HR: 1340h
AN: H33D-0496    [Abstracts]
TI: Fine-Resolution Hydrologic Modeling of Semiarid River Basins: Preliminary Results from the Upper Rio Grande
AU: Wyckoff, R
EM: rwyckoff@nmt.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AU: * Vivoni, E R
EM: vivoni@nmt.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AU: Rinehart, A
EM: rinehart@nmt.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AB: Water resources management and decision making in arid and semiarid regions require scientific knowledge and predictive capability of the physical processes occurring within hydrologic systems at scales sufficient to capture the variability inherent in the resource and its utilization. Our understanding of the interaction between water supply and demand is aided through numerical models that best represent our current knowledge of the hydrologic, ecological and meteorological processes in river basins. To this end, advances in distributed hydrologic modeling over large regional watersheds can aid in providing estimates of water availability and its susceptibility to climate variations, land-cover change and population growth. In this study, we utilize the TIN-based Real-time Integrated Basin Simulator (tRIBS) model to simulate continuous hydrological processes within subbasins of the Upper R¡o Grande in north-central New Mexico. First, we introduce the distributed model by highlighting the following salient features: (1) coupled unsaturated and saturated zones through a dynamic water table, (2) coupled energy and hydrologic balance at the land surface and (3) topographically-driven soil moisture redistribution, radiation and evapotranspiration. Accurate terrain representation at fine-resolution is achieved through the use of a triangulated irregular network (TIN) terrain model. Second, we present semiarid case studies in model setup, parameterization and continuous operation for the Upper R¡o Puerco and Jemez River. These river basins provide test cases for the calibration and validation of the tRIBS model through the use of in-situ measurement networks and long-term rainfall and stream gauging records. We will present the catchment hydrological response and its spatial organization by integrating geospatial data on topography, land-surface properties and precipitation obtained from geographic information systems, gauging networks and remote sensing. Although preliminary, our results indicate the potential for using fine-resolution hydrologic models over large semiarid regional watersheds such as the Upper R¡o Grande.
DE: 1821 Floods
DE: 1836 Hydrologic budget (1655)
DE: 1854 Precipitation (3354)
DE: 1860 Runoff and streamflow
DE: 1866 Soil moisture
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting