Development of a New Method for Estimation of SCS Curve Number Based on Saturation Excess Concept

In recent years, many empirical methods and mathematical models have been developed to estimate runoff, among which the SCS curve number is the most important and widely used method. In this method a parameter called Curve Number (CN) is used for transforming rainfall to runoff. Currently, different techniques such as RS and GIS in combination with filed surveying are used to estimate this parameter. These methods due to the huge amount of required data, field investigation, and computation burden are costly and time consuming. In this research based on the saturation excess concept, which is used in the structure of a semi distributed model called TOPMODEL, a new efficient method with a minimum data requirement was developed to estimate the SCS curve number. The proposed method depends on three parameters: soil porosity, average distance to the catchment water table, and the parameter that controls the effective depth of the saturated soil. The Kasilian catchment in northern Iran is used to investigate the proposed method. In this study, using lansat7 ETM+ images and performing some modification on the images the landuse map was obtained. Finally, by combining this map and the watershed soil and slope maps and also the results of an extensive filed survey, the SCS curve number map was developed for the entire watershed. Also, TOPMODEL was calibrated in the Kasilian catchment for the estimation of proposed method parameters. Results indicate that the watershed's average curve number based on RS/GIS and the proposed methods are about 59.6 and 62.8, respectively. Furthermore, the results showed that the minimum and maximum differences between the Curve Number obtained from RS and GIS techniques and from the proposed method for the whole range of the used parameters are about 0.3% and 12% respectively.