A.Pulido Bosch, J. A. Lpez Geta y G. Ramos Gonzlez (Eds.), Los acuferos costeros: retos y soluciones.

Coastal aquifers: challenges and solutions

Instituto Geolgico y Minero de Espaa, Madrid, 2007.
ISBN: 978-84-7840-712-5

HYDROLOGICAL MODELING OF THE SEMI-ARID ANDARAX RIVER BASIN IN

SOUTHERN SPAIN . A COMPARISON OF TWO MODELS BASED ON
TRADITIONAL METEOROLOGICAL DATA AND REMOTE SENSING DATA
F. H. Andersen1, K. H. Jensen1, I. Sandholt1, S. Stisen1, S. Jorreto2, A. Pulido-Bosch2
1

University of Copenhagen, Denmark, fha@geol.ku.dk, khj@geol.ku.dk, is@geogr.ku.dk, ss@geogr.ku.dk

2 University of Almeria, Spain, sjorreto@ual.es, apulido@ual.es

ABSTRACT
The hydrological behavior of the Andarax river basin is evaluated using the MIKE SHE code. Two methods for simulating the spatial and temporal variation of actual evapotranspiration (ET) are compared. In
the first method traditional meteorological data and standard values for the vegetations characteristics are
applied while in the second method remote sensing derived variables are used to drive an energy- based
two-layer SVAT model. The results show that remote sensing data can supply temporal and spatial estimates of important climatic variables for estimating ET and that more spatial variability is introduced in
the simulations where remote sensing data are used.
Keywords: Hydrological modeling, MIKE SHE, SVAT, Remote sensing, Evapotranspiration

RESUMEN
El comportamiento hidrolgico de la cuenca del ro Andarax se evala usando el cdigo MIKE-SHE. Se
comparan dos mtodos para simular la variacin espacial y temporal de la evapotranspiracin real (ET). En
el primer mtodo se aplican los datos meteorolgicos tradicionales y los valores estndares para las vegetaciones caractersticas, mientras que en el segundo mtodo las variables derivadas por deteccin remota
se utilizan para dirigir un modelo de doble-capa SVAT basado en la energa. Los resultados demuestran
que los datos de deteccin remota pueden proveer estimaciones temporales y espaciales de las variables
climticas importantes en la estimacin de ET y que ms variabilidad espacial es introducida en las simulaciones donde se utilizan los datos de deteccin remota.
Palabras Clave: Modelo hidrolgico, MIKE SHE, SVAT, Sensor remoto, Evapotranspiracin

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HYDROLOGICAL MODELING OF THE SEMI-ARID ANDARAX RIVER BASIN IN SOUTHERN SPAIN . A COMPARISON OF TWO MODELS BASED ON ...

INTRODUCTION
The 2,265 km2 Andarax river basin discharges into the Mediterranean Sea in the southern part of
Spain. It is one of the most arid regions in Europe with a mean annual precipitation of 250-350 mm, which
mainly falls (70%) in autumn and winter. Accurate predictions of river discharge and groundwater recharge
are crucial for proper management and utilization of the water resources in catchments in semi-arid
regions. The total recharge within the Andarax river basin determines the water availability in the delta
region. Due to high evapotranspiration groundwater recharge can be as low as 1 % of the precipitation.
Thus it is essential to accurately predict the seasonal and regional distribution of actual evapotranspiration
(ET) within the river catchment as this it will lead to better estimate of the groundwater recharge and hereby of the groundwater availability in the delta region.
The hydrological behavior of the Andarax river basin is simulated by the MIKE SHE code, which is a
physically based, distributed and integrated hydrological model. In the first scenario we only use traditional
meteorological data and standard values for the vegetation characteristics. Distributed hydrological models have an extensive demand of high resolution spatial and temporal data for driving and validating the
model. For Andarax river basin the traditional meteorological data are rather sparse. In the second scenario
we try to improve the estimation of evapotranspiration by using an energy-based two-layer SVAT model
and apply remote sensing derived variables as input data. We compare the two model simulations and
focus in particular on the temporal and spatial distribution of evapotranspiration and recharge, and river
discharges.

