Robustness of a parsimonious subsurface drainage model at the French national scale

Abstract

Drainage systems are currently implemented on agricultural plots subjected to temporary or permanent waterlogging issues. Drained plots account for 9 % of all arable soils in France. As such, the need for accurate hydrological modeling is crucial, especially in an unstable future context affected by climate change. The aim of this paper is to assess the capacity of the SIDRA-RU hydrological drainage model to represent the variability in pedoclimatic conditions within French metropolitan areas and to demonstrate the utility of this model as a long-term management tool. The model is initially calibrated using the KGE′ criterion as an objective function (OF) on a large and unique database encompassing 22 plots spread across France and classified according to three main soil textures (silty, silty–clay, and clayey). The performance of SIDRA-RU is evaluated by monitoring both the set of KGE′ calibration values and the quality of simulations on each plot with respect to high and low discharges, as well as the annual drained water balance. Next, the temporal robustness of the model is assessed by conducting, on selected plots, the split-sample test capable of satisfying the data requirements. Results show that the SIDRA-RU model accurately simulates drainage discharge, especially on silty soils. The performance on clayey soils is slightly weaker than that on silty soils yet remains acceptable. Similarly, the split-sample test indicates that SIDRA-RU is temporally robust on all three soil textures. Consequently, the SIDRA-RU model closely replicates the diversity of French drained soil and could be used for its long-term management potential.