Determining the Relative Contribution of Annual Runoff Components using a Water Tracking Model and Travel Time Distributions: The Case of Godarchay Basin in Southwestern of Lake Urmia

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 M.Sc. in Water Resources Management, Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Determining the contribution of each of the effective processes to river flow plays an important role in how accurate these processes are estimated via hydrological modeling. Although water balance provides an overview of the volumetric changes of its components, the origin of the outflows and their temporal changes require utilization of approaches based on water tracking. In this study, we developed a three-dimensional physical and integrated hydrological model and coupled it to a water tracking model (ParFlow-CLM-EcoSLIM) to determine the contribution of rainfall, snowmelt, and groundwater to streamflow and evapotranspiration. Also, the distribution of the travel time of outfluxes has been simulated and studied. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed models, we chose the Godarchay basin, located in the southwest of Lake Urmia, as the study area. The results showed that snowmelt is the main source of river discharge and evapotranspiration in the region, such that the average contribution of snowmelt, rainfall and groundwater to the runoff production during a water year, is equal to 56%, 5% and 39%, respectively. Also, about 55% of the incoming snow during a water year is stored in the soil after the process of melting and infiltration, and is then removed from the system in the following years; while only 22% of new rain is stored in the system and 78% of it leaves the system in the same year.

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Iran-Water Resources Research
Volume 19, Issue 2 - Serial Number 65
Special Issue: Urmia Lake
September 2023
Pages 71-86

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History

  • Receive Date: 30 October 2022
  • Revise Date: 21 January 2023
  • Accept Date: 24 January 2023

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