Calibration and validation of the SWAT model for hydrologic simulation in a river basin located in the north coast of Santa Catarina

Abstract Hydrological studies in experimental basins have been widely carried out in order to understand the processes that control the movement of water and sediment and their impact on the availability and quality of water. For this purpose, the hydrological models are used to simulate hypothetical scenarios at different spatial and temporal scales. The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the SWAT model to represent the hydrosedimentological flow in a Santa Catarina river basin by applying the usual procedures for calibration and validation. The study was conducted in the basin of the Camboriú River (BHRC), which has an area of 195 km². For model performance analysis purposes, the flow and solids transported to the control section studied and the simulated data were compared. The results obtained have proven the efficiency of SWAT hydrosedimentological simulations in the BHRC. However, it was necessary to calibrate the model so that the simulations would comply with the established quality criteria. Though it occurred within acceptable limits, there was a tendency of underestimation of the simulated variables after calibration. Additionally, it was possible to verify the efficiency of the model for simulating the retention curves of the analyzed variables, thus emphasizing the SWAT as an important tool for river basin management such as the basin of Camboriú River.