Hydrological modeling on Costa Rica using HYPE

This study aims to explore the use of the large-scale process-based HYPE  (Hydrological Predictions for the Environment) model (Lindström et al., 2010) for Costa Rica. Due to the lack of ground meteorological data, precipitation and temperature from global products were used as model forcings. Moreover, PET and ET from MODIS additionally to streamflow timeseries were used to calibrate and validate the model. To deal with the lack of a common period between streamflow and PET-ET, different step-wise calibration procedures were tested to evaluate the most effective strategy to constraint the parameters space and reduce the model uncertainty.

Our specific objectives were to:

1.     Adjust the open-source conceptual rainfall-runoff model HYPE to simulate catchments at the national scale of Costa Rica.

2.     Use remotely-sensed data and global products to drive and evaluate the model using four different step-wise calibration strategies.

3.     Analyze the effect of remotely-sensed PET and ET data on model calibration and its capabilities to improve the water balance and the hydrological signatures.