Articles | Volume 20, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-803-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-803-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
23 Feb 2016
Research article |
| 23 Feb 2016
The WACMOS-ET project – Part 1: Tower-scale evaluation of four remote-sensing-based evapotranspiration algorithms
D. Michel
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
C. Jiménez
Estellus, Paris, France
LERMA, Paris Observatory, Paris, France
D. G. Miralles
Department of Earth Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
M. Jung
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
M. Hirschi
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
A. Ershadi
Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
B. Martens
Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
M. F. McCabe
Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
J. B. Fisher
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Q. Mu
Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA
S. I. Seneviratne
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
E. F. Wood
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
D. Fernández-Prieto
ESRIN, European Space Agency, Frascati, Italy
Related authors
Peter Widmoser and Dominik Michel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1151–1163, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1151-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1151-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
With respect to ongoing discussions about the causes of energy imbalance, a method for closing the latent heat flux gap based on lysimeter measurements is assessed at four measurement stations over grassland in humid and semiarid climates. The applied partial closure yields excellent adjustments of eddy covariance data as compared to results found in the literature. The method also allows a distinction between systematic and random deviation of eddy covariance and lysimeter measurements.
Ryan S. Padrón, Lukas Gudmundsson, Dominik Michel, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 793–807, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-793-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-793-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We focus on the net exchange of water between land and air via evapotranspiration and dew during the night. We provide, for the first time, an overview of the magnitude and variability of this flux across the globe from observations and climate models. Nocturnal water loss from land is 7 % of total evapotranspiration on average and can be greater than 15 % locally. Our results highlight the relevance of this often overlooked flux, with implications for water resources and climate studies.
Martin Hirschi, Dominik Michel, Irene Lehner, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1809–1825, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1809-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1809-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We compare lysimeter and eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements of evapotranspiration at a research catchment in Switzerland. The measurements are compared on various timescales, and with respect to a 40-year long-term lysimeter time series. Overall, the lysimeter and EC measurements agree well, especially on the annual timescale. Furthermore, we identify that lack of reliable EC data during/after rainfall events significantly contributes to an underestimation of EC evapotranspiration.
D. G. Miralles, C. Jiménez, M. Jung, D. Michel, A. Ershadi, M. F. McCabe, M. Hirschi, B. Martens, A. J. Dolman, J. B. Fisher, Q. Mu, S. I. Seneviratne, E. F. Wood, and D. Fernández-Prieto
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 823–842, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-823-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-823-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The WACMOS-ET project aims to advance the development of land evaporation estimates on global and regional scales. Evaluation of current evaporation data sets on the global scale showed that they manifest large dissimilarities during conditions of water stress and drought and deficiencies in the way evaporation is partitioned into several components. Different models perform better under different conditions, highlighting the potential for considering biome- or climate-specific model ensembles.
M. F. McCabe, A. Ershadi, C. Jimenez, D. G. Miralles, D. Michel, and E. F. Wood
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 283–305, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-283-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-283-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In an effort to develop a global terrestrial evaporation product, four models were forced using both a tower and grid-based data set. Comparisons against flux-tower observations from different biome and land cover types show considerable inter-model variability and sensitivity to forcing type. Results suggest that no single model is able to capture expected flux patterns and response. It is suggested that a multi-model ensemble is likely to provide a more stable long-term flux estimate.
Piers M. Forster, Chris Smith, Tristram Walsh, William F. Lamb, Robin Lamboll, Christophe Cassou, Mathias Hauser, Zeke Hausfather, June-Yi Lee, Matthew D. Palmer, Karina von Schuckmann, Aimée B. A. Slangen, Sophie Szopa, Blair Trewin, Jeongeun Yun, Nathan P. Gillett, Stuart Jenkins, H. Damon Matthews, Krishnan Raghavan, Aurélien Ribes, Joeri Rogelj, Debbie Rosen, Xuebin Zhang, Myles Allen, Lara Aleluia Reis, Robbie M. Andrew, Richard A. Betts, Alex Borger, Jiddu A. Broersma, Samantha N. Burgess, Lijing Cheng, Pierre Friedlingstein, Catia M. Domingues, Marco Gambarini, Thomas Gasser, Johannes Gütschow, Masayoshi Ishii, Christopher Kadow, John Kennedy, Rachel E. Killick, Paul B. Krummel, Aurélien Liné, Didier P. Monselesan, Colin Morice, Jens Mühle, Vaishali Naik, Glen P. Peters, Anna Pirani, Julia Pongratz, Jan C. Minx, Matthew Rigby, Robert Rohde, Abhishek Savita, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Peter Thorne, Christopher Wells, Luke M. Western, Guido R. van der Werf, Susan E. Wijffels, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Panmao Zhai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-250, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-250, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
In a rapidly changing climate, evidence-based decision-making benefits from up-to-date and timely information. Here we compile monitoring datasets to track real-world changes over time. To make our work relevant to policy makers, we follow methods from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Human activities are increasing the Earth's energy imbalance and driving faster sea-level rise compared to the IPCC assessment.
Verónica González-Gambau, Estrella Olmedo, Aina García-Espriu, Cristina González-Haro, Antonio Turiel, Carolina Gabarró, Alessandro Silvano, Aditya Narayanan, Alberto Naveira-Garabato, Rafael Catany, Nina Hoareau, Marta Umbert, Giuseppe Aulicino, Yuri Cotroneo, Roberto Sabia, and Diego Fernández-Prieto
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-212, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-212, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
This paper introduces a new Sea Surface Salinity product for the Southern Ocean, based on SMOS data and developed by the Barcelona Expert Center. It offers 9-day maps on a 25 km EASE-SL grid, from 2011 to 2023, covering areas south of 30° S. The product is accurate beyond 150 km from sea ice, with nearly zero bias and a ~0.22 STD. It tracks well seasonal and interannual changes and will contribute to the understanding of processes influenced by upper-ocean salinity, including ice formation/melt.
Basil Kraft, Michael Schirmer, William H. Aeberhard, Massimiliano Zappa, Sonia I. Seneviratne, and Lukas Gudmundsson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1061–1082, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1061-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1061-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study reconstructs daily runoff in Switzerland (1962–2023) using a deep-learning model, providing a spatially contiguous dataset on a medium-sized catchment grid. The model outperforms traditional hydrological methods, revealing shifts in Swiss water resources, including more frequent dry years and declining summer runoff. The reconstruction is publicly available.
Xuetong Wang, Raied S. Alharbi, Oscar M. Baez-Villanueva, Amy Green, Matthew F. McCabe, Yoshihide Wada, Albert I. J. M. Van Dijk, Muhammad A. Abid, and Hylke Beck
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-254, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-254, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).
Short summary
Short summary
Our paper introduces Saudi Rainfall (SaRa), a high-resolution, near real-time rainfall product for the Arabian Peninsula. Using machine learning, SaRa combines multiple satellite and (re)analysis datasets with static predictors, outperforming existing products in the region. With the fast development and continuing growth in water demand over this region, SaRa could help to address water challenges and support resource management.
Eva-Marie Metz, Sanam Noreen Vardag, Sourish Basu, Martin Jung, and André Butz
Biogeosciences, 22, 555–584, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-555-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-555-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We estimate CO2 fluxes in semiarid southern Africa from 2009 to 2018 based on satellite CO2 measurements and atmospheric inverse modeling. By selecting process-based vegetation models, which agree with the satellite CO2 fluxes, we find that soil respiration mainly drives the seasonality, whereas photosynthesis substantially influences the interannual variability. Our study emphasizes the need for better representation of the response of semiarid ecosystems to soil rewetting in vegetation models.
Javier Pacheco-Labrador, Ulisse Gomarasca, Daniel E. Pabon-Moreno, Wantong Li, Mirco Migliavacca, Martin Jung, and Gregory Duveiller
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-318, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-318, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Measuring biodiversity is necessary to assess its loss, evolution, and role in ecosystem functions. Satellites image the whole terrestrial surface and could cost-efficiently map plant diversity globally. However, developing the necessary methods lacks consistent and sufficient field measurements. Thus, we propose using a simulation tool that generates virtual ecosystems, with species properties and functions varying in response to meteorology and the respective remote sensing imagery.
Martin Hirschi, Pietro Stradiotti, Bas Crezee, Wouter Dorigo, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 397–425, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-397-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-397-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the potential of long-term satellite and reanalysis products for characterising soil drying by analysing their 2000–2022 soil moisture trends and their representation of agroecological drought events of this period. Soil moisture trends are globally diverse and partly contradictory between products. This also affects the products' drought-detection capacity. Based on the best-estimate products, consistent soil drying is observed over more than 40 % of the land area covered.
Sarah Schöngart, Lukas Gudmundsson, Mathias Hauser, Peter Pfleiderer, Quentin Lejeune, Shruti Nath, Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne, and Carl-Friedrich Schleussner
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8283–8320, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8283-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8283-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Precipitation and temperature are two of the most impact-relevant climatic variables. Yet, projecting future precipitation and temperature data under different emission scenarios relies on complex models that are computationally expensive. In this study, we propose a method that allows us to generate monthly means of local precipitation and temperature at low computational costs. Our modelling framework is particularly useful for all downstream applications of climate model data.
Juliette Bernard, Catherine Prigent, Carlos Jimenez, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Bernhard Lehner, Elodie Salmon, Philippe Ciais, Zhen Zhang, Shushi Peng, and Marielle Saunois
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-466, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-466, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
Wetlands are responsible for about a third of global emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. We have developed the GIEMS-MethaneCentric (GIEMS-MC) dataset to represent the dynamics of wetland extent on a global scale (0.25°x0.25° resolution, monthly time step). This updated resource combines satellite data and existing wetland databases, covering 1992 to 2020. Consistent maps of other methane-emitting surface waters (lakes, rivers, reservoirs, rice paddies) are also provided.
Basil Kraft, Jacob A. Nelson, Sophia Walther, Fabian Gans, Ulrich Weber, Gregory Duveiller, Markus Reichstein, Weijie Zhang, Marc Rußwurm, Devis Tuia, Marco Körner, Zayd Mahmoud Hamdi, and Martin Jung
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2896, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2896, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Global evapotranspiration (ET) can be estimated using machine learning (ML) models optimized on local data and applied to global data. This study explores whether sequential neural networks, which consider past data, perform better than models that do not. The findings show that sequential models struggle with global upscaling, likely due to their sensitivity to data shifts from local to global scales. To improve ML-based upscaling, additional data or integration of physical knowledge is needed.
