MGB-IPH model for hydrological and hydraulic simulation of large floodplain river systems coupled with open source GIS

• Published in: Environmental modelling & software : with environment data news Vol. 94; pp. 1 - 20
• Main Authors: Pontes, Paulo Rógenes Monteiro, Fan, Fernando Mainardi, Fleischmann, Ayan Santos, de Paiva, Rodrigo Cauduro Dias, Buarque, Diogo Costa, Siqueira, Vinícius Alencar, Jardim, Pedro Frediani, Sorribas, Mino Viana, Collischonn, Walter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2017; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Araguaia basin; Borides; Computer simulation; Flooding; Floodplains; Geographic information systems; GIS coupling; Hydrologic analysis; Hydrologic data; Hydrologic models; Hydrological-hydrodynamic modeling; Hydrology; Imagery; Inertial flow routing; MGB-IPH model; Remote sensing; River basins; River networks; River systems; Rivers; Routing; Satellite navigation systems; Scale (ratio); Studies; Water levels; Water resources; Brazil; GIS coupling; Inertial flow routing; MGB-IPH model; Hydrological-hydrodynamic modeling; Araguaia basin
• ISSN: 1364-8152; 1873-6726
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2017.03.029

Large-scale hydrological models are useful tools for water resources studies, however, river network flow routing is generally represented using simplified methods, which may lead to simulation errors in flat regions. We present recent improvements to the large-scale hydrological model MGB-IPH to improve its capability of simulating large river basins with extensive floodplains. We also describe the coupling of MGB-IPH to an open source GIS and a large set of developed pre-processing tools with a user-friendly interface for remote sensing data preparation and output visualization. The new features implemented are demonstrated applying the model to the whole Araguaia river basin (380,000 km2). Results are compared to the previous MGB-IPH routing method, observed flow and water level data and remote sensing imagery, showing improvement in the representation of floodplain inundation dynamics. The test case also shows that the proposed model software framework amplifies possibilities of large-scale simulation of ungauged basins. •Hydrological and hydrodynamic model coupled with an open-source GIS.•User friendly open-source GIS coupled interface for simulation of complex hydrological systems.•Representation of river branching and bifurcations.•Capability of representing floodplain river systems using local inertial equations.•Applicability for large scale, ungauged basins.