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SWAT Model Calibration, Validation and Parameter Sensitivity Analysis Using

SWAT-CUP.

Conference Paper · November 2016

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4 authors:

Hamza Briak Rachid Moussadek

Mohammed VI Polytechnic University INRA/ICARDA
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Khadija Aboumaria Rachid Mrabet

Abdelmalek Essaâdi University Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
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 SWAT Model Calibration, Validation and Parameter Sensitivity Analysis
Using SWAT-CUP.

Hamza BRIAK1,2, Rachid MOUSSADEK2, Khadija ABOUMARIA1, Rachid MRABET2

1
Department of Geology. Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FST). BP-416, Tangier, Morocco.
2
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Scientific Division. National Institute for
Agricultural Research (INRA). BP-415, Rabat, Morocco.

Corresponding author email: hamza.briak@gmail.com

Abstract

Calibration and validation of process-based hydrological models are two major processes while
estimating the water balance components of watershed systems. The present study is carried out
with an objective to develop a reliable hydrologic model simulating stream flow discharge and
sediment concentration with least uncertainty among the parameters chosen for calibration. Soil
and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT, version 2012) model was used to simulate the stream flow
and sediment concentration of Kalaya catchment located in north of Morocco for the period from
1971-1993. Model calibration and validation were performed for monthly time periods using
Sequential Uncertainty Fitting 2 (SUFI-2, version 2) within SWAT- CUP using 16 parameters.
Our calibration outputs for monthly simulation for the period from 1976-1984 showed a good
model performance for flow rates with NSE and PBIAS values of 0.76 and -11.80, respectively;
also a good model performance for sediment concentration with NSE and PBIAS values of 0.69
and 7.12, respectively. However, during validation period (1985- 1993) for monthly time step,
the NSE and PBIAS values were 0.67 and -14.44, respectively for flow rates and these statistical
values were 0.70 and 15.51, respectively for sediment concentration; which meaning also a good
model performance for both. Following calibration, the overall effect of each parameter used was
ranked using global sensitivity function in SWAT-CUP. From our analysis, the effective
hydraulic conductivity in main channel alluvium (CH_K2), USLE support practice factor
(USLE_P) and manning's "n" value for the main channel (CH_N2) were found to be the most
sensitive parameters during different iterations with different number of simulation but with the
same inputs. The least sensitive parameter were found to be different in either cases unlike the
most sensitive parameters. It was concluded that the complete know about of the hydrologic
processes occurring within the watershed and awareness about acceptable meaningful range of
the parameters is essential while developing reliable hydrologic model.

Keywords: SWAT model, SUFI-2, sensitive parameters, catchment, north Morocco.

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