VARIABLES DERIVED FROM REMOTE SENSING

We derived four variables from remote sensing data (Table 1) and used as input to the MIKE SHE
model: leaf area index and albedo were obtained from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) products, and land surface temperature and global radiation were derived from Meteosat Second
Generation satellite (MSG).

Table 1. Variables derived from remote sensing data

RESULTS
In the first scenario a traditional distributed model application was carried out. Simulations were performed for a 12 year period from 1995 to 2006 with a warm-up period from 1995 to 2000, a calibration
period from 2000 to 2004, and a validation period from 2004 to 2006. The model was calibrated by the
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F. H. Andersen, K. H. Jensen, I. Sandholt, S. Stisen, S. Jorreto, A. Pulido-Bosch

trial-and-error method. In the second simulation scenario we used a SVAT model incorporated in MIKE SHE
in combination with the above variables derived from remote sensing. MSG data are only available from
August 2004 to January 2007. We use the available data from 2004 as a warm-up period. However it is
needed to extent the warm-up period for the SVAT model therefore we take the MSG data from 2006 and
use this period as data input for year 2003. Then we use the simulation results for the years 2005 and
2006 for the comparison study.

Figure 1. Simulated accumulated water balance in mm for the period 1. December 2005 to 1. December 2006,
a) based on traditional data and b) based on remte sensing data and the SVAT model

The overall water balances for both scenarios are shown in figure 1. Overall the water balances for the
two scenarios are in good agreement, although the SVAT model predicts a lower accumulated actual evapotranspiration for the total catchment. This has the implication that more water is in storage in the unsaturated zone and furthermore a slightly higher recharge is predicted.
Data are only available from one discharge station in the Andarax river basin and in figure 2 the simulated river discharge from both scenarios are compared with the observed discharge from 2005 to 2006.
The hydrographs for the two modeling scenarios are in rather close agreement indicating that remote sensing data provide useful data for hydrological models and particular for cases where the available data are
sparse. Although larger discrepancies are present between observations and simulations than usually seen
for more temperate hydrological regimes we also note that both model simulations capture the general
seasonal behavior of the river discharge including no discharge during the summer period. Given the complexity of the catchment behavior for semi-arid regions and the uncertainty in the hydrological data base
for this particular catchment we cannot expect a much closer agreement between observations and model
predictions.
In figure 3 the spatial distribution of the simulated ET for April 2006 for scenarios one and two are
shown. The precipitation zones have a large effect on the simulated ET for the traditional model application, whereas the simulated ET is more distributed for the SVAT model.

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HYDROLOGICAL MODELING OF THE SEMI-ARID ANDARAX RIVER BASIN IN SOUTHERN SPAIN . A COMPARISON OF TWO MODELS BASED ON ...

Figure 2. Observed and simulated hydrographs for both the model based on remote sensing data and the
model based on traditional data from climatic stations

CONCLUSIONS

Figure 3. Simulated ET for April 2006. a) Simulations based on traditional data from climatic stations,
b) Simulations based on remote sensing data in combination with a SVAT model

The hydrological behavior of the Andarax river basin has been analyzed using two simulation scenarios based on traditional and a combination of traditional and remote sensing data respectively. The analysis shows that comparable water balances and hydrographs are obtained by both models. However, as an
important asset the study shows that remote sensing data can supply important data for use in a SVAT
model that allows for a more accurate temporal and spatial resolution of the ET computations. Remote
sensing data are particularly valuable in data sparse regions.

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Acknowledgements
This work is part of the EU project ALERT (GOCE-CT-2004-505329).

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Sanchez Martos, F., Pulido-Bosch, A and Calaforra, J. M., (1999). Hydrogeochemical processes in an arid region of
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