The sensitivity of a catchment model to soil hydraulic properties obtained by using different measurement techniques

Abstract

Most studies on the use of physically based hydrological models have identified saturated hydraulic conductivity (K(sat)) as one of the most sensitive input parameters. However, K(sat) is also one of the most difficult landscape properties to measure accurately, casting doubt on the ability of modellers to estimate this parameter a priori for catchment simulations. Several studies have shown that K(sat) estimates are greatly influenced by the measurement method used, primarily because of scale effects. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of K(sat) measurement method on catchment simulations aimed at predicting water yield from forested catchments. A series of simulations are conducted usin..