Liqing Peng, Justin Sheffield, Zhongwang Wei, Michael Ek, and Eric F. Wood
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 1277–1300, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-1277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-1277-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Integrating evaporative demand into drought indicators is effective, but the choice of method and the effectiveness of surface features remain undocumented. We evaluate various methods and surface features for predicting soil moisture dynamics. Using minimal ancillary information alongside meteorological and vegetation data, we develop a simple land-cover-based method that improves soil moisture drought predictions, especially in forests, showing promise for better real-time drought forecasting.
Zavud Baghirov, Martin Jung, Markus Reichstein, Marco Körner, and Basil Kraft
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2044, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2044, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use an innovative approach to study the Earth's water cycle by blending advanced computer learning techniques with a traditional water cycle model. We developed a model that learns from meteorological data, with a special focus on understanding how vegetation influences water movement. Our model closely aligns with real-world observations, yet there are areas that need improvement. This study opens up new possibilities to better understand the water cycle and its interactions with vegetation.
Felix Jäger, Jonas Schwaab, Yann Quilcaille, Michael Windisch, Jonathan Doelman, Stefan Frank, Mykola Gusti, Petr Havlik, Florian Humpenöder, Andrey Lessa Derci Augustynczik, Christoph Müller, Kanishka Balu Narayan, Ryan Sebastian Padrón, Alexander Popp, Detlef van Vuuren, Michael Wögerer, and Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 1055–1071, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-1055-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-1055-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change mitigation strategies developed with socioeconomic models rely on the widespread (re)planting of trees to limit global warming below 2°. However, most of these models neglect climate-driven shifts in forest damage like fires. By assessing existing mitigation scenarios, we show the exposure of projected forestation areas to fire-promoting weather conditions. Our study highlights the problem of ignoring climate-driven shifts in forest damage and ways to address it.
Malte Meinshausen, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Kathleen Beyer, Greg Bodeker, Olivier Boucher, Josep G. Canadell, John S. Daniel, Aïda Diongue-Niang, Fatima Driouech, Erich Fischer, Piers Forster, Michael Grose, Gerrit Hansen, Zeke Hausfather, Tatiana Ilyina, Jarmo S. Kikstra, Joyce Kimutai, Andrew D. King, June-Yi Lee, Chris Lennard, Tabea Lissner, Alexander Nauels, Glen P. Peters, Anna Pirani, Gian-Kasper Plattner, Hans Pörtner, Joeri Rogelj, Maisa Rojas, Joyashree Roy, Bjørn H. Samset, Benjamin M. Sanderson, Roland Séférian, Sonia Seneviratne, Christopher J. Smith, Sophie Szopa, Adelle Thomas, Diana Urge-Vorsatz, Guus J. M. Velders, Tokuta Yokohata, Tilo Ziehn, and Zebedee Nicholls
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4533–4559, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4533-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4533-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The scientific community is considering new scenarios to succeed RCPs and SSPs for the next generation of Earth system model runs to project future climate change. To contribute to that effort, we reflect on relevant policy and scientific research questions and suggest categories for representative emission pathways. These categories are tailored to the Paris Agreement long-term temperature goal, high-risk outcomes in the absence of further climate policy and worlds “that could have been”.
Piers M. Forster, Chris Smith, Tristram Walsh, William F. Lamb, Robin Lamboll, Bradley Hall, Mathias Hauser, Aurélien Ribes, Debbie Rosen, Nathan P. Gillett, Matthew D. Palmer, Joeri Rogelj, Karina von Schuckmann, Blair Trewin, Myles Allen, Robbie Andrew, Richard A. Betts, Alex Borger, Tim Boyer, Jiddu A. Broersma, Carlo Buontempo, Samantha Burgess, Chiara Cagnazzo, Lijing Cheng, Pierre Friedlingstein, Andrew Gettelman, Johannes Gütschow, Masayoshi Ishii, Stuart Jenkins, Xin Lan, Colin Morice, Jens Mühle, Christopher Kadow, John Kennedy, Rachel E. Killick, Paul B. Krummel, Jan C. Minx, Gunnar Myhre, Vaishali Naik, Glen P. Peters, Anna Pirani, Julia Pongratz, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Sophie Szopa, Peter Thorne, Mahesh V. M. Kovilakam, Elisa Majamäki, Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, Margreet van Marle, Rachel M. Hoesly, Robert Rohde, Dominik Schumacher, Guido van der Werf, Russell Vose, Kirsten Zickfeld, Xuebin Zhang, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Panmao Zhai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2625–2658, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2625-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper tracks some key indicators of global warming through time, from 1850 through to the end of 2023. It is designed to give an authoritative estimate of global warming to date and its causes. We find that in 2023, global warming reached 1.3 °C and is increasing at over 0.2 °C per decade. This is caused by all-time-high greenhouse gas emissions.
Sinikka J. Paulus, Rene Orth, Sung-Ching Lee, Anke Hildebrandt, Martin Jung, Jacob A. Nelson, Tarek Sebastian El-Madany, Arnaud Carrara, Gerardo Moreno, Matthias Mauder, Jannis Groh, Alexander Graf, Markus Reichstein, and Mirco Migliavacca
Biogeosciences, 21, 2051–2085, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2051-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2051-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Porous materials are known to reversibly trap water from the air, even at low humidity. However, this behavior is poorly understood for soils. In this analysis, we test whether eddy covariance is able to measure the so-called adsorption of atmospheric water vapor by soils. We find that this flux occurs frequently during dry nights in a Mediterranean ecosystem, while EC detects downwardly directed vapor fluxes. These results can help to map moisture uptake globally.
Martin Jung, Jacob Nelson, Mirco Migliavacca, Tarek El-Madany, Dario Papale, Markus Reichstein, Sophia Walther, and Thomas Wutzler
Biogeosciences, 21, 1827–1846, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1827-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1827-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a methodology to detect inconsistencies in perhaps the most important data source for measurements of ecosystem–atmosphere carbon, water, and energy fluxes. We expect that the derived consistency flags will be relevant for data users and will help in improving our understanding of and our ability to model ecosystem–climate interactions.
Oscar M. Baez-Villanueva, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, Diego G. Miralles, Hylke E. Beck, Jonatan F. Siegmund, Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Koen Verbist, René Garreaud, Juan Pablo Boisier, and Mauricio Galleguillos
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1415–1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1415-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1415-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Various drought indices exist, but there is no consensus on which index to use to assess streamflow droughts. This study addresses meteorological, soil moisture, and snow indices along with their temporal scales to assess streamflow drought across hydrologically diverse catchments. Using data from 100 Chilean catchments, findings suggest that there is not a single drought index that can be used for all catchments and that snow-influenced areas require drought indices with larger temporal scales.
Steven J. De Hertog, Carmen E. Lopez-Fabara, Ruud van der Ent, Jessica Keune, Diego G. Miralles, Raphael Portmann, Sebastian Schemm, Felix Havermann, Suqi Guo, Fei Luo, Iris Manola, Quentin Lejeune, Julia Pongratz, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Sonia I. Seneviratne, and Wim Thiery
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 265–291, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-265-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-265-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Changes in land use are crucial to achieve lower global warming. However, despite their importance, the effects of these changes on moisture fluxes are poorly understood. We analyse land cover and management scenarios in three climate models involving cropland expansion, afforestation, and irrigation. Results show largely consistent influences on moisture fluxes, with cropland expansion causing a drying and reduced local moisture recycling, while afforestation and irrigation show the opposite.
Dominik L. Schumacher, Mariam Zachariah, Friederike Otto, Clair Barnes, Sjoukje Philip, Sarah Kew, Maja Vahlberg, Roop Singh, Dorothy Heinrich, Julie Arrighi, Maarten van Aalst, Mathias Hauser, Martin Hirschi, Verena Bessenbacher, Lukas Gudmundsson, Hiroko K. Beaudoing, Matthew Rodell, Sihan Li, Wenchang Yang, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Luke J. Harrington, Flavio Lehner, Gianpaolo Balsamo, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 131–154, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-131-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-131-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The 2022 summer was accompanied by widespread soil moisture deficits, including an unprecedented drought in Europe. Combining several observation-based estimates and models, we find that such an event has become at least 5 and 20 times more likely due to human-induced climate change in western Europe and the northern extratropics, respectively. Strong regional warming fuels soil desiccation; hence, projections indicate even more potent future droughts as we progress towards a 2 °C warmer world.
Dominik Rains, Isabel Trigo, Emanuel Dutra, Sofia Ermida, Darren Ghent, Petra Hulsman, Jose Gómez-Dans, and Diego G. Miralles
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 567–593, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-567-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-567-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Land surface temperature and surface net radiation are vital inputs for many land surface and hydrological models. However, current remote sensing datasets of these variables come mostly at coarse resolutions, and the few high-resolution datasets available have large gaps due to cloud cover. Here, we present a continuous daily product for both variables across Europe for 2018–2019 obtained by combining observations from geostationary as well as polar-orbiting satellites.
Yann Quilcaille, Lukas Gudmundsson, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 1333–1362, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-1333-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-1333-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Climate models are powerful tools, but they have high computational costs, hindering their use in exploring future climate extremes. We demonstrate MESMER-X, the only existing emulator for spatial climate extremes (heatwaves, fires, droughts) that mimics all of their relevant properties. Thanks to its negligible computational cost, MESMER-X may greatly accelerate the exploration of future climate extremes or enable the integration of climate extremes in economic and financial models.
P. Rouault, D. Courault, G. Pouget, F. Flamain, R. Lopez-Lozano, C. Doussan, M. Debolini, and M. McCabe
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-1-W2-2023, 1531–1536, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-W2-2023-1531-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-1-W2-2023-1531-2023, 2023
Solomon H. Gebrechorkos, Jian Peng, Ellen Dyer, Diego G. Miralles, Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano, Chris Funk, Hylke E. Beck, Dagmawi T. Asfaw, Michael B. Singer, and Simon J. Dadson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5449–5466, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5449-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5449-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Drought is undeniably one of the most intricate and significant natural hazards with far-reaching consequences for the environment, economy, water resources, agriculture, and societies across the globe. In response to this challenge, we have devised high-resolution drought indices. These indices serve as invaluable indicators for assessing shifts in drought patterns and their associated impacts on a global, regional, and local level facilitating the development of tailored adaptation strategies.
Shruti Nath, Lukas Gudmundsson, Jonas Schwaab, Gregory Duveiller, Steven J. De Hertog, Suqi Guo, Felix Havermann, Fei Luo, Iris Manola, Julia Pongratz, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Carl F. Schleussner, Wim Thiery, and Quentin Lejeune
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4283–4313, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4283-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4283-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Tree cover changes play a significant role in climate mitigation and adaptation. Their regional impacts are key in informing national-level decisions and prioritising areas for conservation efforts. We present a first step towards exploring these regional impacts using a simple statistical device, i.e. emulator. The emulator only needs to train on climate model outputs representing the maximal impacts of aff-, re-, and deforestation, from which it explores plausible in-between outcomes itself.
