On the Use of Hydrological Models and Satellite Data to Study the Water Budget of River Basins Affected by Human Activities: Examples from the Garonne Basin of France

• Published in: Surveys in geophysics Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 223 - 247
• Main Authors: Martin, Eric, Gascoin, Simon, Grusson, Youen, Murgue, Clément, Bardeau, Mélanie, Anctil, François, Ferrant, Sylvain, Lardy, Romain, Le Moigne, Patrick, Leenhardt, Delphine, Rivalland, Vincent, Sánchez Pérez, José-Miguel, Sauvage, Sabine, Therond, Olivier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2016; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag (Germany)
• Subjects: Astronomy; Crops; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Environmental Engineering; Environmental Sciences; Freshwater; Geophysics/Geodesy; Human; Human influences; Hydrologic modeling; Hydrology; Hydrology models; Modelling; Observations and Techniques; Remote sensing; River basins; Rivers; Sciences of the Universe; Water resources; Water resources management; ANE, France; France, Garonne R; Hydrology; Agriculture; Sociological and hydrological system; Modeling; Remote sensing; Anthropogenic changes; ACTION ANTHROPIQUE; DONNEE DE SATELLITE; BILAN HYDROLOGIQUE; REMOTE SENSING; HYDROLOGICAL MODEL; SATELLITE DATA; SOCIOLOGIE; MODELE HYDROLOGIQUE; ANTHROPIC ACTIVITY; TELEDETECTION; HYDROLOGIC BALANCE; SOCIOLOGY
• ISSN: 0169-3298; 1573-0956
• DOI: 10.1007/s10712-016-9366-2

Natural and anthropogenic forcing factors and their changes significantly impact water resources in many river basins around the world. Information on such changes can be derived from fine scale in situ and satellite observations, used in combination with hydrological models. The latter need to account for hydrological changes caused by human activities to correctly estimate the actual water resource. In this study, we consider the catchment area of the Garonne river (in France) to investigate the capabilities of space-based observations and up-to-date hydrological modeling in estimating water resources of a river basin modified by human activities and a changing climate. Using the ISBA–MODCOU and SWAT hydrological models, we find that the water resources of the Garonne basin display a negative climate trend since 1960. The snow component of the two models is validated using the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer snow cover extent climatology. Crop sowing dates based on remote sensing studies are also considered in the validation procedure. Use of this dataset improves the simulated evapotranspiration and river discharge amounts when compared to conventional data. Finally, we investigate the benefit of using the MAELIA multi-agent model that accounts for a realistic agricultural and management scenario. Among other results, we find that changes in crop systems have significant impacts on water uptake for agriculture. This work constitutes a basis for the construction of a future modeling framework of the sociological and hydrological system of the Garonne river region.