A downward approach to identifying the structure and parameters of a process-based model for a small experimental catchment

Abstract

An intensive field monitoring programme was conducted in 1998 and 1999 in an 84 ha catchment located on the North Island of New Zealand. The data collected includes six soil moisture patterns, 12 soil moisture time-series, flow at the outlets of two subcatchments of 56 ha and 28 ha, rainfall and other meteorological data. This data set was used in a downward approach to constrain the conceptualisations and the parameters of a terrain-based distributed model, aiming to simulate the spatial and temporal variability of the soil moisture and the flow response observed in the two subcatchments. The principal mechanism producing runoff was assessed by a preliminary data analysis, involving rainfal..