Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net 1812-2108 1812-2116 5 3 2008 10.5194/hessd-5-1319-2008 http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/5/1319/2008/ http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/5/1319/2008/hessd-5-1319-2008.html http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/5/1319/2008/hessd-5-1319-2008.pdf 1319 1370 2008-06-11 Improvement, calibration and validation of a distributed hydrological model over France P. Quintana Seguí pere.quintana-segui@meteo.fr E. Martin F. Habets J. Noilhan CNRM-GAME, Météo-France CNRS, 42 av. G. Coriolis, 31057 Toulouse Cedex, France UMR Sisyphe, Université Pierre et Marie Curie CNRS, Centre de Géosciences, 35 rue St Honoré, 77305 Fontainebleau, France The hydrometeorological model SAFRAN-ISBA-MODCOU (SIM) computes water and energy budgets on the land surface and riverflows and the level of several aquifers at the scale of France. SIM is composed of a meteorological analysis system (SAFRAN), a land surface model (ISBA) and a hydrogeological model (MODCOU). In this study, an exponential profile of hydraulic conductivity at saturation is introduced to the model and its impact analysed. It is also studied how calibration modifies the performance of the model. A very simple method of calibration is implemented and applied to the parameters of hydraulic conductivity and subgrid runoff. The study shows that a better description of the hydraulic conductivity of the soil is important to simulate more realistic discharges. It is also shown that the calibrated model is more robust than the original SIM. In fact, the calibration mainly affects the processes related to the dynamics of the flow (drainage and runoff), and the rest of relevant processes (like evaporation) remain stable. 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