The effect of spatial scale and resolution has been quantified individually for different hydrologic and hydraulic processes. However, the model structure and intrinsic resolution are seldom modified to accurately capture scale-dependent physical processes. Although automated calibration methods exist for computationally expensive integrated models, an alternate approach reliant on improving the model structure is proposed here. This study advocates for a better representation of the intrinsic spatial scales of physical processes and their submodels by quantifying the impact of different types of spatial scaling on the overall watershed response. First, the effect of spatial extent scaling is quantified by evaluating the change in the basin response (e.g., streamflow and inundation extent) across a small and large subwatershed for the same region. Second, the effect of modifying the relative intrinsic spatial scales of surface-groundwater (SW-GW) submodels is quantified. Finally, the results are used to implement a better model structure for improving prediction across two watersheds with distinct physical characteristics. The findings suggest that the relative intrinsic scales of SW-GW submodels may be different for different hydrogeological systems depending on the ratio of the characteristic length scales of hydrologic-hydraulic processes. Conducting a scaling analysis can help identify how different physical processes can be best represented in integrated models for a range of climatological and physiographic conditions which can potentially serve as an alternative to extensive calibration in distributed models. Therefore, it is recommended that this analysis should be included as a prerequisite to extensive parameter calibration for large-scale-integrated models.

中文翻译：

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通过评估内在空间尺度的影响来改进综合水文-水文模型预测的替代方法

空间尺度和分辨率的影响已针对不同的水文和水力过程单独量化。然而，模型结构和内在分辨率很少被修改以准确捕获与尺度相关的物理过程。尽管存在用于计算成本高昂的集成模型的自动校准方法，但这里提出了一种依赖于改进模型结构的替代方法。本研究主张通过量化不同类型的空间尺度对整体流域响应的影响，更好地表示物理过程及其子模型的内在空间尺度。首先，通过评估同一区域大小流域的流域响应变化（例如，水流和淹没范围）来量化空间范围缩放的影响。其次，对修改地表地下水 (SW-GW) 子模型的相对固有空间尺度的影响进行了量化。最后，结果用于实施更好的模型结构，以改进具有不同物理特征的两个流域的预测。研究结果表明，根据水文-水力过程特征长度尺度的比例，不同水文地质系统的 SW-GW 子模型的相对固有尺度可能不同。进行比例分析可以帮助确定如何在一系列气候和自然条件的综合模型中最好地表示不同的物理过程，这些模型有可能替代分布式模型中的广泛校准。所以，