The aftermath of multiyear droughts: A case study in Australia

In this report the hydrological response to multiyear droughts has been researched. Long-term droughts have resulted in an increase in tree die-off in affected areas. As the hydrological response is related to the vegetation in a catchment, it is of interest to find out whether catchment response regarding rainfall-runoff is different after a...

A Non-Parametric Bayesian Network Hydrologic Model: A Case Study of a Lowland Catchment

The past decades, the increasing availability of data has paved the way for a new, data-driven generation of models. This research proposes a non-parametric Bayesian network (NPBN) to model hydrologic processes. The Bayesian network (BN) is a directed, acyclic graph in which the variables are represented by the nodes, and the conditional...

The hydrologically active rootzone in climate models

Climate models have difficulties in predicting the frequency and intensity of future droughts on regional scales, possibly caused by inadequate representation of land surface hydrological processes. Vegetation is controlling the Earth's water and energy balance by transporting water from the subsurface to the atmosphere, through its roots. The...

Estimating snow cover decline using the RSLE in Google Earth Engine: A Caucasus case study

Snow in mountainous areas is of great importance for the water supply in many catchments. To get data on snow cover, ground station data is not enough and, in many catchments, not available. Therefore, satellite data is used to measure snow cover. In this thesis the MODIS daily snow cover dataset (MOD10A1) is used. These images are obstructed by...

Compensation of data shortage by evaluation criteria in hydrological modelling

This thesis proposes an approach for tackling the problem of data-shortage in hydrological modelling. A hydrological model, in the context of this thesis, translates meteorological data to stream-flow of a river, for a specific catchment. A model incorporates parameters that describe the dynamics of a chosen model, in this case a FLEX (Flux...

MODIS snow cover data for calibration and evaluation of hydrological models in contrasting environments

This research studies different hydrological models in the catchments with various climates in the USA, and MODIS snow cover maps are introduced to assess and improve the models. In this research, assessment of the value of MODIS snow cover data in the hydrological modeling process is the main objective. Nine MOPEX catchments in the continental...

Possibilities for rooftop rainwater harvesting for off-grid households: Case study: Serang, Indonesia

The stress on water supply systems is increasing, among others due to pollution, increasing demands, source depletion and climate change. More sustainable solutions with respect to water supply will decrease the stress. Rainwater harvesting can be one of these sustainable solutions. Depending on the characteristics of the rainwater harvesting...

Non-Linear Time Series Analysis of Deep Groundwater Levels: An application to the Veluwe

The objective of this study is to improve the simulation of deep groundwater levels by time se- ries models with pre-defined impulse response functions. This is attempted by adding a conceptual non-linear root zone model to simulate the recharge series to the model and by testing the use of a separate response function for the percolation zone....

Improving model consistency and process realism in conceptual rainfall-runoff models

Hydrological models are used for several purposes, from reservoir management to stormflow prediction. However, their predictive power is often questionable. As most rainfall-runoff models are highly dependent on calibration, models often show deteriorated performance during the validation period. This is caused by too much focus on and trust in...

Using tracer data to calibrate a flexible, topography driven conceptual hydrological model

This study explores the possibility of calibrating a conceptual hydrological model to tracer (Oxygen-18) data measured in streamflow with the ultimate goal to predict discharge. The hypothesis is that (changes in) Oxygen-18 concentrations in the stream should tell something about the relative contribution of fast runoff compared to slow runoff ...

Modelling ungauged lowland basins: Does complementary groundwater data add value to topography driven conceptual modelling?

A common practice for hydrologists to determine the performance of a hydrological model and its parameter values, is by calibrating the model parameters on observed discharge data, but this data is not always available. For this reason, other data should be used as complementary data in order to reduce the uncertainty of outflow and processes in...

Dropping the rating curve: Calibrating a rainfall-runoff model on stage to reduce discharge uncertainty

Direct measurement of river discharge is time consuming and financially demanding. Continuous river discharge measurements are therefore generally derived from continuous stage measurements, through a stage-discharge relation, also called a rating curve. Rating curves are determined by fitting a curve to a limited number of points (hi, Qi),...

Comparative Hydrology Across Physiographic and Climatic Diversity: A search for simple patterns and predictability

The bulk of catchment science literature consist of ‘unique’ case studies describing the complex interaction of soils, water, vegetation, topography and geology at individual sites. Yet, the uniqueness of individual sites makes it difficult to transfer findings to new locations and facilitate understanding and prediction in other catchments. In...