Streamflow modelling on a subdaily time step in the Upper Murray Basin

This paper describes the results of rainfall-runoff modelling for ten catchments in the Upper Murray Basin (Basin 401) of the Murray Darling drainage division (MDDD), Australia. The outflows of these catchments are used by the Murray Darling Basin Commission for operational management of the Hume and Dartmouth Lakes, two of Australiaʹs four largest reservoirs. Previous results [1–4] have demonstrated that the conceptual, lumped parameter, rainfall-runoff model IHACRES provides a good approximation to the daily measured flow in several basins of the MDDD. The major aim of the research described in this paper is the identification of models based on a shorter four-hourly sampling interval. Further in [5], these identified models are used in a Kalman filter-based forecasting framework to allow real-time forecasts of streamflow in these catchments.