Piers M. Forster, Christopher J. Smith, Tristram Walsh, William F. Lamb, Robin Lamboll, Mathias Hauser, Aurélien Ribes, Debbie Rosen, Nathan Gillett, Matthew D. Palmer, Joeri Rogelj, Karina von Schuckmann, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Blair Trewin, Xuebin Zhang, Myles Allen, Robbie Andrew, Arlene Birt, Alex Borger, Tim Boyer, Jiddu A. Broersma, Lijing Cheng, Frank Dentener, Pierre Friedlingstein, José M. Gutiérrez, Johannes Gütschow, Bradley Hall, Masayoshi Ishii, Stuart Jenkins, Xin Lan, June-Yi Lee, Colin Morice, Christopher Kadow, John Kennedy, Rachel Killick, Jan C. Minx, Vaishali Naik, Glen P. Peters, Anna Pirani, Julia Pongratz, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Sophie Szopa, Peter Thorne, Robert Rohde, Maisa Rojas Corradi, Dominik Schumacher, Russell Vose, Kirsten Zickfeld, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Panmao Zhai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2295–2327, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2295-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2295-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This is a critical decade for climate action, but there is no annual tracking of the level of human-induced warming. We build on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports that are authoritative but published infrequently to create a set of key global climate indicators that can be tracked through time. Our hope is that this becomes an important annual publication that policymakers, media, scientists and the public can refer to.
Steven J. De Hertog, Felix Havermann, Inne Vanderkelen, Suqi Guo, Fei Luo, Iris Manola, Dim Coumou, Edouard L. Davin, Gregory Duveiller, Quentin Lejeune, Julia Pongratz, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Sonia I. Seneviratne, and Wim Thiery
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 629–667, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-629-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-629-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Land cover and land management changes are important strategies for future land-based mitigation. We investigate the climate effects of cropland expansion, afforestation, irrigation and wood harvesting using three Earth system models. Results show that these have important implications for surface temperature where the land cover and/or management change occur and in remote areas. Idealized afforestation causes global warming, which might offset the cooling effect from enhanced carbon uptake.
Yann Quilcaille, Fulden Batibeniz, Andreia F. S. Ribeiro, Ryan S. Padrón, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2153–2177, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2153-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2153-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new database of four annual fire weather indicators over 1850–2100 and over all land areas. In a 3°C warmer world with respect to preindustrial times, the mean fire weather would increase on average by at least 66% in both intensity and duration and even triple for 1-in-10-year events. The dataset is a freely available resource for fire danger studies and beyond, highlighting that the best course of action would require limiting global warming as much as possible.
Steven J. De Hertog, Carmen E. Lopez-Fabara, Ruud van der Ent, Jessica Keune, Diego G. Miralles, Raphael Portmann, Sebastian Schemm, Felix Havermann, Suqi Guo, Fei Luo, Iris Manola, Quentin Lejeune, Julia Pongratz, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Sonia I. Seneviratne, and Wim Thiery
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-953, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-953, 2023
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
Land cover and management changes can affect the climate and water availability. In this study we use climate model simulations of extreme global land cover changes (afforestation, deforestation) and land management changes (irrigation) to understand the effects on the global water cycle and local to continental water availability. We show that cropland expansion generally leads to higher evaporation and lower amounts of precipitation and afforestation and irrigation expansion to the opposite.
Francisco José Cuesta-Valero, Hugo Beltrami, Almudena García-García, Gerhard Krinner, Moritz Langer, Andrew H. MacDougall, Jan Nitzbon, Jian Peng, Karina von Schuckmann, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Wim Thiery, Inne Vanderkelen, and Tonghua Wu
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 609–627, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-609-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-609-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change is caused by the accumulated heat in the Earth system, with the land storing the second largest amount of this extra heat. Here, new estimates of continental heat storage are obtained, including changes in inland-water heat storage and permafrost heat storage in addition to changes in ground heat storage. We also argue that heat gains in all three components should be monitored independently of their magnitude due to heat-dependent processes affecting society and ecosystems.
Fulden Batibeniz, Mathias Hauser, and Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 485–505, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-485-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-485-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We study single and concurrent heatwaves, droughts, precipitation, and wind extremes. Globally, these extremes become more frequent and affect larger land areas under future warming, with several countries experiencing extreme events every single month. Concurrent heatwaves–droughts (precipitation–wind) are projected to increase the most in mid–high-latitude countries (tropics). Every mitigation action to avoid further warming will reduce the number of people exposed to extreme weather events.
Karina von Schuckmann, Audrey Minière, Flora Gues, Francisco José Cuesta-Valero, Gottfried Kirchengast, Susheel Adusumilli, Fiammetta Straneo, Michaël Ablain, Richard P. Allan, Paul M. Barker, Hugo Beltrami, Alejandro Blazquez, Tim Boyer, Lijing Cheng, John Church, Damien Desbruyeres, Han Dolman, Catia M. Domingues, Almudena García-García, Donata Giglio, John E. Gilson, Maximilian Gorfer, Leopold Haimberger, Maria Z. Hakuba, Stefan Hendricks, Shigeki Hosoda, Gregory C. Johnson, Rachel Killick, Brian King, Nicolas Kolodziejczyk, Anton Korosov, Gerhard Krinner, Mikael Kuusela, Felix W. Landerer, Moritz Langer, Thomas Lavergne, Isobel Lawrence, Yuehua Li, John Lyman, Florence Marti, Ben Marzeion, Michael Mayer, Andrew H. MacDougall, Trevor McDougall, Didier Paolo Monselesan, Jan Nitzbon, Inès Otosaka, Jian Peng, Sarah Purkey, Dean Roemmich, Kanako Sato, Katsunari Sato, Abhishek Savita, Axel Schweiger, Andrew Shepherd, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Leon Simons, Donald A. Slater, Thomas Slater, Andrea K. Steiner, Toshio Suga, Tanguy Szekely, Wim Thiery, Mary-Louise Timmermans, Inne Vanderkelen, Susan E. Wjiffels, Tonghua Wu, and Michael Zemp
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1675–1709, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Earth's climate is out of energy balance, and this study quantifies how much heat has consequently accumulated over the past decades (ocean: 89 %, land: 6 %, cryosphere: 4 %, atmosphere: 1 %). Since 1971, this accumulated heat reached record values at an increasing pace. The Earth heat inventory provides a comprehensive view on the status and expectation of global warming, and we call for an implementation of this global climate indicator into the Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake.
Hoontaek Lee, Martin Jung, Nuno Carvalhais, Tina Trautmann, Basil Kraft, Markus Reichstein, Matthias Forkel, and Sujan Koirala
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1531–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1531-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1531-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We spatially attribute the variance in global terrestrial water storage (TWS) interannual variability (IAV) and its modeling error with two data-driven hydrological models. We find error hotspot regions that show a disproportionately large significance in the global mismatch and the association of the error regions with a smaller-scale lateral convergence of water. Our findings imply that TWS IAV modeling can be efficiently improved by focusing on model representations for the error hotspots.
Sjoukje Y. Philip, Sarah F. Kew, Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, Faron S. Anslow, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Robert Vautard, Dim Coumou, Kristie L. Ebi, Julie Arrighi, Roop Singh, Maarten van Aalst, Carolina Pereira Marghidan, Michael Wehner, Wenchang Yang, Sihan Li, Dominik L. Schumacher, Mathias Hauser, Rémy Bonnet, Linh N. Luu, Flavio Lehner, Nathan Gillett, Jordis S. Tradowsky, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Chris Rodell, Roland B. Stull, Rosie Howard, and Friederike E. L. Otto
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1689–1713, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1689-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1689-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In June 2021, the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada saw record temperatures far exceeding those previously observed. This attribution study found such a severe heat wave would have been virtually impossible without human-induced climate change. Assuming no nonlinear interactions, such events have become at least 150 times more common, are about 2 °C hotter and will become even more common as warming continues. Therefore, adaptation and mitigation are urgently needed to prepare society.
Ryan S. Padrón, Lukas Gudmundsson, Laibao Liu, Vincent Humphrey, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Biogeosciences, 19, 5435–5448, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5435-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5435-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The answer to how much carbon land ecosystems are projected to remove from the atmosphere until 2100 is different for each Earth system model. We find that differences across models are primarily explained by the annual land carbon sink dependence on temperature and soil moisture, followed by the dependence on CO2 air concentration, and by average climate conditions. Our insights on why each model projects a relatively high or low land carbon sink can help to reduce the underlying uncertainty.
Feng Zhong, Shanhu Jiang, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Liliang Ren, Jaap Schellekens, and Diego G. Miralles
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5647–5667, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5647-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5647-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A synthesis of rainfall interception data from past field campaigns is performed, including 166 forests and 17 agricultural plots distributed worldwide. These site data are used to constrain and validate an interception model that considers sub-grid heterogeneity and vegetation dynamics. A global, 40-year (1980–2019) interception dataset is generated at a daily temporal and 0.1° spatial resolution. This dataset will serve as a benchmark for future investigations of the global hydrological cycle.
Steven J. De Hertog, Felix Havermann, Inne Vanderkelen, Suqi Guo, Fei Luo, Iris Manola, Dim Coumou, Edouard L. Davin, Gregory Duveiller, Quentin Lejeune, Julia Pongratz, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Sonia I. Seneviratne, and Wim Thiery
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1305–1350, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1305-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1305-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Land cover and land management changes are important strategies for future land-based mitigation. We investigate the climate effects of cropland expansion, afforestation, irrigation, and wood harvesting using three Earth system models. Results show that these have important implications for surface temperature where the land cover and/or management change occurs and in remote areas. Idealized afforestation causes global warming, which might offset the cooling effect from enhanced carbon uptake.
Kathrin Wehrli, Fei Luo, Mathias Hauser, Hideo Shiogama, Daisuke Tokuda, Hyungjun Kim, Dim Coumou, Wilhelm May, Philippe Le Sager, Frank Selten, Olivia Martius, Robert Vautard, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1167–1196, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1167-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1167-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The ExtremeX experiment was designed to unravel the contribution of processes leading to the occurrence of recent weather and climate extremes. Global climate simulations are carried out with three models. The results show that in constrained experiments, temperature anomalies during heatwaves are well represented, although climatological model biases remain. Further, a substantial contribution of both atmospheric circulation and soil moisture to heat extremes is identified.
