Rainfall-Runoff Modelling in Small and Medium-sized Alpine Catchments

The aim of the presented doctoral thesis is the development of components for an operational flood forecastingsystem. Two methods to determine the rainfall-runoff relationship were applied in a casestudy in a small Alpine catchment:(i) Application of the raster-based hydrological model WaSiM-ETH. This model is basedon the conceptual TOPMODEL- approach. Model parameters were determined by aninverse modelling algorithm;(ii) Application of artificial neural networks for a short-term runoff prediction.The study area was the catchment of the Zieplbach torrent in the Community of Westendorf,Tyrol, Austria. Discharge and precipitation measurements of this 1 km² catchment wereavailable for the period from July 2000 until July 2003.This book is suited for hydrologists and hydraulic engineers using hydrological models or with an interest in data-driven approaches.

Dieter Theiner: 1997 - 2002 MSc Civil Engineering, Technical University Munich / University of Innsbruck; 2002 - 2005 Doctoral Studies, University of Innsbruck, Institute of Hydraulic Engineering; Research interests: design flood calculation, flood forecasting systems, flood analysis; since 2005 Project Engineer for an Italian energy company.