The aim of this study is to improve the accuracy of baseflow and to analyze the uncertainty of baseflow by calculating baseflow and performing calibration and validation using the SWAT model. The SWAT model is a semi-distributed rainfall-runoff model, which can run on a daily time and simulate not only runoff and sediment but also pollution. However, further analysis of calibration, validation, and uncertainty are essential because uncertainty exists about results of simulation. SWAT-CUP is a program developed by the EAWAG Institute in Switzerland for calibration, validation, and uncertainty analysis of the SWAT model. SWAT-CUP Premium is an improved version of SWAT-CUP that can improve uncertainty about results of SWAT simulation. The study area is the Yongjeon-stream basin in Cheongsong County, which is a local liver with a watershed area of 381.0 km2 and river length of 48.0 km. Yongjeon-stream consists of smaller streams, the third tributaries of the Nakdong River, such as Singi-stream, Sinheung-stream, Jubang-stream, Jusan-stream, Nobu-stream, Kwae-stream, and Gupyeong-stream. The left bank of Yongjeon-stream is a basin with a narrow watershed width and is widely developed in the right bank basin, located at 129°54′44″–129°13′50″ east longitude and 36°13′18″–36°30′ north latitude. The input data for simulation was analyzed using weather data (Cheongsong Weather Station, Juwang Mountain Weather Station) and measured data (Cheongsong Water Level Gauge Station) of the observatories located in the basin (Fig. 1).
The geology of the study area consists of plutonic rocks, sedimentary rocks, andesitic rocks, granitic rocks, acidic volcanic rocks, and alluvium (Fig. 2). Plutonic rocks contain many pink feldspars and have a coarse to medium granular texture. The main constituent minerals are quartz, orthoclase, microcline, plagioclase, and biotite. In addition, small amounts of hornblende and magnetite are distributed. Sedimentary rocks are most widely distributed in this study area and consist of the Iljik and Hupyeongdong, Jeomgok, Sagok, Chunsan, Donghwachi and Gasongdong, and Dogyedong Formations of the Cretaceous Hayang Group Andesitic rocks are the second most widely distributed next to sedimentary rocks in this study area, and it appears in various colors such as light gray, light pink or dark gray. The main constituent minerals are plagioclase, epidote, chlorite, sericite, and magnetite. Phenocryst is generally anhedral plagioclase, and sometimes a small amount of quartz is also present. The granitic rocks are produced as a small-scale stock in this study area. This rock formation was formed by magma mixing. The main constituent minerals are quartz, orthoclase, microcline, and biotite. Acidic volcanic rocks are distributed in the southern part of this study area. In general, it is characterized by having low-grade sedimentary rocks of the Hayang Group as xenoliths. The alluvium is particularly well distributed in the northwest direction, which appears similar to the water system in Figure 1. The alluvium covers all the rock layers in this study area as unconformity, and it is the Quaternary composed of sand and gravel.
