PARAMETER ESTIMATION AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS - APPLICATIONS TO HYDROLOGIC MODELS.

The reliability and accuracy of parameter estimates in conceptual hydrologic models are greatly affected by the choice of an estimation criterion. In this paper a procedure is presented for which the adequacy of a selected objective function can be evaluated. Three sensitivity measures are developed which provide useful information about the shape of the response surface which is generated by the selected objective function. The proposed method was used to evaluate the relative adequacy of three objective functions used in the calibration of a four-parameter model. The results obtained demonstrate that the proposed sensitivity measures can be very useful for selecting an appropriate estimator for a given situation.