Simulation of Runoff in MAHABAD Basin using SWAT Model

Runoff measurement has always been difficult due to financial and time constraints and severe physical conditions. To cope with these problems, the use of hydrological models is very common, which has been developed today. Better simulation of hydrological processes requires that the input data of hydrological models be able to accurately describe the actual conditions of the catchment area. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of SWAT model in simulation of runoff in Mahabad watershed in West Azarbaijan province. Calibration and validation of the model were performed using the SUFI_2 model. The runoff statistics of three hydrometric stations have been used to calibrate and validate the model. The model was performed using temperature and precipitation data for 17 years (1996-2012). Years (1999-2009) for calibration and years (2010-2012) were considered for model validation. The indicators of p-factor, d-factor, R2 and NS were used to assess the ability of the SWAT model to simulate the runoff of the three stations. The results of these simulations to calibrate the outlet of the basin were 0.70, 0.71, 1.3, 0.84, and0.5,0.48,0.85,0.9, and also the results for the basin entrance) in the calibration phase for were 0.79 , 0.70 , 0.97, 89.9 respectively, and for validation 0.65, 0.62 , 0.78, 0.98 and for the Kuter station at the calibration stage, it was equal to 0.84, 0.68, 1.1, 0.86 and 0.6, 0.65, 0.85, 1 for validation. The overall simulation results showed that the SWAT model could be a suitable tool for runoff simulation.