Modélisation de la dynamique potentielle d’un bassin versant et mesure de son efficacité structurelle

Abstract

Classical morphometric indexes have been the first quantitative methods created by geomorphologists to compare the morphometric characteristics of many catchments and to quantify their theoretical hydrologic behavior. Even if many indices still remain quoted in numerous hydrologic books, a few authors have recently underlined the drawbacks of such methods. They are mainly static and not synthetics, and so, they are not sufficient to predict the hydrological response. So, we choose creating relevant indexes basing our approach on new distributed simulation tools as cellular automata (RuiCells) to calculate synthetic indexes based on numerical experiences. Simulations on 422 varied catchments lead a few interesting results. Some efficient spatial configurations are detected at a local scale while at the global scale such behavior was not observed. An index of spatial efficiency is proposed on each cell in order to quantify the efficiency of the network structure in every point within the catchment. The greater values identify the points with the stronger theoretical response.

Keywords

• cellular automata
• network
• catchment
• shape
• structural efficiency
• morphometric index