Calibration is an essential step that is involved in the application of process based distributed hydrological models. The calibration process focuses on improving the performance index values rather than improving the process dynamics. The poor process dynamics in the model reduces its predictive power. The current study proposes a modified calibration approach (MCA) for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, which helps to improve the process dynamics in model through constraining the parameters. The modified calibration method uses the association between physically interpretable SWAT model parameters as soft data for calibration. The proposed calibration approach is validated in the Little River Experimental Watershed, USA. The results indicate that the proposed calibration method improves the process representation and spatial prediction in the calibrated model compared to the standard calibration procedure based on streamflow data.

校准是基于过程的分布式水文模型应用中的一个重要步骤。校准过程侧重于改进性能指标值而不是改进过程动态。模型中较差的过程动态会降低其预测能力。目前的研究提出了一种用于土壤和水评估工具 (SWAT) 模型的修正校准方法 (MCA)，该方法有助于通过约束参数来改善模型中的过程动力学。修改后的校准方法使用物理上可解释的 SWAT 模型参数之间的关联作为校准的软数据。建议的校准方法在美国小河实验流域得到验证。