Analysis of Baseflow Contribution based on Time-scales Using Various Baseflow Separation Methods

The analysis of baseflow contribution is very significant in Korea because most rivers have high variability of streamflow due to the monsoon climate. Recently, the importance of such analysis is being more evident especially in terms of river management because of the changing pattern of rainfall and runoff resulted from climate change. Various baseflow separation methods have been developed to separate baseflow from streamflow. However, it is very difficult to identify which method is the most accurate way due to the lack of measured baseflow data. Moreover, it is inappropriate to analyze the annual baseflow contribution for Korean rivers because rainfall patterns varies significantly with the seasons. Thus, this study compared the baseflow contributions at various time-scales (annual, seasonal and monthly) for the 4 major river basins through BFI (baseflow index) and suggested baseflow contribution of each basin by the BFI ranges searched from different baseflow separation methods (e.g., BFLOW, HYSEP, PART, WHAT). Based on the comparison of baseflow contributions at the three time scales, this study showed that the baseflow contributions from the monthly and seasonal analysis are more reasonable than that from the annual analysis. Furthermore, this study proposes that defining BFI with its range is more proper than a specific value for a watershed, considering the difference of BFIs between various baseflow separation methods.