Usability of the BLRP model for hydrological applications in arid and semi-arid regions with limited precipitation data

In this study, Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) is used to investigate rainfall-runoff process in Taleghan watershed, northern Iran. Despite the high accuracy of the model, the lack of rainfall data at short time scales (hour and less than hour) restricted implementation of the model especially for long time simulations. Some studies use simple division for daily rainfall disaggregation into the hourly values to provide data requirements of HSPF model. In simple division, each rainfall event is divided into 24 pulse stochastically and the peak flows may not properly being simulated due to the lower rainfall intensities. In this study, random parameter Bartlett–Lewis rectangular pulse (BLRP) model was implemented to disaggregate daily rainfall time series into the hourly values and the results compared with that of simple division. In BLRP model, parameters of the model calibrated against the 1, 24 and 48 h mean, variance, lag1 auto covariance and proportion dry of observed rainfall. The calibrated model was then implemented to disaggregate daily rainfall data into the hourly values. To compare two disaggregation approaches, daily stream flow simulation by HSPF model is initialized in 2 scenarios by applying the hourly rainfall data resulted from two disaggregation methods. The results indicated that while using the simple division method leads to the underestimation of peak flows, using the BLRP model improved peak flow simulations. This study indicated usability of the BLRP model for rainfall disaggregation in arid and semi-arid regions with limited fine scale precipitation data availability. © 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.