Accuracy of HEC-HMS and LBRM models in simulating snow runoffs in Upper Euphrates Basin

Forecasting streamflow is extremely significant in hydrological studies to optimize the operation of water resources systems. Upper Euphrates Basin, which is located in eastern Turkey, is a snow dominated basin and its runoff is largely affected by snowmelt. Snowmelt is an important water resource to many aspects of hydrology including water supply, flood control and erosion. Selection of a suitable tool was necessary to assess potential impacts of climate change on hydrological cycle of this region. Hydrologic models are useful tools for the prediction of runoffs and interactions among hydrological variables within hydrologic cycle. Due to limited data availability, lumped conceptual hydrological models are often used, instead of distributed hydrological models. To assess the accuracy of lumped conceptual hydrological models, this paper presents simulation results of snowmelt runoffs of Upper Euphrates Basin by using two models, which use the temperature index approach to calculate snowmelt process. The Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) and Large Basin Runoff Model (LBRM) were used for this purpose