Hydrological modeling in the Sono river basin, environmental protection region of the Jalapão, Brazilian savanna

Abstract

The Sono river basin (SRB) is an important ecological area located at the Cerrado biome, which encompasses several environmental protection units, highlighting the Jalapão State Parque. In order to assist the water resource management, this paper developed a hydrological simulation of the SRB, delineated at the Jatobá station (drainage area of 16,862 km²), using the SWAT model, and determined the spatial distribution of the mean, maximum, and minimum specific yields (REmlt, REmin, and REmax) in the basin. The performance of the model was evaluated using Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) and percentage bias (PBIAS). For the monthly calibration and validation periods, respectively, NSE values of 0.55 and 0.56 and PBIAS values of 8.2% and -10.2% were obtained. For daily calibration and validation periods, respectively, NSE values of 0.40 and 0.41 and PBIAS values of 8.2% and -11.2% were obtained. These results indicate that the SWAT was able to model the monthly and daily streamflows of the SRB. In addition, the REmlt, REmin and REmax maps showed that the environmental protection areas are the biggest water producers compared with the other parts of the basin. Therefore, the results achieved in this study are fundamental tools for the water resources management at this important ecological region.