Rainfall-runoff Modelling in Smalland Medium-sized Alpine Catchments: Development of Components for an Operationalrunoff Forecasting Model

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.