SWAT analysis and accuracy improvement
Input data for SWAT model
The input data for the SWAT model requires weather data, digital elevation data (DEM), land use, soil map, and groundwater information. In the case of weather data, the input data for the model was constructed using data from weather stations located in the study area. Figure 3a shows DEM in the study area and smaller streams divided into three. Medium scales (1:25,000) of land use map were utilized; the largest distribution was of forest areas (82.5%), and distribution of farmland, including rice paddies and fields, was about 14.3% (Fig. 3b). A 1:25,000 scaled soil map was used. Figure 3c provides the simulated spatial distribution of the precision soil map of Yongjeon-stream like the prior land use map with the same spatial resolution as DEM. There are 50 types of soil series, and information on the area of each soil series can be shown in Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1 Land use items and area of Yongjeon-stream
Land use classification item
|
Description
|
Area (km2)
|
Ratio (%)
|
URMD
|
Residential-Medium Density
|
2.87
|
0.94
|
UIDU
|
Industrial
|
0.04
|
0.01
|
UCOM
|
Commercial
|
0.33
|
0.11
|
UTRN
|
Transportation
|
1.09
|
0.35
|
UINS
|
Institutional
|
0.16
|
0.05
|
RICE
|
Rice
|
8.35
|
2.72
|
AGRR
|
Agricultural Land-Row Crops
|
23.71
|
7.73
|
URML
|
Residential-Med/Low Density
|
0.05
|
0.02
|
ORCD
|
Orchard
|
9.26
|
3.02
|
AGRL
|
Agricultural Land-Generic
|
0.24
|
0.08
|
FRSD
|
Forest-Deciduous
|
75.30
|
24.55
|
FRSE
|
Forest-Evergreen
|
137.68
|
44.90
|
FRST
|
Forest-Mixed
|
39.93
|
13.02
|
PAST
|
Pasture
|
0.33
|
0.11
|
BROS
|
Smooth Bromegrass
|
0.61
|
0.20
|
WETF
|
Wetlands-Forested
|
1.18
|
0.38
|
AGRC
|
Agricultural Land-Close-grown
|
2.26
|
0.74
|
WATR
|
Water
|
3.26
|
1.07
|
Table 2 Area by soil in Yongjeon-stream
Soil classification
|
Area (km2)
|
Ratio (%)
|
Soil classification
|
Area (km2)
|
Ratio (%)
|
ANRYONG
|
2.26
|
0.74
|
HWADONG
|
0.33
|
0.11
|
ASAN
|
0.95
|
0.31
|
HWANGRYONG
|
4.39
|
1.43
|
BANHO
|
2.59
|
0.85
|
ISAN
|
0.97
|
0.32
|
BIGOG
|
0.58
|
0.19
|
JANGWEON
|
2.20
|
0.72
|
BONGGOG
|
0.14
|
0.04
|
JIGOG
|
3.28
|
1.07
|
BUYEO
|
0.31
|
0.1
|
JISAN
|
1.80
|
0.59
|
CHILGOG
|
1.19
|
0.39
|
JUGGOG
|
0.08
|
0.03
|
CHOGYE
|
0.07
|
0.02
|
JUNGDONG
|
0.19
|
0.06
|
DAEGU
|
27.30
|
8.9
|
MASAN
|
6.25
|
2.04
|
DEOGCHEON
|
1.84
|
0.6
|
MUDEUNG
|
53.39
|
17.41
|
DEOGPYEONG
|
0.15
|
0.05
|
NAMGYE
|
0.44
|
0.14
|
DEOGSAN
|
2.97
|
0.97
|
PANGOG
|
0.20
|
0.07
|
GAMGOG
|
0.67
|
0.22
|
SAMGAG
|
3.63
|
1.18
|
GANGSEO
|
0.33
|
0.11
|
SANGJU
|
0.60
|
0.19
|
GEUMGOG
|
0.65
|
0.21
|
SEOGTO
|
12.11
|
3.95
|
GOCHEON
|
2.99
|
0.98
|
SINHEUNG
|
0.75
|
0.25
|
GOSAN
|
65.74
|
21.44
|
SINJEONG
|
1.31
|
0.43
|
GUISAN
|
0.90
|
0.29
|
SONGSAN
|
66.13
|
21.57
|
GYEONGSAN
|
0.13
|
0.04
|
TAEHWA
|
2.73
|
0.89
|
HABIN
|
4.75
|
1.55
|
UGOG
|
0.06
|
0.02
|
HAENGGOG
|
1.12
|
0.37
|
UPYEONG
|
0.34
|
0.11
|
HAENGSAN
|
5.16
|
1.68
|
YEONGOG
|
6.85
|
2.23
|
HAMPYEONG
|
1.26
|
0.41
|
YONGGYE
|
2.01
|
0.66
|
HEUNGPYEONG
|
8.29
|
2.7
|
YONGJI
|
1.89
|
0.62
|
HOGYE
|
2.04
|
0.66
|
YUGA
|
0.36
|
0.12
|
SWAT analysis
The simulation period of the study area was selected considering the obtained weather data. Analysis was conducted for a total of 9 years (January 1st, 2011 to December 31st, 2019), including the initial warm-up period of 2 years, and the simulation results were compared for 4 years (January 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2016) with the measured data. Figures 4 and 5 show the comparison graph of the SWAT analysis results and observed flow and coefficient of determination (R2) for each year, and Figure 6 shows the comparison results for the entire period (4 years). Results of the model analysis showed that patterns were similar to observations according to precipitation, but the difference in flow rates was significant. The comparison of R2 values for simulated and observatory values showed that they were highest in 2014 (0.52). In 2015, they were low (0.17) and the R2 value for the entire period was also 0.40 with very low accuracy.
