Performance of the Xinanjiang Model

The Xinanjiang rainfall-run-off model is a popular model applied extensively in the humid and sub-humid regions of the world for forecasting of flood, climate change studies and water resources assessment, planning and management. However, its performance in the Indian climatic conditions has not been extensively studied. In the present study, attempt is made to evaluate the performance of the Xinanjiang model for run-off simulation in six Indian watersheds having different climatic conditions (wet, average and dry). The results of the study indicate better model performance in wet catchments with average values of NSE = 0.88 and average R-2 = 0.89. The average values of NSE and R2 on watersheds with average climatic condition obtained as 0.67 and 0.68, respectively, indicating average performance of the model. The performance of the model may be considered poor on watersheds with dry climatic conditions as the average estimated values of NSE and R-2 being 0.49 and 0.52, respectively. The results indicate the suitability of the application of Xinanjiang model in catchments characterised by wet and average climatic conditions and poor in dry climate conditions of India. However, extensive study is required to arrive at a final inference about the suitability of application of this model considering a number of catchments in the country.