Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Water Management and Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #301459
Title: Integration of a three-dimensional process-based hydrological model into the Object Modeling System

Author
item FORMETTA, GIUSEPPE - University Of Trento, Italy
item CAPPARELLI, GIOVANNA - University Of Calabria
item DAVID, OLAF - Colorado State University
item Green, Timothy
item RIGON, RICCARDO - University Of Trento, Italy

Submitted to: Water
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/24/2015
Publication Date: 1/2/2016
Publication URL: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/8/1/12
Citation: Formetta, G., Capparelli, G., David, O., Green, T.R., Rigon, R. 2016. Integration of a three-dimensional process-based hydrological model into the Object Modeling System. Water. 8(1). doi:10.3390/w8010012.

Interpretive Summary: Integration of a spatial hydrological process model into an environmental modelling framework can enhance the model capabilities. We present the integration of the GEOtop model into the Object Modeling System (OMS) and illustrate its application. GEOtop is a physically based spatially distributed rainfall-runoff model, performing detailed water and energy budgets. By running GEOtop as an OMS model component it can interact with an open-source geographical information system to use other geoprocessing, visualization, and modeling components. Furthermore, GEOtop can now interact with OMS components for automatic calibration, sensitivity analysis, or meteorological interpolation. A case studiy of the model application is presented for illustration and proof-of-concept. Results in terms of soil water content and temperature are compared with measured data. Model performance is evaluated by computing traditional goodness of fit indices. GEOtop in OMS is available for simulating complex hydrological processes.

Technical Abstract: The integration of a spatial process model into an environmental modelling framework can enhance the model’s capabilities. We present the integration of the GEOtop model into the Object Modeling System (OMS) version 3.0 and illustrate its application in a small watershed. GEOtop is a physically based, spatially distributed rainfall-runoff model that performs three-dimensional finite volume calculations of water and energy budgets. The OMS integration expanded the capacity of GEOtop as presented in the paper. By running GEOtop as an OMS model component it can directly interact with the open-source geographical information system (GIS) uDig-JGrass to utilize geo-processing, visualization, and other modeling components. Furthermore, GEOtop can now be used with OMS components for automatic calibration, sensitivity analysis, or meteorological interpolation. A case study of the model application is presented for illustration and proof-of-concept. Simulated soil water content and soil temperature results are compared to measured data and model performance is evaluated by computing traditional goodness-of-fit indices.