Open Access
Open access
American Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
AIMS Geosciences
,  volume 11 ,  issue 1 ,  pages 27-46

Comparison of synthetic unit hydrograph methods for flood assessment in a dryland, poorly gauged basin (Napostá Grande, Argentina)

Publication type: Journal Article
Publication date: 2025-01-15
American Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
wos Q4
SJR: —
CiteScore: —
Impact factor: 0.8
ISSN: 24712132
Abstract
<p>This paper examined and compared the reliability of two popular unit hydrograph methods for flood assessment in a dryland, poorly gauged basin: the Soil Conservation Service (NRCS-UH) method and the geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph (GIUH) model. In addition, two different estimates of the basin's time of concentration were compared, along with varying values of the runoff curve number, to compute the watershed lag. Simulations were performed for the upper Napostá Grande (SW Buenos Aires, Argentina), using eight historic rainfall-runoff events to validate the resulting hydrograph at the basin outlet. Validation used runoff volume, peak flow, and recession time as an alternative to time to peak, for which only mean daily data were available. Results revealed great discrepancies in unit hydrograph parameters for varying determination methods, time of concentration estimates, and basin lag factors, as well as lower-than-standard peak rate factors for GIUH hydrographs. The comparison of simulated with observed hydrographs suggested a better agreement of GIUH for the highest retardance factor, as it produced the smaller peaks with the longer recession. This study informs on the complex relationships involved in unit hydrograph (UH) determination for the studied basin and warns about the variability of obtained results depending on the applied methodology, the caution needed in the systematic use of standard parameters, and the importance of verifying the accuracy of results. This provides a valuable framework for flood assessment within regional, ungauged basins with similar characteristics, which may exhibit comparable total runoff volumes for the same rainfall event but not necessarily equivalent flood hydrographs.</p>
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Casado A. et al. Comparison of synthetic unit hydrograph methods for flood assessment in a dryland, poorly gauged basin (Napostá Grande, Argentina) // AIMS Geosciences. 2025. Vol. 11. No. 1. pp. 27-46.
GOST all authors (up to 50) Copy
Casado A., López N. C. Comparison of synthetic unit hydrograph methods for flood assessment in a dryland, poorly gauged basin (Napostá Grande, Argentina) // AIMS Geosciences. 2025. Vol. 11. No. 1. pp. 27-46.
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RIS Copy
TY - JOUR
DO - 10.3934/geosci.2025003
UR - http://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/geosci.2025003
TI - Comparison of synthetic unit hydrograph methods for flood assessment in a dryland, poorly gauged basin (Napostá Grande, Argentina)
T2 - AIMS Geosciences
AU - Casado, Ana
AU - López, Natalia C
PY - 2025
DA - 2025/01/15
PB - American Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
SP - 27-46
IS - 1
VL - 11
SN - 2471-2132
ER -
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BibTex (up to 50 authors) Copy
@article{2025_Casado,
author = {Ana Casado and Natalia C López},
title = {Comparison of synthetic unit hydrograph methods for flood assessment in a dryland, poorly gauged basin (Napostá Grande, Argentina)},
journal = {AIMS Geosciences},
year = {2025},
volume = {11},
publisher = {American Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)},
month = {jan},
url = {http://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/geosci.2025003},
number = {1},
pages = {27--46},
doi = {10.3934/geosci.2025003}
}
MLA
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Casado, Ana, et al. “Comparison of synthetic unit hydrograph methods for flood assessment in a dryland, poorly gauged basin (Napostá Grande, Argentina).” AIMS Geosciences, vol. 11, no. 1, Jan. 2025, pp. 27-46. http://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/geosci.2025003.