PHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF REGIONALIZED FLOW AS AN AID IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF HYDROLOGICALLY HOMOGENEOUS REGIONS

ABSTRACT Regionalization is an important technique for estimating the flow of hydrographic sections with a lack of data. First, it is necessary to identify hydrologically homogeneous regions (HHRs), which are commonly validated via statistical analyses. Because this step is understood to be subjective, studies that contribute to a greater reliability in identifying regions are needed. In this context, the objective was to evaluate the inclusion of a physical analysis of the average regionalized flow rates as an aid to identify HHRs. The groupings were defined on the basis of geographical convenience methods and cluster analysis. For the assessment of regionalized flows, six statistical indices were used with a physical analysis that was performed via a comparison of the runoff coefficient to the spatial distribution of precipitation values. It was concluded that the physical analysis reduced the subjectivity in the identification of HHRs.