A robust hydrological modeling at a fine spatial resolution is a vital tool for Norway to simulate river discharges and hydrological components for climate adaptation strategies. However, it requires improvements of modelling methods, detailed observational data as input and expensive computational resources. This work aims to set up a distributed version of the HBV model with a physically based evapotranspiration scheme at 1 km resolution for mainland Norway and to calibrate/validate the model for 124 catchments using regionalized parameterizations. The Penman-Monteith equation was implemented in the HBV model and vegetation characteristics were derived from the Norwegian forest inventory combined with multi-source remote sensing data at 16 m spatial resolution. The estimated potential evapotranspiration (Ep) was compared with pan measurements and estimates from the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MOD16) products, the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) and Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model. There are 5 climatic zones in Norway classified based on 4 temperature and precipitation indices. For each zone, the model was calibrated separately by optimizing a multi-objective function including the Nash-Sutcliff efficiency (NSE) and biases of selected catchments. In total, there are 85 catchments for calibration and 39 for validation. The Ep estimates showed good agreement with the measurements, GLEAM and VIC outputs. However, the MOD16 product significantly overestimates Ep compared to the other products. The discharge was well reproduced with the median daily NSE of 0.68/0.67, bias of -3%/ -1%, Kling-Gupta efficiency (KGE) of 0.70/0.69 and monthly NSE of 0.80/0.78 in the calibration/validation periods. Our results showed a significant improvement compared to the previous HBV application for all catchments, with an increase of 0.08-0.16 in the median values of the daily NSE, KGE and monthly NSE. Both the temporal and spatial transferability of model parameterizations were also enhanced compared to the previous application.
Huang, SC; Eisner, S; Magnusson, JO; Lussana, C; Yang, X; Beldring, S
Improvements of the spatially distributed hydrological modelling using the HBV model at 1 km resolution for Norway
Journal Of Hydrology