Hydrological Model Adaptability to Rainfall Inputs of Varied Quality

Abstract Numerous studies have evaluated the reliability and hydrologic utility of various rainfall data sets through hydrological modeling. However, the calibration of hydrological models compensates for errors in rainfall inputs. The drivers, conditions, and factors affecting the calibration of hydrological models given the accuracy of rainfall inputs are not well understood. Here, we explore hydrological model adaptability to rainfall inputs of varied quality and its potential mechanisms. Twenty‐eight rainfall products from multiple sources are collected for a headwater catchment in the Southern United States. These rainfall data sets include measurements from rain gauges, weather radars, satellites, reanalysis products, and Weather Research and Forecasting model simulations. Such rainfall data sets with varied errors are used to independently calibrate a widely used conceptual Xin'anjiang (XAJ) hydrological model. Results suggest that the hydrological model can often adapt well to two scenarios of inaccurate rainfall inputs producing high‐performance streamflow simulations. This adaptive ability is controlled by an adaptable threshold of the overall bias of the rainfall inputs. Moreover, hydrological model adaptability to rainfall inputs is further influenced by how event‐based rainfall bias shapes the overall rainfall bias, especially from those of heavy rainstorms. The hydrological model can adapt to those rainfall inputs that contain important information content for model calibration. Notably, the adaptability to rainfall inputs of the XAJ model is mainly controlled by a bias reduction through adjustment of evapotranspiration and soil moisture storage, yielding satisfactory effective rainfall. The study quantitatively sheds new light on hydrological model adaptability to rainfall input quality.