Numerical Modeling of Water Transfer among Precipitation, Surface Water, Soil Moisture and Groundwater

In the processes of hydrological cycle, when precipitation reaches the ground surface, water may become surface runoff or infiltrate into soil and then possibly further percolate into groundwater aquifer. A part of the water is returned to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration. Soil moisture dynamics driven climate fluctuations plays a key role in the simulation of water transfer among ground surface, unsaturated zone and aquifer. In this study, a one-layer canopy and a four-layer soil representation is used for a coupled soil-vegetation modeling scheme. A non-zero hydraulic diffusivity between the deepest soil layer modeled and groundwater table is used to couple the numerical equations of soil moisture and groundwater dynamics. Simulation of runoff generation is based on the mechanism of both infiltration excess overland flow and saturation overland flow nested in a numerical model of soil moisture dynamics. Thus, a comprehensive hydrological model integrating canopy, soil zone and aquifer has been developed to evaluate water resources in the plain region of Huaihe River basin in East China and simulate water transfer among precipitation, surface water, soil moisture and groundwater. The newly developed model is capable of calculating hydrological components of surface runoff, evapotranpiration from soil and aquifer, and groundwater recharge from precipitation and discharge into rivers. Regional parameterization is made by using two approaches. One is to determine most parameters representing specific physical values on the basis of characterization of soil properties in unsaturated zone and aquifer, and vegetations. The other is to calibrate the remaining few parameters on the basis of comparison between measured and simulated streamflow and groundwater tables. The integrated modeling system was successfully used in the Linhuanji catchment of Huaihe plain region. Study results demonstrate that (1) on the average 14.2% of precipitation becomes surface runoff and baseflow during a ten-year period from 1986 to 1995 and this figure fluctuates between only 3.0% in drought years of 1986, 1988, 1993 and 1994 to 24.0% in wet year of 1991; (2) groundwater directly deriving from precipitation recharge is about 15.0% t of the precipitation amount, and (3) about half of the groundwater recharge flows into rivers and loses through evaporation.