Calibration and validation using SWAT-CUP Premium
Studies have been conducted consistently to increase the prediction and accuracy of the SWAT model and improve the uncertainty of simulation results. Common techniques for calibration of parameters are MCMC (Vrugt et al. 2008), GLUE (Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation, Beven & Binley 1992), PSO (Particle swarm optimization, Abbaspour 2011), ParaSol (Parameter Solution, van Griensven and Meixner 2007), and SUFI-2 (Sequential Uncertainty Fitting, Abbaspour et al. 2004), and they can be easily applied in conjunction with the SWAT model using SWAT-CUP. SWAT-CUP Premium is a program that calibrates, validates, and improves SWAT analysis results through algorithms, such as SPE (Swat Parameter Estimator), which can be used to perform validation and sensitivity analysis (Fig. 7).
In this study, SWAT-CUP Premium was used to perform calibration and validation, and the number of 1,000 simulations was performed during the calibration in consideration of the efficiency. In addition, the simulated flow was optimized with the SPE algorithm of SWAT-CUP Premium for the observed flow; the optimized parameter results are shown in Table 3.
Input
|
Parameters
|
Initial range
|
Fitted value
|
Table 3
Maximum and minimum ranges and optimal parameter values for SWAT input parameters
Gw
|
ALPHA_BF
|
−0.048 to 0.952
|
0.316
|
Hru
|
CANMX
|
0–100
|
58.950
|
Rte
|
CH_K2
|
−0.01 to 500
|
294.746
|
Sub
|
CH_N1
|
−0.004 to 29.986
|
10.058
|
Rte
|
CH_N2
|
−0.024 to 0.286
|
0.065
|
Mgt
|
CN2
|
−0.25 to 0.25
|
−0.115
|
Hru
|
EPCO
|
−1 to 0
|
−0.350
|
Hru
|
ESCO
|
−0.95 to 0.05
|
0.008
|
Gw
|
GW_DELAY
|
0–500
|
382.250
|
Gw
|
GW_REVAP
|
0.02–0.2
|
0.074
|
Gw
|
GWQMN
|
0–5000
|
1327.500
|
Gw
|
RCHRG_DP
|
−0.05 to 0.95
|
0.844
|
Gw
|
REVAPMN
|
0–500
|
209.250
|
Bsn
|
SFTMP
|
−6 to 0
|
−1.377
|
Hru
|
SLSUBBSN
|
−0.25 to 0.25
|
−0.043
|
Bsn
|
SMFMN
|
−4.5 to 5.5
|
−4.355
|
Bsn
|
SMFMX
|
−4.5 to 5.5
|
0.445
|
Bsn
|
SMTMP
|
−0.25 to 0.25
|
0.122
|
Sol
|
SOL_AWC
|
−0.25 to 0.25
|
−0.004
|
Sol
|
SOL_K
|
−0.25 to 0.25
|
0.248
|
Sol
|
SOL_Z
|
−0.25 to 0.25
|
−0.227
|
Bsn
|
SURLAG
|
−3.95 to 20
|
3.175
|
Bsn
|
TIMP
|
−1 to 0
|
−0.650
|
R2 (Coefficient of determination), NS (Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency), MNS (Modified NS), and PBIAS (Percent Bias) were used to evaluate the simulation results with calibrated parameters. Where MNS, R2, and NS were well matched as they were closer to 1. The closer PBIAS was to zero, the better the observed and simulated values were matched (Gupta et al. 1999). Eq. 1 shows the calculation of PBIAS, and in the case of NS values, if it is 0.50 or more, it can be determined that the improvement effect on uncertainty is high, and can be expressed as shown in Eq. 2 (Nash and Sutcliffe 1970).
