Table Of ContentNATO ASI Series
Advanced Science Institutes Series
A series presenting the results of activities sponsored by the NA TO Science
Committee, which aims at the dissemination of advanced scientific and
technological knowledge, with a view to strengthening links between scientific
communities,
The Series is published by an international board of publishers in conjunction with
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A Life Sciences Plenum Publishing Corporation
B Physics London and New York
C Mathematical and Physical Sciences Kluwer Academic Publishers
D Behavioural and Social Sciences Dordrecht, Boston and London
E Applied Sciences
F Computer and Systems Sciences Springer-Verlag
G Ecological Sciences Berlin Heidelberg New York
H Cell Biology London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong
Global Environmental Change Barcelona Budapest
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Series I: Global Environmental Change, Vol. 46
Springer
Berlin
Heidelberg
New York
Barcelona
Budapest
Hong Kong
London
Milan
Paris
Santa Clara
Singapore
Tokyo
Land Surface Processes
in Hydrology
Trials and Tribulations of Modeling
and Measuring
Edited by
Soroosh Sorooshian
Hoshin V. Gupta
Department of Hydrology and Water Resources
The University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
John C. Rodda
Hydrology and Water Resources Department
World Meteorological Organization
CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
presently at:
International Association of Hydrological Sciences
Institute of Hydrology
Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB, U.K.
With 117 Figures (6 colour plates) and 29 Tables
Springer
Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop "Global En
vironmental Change and Land Surface Processes in Hydrology: The Trials
and Tribulations of Modeling and Measuring", held in Tucson, Arizona,
May 17-21, 1993.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Land surface processes in hydrology: trials and tribulations of
modeling and measuring / edited by Soroosh Sorooshian. Hoshin
V. Gupta. John C. Rodda.
p. cm. -- (NATO ASI series. Series I. Global environmental
change; vol. 46)
Proceedings of a workshop held in Tucson. Ariz .• May 17-21. 1993.
"Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-642-64458-0 (hc) e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-60567-3
001: 10 .1 007/978-3-642-60567-3
1. Hydrology--Mathematical models--Congresses. 2. Hydrology
-Remote sensing--Congresses. 3. Atmospheric circulation-
-Mathematical models--Congresses. I. Sorooshian. Soroosh.
II. Gupta. Hoshin V. (Hoshin Vijai). 1957- III. Rodda. J. C.
IV. Series.
GB656.2.M33L36 1996
551.48'01'5118--DC20 96-43298
CIP
ISBN 978-3-642-64458-0 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material
is concerned, specifically the rights of translation. reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication
of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright
Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained
from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1997
Typesetting: Camera ready by the authors/editors
Printed on acid-free paper
SPIN: 10100909 31/3137 -5 4 3 210
PREFACE
G
eneral Circulation Models (GeMs) predict certain changes in the amounts and
distribution of precipitation, but the conversion of these predictions of impacts on water
resources presents novel problems in hydrologic modeling, particularly with regard to the scale
of the processes involved. In turn, the GeMs need a better hydrologic component because their
results are dependent on land surface processes, especially evaporation. Conventional hydrologic
models provide only a "lumped" representation of catchment processes, suited to the point nature
of the generally available data. These models do not provide detailed representations of the
variation of hydrologic processes over a large watershed, which are required to describe
interactions within a GeM. Further improvements within GeMs depend, therefore, on the
development of the distributed models now being studied by a number of research groups.
This interest in distributed models coincides with the availability of a number of new remotely
sensed data sources for hydrology. These include radar and satellite imagery that provide data
representing processes averaged over larger spatial and temporal scales, in contrast to the point
data previously provided by conventional instruments. These spatially distributed data are
essential for the development and verification of the distributed models mentioned above.
As is often true when there is sudden and rapid progress in one area of science, hydrologists now
find themselves in the process of figuring out how to adjust to the changes. While the new
technologies offer much potential, there are many attendant problems with the translation of
remotely sensed signals into hydrologically relevant information. In some cases, it is not clear
exactly how the remotely sensed signals are related to the hydrologic fluxes and variables of
interest. In addition, the spatial and temporal scales of measurement are not necessarily consistent
with the natural scales at which hydrologic processes operate.
