Hydrological Modelling of River Flow Forecasting in Cold Regions and Its Application over the Athabasca River ...

• Main Author: Belvederesi, Chiara
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Schulich School of Engineering 2023
• Subjects: ungauged; cold hydrology review; empirical; Athabasca River Basin; Engineering; Engineering > Environmental; Athabasca River
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/40807; https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/115958

Floods are disasters that represent a growing threat to the communities living close to rivers. To maximize community resilience, the main objective was to formulate a transferable framework for river flow forecasting in cold and poorly gauged/ungauged regions. First, the literature was reviewed, summarizing the recent findings in river flow forecasting in these regions. Here, hydrological processes greatly vary seasonally and annually, translating into increased model uncertainty. Regionalization, spatial calibration, and other methods were implemented into process-based and empirical models. Although process-based models provided a wide understanding of a watershed’s hydrology, they were often complex and computationally demanding. Empirical models produced fewer calibration parameters although generated biased results when insufficient descriptors were available. The results from this review highlighted some efforts necessary to improve river flow forecasting, including: coping with limited data; ...