Fei Luo, Frank Selten, Kathrin Wehrli, Kai Kornhuber, Philippe Le Sager, Wilhelm May, Thomas Reerink, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Hideo Shiogama, Daisuke Tokuda, Hyungjun Kim, and Dim Coumou
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 905–935, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-905-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-905-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Recent studies have identified the weather systems in observational data, where wave patterns with high-magnitude values that circle around the whole globe in either wavenumber 5 or wavenumber 7 are responsible for the extreme events. In conclusion, we find that the climate models are able to reproduce the large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns as well as their associated surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and sea level pressure.
Lorenzo Alfieri, Francesco Avanzi, Fabio Delogu, Simone Gabellani, Giulia Bruno, Lorenzo Campo, Andrea Libertino, Christian Massari, Angelica Tarpanelli, Dominik Rains, Diego G. Miralles, Raphael Quast, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Huan Wu, and Luca Brocca
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3921–3939, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3921-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3921-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work shows advances in high-resolution satellite data for hydrology. We performed hydrological simulations for the Po River basin using various satellite products, including precipitation, evaporation, soil moisture, and snow depth. Evaporation and snow depth improved a simulation based on high-quality ground observations. Interestingly, a model calibration relying on satellite data skillfully reproduces observed discharges, paving the way to satellite-driven hydrological applications.
Verena Bessenbacher, Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne, and Lukas Gudmundsson
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4569–4596, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4569-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4569-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Earth observations have many missing values. They are often filled using information from spatial and temporal contexts that mostly ignore information from related observed variables. We propose the gap-filling method CLIMFILL that additionally uses information from related variables. We test CLIMFILL using gap-free reanalysis data of variables related to soil–moisture climate interactions. CLIMFILL creates estimates for the missing values that recover the original dependence structure.
M. G. Ziliani, M. U. Altaf, B. Aragon, R. Houborg, T. E. Franz, Y. Lu, J. Sheffield, I. Hoteit, and M. F. McCabe
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIII-B3-2022, 1045–1052, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B3-2022-1045-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B3-2022-1045-2022, 2022
Verónica González-Gambau, Estrella Olmedo, Antonio Turiel, Cristina González-Haro, Aina García-Espriu, Justino Martínez, Pekka Alenius, Laura Tuomi, Rafael Catany, Manuel Arias, Carolina Gabarró, Nina Hoareau, Marta Umbert, Roberto Sabia, and Diego Fernández
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2343–2368, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2343-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2343-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) dedicated products over the Baltic Sea (ESA Baltic+ Salinity Dynamics). The Baltic+ L3 product covers 9 days in a 0.25° grid. The Baltic+ L4 is derived by merging L3 SSS with sea surface temperature information, giving a daily product in a 0.05° grid. The accuracy of L3 is 0.7–0.8 and 0.4 psu for the L4. Baltic+ products have shown to be useful, covering spatiotemporal data gaps and for validating numerical models.
Shruti Nath, Quentin Lejeune, Lea Beusch, Sonia I. Seneviratne, and Carl-Friedrich Schleussner
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 851–877, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-851-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-851-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Uncertainty within climate model projections on inter-annual timescales is largely affected by natural climate variability. Emulators are valuable tools for approximating climate model runs, allowing for easy exploration of such uncertainty spaces. This study takes a first step at building a spatially resolved, monthly temperature emulator that takes local yearly temperatures as the sole input, thus providing monthly temperature distributions which are of critical value to impact assessments.
Basil Kraft, Martin Jung, Marco Körner, Sujan Koirala, and Markus Reichstein
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1579–1614, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1579-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1579-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a physics-aware machine learning model of the global hydrological cycle. As the model uses neural networks under the hood, the simulations of the water cycle are learned from data, and yet they are informed and constrained by physical knowledge. The simulated patterns lie within the range of existing hydrological models and are plausible. The hybrid modeling approach has the potential to tackle key environmental questions from a novel perspective.
Ronny Meier, Edouard L. Davin, Gordon B. Bonan, David M. Lawrence, Xiaolong Hu, Gregory Duveiller, Catherine Prigent, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2365–2393, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2365-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We revise the roughness of the land surface in the CESM climate model. Guided by observational data, we increase the surface roughness of forests and decrease that of bare soil, snow, ice, and crops. These modifications alter simulated temperatures and wind speeds at and above the land surface considerably, in particular over desert regions. The revised model represents the diurnal variability of the land surface temperature better compared to satellite observations over most regions.
Lea Beusch, Zebedee Nicholls, Lukas Gudmundsson, Mathias Hauser, Malte Meinshausen, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2085–2103, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2085-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2085-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce the first chain of computationally efficient Earth system model (ESM) emulators to translate user-defined greenhouse gas emission pathways into regional temperature change time series accounting for all major sources of climate change projection uncertainty. By combining the global mean emulator MAGICC with the spatially resolved emulator MESMER, we can derive ESM-specific and constrained probabilistic emulations to rapidly provide targeted climate information at the local scale.
Heye Reemt Bogena, Martin Schrön, Jannis Jakobi, Patrizia Ney, Steffen Zacharias, Mie Andreasen, Roland Baatz, David Boorman, Mustafa Berk Duygu, Miguel Angel Eguibar-Galán, Benjamin Fersch, Till Franke, Josie Geris, María González Sanchis, Yann Kerr, Tobias Korf, Zalalem Mengistu, Arnaud Mialon, Paolo Nasta, Jerzy Nitychoruk, Vassilios Pisinaras, Daniel Rasche, Rafael Rosolem, Hami Said, Paul Schattan, Marek Zreda, Stefan Achleitner, Eduardo Albentosa-Hernández, Zuhal Akyürek, Theresa Blume, Antonio del Campo, Davide Canone, Katya Dimitrova-Petrova, John G. Evans, Stefano Ferraris, Félix Frances, Davide Gisolo, Andreas Güntner, Frank Herrmann, Joost Iwema, Karsten H. Jensen, Harald Kunstmann, Antonio Lidón, Majken Caroline Looms, Sascha Oswald, Andreas Panagopoulos, Amol Patil, Daniel Power, Corinna Rebmann, Nunzio Romano, Lena Scheiffele, Sonia Seneviratne, Georg Weltin, and Harry Vereecken
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1125–1151, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring of increasingly frequent droughts is a prerequisite for climate adaptation strategies. This data paper presents long-term soil moisture measurements recorded by 66 cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS) operated by 24 institutions and distributed across major climate zones in Europe. Data processing followed harmonized protocols and state-of-the-art methods to generate consistent and comparable soil moisture products and to facilitate continental-scale analysis of hydrological extremes.
Jessica Keune, Dominik L. Schumacher, and Diego G. Miralles
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1875–1898, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1875-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1875-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Air transports moisture and heat, shaping the weather we experience. When and where was this air moistened and warmed by the surface? To address this question, atmospheric models trace the history of air parcels in space and time. However, their uncertainties remain unexplored, which hinders their utility and application. Here, we present a framework that sheds light on these uncertainties. Our approach sets a new standard in the assessment of atmospheric moisture and heat trajectories.
Tina Trautmann, Sujan Koirala, Nuno Carvalhais, Andreas Güntner, and Martin Jung
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1089–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1089-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1089-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We assess the effect of how vegetation is defined in a global hydrological model on the composition of total water storage (TWS). We compare two experiments, one with globally uniform and one with vegetation parameters that vary in space and time. While both experiments are constrained against observational data, we found a drastic change in the partitioning of TWS, highlighting the important role of the interaction between groundwater–soil moisture–vegetation in understanding TWS variations.
Aine M. Gormley-Gallagher, Sebastian Sterl, Annette L. Hirsch, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Edouard L. Davin, and Wim Thiery
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 419–438, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-419-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-419-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Our results show that agricultural management can impact the local climate and highlight the need to evaluate land management in climate models. We use regression analysis on climate simulations and observations to assess irrigation and conservation agriculture impacts on warming trends. This allowed us to distinguish between the effects of land management and large-scale climate forcings such as rising CO2 concentrations and thus gain insight into the impacts under different climate regimes.
Justino Martínez, Carolina Gabarró, Antonio Turiel, Verónica González-Gambau, Marta Umbert, Nina Hoareau, Cristina González-Haro, Estrella Olmedo, Manuel Arias, Rafael Catany, Laurent Bertino, Roshin P. Raj, Jiping Xie, Roberto Sabia, and Diego Fernández
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 307–323, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-307-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-307-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Measuring salinity from space is challenging since the sensitivity of the brightness temperature to sea surface salinity is low, but the retrieval of SSS in cold waters is even more challenging. In 2019, the ESA launched a specific initiative called Arctic+Salinity to produce an enhanced Arctic SSS product with better quality and resolution than the available products. This paper presents the methodologies used to produce the new enhanced Arctic SMOS SSS product.
Joaquín Muñoz-Sabater, Emanuel Dutra, Anna Agustí-Panareda, Clément Albergel, Gabriele Arduini, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Souhail Boussetta, Margarita Choulga, Shaun Harrigan, Hans Hersbach, Brecht Martens, Diego G. Miralles, María Piles, Nemesio J. Rodríguez-Fernández, Ervin Zsoter, Carlo Buontempo, and Jean-Noël Thépaut
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4349–4383, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4349-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4349-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The creation of ERA5-Land responds to a growing number of applications requiring global land datasets at a resolution higher than traditionally reached. ERA5-Land provides operational, global, and hourly key variables of the water and energy cycles over land surfaces, at 9 km resolution, from 1981 until the present. This work provides evidence of an overall improvement of the water cycle compared to previous reanalyses, whereas the energy cycle variables perform as well as those of ERA5.
Christopher Krich, Mirco Migliavacca, Diego G. Miralles, Guido Kraemer, Tarek S. El-Madany, Markus Reichstein, Jakob Runge, and Miguel D. Mahecha
Biogeosciences, 18, 2379–2404, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2379-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2379-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Ecosystems and the atmosphere interact with each other. These interactions determine e.g. the water and carbon fluxes and thus are crucial to understand climate change effects. We analysed the interactions for many ecosystems across the globe, showing that very different ecosystems can have similar interactions with the atmosphere. Meteorological conditions seem to be the strongest interaction-shaping factor. This means that common principles can be identified to describe ecosystem behaviour.
