Comparison of rainfall runoff simulation by SCS-CN and NAM model in Shipra river basin of Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

Rainfall Runoff computation of any basin plays an important role in water resources planning and management. Here we have developed two conceptual models viz. the SCS-CN model and NAM model to study the hydrological behavior of the river. The two models were evaluated on the basis of coefficient of determination (R2), coefficient of correlation (r), Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency and Root Mean Square Error. The estimated or simulated values were compared with the observed data which showed good consistency. The SCS-CN model showed Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency is 72% and 53%, coefficient of determination R2 values 0.616 and 0.44, coefficient of correlation is 0.78 and 0.66 and Root Mean Square Error is 83.09 and 130.06 for the period of calibration and validation respectively which were satisfactorily close to the observed values. The NAM model showed Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency is 76% and 85%, coefficient of determination R2 value is 0.72 and 0.502, coefficient of correlation is 0.76 and 0.84 and Root Mean Square Error is 68.26 and 64.4 for the period of calibration and validations respectively were found to be closer to the observed values in comparison to the SCS-CN model. The comparative study of the two models indicates that the NAM model is more superior to the SCS-CN model and is suitable for the hydrological study of the Shipra river basin of Madhya Pradesh in India.