Development of a user-friendly web-based rainfall-runoff model

Abstract

The objective of this study is to develop an open access web-based conceptual Xinanjiang model for supporting calibration process with user-friendly interfaces. This makes it possible to calibrate the model for any user irrespective of the location, resource availability or technical capability. This interface not only allows the user to run the model in a user-friendly environment, but also provides useful support for better calibration by suggesting parameter settings based on observed hydro-climatic data, calculating Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency at daily, monthly and annual scales using time series of observed and simulated discharge data for every successful model run and hydrograph visualization. Moreover, the user can further verify the agreement between the observed and simulated discharge by visually inspecting the hydrograph. The interface allows rendering hydrographs using simulated and observed discharge for a respective model run or group of model runs. The user can perform repeated model runs with different parameter sets until it achieves a satisfactory accuracy. The user can download the result and parameter files for all or any specific model run.