Noemi Vergopolan, Sitian Xiong, Lyndon Estes, Niko Wanders, Nathaniel W. Chaney, Eric F. Wood, Megan Konar, Kelly Caylor, Hylke E. Beck, Nicolas Gatti, Tom Evans, and Justin Sheffield
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1827–1847, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1827-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1827-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Drought monitoring and yield prediction often rely on coarse-scale hydroclimate data or (infrequent) vegetation indexes that do not always indicate the conditions farmers face in the field. Consequently, decision-making based on these indices can often be disconnected from the farmer reality. Our study focuses on smallholder farming systems in data-sparse developing countries, and it shows how field-scale soil moisture can leverage and improve crop yield prediction and drought impact assessment.
Peter Widmoser and Dominik Michel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1151–1163, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1151-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1151-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
With respect to ongoing discussions about the causes of energy imbalance, a method for closing the latent heat flux gap based on lysimeter measurements is assessed at four measurement stations over grassland in humid and semiarid climates. The applied partial closure yields excellent adjustments of eddy covariance data as compared to results found in the literature. The method also allows a distinction between systematic and random deviation of eddy covariance and lysimeter measurements.
Hylke E. Beck, Ming Pan, Diego G. Miralles, Rolf H. Reichle, Wouter A. Dorigo, Sebastian Hahn, Justin Sheffield, Lanka Karthikeyan, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Robert M. Parinussa, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, Noemi Vergopolan, and Eric F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 17–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-17-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-17-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated the largest and most diverse set of surface soil moisture products ever evaluated in a single study. We found pronounced differences in performance among individual products and product groups. Our results provide guidance to choose the most suitable product for a particular application.
Quentin Lejeune, Edouard L. Davin, Grégory Duveiller, Bas Crezee, Ronny Meier, Alessandro Cescatti, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 11, 1209–1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-1209-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-1209-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Trees are darker than crops or grasses; hence, they absorb more solar radiation. Therefore, land cover changes modify the fraction of solar radiation reflected by the land surface (its albedo), with consequences for the climate. We apply a new statistical method to simulations conducted with 15 recent climate models and find that albedo variations due to land cover changes since 1860 have led to a decrease in the net amount of energy entering the atmosphere by −0.09 W m2 on average.
Maialen Iturbide, José M. Gutiérrez, Lincoln M. Alves, Joaquín Bedia, Ruth Cerezo-Mota, Ezequiel Cimadevilla, Antonio S. Cofiño, Alejandro Di Luca, Sergio Henrique Faria, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Mathias Hauser, Sixto Herrera, Kevin Hennessy, Helene T. Hewitt, Richard G. Jones, Svitlana Krakovska, Rodrigo Manzanas, Daniel Martínez-Castro, Gemma T. Narisma, Intan S. Nurhati, Izidine Pinto, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Bart van den Hurk, and Carolina S. Vera
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2959–2970, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2959-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2959-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present an update of the IPCC WGI reference regions used in AR5 for the synthesis of climate change information. This revision was guided by the basic principles of climatic consistency and model representativeness (in particular for the new CMIP6 simulations). We also present a new dataset of monthly CMIP5 and CMIP6 spatially aggregated information using the new reference regions and describe a worked example of how to use this dataset to inform regional climate change studies.
Oliver Miguel López Valencia, Kasper Johansen, Bruno José Luis Aragón Solorio, Ting Li, Rasmus Houborg, Yoann Malbeteau, Samer AlMashharawi, Muhammad Umer Altaf, Essam Mohammed Fallatah, Hari Prasad Dasari, Ibrahim Hoteit, and Matthew Francis McCabe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5251–5277, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5251-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5251-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The agricultural sector in Saudi Arabia has expanded rapidly over the last few decades, supported by non-renewable groundwater abstraction. This study describes a novel data–model fusion approach to compile national-scale groundwater abstractions and demonstrates its use over 5000 individual center-pivot fields. This method will allow both farmers and water management agencies to make informed water accounting decisions across multiple spatial and temporal scales.
Kathrin Wehrli, Mathias Hauser, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 11, 855–873, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-855-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-855-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The 2018 summer was unusually hot for large areas in the Northern Hemisphere, and heatwaves on three continents led to major impacts on agriculture and society. This study investigates storylines for the extreme 2018 summer, given the observed atmospheric circulation but different levels of background global warming. The results reveal a strong contribution by the present-day level of global warming and show a dramatic outlook for similar events in a warmer climate.
Samuel Favrichon, Carlos Jimenez, and Catherine Prigent
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5481–5490, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5481-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5481-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Long-term monitoring of satellite-derived variables is necessary for a better understanding of the evolution of Earth parameters at global scale. However different instruments' observations used over the years need to be inter-calibrated with each other to provide meaningful information. This paper describes how a linear correction can improve the observations from the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer over continental surfaces to be more consistent with more recent radiometers.
Brecht Martens, Dominik L. Schumacher, Hendrik Wouters, Joaquín Muñoz-Sabater, Niko E. C. Verhoest, and Diego G. Miralles
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 4159–4181, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4159-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4159-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Climate reanalyses are widely used in different fields and an in-depth evaluation of the different variables provided by reanalyses is a necessary means to provide feedback on the quality to their users and the operational centres producing these data sets. In this study, we show the improvements of ECMWF's latest climate reanalysis (ERA5) upon its predecessor (ERA-Interim) in partitioning the available energy at the land surface.
Karina von Schuckmann, Lijing Cheng, Matthew D. Palmer, James Hansen, Caterina Tassone, Valentin Aich, Susheel Adusumilli, Hugo Beltrami, Tim Boyer, Francisco José Cuesta-Valero, Damien Desbruyères, Catia Domingues, Almudena García-García, Pierre Gentine, John Gilson, Maximilian Gorfer, Leopold Haimberger, Masayoshi Ishii, Gregory C. Johnson, Rachel Killick, Brian A. King, Gottfried Kirchengast, Nicolas Kolodziejczyk, John Lyman, Ben Marzeion, Michael Mayer, Maeva Monier, Didier Paolo Monselesan, Sarah Purkey, Dean Roemmich, Axel Schweiger, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Andrew Shepherd, Donald A. Slater, Andrea K. Steiner, Fiammetta Straneo, Mary-Louise Timmermans, and Susan E. Wijffels
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2013–2041, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2013-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2013-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding how much and where the heat is distributed in the Earth system is fundamental to understanding how this affects warming oceans, atmosphere and land, rising temperatures and sea level, and loss of grounded and floating ice, which are fundamental concerns for society. This study is a Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) concerted international effort to obtain the Earth heat inventory over the period 1960–2018.
B. Kraft, M. Jung, M. Körner, and M. Reichstein
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLIII-B2-2020, 1537–1544, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B2-2020-1537-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIII-B2-2020-1537-2020, 2020
Christian Massari, Luca Brocca, Thierry Pellarin, Gab Abramowitz, Paolo Filippucci, Luca Ciabatta, Viviana Maggioni, Yann Kerr, and Diego Fernandez Prieto
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2687–2710, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2687-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2687-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Rain gauges are unevenly spaced around the world with extremely low gauge density over places like Africa and South America. Here, water-related problems like floods, drought and famine are particularly severe and able to cause fatalities, migration and diseases. We have developed a rainfall dataset that exploits the synergies between rainfall and soil moisture to provide accurate rainfall observations which can be used to face these problems.
Jian Peng, Simon Dadson, Feyera Hirpa, Ellen Dyer, Thomas Lees, Diego G. Miralles, Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano, and Chris Funk
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 753–769, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-753-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-753-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Africa has been severely influenced by intense drought events, which has led to crop failure, food shortages, famine, epidemics and even mass migration. The current study developed a high spatial resolution drought dataset entirely from satellite-based products. The dataset has been comprehensively inter-compared with other drought indicators and may contribute to an improved characterization of drought risk and vulnerability and minimize drought's impact on water and food security in Africa.
Martin Jung, Christopher Schwalm, Mirco Migliavacca, Sophia Walther, Gustau Camps-Valls, Sujan Koirala, Peter Anthoni, Simon Besnard, Paul Bodesheim, Nuno Carvalhais, Frédéric Chevallier, Fabian Gans, Daniel S. Goll, Vanessa Haverd, Philipp Köhler, Kazuhito Ichii, Atul K. Jain, Junzhi Liu, Danica Lombardozzi, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Jacob A. Nelson, Michael O'Sullivan, Martijn Pallandt, Dario Papale, Wouter Peters, Julia Pongratz, Christian Rödenbeck, Stephen Sitch, Gianluca Tramontana, Anthony Walker, Ulrich Weber, and Markus Reichstein
Biogeosciences, 17, 1343–1365, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1343-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1343-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We test the approach of producing global gridded carbon fluxes based on combining machine learning with local measurements, remote sensing and climate data. We show that we can reproduce seasonal variations in carbon assimilated by plants via photosynthesis and in ecosystem net carbon balance. The ecosystem’s mean carbon balance and carbon flux trends require cautious interpretation. The analysis paves the way for future improvements of the data-driven assessment of carbon fluxes.
Christopher Krich, Jakob Runge, Diego G. Miralles, Mirco Migliavacca, Oscar Perez-Priego, Tarek El-Madany, Arnaud Carrara, and Miguel D. Mahecha
Biogeosciences, 17, 1033–1061, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1033-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1033-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Causal inference promises new insight into biosphere–atmosphere interactions using time series only. To understand the behaviour of a specific method on such data, we used artificial and observation-based data. The observed structures are very interpretable and reveal certain ecosystem-specific behaviour, as only a few relevant links remain, in contrast to pure correlation techniques. Thus, causal inference allows to us gain well-constrained insights into processes and interactions.
Miguel D. Mahecha, Fabian Gans, Gunnar Brandt, Rune Christiansen, Sarah E. Cornell, Normann Fomferra, Guido Kraemer, Jonas Peters, Paul Bodesheim, Gustau Camps-Valls, Jonathan F. Donges, Wouter Dorigo, Lina M. Estupinan-Suarez, Victor H. Gutierrez-Velez, Martin Gutwin, Martin Jung, Maria C. Londoño, Diego G. Miralles, Phillip Papastefanou, and Markus Reichstein
Earth Syst. Dynam., 11, 201–234, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-201-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-201-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The ever-growing availability of data streams on different subsystems of the Earth brings unprecedented scientific opportunities. However, researching a data-rich world brings novel challenges. We present the concept of
Earth system data cubesto study the complex dynamics of multiple climate and ecosystem variables across space and time. Using a series of example studies, we highlight the potential of effectively considering the full multivariate nature of processes in the Earth system.
Ryan S. Padrón, Lukas Gudmundsson, Dominik Michel, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 793–807, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-793-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-793-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We focus on the net exchange of water between land and air via evapotranspiration and dew during the night. We provide, for the first time, an overview of the magnitude and variability of this flux across the globe from observations and climate models. Nocturnal water loss from land is 7 % of total evapotranspiration on average and can be greater than 15 % locally. Our results highlight the relevance of this often overlooked flux, with implications for water resources and climate studies.
