| There is an ever increasing need to apply hydrological models to catchments
where streamflow data are unavailable or to large geographical regions where calibration is
not feasible. Estimation of model parameters from spatial physical data is the key issue
in the development and application of hydrological models at various scales. To investigate
the suitability of transferring the regression equations relating model parameters to
physical characteristics developed from small sub-catchments to a large region for
estimating model parameters, a conceptual snow and water balance model was optimised on
all the sub-catchments in the region. A multiple regression analysis related model
parameters to physical data for the catchments and the regression equations derived from
the small sub-catchments were used to calculate regional parameter values for the large
basin using spatially aggregated physical data. For the model tested, the results support
the suitability of transferring the regression equations to the larger region.
Keywords: water balance modelling,large scale, multiple regression, regionalisation |