Discharge analysis and runoff mapping applied to the evaluation of model performance

Performance of hydrological models is usually assessed using the Nash criteria, based on differences between daily discharge time series. Two ways are investigated to extend the comparison tests. The first one is based on other statistical analyses performed at the gauging stations. The second is based on interpolation procedures that are specific to discharge data. These approaches are used within Gewex-Rhone, a research project aiming to achieve a coupled modelling of continental and atmospheric water cycle components at mesoscale. Two versions of a distributed hydrological model (MOBCOU and CIRSE) were applied to the French part of the Rhone basin (86200 km(2)) within this project. They provided a considerable amount of simulated daily discharges to be objectively compared to observations. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.