Abstract

The TOPMODEL approach has become widely used for hydrological catchment modelling. The representation of topographic effects in hydrology by a topographic index allows the simulation of distributed groundwater levels in a simple way. However, validation of spatial variation of groundwater levels (or surface wetness) simulated by TOPMODEL has not been successful in most cases. In this paper, TOPMODEL's ability to predict local groundwater levels is discussed more generally. The aim of this paper is to clarify the assumptions needed to derive the TOPMODEL theory, to investigate how reasonable the assumptions are and the errors that are generated by these assumptions. Measured groundwater levels from different catchments in Sweden were used as examples. The most problematic assumptions were those of steady state flow rates and spatially uniform recharge to the groundwater, and ii was concluded that these fundamental assumptions underpinning the TOPMODEL approach obstruct a correct simulation of the spatial and temporal dynamics of the groundwater table.

Published in

IAHS Publication
1999, number: 254, pages: 211-220
Title: Regionalization in hydrology : proceedings of an international conference held at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, 10-14 March 1997
ISBN: 1-901502-80-5

Conference

International Conference on Regionalization in Hydrology, 10-14 March 1997, Braunschweig, Germany

UKÄ Subject classification

Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/98797