There are also many difficulties in the development of hydrologic models that can take full
advantage of the newly available data. Of course, the choice of modeling approach depends
significantly on the objectives to be achieved. For example, a great deal of attention is being
devoted to the representation ofland surface hydrologic processes in General Circulation Models
VI
and regional and global scale climate studies. There is much debate about the level of complexity
at which such processes should be represented in GeMs since the interests and needs of
atmospheric modelers and those of watershed hydrologists are quite different. It is against this
background that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Advanced Research Workshop
(ARW) on "Global Environmental Change & Land Surface Processes in Hydrology: The Trials
and Tribulations of Modeling and Measuring" was organized.
The idea for holding an Advanced Research Workshop on this topic grew out of conversations
between Professor Soroosh Sorooshian and colleagues (primarily Dr. John Rodda, Dr. Robert
Clark, Dr. Alfred Becker, and Associate Professor Hoshin Gupta) at various scientific meetings.
Subsequently, NATO agreed to sponsor the ARW and an organizing committee was formed. The
committee comprised the director Professor Soroosh Sorooshian (USA), co-director Dr. John
Rodda (UK), and organizers Associate Professor Hoshin V. Gupta (USA), Dr. Yann H. Kerr
(France), and Professor James Shuttleworth (USA).
The overall objective of the ARW was to bring together a number of prominent researchers from
the areas of "modeling" (at both watershed hydrology and GeM scales) and "measurement"
(including both traditional sources and the new remotely sensed, areally distributed data sources),
to identifY and discuss the problems that are hindering the development of hydrologic science in
the area ofland surface processes and to identify effective and efficient strategies and directions
towards which current and future efforts should be directed. The ARW was held in Tucson,
Arizona from May 17-21, 1993. It was attended by 52 scientists from 11 NATO countries and
8 non-NATO countries. In addition, from time to time, there were approximately 6 to 10 local
graduate students and scientists in attendance, who provided valuable input to the discussions and
assisted by taking notes and preparing written transcriptions.
The workshop was immensely successful. It was held at the Westward Look Resort in the
foothills north of Tucson, and all the participants stayed at the hotel, and had their meals together
on the patio outside the conference room. This arrangement enabled the participants to spend
a great deal of time together, outside of conference times, resulting in a lot of camaraderie and
discussion. There is no doubt that this contributed significantly to the success of the workshop.
Keynote presentations were made by 19 speakers. In addition, many of the non-speaker
VII
participants were recruited to lead panel discussions and to prepare summaries of the discussions.
This format produced a lot of active debate leading to several constructive recommendations
regarding what kinds of data are needed by hydrologists and how such data should be collected.
There was also a lot of communication between modelers and data measurement experts as to
how to better coordinate their efforts. In particular, there was unanimous agreement that both
modelers and measurers should coordinate their efforts to actively participate in and guide large
scale watershed experiments such as the Global Energy and Water Experiment (GEWEX) and
observation efforts such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM).
In addition to sponsorship by NATO and the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources of
The University of Arizona (UA), financial support for the ARW was provided by The UA
Foundation (Richard Imwalle), The UA Office of the Vice President for Research (Michael A.
Cusanovich), The UA College of Engineering (Dean Ernest T. Smerdon), the World
Meteorological Organization in Switzerland (permanent Representative of the U.S. to the WMO,
Elbert W. Friday, Jr.), and the Salt River Project in Phoenix, Arizona (Dan Phillips). Dr.
Topozoglu (of the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey), the Turkish National
Administrator for the NATO Science Fellowships, provided support for travel and living expenses
for the Turkish participants. Numerous people worked in the background to ensure that the
workshop proceeded smoothly. Dr. da Cunha, the Programme Director of the NATO Division
des Affaires Scientifiques et de L'Environment, provided much needed guidance and advice.
Paul Baltes and his staff in The UA Office of Engineering Professional Development did an
outstanding job of handling all the logistical details. Sue Hunter of Century Travel helped the
participants with their travel arrangements, booking most of the tickets and dealing gracefully
with the complexities of travel from as far away as Russia. Co"ie Thies and Fran Janssen helped
keep track ofthe many organizational details and provided secretarial support.
