Streamflows over a West African basin from the ALMIP-2 model ensemble

Abstract

omparing streamflow simulations against observations has become a straightforward way to evaluate a land surface model?s (LSM) ability in simulating water budget within a catchment. Using a meso-scale river routing scheme (RRS), this study evaluates simulated streamflows over the upper Ouémé River basin resulting from 14 LSMs within the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) Land surface Model Intercomparison Project Phase 2 (ALMIP-2). The ALMIP-2 river RouTing Scheme (ARTS) has been used to route LSM outputs. ARTS is based on the non-linear Muskingum-Cunge method, and a simple deep water infiltration formulation representing water table recharge as previously observed in that region. Simulations are performed for the 2005-2008 period during which ground observations are largely available. Experiments are designed using different ground-based rainfall datasets derived from two interpolation methods: the Thiessen technique and a combined krigged-Lagrangean methodology. LSM-based total runoff (TR) averages vary from 0.07 to 1.97 mm.d-1, while optimal TR was estimated as ~0.65 mm.d-1. This highly affected the RRS parameterization and streamflow simulations. Optimal Nash-Sutcliffe coefficients for LSM-averaged streamflows varied from 0.66 to 0.92, depending on the gauge station. However, individual LSM performances show a wider range. A more detailed rainfall distribution provided by the krigged-Lagrangean methodology resulted in overall better streamflow simulations. The early runoff generation related to reduced infiltration rates during early rainfall events features as one of the main reasons for poor LSM performances.