Abstract
Hydrologic response of two fourth-order hilly watersheds of the Ramganga river basin in the central Himalayan region of India has been predicted in this study. Geomorphologic Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (GIUH) was derived using two models: (i) Horton’s stream-order ratios based model (GIUH-I); and (ii) Nash’s two-parameter gamma distribution based conceptual model (GIUH-II). The travel times for the overland-flow and the stream-flow in Horton-Strahler stream ordering system of the watersheds were determined analytically and probabilistically for GIUH-I model; while a dynamic component (mean velocity of flow) was estimated for the GIUH-II model using two approaches: (a) as a function of effective rainfall intensity (GIUH-IIa); and (b) on the basis of time of concentration concept (GIUH-IIb). Based on eight single-peaked isolated storm events for each watershed, the statistical analysis and coefficient of efficiency showed better overall correlation between predicted and observed direct runoff hydrographs, particularly in terms of the magnitude and time of occurrence of peak runoff rate, by GIUH-IIb as compared to GIUH-I and -IIa models. Moreover, the GIUH-IIb has additional advantage (compared to GIUH-IIa) for being independent of the measured velocity of flow corresponding to the peak flow rate at the watershed outlet. Since, these models require no historical data of rainfall and runoff, they can be effectively used to predict direct runoff from ungauged hilly watersheds for water resources planning and management in the region.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akan AO (1985) Kinematic-wave method for peak runoff estimates. J Transp Div, ASCE 111(4):419–425
Bhaskar NR, Parida BP, Nayak AK (1997) Flood estimation for ungauged catchments using the GIUH. J Water Resour Plan and Manag 123(4):228–238
Choi YJ, Lee G, Kim J (2011) Estimation of the Nash model parameter based on concept of geomorphologic dispersion. J Hydrol Eng 16(10):806–817
Chow VT (1964) Handbook of applied hydrology. McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, NY
Dooge JCI (1959) A general theory of the unit hydrograph. J Geophys Res 64(2):241–156
Ellouze-Gargouri E, Bargaoui Z (2012) Runoff estimation for an ungauged catchment using geomorphological instantaneous unit hydrograph (GIUH) and copulas. Water Resour Manag 26:1615–1638
Gupta VK, Waymire E, Wang CT (1980) A representation of an instantaneous unit hydrograph from geomorphology. Water Resour Res 16(5):863–870
Jaiswal RK, Thomas T, Galkate RV, Ghosh NC, Lohani AK, Kumar R (2013) Development of geomorphology based regional Nash model for data scares central India region. Water Resour Manag. doi:10.1007/s11269-013-0486-x
Kumar A, Kumar D (2008) Predicting direct runoff from hilly watershed using geomorphology and stream-order-law ratios: case study. J Hydrol Eng 13(7):570–576
Kumar R, Chatterjee C, Singh RD, Lohani AK, Kumar S (2004) GIUH based Clark and Nash models for runoff estimation for an ungauged basin and their uncertainty analysis. Int J River Basin Manag 2(4):281–190
Kumar R, Chatterjee C, Singh RD, Lohani AK, Kumar S (2007) Runoff estimation for an ungauged catchment using geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph (GIUH) models. Hydrol Process 21(14):1829–1840
Lee KT, Chang CH (2005) Incorporating subsurface-flow mechanism into geomorphology-based IUH modeling. J Hydrol 311(1–4):91–105
Lee KT, Yen BC (1997) Geomorphology and kinematic-wave-based hydrograph derivation. J Hydraulic Eng 123(1):73–80
Nash JE (1957) The form of instantaneous unit hydrograph. Int Assoc Sci and Hydrol 45(3):114–121
Nash JE, Sutcliffe JV (1970) River flow forecasting through conceptual models part I – a discussion of principles. J Hydrol 10(3):282–290
Rai RK, Upadhyay A, Sarkar S, Upadhyay AM, Singh VP (2009) GIUH based transfer function for gomti river basin of India. J Spatial Hydrol 9(2):24–50
Rodriguez-Iturbe I, Valdes JB (1979) The geomorphologic structure of hydrologic response. Water Resour Res 15(6):1409–1420
Rosso R (1984) Nash model relation to Horton order ratios. Water Resour Res 20(7):914–920
Sarkar S, Rai RK (2011) Flood inundation modeling using Nakagami-m distribution based GIUH for a partially gauged catchment. Int J Water Resour Manag 25(14):3805–3835
Sarma PBS, Deuller JW, Rao AR (1973) Comparison of rainfall-runoff models for urban areas. J Hydrol 18:329–347
Sherman LK (1932) Stream flow from rainfall by the unit-graph method. Eng News Record 108(14):501–505
Singh VP (1994) Elementary hydrology. Prentice-Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India
Suresh R (1993) Soil and water conservation engineering. Standard Publishers Distributors, Delhi, India
Wooding RA (1965) A hydraulic model for the catchment-stream problem: II. Numerical solutions. J Hydrol 3:268–282
Yen BC, Lee KT (1997) Unit hydrograph derivation for ungauged watersheds by stream-order laws. J Hydraul Eng 2(1):1–9
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kumar, A. Geomorphologic Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph Based Hydrologic Response Models for Ungauged Hilly Watersheds in India. Water Resour Manage 29, 863–883 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0848-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0848-z