Calibration and Evaluation of the WRF-Hydro Model in Simulating the Streamflow over the Arid Regions of Northwest China: A Case Study in Kaidu River Basin

In this study, the hydrological system of Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-Hydro) is applied to simulate streamflow at Kaidu River Basin, which vital ecological in lower reaches Tarim Northwest China. The offline WRF-Hydro coupled with Noah multi-parameterization land surface (Noah-MP) forced by China Meteorological Forcing Dataset (CMFD), grid spacing routing modules being 250 m. A 3-year period (1983–1985) used for calibration a 17-year (1986–2002) evaluation. Several key parameters four Noah-MP parameterization options are calibrated, performance optimized setting evaluated using daily observations. results indicate that can reproduce observed reasonably, underestimation peaks. simulated sensitive bexp, dksat, smcmax, REFKDT, slope, OVROUGHRTAC mann Basin. At same time, also have large influence on simulation. settings achieve correlation coefficient (CC) Nash efficiency (NSE) statistical scores 0.78 0.61, respectively, period. Meanwhile, evaluation period, 0.7 0.50, respectively. This study indicates importance applying physical-based over provides reference nearby regions.