Development of a watershed-scale long-term hydrologic impact assessment model with the asymptotic curve number regression equation

Abstract

In this study, 52 asymptotic Curve Number (CN) regression equations were developed for combinations of representative land covers and hydrologic soil groups. In addition, to overcome the limitations of the original Long-term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) model when it is applied to larger watersheds, a watershed-scale L-THIA Asymptotic CN (ACN) regression equation model (watershed-scale L-THIA ACN model) was developed by integrating the asymptotic CN regressions and various modules for direct runoff/baseflow/channel routing. The watershed-scale L-THIA ACN model was applied to four watersheds in South Korea to evaluate the accuracy of its streamflow prediction. The coefficient of determination (R2) and Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values for observed versus simulated streamflows over intervals of eight days were greater than 0.6 for all four of the watersheds. The watershed-scale L-THIA ACN model, including the asymptotic CN regression equation method, can simulate long-term streamflow sufficiently well with the ten parameters that have been added for the characterization of streamflow.