$$PBIAS =\frac{[{\sum }_{i=1}^{n}\left({O}_{i}-{S}_{i}\right)*100]}{[\sqrt{{\sum }_{i=1}^{n}\left({O}_{i}\right)]}}$$
1
Where: \({O}_{i}\) is observed values
\({S}_{i}\) is simulated values
$$NS=1- \frac{\sum {({O}_{o}-{O}_{s})}^{2}}{\sum {({O}_{o}-{\stackrel{-}{O}}_{o})}^{2}}$$
2
Where: \({O}_{o}\) is observed values
\({O}_{s}\) is simulated values
\({\stackrel{-}{O}}_{o}\) is average observed values
In SPE algorithm, uncertainty of the simulation results is quantified by 95 PPU (95% prediction uncertainty band). The 95 PPU is calculated with parameters, including a measured 95% prediction interval, based on this, P- and R-factors are measured. The P-factor is an indicator of the percentage at which the observed values are included in 95 PPU, and when the P-factor is 1, it means that the observed value is 100% included in the 95% prediction interval. On the contrary, the R-factor represents an average band width of 95 PPU, the closer the value is to zero, the better the calibration results coincide with the observed values. In general, for the simulation of runoff, if the P-factor is between 0.70 and 0.75, it is considered suitable.
Figures 8–10 show graphs comparing the simulated results and observed flow using optimal parameters obtained by the SPE algorithm. The graphs showed that the tendency of daily and seasonal variability was well reproduced, and the flow level corresponding to each day was similar to others. Table 4 shows a comparison of R2 values before and after calibration and validation. The R2 value for SWAT analysis before calibration and validation is 0.40, but after calibration and validation using SWAT-CUP Premium, the simulation result was improved to 0.71. Table 5 shows the model performance evaluation, with NS 0.51, PBIAS 37.1, P-factor 0.73, and R-factor 0.33, indicating that the relationship between the observed and simulated flows has improved, which is considered to be well matched.
Year
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2013–2016
|
Table 4
Comparison of R2 values by year before and after calibration and validation
Before calibration and validation
(SWAT)
|
0.21
|
0.52
|
0.17
|
0.49
|
0.40
|
After calibration and validation
(SWAT-CUP Premium)
|
0.55
|
0.80
|
0.56
|
0.74
|
0.71
|
Evaluation factor
|
R2
|
NS
|
PBIAS
|
MNS
|
P-factor
|
R-factor
|
Table 5
Simulation results using SWAT-CUP Premium after calibration and validation
Simulation results
|
0.71
|
0.51
|
37.1
|
0.52
|
0.73
|
0.33
|
Baseflow analysis and comparison
To compare baseflow before and after calibration and validation, SWAT Output Data was used to extract surface water runoff (SURQ_mm), intermediate runoff (LATQ_mm), and groundwater runoff (GWQ_mm) for the basin. The extracted data per unit area was calculated by runoff through unit conversion, and the baseflow was used for an intermediate runoff and groundwater runoff. Table 6 and Figure 11 show the results of the baseflow analysis for each year. The average baseflow before calibration and validation was 46.659 m3/s and it was increased to 56.951 m3/s after calibration and validation. Although there is a difference in baseflow depending on precipitation for each year, it was shown to increase after calibration and validation in all the years, and in 2015, the overall baseflow is low due to the effects of precipitation. Figure 12 shows a comparison of precipitation in the study area with the baseflow runoff before and after calibration and validation. The change of baseflow was shown depending on season and precipitation. It was confirmed that the difference in baseflow occurred according to the improvement of calibration, validation, and accuracy.
Table 6 Baseflow comparison before and after calibration and validation
Baseflow
|
2013
|
2014
|
2005
|
2016
|
Average
|
Before calibration and validation (m3/s)
|
42.553
|
60.631
|
23.404
|
60.048
|
46.659
|
After calibration and validation (m3/s)
|
52.533
|
73.446
|
28.764
|
73.060
|
56.951
|