Lea Beusch, Lukas Gudmundsson, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 11, 139–159, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-139-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-139-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Earth system models (ESMs) are invaluable to study the climate system but expensive to run. Here, we present a statistical tool which emulates ESMs at a negligible computational cost by creating stochastic realizations of yearly land temperature field time series. Thereby, 40 ESMs are considered, and for each ESM, a single simulation is required to train the tool. The resulting ESM-specific realizations closely resemble ESM simulations not employed during training at point to regional scales.
Colby K. Fisher, Ming Pan, and Eric F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 293–305, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-293-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-293-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Poorly monitored river flows in many regions of the world have been hindering our ability to accurately estimate global water usage. In this paper we present a method to derive continuous records of streamflow from a set of in situ gauges. Applying this method to the Ohio River basin, we found that we could reliably generate estimates of streamflow throughout the basin using only a small set of streamflow gauges, which can be useful for global river basins where we do not have good observations.
Jeroen Claessen, Annalisa Molini, Brecht Martens, Matteo Detto, Matthias Demuzere, and Diego G. Miralles
Biogeosciences, 16, 4851–4874, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4851-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4851-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Bidirectional interactions between vegetation and climate are unraveled over short (monthly) and long (inter-annual) temporal scales. Analyses use a novel causal inference method based on wavelet theory. The performance of climate models at representing these interactions is benchmarked against satellite data. Climate models can reproduce the overall climate controls on vegetation at all temporal scales, while their performance at representing biophysical feedbacks on climate is less adequate.
Paul C. Stoy, Tarek S. El-Madany, Joshua B. Fisher, Pierre Gentine, Tobias Gerken, Stephen P. Good, Anne Klosterhalfen, Shuguang Liu, Diego G. Miralles, Oscar Perez-Priego, Angela J. Rigden, Todd H. Skaggs, Georg Wohlfahrt, Ray G. Anderson, A. Miriam J. Coenders-Gerrits, Martin Jung, Wouter H. Maes, Ivan Mammarella, Matthias Mauder, Mirco Migliavacca, Jacob A. Nelson, Rafael Poyatos, Markus Reichstein, Russell L. Scott, and Sebastian Wolf
Biogeosciences, 16, 3747–3775, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3747-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3747-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Key findings are the nearly optimal response of T to atmospheric water vapor pressure deficits across methods and scales. Additionally, the notion that T / ET intermittently approaches 1, which is a basis for many partitioning methods, does not hold for certain methods and ecosystems. To better constrain estimates of E and T from combined ET measurements, we propose a combination of independent measurement techniques to better constrain E and T at the ecosystem scale.
Sven Boese, Martin Jung, Nuno Carvalhais, Adriaan J. Teuling, and Markus Reichstein
Biogeosciences, 16, 2557–2572, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2557-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2557-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study examines how limited water availability during droughts affects water-use efficiency. This metric describes how much carbon an ecosystem can assimilate for each unit of water lost by transpiration. We test how well different water-use efficiency models can capture the dynamics of transpiration decrease due to increased soil-water limitation. Accounting for the interacting effects of radiation and water limitation is necessary to accurately predict transpiration during these periods.
K. Johansen, M. J. L. Morton, Y. Malbeteau, B. Aragon, S. Al-Mashharawi, M. Ziliani, Y. Angel, G. Fiene, S. Negrao, M. A. A. Mousa, M. A. Tester, and M. F. McCabe
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-2-W13, 407–411, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W13-407-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W13-407-2019, 2019
Hendrik Wouters, Irina Y. Petrova, Chiel C. van Heerwaarden, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, Adriaan J. Teuling, Vicky Meulenberg, Joseph A. Santanello, and Diego G. Miralles
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 2139–2153, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2139-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2139-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The free software CLASS4GL (http://class4gl.eu) is designed to investigate the dynamic atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) with weather balloons. It mines observational data from global radio soundings, satellite and reanalysis data from the last 40 years to constrain and initialize an ABL model and automizes multiple experiments in parallel. CLASS4GL aims at fostering a better understanding of land–atmosphere feedbacks and the drivers of extreme weather.
Samuel Favrichon, Catherine Prigent, Carlos Jimenez, and Filipe Aires
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1531–1543, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1531-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1531-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Land surface parameters (such as temperature) can be extracted from passive microwave satellite observations, with less cloud contamination than in the infrared. A cloud contamination index is proposed to detect cloud contamination for multiple frequency ranges (from 10 to 190 GHz), to be applicable to the successive generations of MW instruments. Even with a reduced number of low-frequency channels over land, the index reaches an accuracy of ≥ 70 % in detecting contaminated observations.
Wouter H. Maes, Pierre Gentine, Niko E. C. Verhoest, and Diego G. Miralles
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 925–948, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-925-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-925-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Potential evaporation (Ep) is the amount of water an ecosystem would consume if it were not limited by water availability or other stress factors. In this study, we compared several methods to estimate Ep using a global dataset of 107 FLUXNET sites. A simple radiation-driven method calibrated per biome consistently outperformed more complex approaches and makes a suitable tool to investigate the impact of water use and demand, drought severity and biome productivity.
Victor Pellet, Filipe Aires, Simon Munier, Diego Fernández Prieto, Gabriel Jordá, Wouter Arnoud Dorigo, Jan Polcher, and Luca Brocca
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 465–491, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-465-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-465-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study is an effort for a better understanding and quantification of the water cycle and related processes in the Mediterranean region, by dealing with satellite products and their uncertainties. The aims of the paper are 3-fold: (1) developing methods with hydrological constraints to integrate all the datasets, (2) giving the full picture of the Mediterranean WC, and (3) building a model-independent database that can evaluate the numerous regional climate models (RCMs) for this region.
Hylke E. Beck, Ming Pan, Tirthankar Roy, Graham P. Weedon, Florian Pappenberger, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, George J. Huffman, Robert F. Adler, and Eric F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 207–224, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-207-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-207-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of 26 precipitation datasets for the US using the Stage-IV gauge-radar dataset as a reference. The best overall performance was obtained by MSWEP V2.2, underscoring the importance of applying daily gauge corrections and accounting for reporting times. Our findings can be used as a guide to choose the most suitable precipitation dataset for a particular application.
Sara Sadri, Eric F. Wood, and Ming Pan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 6611–6626, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6611-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6611-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Of particular interest to NASA's SMAP-based agricultural applications is a monitoring product that assesses near-surface soil moisture in terms of probability percentiles for dry and wet conditions. However, the short SMAP record length poses a statistical challenge for the meaningful assessment of its indices. This study presents initial insights about using SMAP Level 3 and Level 4 for monitoring drought and pluvial regions with a first application over the contiguous United States (CONUS).
Sophia Walther, Luis Guanter, Birgit Heim, Martin Jung, Gregory Duveiller, Aleksandra Wolanin, and Torsten Sachs
Biogeosciences, 15, 6221–6256, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6221-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6221-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We explored the timing of the peak of the short annual growing season in tundra ecosystems as indicated by an extensive suite of satellite indicators of vegetation productivity. Delayed peak greenness compared to peak photosynthesis is consistently found across years and land-cover classes. Plants also experience growth after optimal conditions for assimilation regarding light and temperature have passed. Our results have implications for the modelling of the circumpolar carbon balance.
Clemens Schwingshackl, Martin Hirschi, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Dynam., 9, 1217–1234, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-1217-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-1217-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Changing amounts of water in the soil can have a strong impact on atmospheric temperatures. We present a theoretical approach that can be used to quantify the effect that soil moisture has on temperature and validate it using climate model simulations in which soil moisture is prescribed. This theoretical approach also allows us to study the soil moisture effect on temperature in standard climate models, even if they do not provide dedicated soil moisture simulations.
Christina Papagiannopoulou, Diego G. Miralles, Matthias Demuzere, Niko E. C. Verhoest, and Willem Waegeman
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4139–4153, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4139-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4139-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Common global land cover and climate classifications are based on vegetation–climatic characteristics derived from observational data, ignoring the interaction between the local climate and biome. Here, we model the interplay between vegetation and local climate by discovering spatial relationships among different locations. The resulting global
hydro-climatic biomescorrespond to regions of coherent climate–vegetation interactions that agree well with traditional global land cover maps.
Carlos Jiménez, Brecht Martens, Diego M. Miralles, Joshua B. Fisher, Hylke E. Beck, and Diego Fernández-Prieto
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4513–4533, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4513-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4513-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Observing the amount of water evaporated in nature is not easy, and we need to combine accurate local measurements with estimates from satellites, more uncertain but covering larger areas. This is the main topic of our paper, in which local observations are compared with global land evaporation estimates, followed by a weighting of the global observations based on this comparison to attempt derive a more accurate evaporation product.
Ronny Meier, Edouard L. Davin, Quentin Lejeune, Mathias Hauser, Yan Li, Brecht Martens, Natalie M. Schultz, Shannon Sterling, and Wim Thiery
Biogeosciences, 15, 4731–4757, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4731-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4731-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Deforestation not only releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere but also affects local climatic conditions by altering energy fluxes at the land surface and thereby the local temperature. Here, we evaluate the local impact of deforestation in a widely used land surface model. We find that the model reproduces the daytime warming effect of deforestation well. On the other hand, the warmer temperatures observed during night in forests are not present in this model.
Tina Trautmann, Sujan Koirala, Nuno Carvalhais, Annette Eicker, Manfred Fink, Christoph Niemann, and Martin Jung
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4061–4082, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4061-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4061-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we adjust a simple hydrological model to several observational datasets, including satellite observations of the land's total water storage. We apply the model to northern latitudes and find that the dominating factor of changes in the total water storage depends on both the spatial and temporal scale of analysis. While snow dominates seasonal variations, liquid water determines year-to-year variations, yet with increasing contribution of snow when averaging over larger regions.
Paul Bodesheim, Martin Jung, Fabian Gans, Miguel D. Mahecha, and Markus Reichstein
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1327–1365, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1327-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1327-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We provide continuous half-hourly carbon and energy fluxes for 2001 to 2014 at 0.5° spatial resolution, which allows for analyzing diurnal cycles globally. The data set contains four fluxes: gross primary production (GPP), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), latent heat (LE), and sensible heat (H). In addition, we provide a derived product that only contains monthly average diurnal cycles but which also enables us to study the important characteristics of subdaily patterns at a global scale.
