Identification of relationships between biophysical properties and hydrological response in wet moor basins: a basis for regionalizing the parameters of hydrological models

At present it is a priority to increase knowledge about the main hydrological processes of flow generation in Andean basins. The strong drought registered in Ecuador in 2009 demonstrated the lack of knowledge about the functioning of the Páramo in these unusual events. The economic impacts of these natural phenomena are enormous and can bring other social problems. One of the biggest challenges in mountain areas is the estimation of flows in non -monitored basins. During the last decades there has been a strong emphasis on the development and use of hydrological models of different complexity to solve this problem. However, the problem is that the models are not always appropriate for the study basin, with which the results are not acceptable. As a way to solve the problem, it is proposed to identify the relationships between the main biophysical properties and the hydrological response in wet moor basins, from an advanced hydrogeochemical monitoring, as a basis for regionalizing the parameters of hydrological models. In this way you can select the model with the structure that best fits the hydrological functioning of the particular basin. The latter will help select a better conceptual structure of hydrological models, in order to better represent hydrological processes and their spatial variability. The project will have two components: the analysis of the hydrological response of the study basins and their relationship with their main biophysical characteristics and the identification of how the main biophysical characteristics of the study basin influence the main processes of generation of flow and reactivity of the environment.

XI UNIVERSITY COMPETITION FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS UNIVERSITY OF CUENCA