Performance Comparison of HBV, IHACRES and SIMHYD Hydrological Models for the Runoff Simulation (Study Area: Sefidroud River Basin, North of Iran)

Surface runoff is a major cause of soil erosion and loss of soil fertility, reduced water quality, sedimentation in reservoirs and rivers. Therefore, an accurate estimation of runoff as hydrological response of the basin in water resources management is very important. Hydrological models are simplified representation of the actual hydrological system to study the functions of basin in response to various input and contribute to a better understanding of hydrological processes. However, choosing an appropriate model in different models types, capabilities and limitations, as well as physical and biological attributes of study area in order to optimize the management of water resources is essential. The present study attempted to compare the performance of a conceptual hydrological model HBV, IHACRES and SIMHYD to runoff simulation steps regard to calibration and validation for the Sefidroud River Basin in northern Iran. Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient or Model Efficiency (EI), Coefficient of Determination (R₂) and the Root Square Mean Error (RMSE) were used to assess the model performance. According to the results, the highest and lowest performance of simulation in order to calibration step was respectively IHACRES and SIMHYD, and for the validation step was respectively HBV and IHACRES obtained.