Jacob A. Nelson, Nuno Carvalhais, Mirco Migliavacca, Markus Reichstein, and Martin Jung
Biogeosciences, 15, 2433–2447, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2433-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2433-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Plants have typical daily carbon uptake and water loss cycles. However, these cycles may change under periods of duress, such as water limitation. Here we identify two types of patterns in response to water limitations: a tendency to lose more water in the morning than afternoon and a decoupling of the carbon and water cycles. The findings show differences in responses by trees and grasses and suggest that morning shifts may be more efficient at gaining carbon per unit water used.
Jannis von Buttlar, Jakob Zscheischler, Anja Rammig, Sebastian Sippel, Markus Reichstein, Alexander Knohl, Martin Jung, Olaf Menzer, M. Altaf Arain, Nina Buchmann, Alessandro Cescatti, Damiano Gianelle, Gerard Kiely, Beverly E. Law, Vincenzo Magliulo, Hank Margolis, Harry McCaughey, Lutz Merbold, Mirco Migliavacca, Leonardo Montagnani, Walter Oechel, Marian Pavelka, Matthias Peichl, Serge Rambal, Antonio Raschi, Russell L. Scott, Francesco P. Vaccari, Eva van Gorsel, Andrej Varlagin, Georg Wohlfahrt, and Miguel D. Mahecha
Biogeosciences, 15, 1293–1318, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1293-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1293-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Our work systematically quantifies extreme heat and drought event impacts on gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration globally across a wide range of ecosystems. We show that heat extremes typically increased mainly respiration whereas drought decreased both fluxes. Combined heat and drought extremes had opposing effects offsetting each other for respiration, but there were also strong reductions in GPP and hence the strongest reductions in the ecosystems carbon sink capacity.
Wouter H. Maes, Pierre Gentine, Niko E. C. Verhoest, and Diego G. Miralles
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2017-682, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2017-682, 2018
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Potential evaporation is a key parameter in numerous models used for assessing water use and drought severity. Yet, multiple incompatible methods have been proposed, thus estimates of potential evaporation remain uncertain. Based on the largest available dataset of FLUXNET data, we identify the best method to calculate potential evaporation globally. A simple radiation-driven method calibrated per biome consistently performed best; more complex models did not perform as good.
Andreas Marx, Rohini Kumar, Stephan Thober, Oldrich Rakovec, Niko Wanders, Matthias Zink, Eric F. Wood, Ming Pan, Justin Sheffield, and Luis Samaniego
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1017–1032, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1017-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1017-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrological low flows are affected under different levels of future global warming (i.e. 1.5, 2, and 3 K). The multi-model ensemble results show that the change signal amplifies with increasing warming levels. Low flows decrease in the Mediterranean, while they increase in the Alpine and Northern regions. The changes in low flows are significant for regions with relatively large change signals and under higher levels of warming. Adaptation should make use of change and uncertainty information.
Yu Zhang, Ming Pan, Justin Sheffield, Amanda L. Siemann, Colby K. Fisher, Miaoling Liang, Hylke E. Beck, Niko Wanders, Rosalyn F. MacCracken, Paul R. Houser, Tian Zhou, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, Rachel T. Pinker, Janice Bytheway, Christian D. Kummerow, and Eric F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 241–263, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-241-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-241-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A global data record for all four terrestrial water budget variables (precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, and total water storage change) at 0.5° resolution and monthly scale for the period of 1984–2010 is developed by optimally merging a series of remote sensing products, in situ measurements, land surface model outputs, and atmospheric reanalysis estimates and enforcing the mass balance of water. Initial validations show the data record is reliable for climate related analysis.
Hylke E. Beck, Noemi Vergopolan, Ming Pan, Vincenzo Levizzani, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Graham P. Weedon, Luca Brocca, Florian Pappenberger, George J. Huffman, and Eric F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 6201–6217, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6201-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6201-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study represents the most comprehensive global-scale precipitation dataset evaluation to date. We evaluated 13 uncorrected precipitation datasets using precipitation observations from 76 086 gauges, and 9 gauge-corrected ones using hydrological modeling for 9053 catchments. Our results highlight large differences in estimation accuracy, and hence, the importance of precipitation dataset selection in both research and operational applications.
Khan Zaib Jadoon, Muhammad Umer Altaf, Matthew Francis McCabe, Ibrahim Hoteit, Nisar Muhammad, Davood Moghadas, and Lutz Weihermüller
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5375–5383, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5375-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5375-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In this study electromagnetic induction (EMI) measurements were used to estimate soil salinity in an agriculture field irrigated with a drip irrigation system. Electromagnetic model parameters and uncertainty were estimated using adaptive Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). Application of the MCMC-based inversion to the synthetic and field measurements demonstrates that the parameters of the model can be well estimated for the saline soil as compared to the non-saline soil.
Richard Wartenburger, Martin Hirschi, Markus G. Donat, Peter Greve, Andy J. Pitman, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3609–3634, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3609-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3609-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This article analyses regional changes in climate extremes as a function of projected changes in global mean temperature. We introduce the DROUGHT-HEAT Regional Climate Atlas, an interactive tool to analyse and display a range of well-established climate extremes and water-cycle indices and their changes as a function of global warming. Readers are encouraged to use the online tool for visualization of specific indices of interest, e.g. to assess their response to 1.5 or 2 °C global warming.
Iulia Ilie, Peter Dittrich, Nuno Carvalhais, Martin Jung, Andreas Heinemeyer, Mirco Migliavacca, James I. L. Morison, Sebastian Sippel, Jens-Arne Subke, Matthew Wilkinson, and Miguel D. Mahecha
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3519–3545, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3519-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3519-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate representation of land-atmosphere carbon fluxes is essential for future climate projections, although some of the responses of CO2 fluxes to climate often remain uncertain. The increase in available data allows for new approaches in their modelling. We automatically developed models for ecosystem and soil carbon respiration using a machine learning approach. When compared with established respiration models, we found that they are better in prediction as well as offering new insights.
Seyed Hamed Alemohammad, Bin Fang, Alexandra G. Konings, Filipe Aires, Julia K. Green, Jana Kolassa, Diego Miralles, Catherine Prigent, and Pierre Gentine
Biogeosciences, 14, 4101–4124, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-4101-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-4101-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Water, Energy, and Carbon with Artificial Neural Networks (WECANN) is a statistically based estimate of global surface latent and sensible heat fluxes and gross primary productivity. The retrieval uses six remotely sensed observations as input, including the solar-induced fluorescence. WECANN provides estimates on a 1° × 1° geographic grid and on a monthly time scale and outperforms other global products in capturing the seasonality of the fluxes when compared to eddy covariance tower data.
D. Turner, A. Lucieer, M. McCabe, S. Parkes, and I. Clarke
Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLII-2-W6, 379–384, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W6-379-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W6-379-2017, 2017
Jakob Zscheischler, Miguel D. Mahecha, Valerio Avitabile, Leonardo Calle, Nuno Carvalhais, Philippe Ciais, Fabian Gans, Nicolas Gruber, Jens Hartmann, Martin Herold, Kazuhito Ichii, Martin Jung, Peter Landschützer, Goulven G. Laruelle, Ronny Lauerwald, Dario Papale, Philippe Peylin, Benjamin Poulter, Deepak Ray, Pierre Regnier, Christian Rödenbeck, Rosa M. Roman-Cuesta, Christopher Schwalm, Gianluca Tramontana, Alexandra Tyukavina, Riccardo Valentini, Guido van der Werf, Tristram O. West, Julie E. Wolf, and Markus Reichstein
Biogeosciences, 14, 3685–3703, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3685-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3685-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Here we synthesize a wide range of global spatiotemporal observational data on carbon exchanges between the Earth surface and the atmosphere. A key challenge was to consistently combining observational products of terrestrial and aquatic surfaces. Our primary goal is to identify today’s key uncertainties and observational shortcomings that would need to be addressed in future measurement campaigns or expansions of in situ observatories.
Matthew F. McCabe, Matthew Rodell, Douglas E. Alsdorf, Diego G. Miralles, Remko Uijlenhoet, Wolfgang Wagner, Arko Lucieer, Rasmus Houborg, Niko E. C. Verhoest, Trenton E. Franz, Jiancheng Shi, Huilin Gao, and Eric F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3879–3914, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3879-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3879-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We examine the opportunities and challenges that technological advances in Earth observation will present to the hydrological community. From advanced space-based sensors to unmanned aerial vehicles and ground-based distributed networks, these emergent systems are set to revolutionize our understanding and interpretation of hydrological and related processes.
Jakob Zscheischler, Rene Orth, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Biogeosciences, 14, 3309–3320, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3309-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3309-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We use newly established methods to compute bivariate return periods of temperature and precipitation and relate those to crop yield variability in Europe. Most often, crop yields are lower when it is hot and dry and higher when it is cold and wet. The variability in crop yields along a specific climate gradient can be captured well by return periods aligned with these gradients. This study provides new possibilities for investigating the relationship between crop yield variability and climate.
Sven Boese, Martin Jung, Nuno Carvalhais, and Markus Reichstein
Biogeosciences, 14, 3015–3026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3015-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3015-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
For plants, the ratio of carbon uptake to water loss by transpiration is usually thought to depend on characteristic properties (their adaption to water scarcity) and the dryness of the atmosphere at any given moment. We show that, on the ecosystem scale, radiation has an independent effect on this ratio that had not been previously considered. When including this variable in models, predictions of transpiration improve considerably.
Brecht Martens, Diego G. Miralles, Hans Lievens, Robin van der Schalie, Richard A. M. de Jeu, Diego Fernández-Prieto, Hylke E. Beck, Wouter A. Dorigo, and Niko E. C. Verhoest
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 1903–1925, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-1903-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-1903-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Terrestrial evaporation is a key component of the hydrological cycle and reliable data sets of this variable are of major importance. The Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM, www.GLEAM.eu) is a set of algorithms which estimates evaporation based on satellite observations. The third version of GLEAM, presented in this study, includes an improved parameterization of different model components. As a result, the accuracy of the GLEAM data sets has been improved upon previous versions.
Christina Papagiannopoulou, Diego G. Miralles, Stijn Decubber, Matthias Demuzere, Niko E. C. Verhoest, Wouter A. Dorigo, and Willem Waegeman
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 1945–1960, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-1945-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-1945-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Global satellite observations provide a means to unravel the influence of climate on vegetation. Common statistical methods used to study the relationships between climate and vegetation are often too simplistic to capture the complexity of these relationships. Here, we present a novel causality framework that includes data fusion from various databases, time series decomposition, and machine learning techniques. Results highlight the highly non-linear nature of climate–vegetation interactions.
