in the upper Huai River basin in China, with the objective to improve its rainfall-runoff simulation. In this assimilation, the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is adopted with full consideration of the model and observation error, the rescaling technique for satellite SM, and the regional applicability of the hydrological model. The results show that the ESA CCI SM assimilation generally improves the streamflow simulation of the study catchment. It is more effective for low-flow simulation, while for very high-flow/large-flood modeling, the DA performance shows uncertainty. The less-effective performance on large-flood simulation lies in the relatively low dependence of rainfall-runoff generation on the antecedent SM as during which the SM is nearly saturated and the runoff is largely dominated by precipitation. Besides, the efficiency of DA is deteriorated by the dense forest coverage and the complex topography conditions of the basin. Overall, the ESA CCI SM assimilation improves the streamflow simulation of the SWAT model in particular for low flow. This study provides an encouragement for the application of the ESA CCI SM in water management, especially over low-flow periods.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/7301314
spellingShingle Yongwei Liu
Wen Wang
Yuanbo Liu
ESA CCI Soil Moisture Assimilation in SWAT for Improved Hydrological Simulation in Upper Huai River Basin
Advances in Meteorology
title ESA CCI Soil Moisture Assimilation in SWAT for Improved Hydrological Simulation in Upper Huai River Basin
title_full ESA CCI Soil Moisture Assimilation in SWAT for Improved Hydrological Simulation in Upper Huai River Basin
title_fullStr ESA CCI Soil Moisture Assimilation in SWAT for Improved Hydrological Simulation in Upper Huai River Basin
title_full_unstemmed ESA CCI Soil Moisture Assimilation in SWAT for Improved Hydrological Simulation in Upper Huai River Basin
title_short ESA CCI Soil Moisture Assimilation in SWAT for Improved Hydrological Simulation in Upper Huai River Basin
title_sort esa cci soil moisture assimilation in swat for improved hydrological simulation in upper huai river basin
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/7301314
work_keys_str_mv AT yongweiliu esaccisoilmoistureassimilationinswatforimprovedhydrologicalsimulationinupperhuairiverbasin
AT wenwang esaccisoilmoistureassimilationinswatforimprovedhydrologicalsimulationinupperhuairiverbasin
AT yuanboliu esaccisoilmoistureassimilationinswatforimprovedhydrologicalsimulationinupperhuairiverbasin