Damon Grabow

Date of Award

January 2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Yeo Howe Lim

Abstract

This research is intended to enhance recent hydrologic research that focused on a rainfall-runoff model of the Devils Lake basin in central North Dakota. This research employs the spatial volumetric soil moisture data collected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) instrument. The AMSR-E data, collected from 2002-2011 from the NASA EOS Aqua satellite, was used in the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM) to estimate the surface soil moisture at a scale of 25-km. AMSR-E data is used in collaboration with the current rainfall-runoff model to better understand the influences of spatial soil moisture data on hydrology in the Devils Lake basin. The hypothesis is that the spatial volumetric soil moisture data will increase the accuracy of a hydrologic model based on single soil moisture data points.

The calibrated HEC-HMS model uses the soil moisture accounting method and produces a more accurate lake level hydrograph for Devils Lake. When comparing results from previous studies, this research produces an RMSE value of 0.85 ft during the same time frame in which previous studies produce values of 1.49 ft and 1.73 ft.

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