A parametric model for steeply sloping forested watersheds

With the objective of simulating storm hydrographs in steeply sloping forested watersheds in humid regions, the kinematic storage model of S1oan and Moore (1984) was embedded into an existing watershed model (HEC 1) and applied to a set of selected watersheds in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. Because of the marginal performance of the model, a more comprehensive model structure was developed which explicitly considers both macropore and micropore flow mechanisms. Application of the new model to the selected watersheds produced much better correlations between the observed and predicted watershed responses such as the runoff volume, the peak discharge, and the time to peak. Calibrated model parameters were found to exhibit a strong seasonal dependency. As a result, it was concluded that the underlying response mechanisms are highly influenced by seasonal changes in both the surface and subsurface characteristics of the watersheds.