Book Description

"Application of distributed hydrologic models is motivated by the prospect that higher resolution forcing data, such as gridded precipitation fields, should be matched by equivalent resolution mapping of hydrologic responses for surface runoff, soil moisture and evapotranspiration. Distributed hydrologic models have potential for improving hydrologic forecasting given the capability to represent spatially-varying land characteristics and precipitation that has historically been lumped into watershed average characteristics. Provided that the distributed model is forced with accurate inputs (i.e., precipitation) at sufficient time and spatial resolution, it stands to reason that the model could provide high resolution information on surface runoff characteristics that is currently not available with the lumped model approach. Applied research activities on hydrologic processes in the Russian-Napa river basins in California seek to determine if the distributed modeling approach can produce accurate hydrologic simulations using high resolution space and time scales (~ 4 km, 6 hr; ~1 km, 1 hr). We are using the NWS OHD Research Distributed Hydrologic Model (RDHM) which is a gridded version of the NWS-River Forecast System model used by the NWS River Forecast Centers. In a general sense, the RDHM can be considered a Distributed Hydrologic Model (DHM) as it represents the functionality of distributed models in general. The Russian-Napa Rivers watersheds are a good location for the case study because they have a full array of physical hydrologic and water resource management issues (flooding, municipal and agricultural water supply, fisheries, recreation)"--Overview (Page 1). [doi:10.7289/V5M32SS9 (http://dx.doi.org/10.7289/V5M32SS9)]