Reservoir Operation with Feedback in a Coupled Land Surface and Hydrologic Model: A Case Study of the Huai River Basin, China

Abstract Regarding emerging large‐scale reservoir operation models, reports of reservoir operation feedback for hydrologic modeling are rare, and little attention has been paid to flood control. An operation scheme considering multilevel flood control ( MLFC ) was first proposed in this study, but more reservoir information was needed. Thus, an alternative scheme was proposed that consisted of a modified version of the reservoir operation scheme in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool Model ( MSWAT scheme). These schemes were coupled to a land surface and hydrologic model system with feedback, i.e., a system in which reservoir operation can affect the subsequent simulation, and were investigated in the Huai River Basin. The results show reservoir storage and peak flow were generally overestimated by the original SWAT reservoir scheme ( SWAT scheme). Compared with the SWAT scheme, the MSWAT scheme successfully reduced the simulated storage and peak flow at the reservoir stations. For the downstream stations, the streamflow simulations were improved at a significance level of 5%. The performances of the MSWAT and MLFC schemes at the reservoir stations were nearly equivalent. Importantly, reservoir operation feedback to hydrologic modeling was necessary because the reservoir operation effects could not be transferred downstream without it. The streamflow simulation of a reservoir station located on a flat plain was less sensitive to feedback than that of a mountain reservoir station.