Predictions
in Ungauged Basins: Promise and Progress (Proceedings of symposium S7 held during the
Seventh IAHS Scientific Assembly at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, April 2005). IAHS
Publ. 303, 2006, 360-370.
Large basin simulation experience in South America
Daniel Gustavo Allasia, Benedito Cláudio da Silva, Walter
Collischonn & Carlos Eduardo Morelli Tucci
Institute for Hydraulic Research, Federal University of Rio Grande
do Sul, PO Box 15029, 91501-970,
Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Abstract This paper presents some applications of the Large Basin Hydrological Model developed in the Instituto de Pesquisas Hidraulicas of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (MGB-IPH) in the simulation of different South American basins. The MGB-IPH is a large scale hydrological model, distributed in square grid cells, which represents the processes of interception, soil water storage, evapotranspiration, runoff generation by surface, groundwater and subsurface processes, and flow propagation through the river network. Spatial variability is represented by the distribution of the physical characteristics through the cells all over the basin, relating it to readily available data, mainly from remote sensing. Applications of this model in South America include real time flow forecasts, seasonal flow forecasts, estimation of water availability in places with scarce data, analysis of impacts of multiple hydraulic structures on the hydrological regime and water quality assessment. The paper describes the experience the authors have achieved in large-scale hydrological modelling in South America, highlighting some challenges, successes and failures that were encountered while simulating river basins that are among the largest in the world, and where data availability may be so low as to classify them as ungauged basins.
Key words
large basins;
rainfall–runoff model; South America