Karst Hydrology Colloquium
High-resolution, multi-scale modeling
of watershed hydrology
by Enrique Vivoni
Earth and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico Tech
Sponsored by the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute,
Department of Geological Science
and the Hydrogeology Consortium
Carraway Building, Room 103
Florida State University
4:00 P.M., Monday, November 3, 2003
– Refreshments beginning 3:30 P.M.
Hydrologists have long recognized that the interaction of climate, topography, soils and vegetation leads to observable spatial and temporal patterns in hydrological response in watersheds. Our understanding of these complex relationships is aided through numeric models that best represent our current knowledge of the physical processes occurring within basins. The aim of this talk is to introduce a new modeling framework for studying land-surface and subsurface hydrologic response to meteorological forcing at multiple scales. The computational model has several distinguishing features that will be highlighted: (1) coupled unsaturated and saturated zones through a dynamic water table, (2) coupled energy and hydrologic balance at the land surface, (3) topographically-driven soil moisture redistribution, radiation and evapotranspiration. Accurate topographic representation with minimal computational expense is achieved through the use of a triangulated irregular network (TIN) terrain model. Methods for deriving the multiple-resolution TIN terrain within geographic information systems (GIS) will be discussed. Ultimately, the modeling tool provides a complete description of the spatio-temporal variability and organization of the underlying hydrologic processes (e.g., soil moisture, runoff, water table position, evapotranspiration) which can be used as a virtual hydrologic observatory and compared to continuous in-situ and spatially extensive remote sensing observations in a regional watershed.