Estimation of High Floods by Three Rainfall-Runoff Models with Short Rainfall-Runoff Series (Alzette River Basin, Luxembourg)

This paper presents a comparison of hourly high runoff simulations using short discharge series for three parsimonious rainfall-runoff models that differ substantially in their conceptualisation (two reservoir models and one physically-based model). The models were applied to eight monitored sub-basins characterised by different physiographical properties and hydrological behaviour, located in the experimental Alzette river basin (Luxembourg). The model calibration procedure consists in selecting only rainfall-runoff events with highest peak flows and highest runoff production that occurred during the available measurement period (1997-2001). Simulated extreme values of peak flow and stormflow volumes were analysed and compared to observed runoff series. Results show that the models are able to provide good fits to the rainfall-runoff event’s hydrographs. Nevertheless, the physically-based MHM model gives the best results in terms of predictive accuracy.