Effect of Landcover Parameters on Catchment Hydrologic Process Simulation

Abstract

Distributed hydrologic models can be used to simulate hydrologic processes in a catchment considering the spatial variability of catchment characteristics such as landcover, topography and other physical parameters. Remote sensing images provide a very effective means of estimating landcover parameters of a catchment as they can be used to estimate the temporal and spatial variation of a large area at high resolution. In this study different sets of landcover maps of the Agno river basin in the Philippines were derived from satellite images using different landcover classification strategies, which include supervised, unsupervised and hierarchical classifications. The best classification images were judged by aerial photographs and site visits. Hydrological simulations were carried out with a distributed hydrologic model using different landcover maps obtained to identify the model sensitivity to the landcover data and to estimate the changes in hydrologic processes with changes in landcover patterns. Results show different components of the hydrological cycle are affected to different degree depending on landcover information.