Abstract

ESMALI, Abazar; GOLSHAN, Mohammad  and  KAVIAN, Ataollah. Investigating the performance of SWAT and IHACRES in simulation streamflow under different climatic regions in Iran. Atmósfera [online]. 2021, vol.34, n.1, pp.79-96.  Epub Feb 10, 2021. ISSN 0187-6236.  https://doi.org/10.20937/atm.52740.

It is often reported that simpler models, due to their low parameter requirements, perform better than more complex models. To test this, the current study compared a simple rainfall-runoff model (IHACRES) with a complex watershed model (SWAT). Based on these two approaches, six models were developed for three climatically distinct (arid, semi-arid and semi-humid) watersheds in Iran. The coefficient of determination (R2) and the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient (NS) were calculated in each case. In arid, semi-arid, and semi-humid watersheds the SWAT model (R2 = 0.52, 0.68, 0.66; NS = 0.54, 0.63, 0.64, respectively) outperformed the IHACRES model (R2 = 0.37, 0.70, 0.57; NS = 0.22, 0.57, 0.56, respectively) for the same respective climate zones. Overall, SWAT performed better than IHACRES, although both models had acceptable performances in the semi-arid and semi-humid watersheds. In the arid watershed, the IHACRES model performed poorly compared to SWAT.

Keywords : Climate; IHACRES; Iran; Runoff; Simulation; SWAT.

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