This book consists of twenty-four chapters based on the invited lecturers, who gave presentations
at the ARW, and on transcripts and summaries of the panel discussions. The introduction consists
of broad discussions of issues related to hydrologic modeling and measuring. The remaining
material is grouped under the chapter headings of Precipitation, Soil Moisture,
Evapotranspiration, and Runoff.
VIII
We wish to thank each of the chapter authors (each of you a recognized leader in your field) for
your contributions. We are very grateful to you for taking the time and effort from your busy
schedules to prepare the manuscripts and participate in the ARW. Needless to say, we are
indebted to the workshop participants for your contributions towards the immense success of the
meeting. We can hardly begin to express our deep appreciation to Ms. Corrie Thies for your
marathon efforts related to the preparation of this manuscript. Thank you also, Bisher Imam,
Emily Snider, and Mary Nett for carrying out the non-trivial job of indexing, and Keith Beven,
Robert Dickinson, David Legates, David Goodrich, Barry Goodison, Roni Avissar, Jens
Refsgaard, Bernard Seguin, Susan Moran, Jene Michaud, Francois De Troch, James
Washburne, Xiaogang Gao, Paul Houser, Patrice Yapo, Jean Morrill, Xu Liang, Remigio
Galarraga-Sanchez, Christa Peters, Helene Unland, Muhammud Shaikh, Chuck George, Mark
Lynch-Steiglitz, Mariza Costa-Cabral, and Joseph Mas-Pia for providing notes and summaries
from the panel discussions. Finally, thanks to a very patient publisher.
Here then, is the record of this extremely productive and thoroughly valuable workshop. It is our
sincere hope that this book will be as valuable to you, the reader, as the ARW was to those who
attended it.
Soroosh Sorooshian
Hoshin Vijai Gupta
John Rodda
List of Contributors
A. Allen Bradley Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, University ofIowa, Iowa
City, IA 52242, USA
Keith Beven University of Lancaster, Dept. of Environmental Science,
Lancaster LAI 4Y2, UK
Ian R. Calder Institute of Hydrology, Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford,
Wallingford, Oxon OX 10 8BB, UK
Bhaskar J. Choudhury NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Hydrological Sciences
Branch, Code 974, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Chris G. Collier Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The
University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT, UK
Hoshin Vijai Gupta Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, The University
of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Reg W. Herschy CNS Scientific & Engineering Services, 2 Queensborough
Drive, Reading RG4 7JA, UK
Katya Laval Lab. de Meteorologie Dynamique du CNRS, Ecole Normale
Superieure, 24 Rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex OS, FRANCE
Sharon Nicholson Department of Meteorology B-161, The Florida State
University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-3034, USA
Jens Refsgaard Chief Hydrologist, Water Resources Division, Danish Hydraulic
Institute, Agem AIle 5DK-2970, Horsholm, DENMARK
John C. Rodda Hydrology & Water Resources Department, World
Meteorological Organization, 41 Avenue Giuseppe Motta, Case
Postale 2300CH-1211, Geneva 2, SWITZERLAND
Helmut Rott University ofInnsbruck, Meteorology and Geophysics, Innrain
52, A-6020, Innsbruck, AUSTRIA
Thomas J. Schmugge USDA Agricultural Research Service, Hydrology Laboratory,
Building 007, Room 104 BARC-WEST, Beltsville, MD 20705,
USA
x
Bernard Seguin Station de Bioclimatologie, Institut National Recherche
Agronomique, Centre de Recherches d'Avignon, BP 9184140
Montfavet, FRANCE
Anatolij M. Shutko Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Russian
Academy of Sciences, 1 Vvedensky Sq., Friazino, Moscow
Region, 141120, RUSSIA
William J. Shuttleworth Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, The University
of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
James A. Smith Department of Civil Engineering and Operations Resources,
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Soroosh Sorooshian Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, The University
of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Odon Starosolszky Research Center for Water Resources Development,
VITUKIl095 Budapest, Kvassay ut 1, HUNGARY
