Estimation of the HEC-HMS model parameters in data-scarce regions. Application to the Ouergha watershed (Sebou, Morocco)

The availability, accessibility and quality of data are significant obstacles to hydrological modelling. Estimating the initial values of the hydrological model´’ ’s parameters is a laborious and determining task requiring much attention. Geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial remote sensing are prometting tools for processing and collecting data. In this work, we use an innovative approach to estimate the HEC-HMS hydrological model parameters from the soil map of Africa (250m), the land use map GLC30, the depth to bedrock map, the digital elevation model and observed flow data. The estimation approach is applied to the Ouergha basin (Sebou, Morocco). The proposed approach’s interest is to feed the HEC-HMS hydrological model with initial values of parameters close to the study area reality instead of using random parameters.