Martin Hirschi and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 251–258, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-251-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-251-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Terrestrial water storage comprises all forms of water storage on land surfaces, and its seasonal and inter-annual variations are mostly determined by soil moisture, groundwater, snow cover, and surface water. Soil moisture, especially, contributes to land--atmosphere coupling in an essential way. This paper presents an update of a basin-scale diagnostic dataset of monthly variations in terrestrial water storage for large river basins worldwide.
Martin Hirschi, Dominik Michel, Irene Lehner, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1809–1825, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1809-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1809-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We compare lysimeter and eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements of evapotranspiration at a research catchment in Switzerland. The measurements are compared on various timescales, and with respect to a 40-year long-term lysimeter time series. Overall, the lysimeter and EC measurements agree well, especially on the annual timescale. Furthermore, we identify that lack of reliable EC data during/after rainfall events significantly contributes to an underestimation of EC evapotranspiration.
Di Tian, Eric F. Wood, and Xing Yuan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1477–1490, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1477-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1477-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluated dynamic climate model sub-seasonal forecasts for important precipitation and temperature indices over the contiguous United States. The presence of active Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) events improved weekly mean precipitation forecast skill over most regions. Sub-seasonal forecast indices calculated from the daily forecast showed higher skill than temporally downscaled forecasts, suggesting the usefulness of the daily forecast for sub-seasonal hydrological forecasting.
Hylke E. Beck, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Vincenzo Levizzani, Jaap Schellekens, Diego G. Miralles, Brecht Martens, and Ad de Roo
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 589–615, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-589-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-589-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
MSWEP (Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation) is a new global terrestrial precipitation dataset with a high 3-hourly temporal and 0.25° spatial resolution. The dataset is unique in that it takes advantage of a wide range of data sources, including gauge, satellite, and reanalysis data, to obtain the best possible precipitation estimates at global scale. The dataset outperforms existing gauge-adjusted precipitation datasets.
Stephen D. Parkes, Matthew F. McCabe, Alan D. Griffiths, Lixin Wang, Scott Chambers, Ali Ershadi, Alastair G. Williams, Josiah Strauss, and Adrian Element
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 533–548, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-533-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-533-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Determining atmospheric moisture sources is required for understanding the water cycle. The role of land surface fluxes is a particular source of uncertainty for moisture budgets. Water vapour isotopes have the potential to improve constraints on moisture sources. In this work relationships between water vapour isotopes and land–atmosphere exchange are studied. Results show that land surface evaporative fluxes play a minor role in the daytime water and isotope budgets in semi-arid environments.
Jason P. Evans, Xianhong Meng, and Matthew F. McCabe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 409–422, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-409-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-409-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This work demonstrates that changes in surface albedo and vegetation, caused by the millennium drought in south-east Australia, affected the atmosphere in a way that decreased precipitation further. This land–surface feedback increased the severity of the drought by 10 %. This suggests that climate models need to simulate changes in surface characteristics (other than soil moisture) in response to a developing drought if they are to capture this kind of multi-year drought.
Oliver López, Rasmus Houborg, and Matthew Francis McCabe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 323–343, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-323-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-323-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The study evaluated the spatial and temporal consistency of satellite-based hydrological products based on the water budget equation, including three global evaporation products. The products were spatially matched using spherical harmonics analysis. The results highlighted the difficulty in obtaining agreement between independent satellite products, even over regions with simple water budgets. However, imposing a time lag on water storage data improved results considerably.
Raghavendra B. Jana, Ali Ershadi, and Matthew F. McCabe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3987–4004, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3987-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3987-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Interactions between soil moisture and terrestrial evaporation affect responses between land surface and the atmosphere across scales. We present an analysis of the link between soil moisture and evaporation estimates from three distinct models. The relationships were examined over nearly 2 years of observation data. Results show that while direct correlations of raw data were mostly not useful, the root-zone soil moisture and the modelled evaporation estimates reflect similar distributions.
David M. Lawrence, George C. Hurtt, Almut Arneth, Victor Brovkin, Kate V. Calvin, Andrew D. Jones, Chris D. Jones, Peter J. Lawrence, Nathalie de Noblet-Ducoudré, Julia Pongratz, Sonia I. Seneviratne, and Elena Shevliakova
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2973–2998, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2973-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2973-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Human land-use activities have resulted in large changes to the Earth's surface, with resulting implications for climate. In the future, land-use activities are likely to expand and intensify further to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. The goal of LUMIP is to take the next steps in land-use change science, and enable, coordinate, and ultimately address the most important land-use science questions in more depth and sophistication than possible in a multi-model context to date.
Gianluca Tramontana, Martin Jung, Christopher R. Schwalm, Kazuhito Ichii, Gustau Camps-Valls, Botond Ráduly, Markus Reichstein, M. Altaf Arain, Alessandro Cescatti, Gerard Kiely, Lutz Merbold, Penelope Serrano-Ortiz, Sven Sickert, Sebastian Wolf, and Dario Papale
Biogeosciences, 13, 4291–4313, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4291-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4291-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We have evaluated 11 machine learning (ML) methods and two complementary drivers' setup to estimate the carbon dioxide (CO2) and energy exchanges between land ecosystems and atmosphere. Obtained results have shown high consistency among ML and high capability to estimate the spatial and seasonal variability of the target fluxes. The results were good for all the ecosystems, with limitations to the ones in the extreme environments (cold, hot) or less represented in the training data (tropics).
Cristina M. Surdu, Claude R. Duguay, and Diego Fernández Prieto
The Cryosphere, 10, 941–960, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-941-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-941-2016, 2016
D. G. Miralles, C. Jiménez, M. Jung, D. Michel, A. Ershadi, M. F. McCabe, M. Hirschi, B. Martens, A. J. Dolman, J. B. Fisher, Q. Mu, S. I. Seneviratne, E. F. Wood, and D. Fernández-Prieto
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 823–842, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-823-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-823-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The WACMOS-ET project aims to advance the development of land evaporation estimates on global and regional scales. Evaluation of current evaporation data sets on the global scale showed that they manifest large dissimilarities during conditions of water stress and drought and deficiencies in the way evaporation is partitioned into several components. Different models perform better under different conditions, highlighting the potential for considering biome- or climate-specific model ensembles.
A. A. Ali, C. Xu, A. Rogers, R. A. Fisher, S. D. Wullschleger, E. C. Massoud, J. A. Vrugt, J. D. Muss, N. G. McDowell, J. B. Fisher, P. B. Reich, and C. J. Wilson
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 587–606, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-587-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-587-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We have developed a mechanistic model of leaf utilization of nitrogen for assimilation (LUNA V1.0) to predict the photosynthetic capacities at the global scale based on the optimization of key leaf-level metabolic processes. LUNA model predicts that future climatic changes would mostly affect plant photosynthetic capabilities in high-latitude regions and that Earth system models using fixed photosynthetic capabilities are likely to substantially overestimate future global photosynthesis.
M. F. McCabe, A. Ershadi, C. Jimenez, D. G. Miralles, D. Michel, and E. F. Wood
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 283–305, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-283-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-283-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In an effort to develop a global terrestrial evaporation product, four models were forced using both a tower and grid-based data set. Comparisons against flux-tower observations from different biome and land cover types show considerable inter-model variability and sensitivity to forcing type. Results suggest that no single model is able to capture expected flux patterns and response. It is suggested that a multi-model ensemble is likely to provide a more stable long-term flux estimate.
W. Zhan, M. Pan, N. Wanders, and E. F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 4275–4291, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-4275-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-4275-2015, 2015
A. I. Stegehuis, R. Vautard, P. Ciais, A. J. Teuling, D. G. Miralles, and M. Wild
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2285–2298, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2285-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2285-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Many climate models have difficulties in properly reproducing climate extremes such as heat wave conditions. We use a regional climate model with different atmospheric physics schemes to simulate the heat wave events of 2003 in western Europe and 2010 in Russia. The five best-performing and diverse physics scheme combinations may be used in the future to perform heat wave analysis and to investigate the impact of climate change in summer in Europe.
N. W. Chaney, J. D. Herman, P. M. Reed, and E. F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3239–3251, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3239-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3239-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Land surface modeling is playing an increasing role in global monitoring and prediction of extreme hydrologic events. However, uncertainties in parameter identifiability limit the reliability of model predictions. This study makes use of petascale computing to perform a comprehensive evaluation of land surface modeling for global flood and drought monitoring and suggests paths forward to overcome the challenges posed by parameter uncertainty.
V. S. Galligani, C. Prigent, E. Defer, C. Jimenez, P. Eriksson, J.-P. Pinty, and J.-P. Chaboureau
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1605–1616, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1605-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1605-2015, 2015
M. G. De Kauwe, J. Kala, Y.-S. Lin, A. J. Pitman, B. E. Medlyn, R. A. Duursma, G. Abramowitz, Y.-P. Wang, and D. G. Miralles
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 431–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-431-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-431-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Stomatal conductance affects the fluxes of carbon, energy and water between the vegetated land surface and the atmosphere. We test an implementation of an optimal stomatal conductance model within the CABLE land surface model (LSM). The new implementation resulted in a large reduction in the annual fluxes of transpiration across evergreen needleleaf, tundra and C4 grass regions. We conclude that optimisation theory can yield a tractable approach to predicting stomatal conductance in LSMs.
H. Ajami, J. P. Evans, M. F. McCabe, and S. Stisen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 5169–5179, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-5169-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-5169-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
A new hybrid approach was developed to reduce the computational burden of the spin-up procedure by using a combination of model simulations and an empirical depth-to-water table function. Results illustrate that the hybrid approach reduced the spin-up period required for an integrated groundwater--surface water--land surface model (ParFlow.CLM) by up to 50%. The methodology is applicable to other coupled or integrated modeling frameworks when initialization from an equilibrium state is required.
K. Guan, S. P. Good, K. K. Caylor, H. Sato, E. F. Wood, and H. Li
Biogeosciences, 11, 6939–6954, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6939-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6939-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change is expected to modify the way that rainfall arrives, namely the frequency and intensity of rainfall events and rainy season length. Yet, the quantification of the impact of these possible rainfall changes across large biomes is lacking. Our study fills this gap by developing a new modeling framework, applying it to continental Africa. We show that African ecosystems are highly sensitive to these rainfall variabilities, with esp. large sensitivity to changes in rainy season length.
B. P. Guillod, B. Orlowsky, D. Miralles, A. J. Teuling, P. D. Blanken, N. Buchmann, P. Ciais, M. Ek, K. L. Findell, P. Gentine, B. R. Lintner, R. L. Scott, B. Van den Hurk, and S. I. Seneviratne
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8343–8367, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8343-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8343-2014, 2014
S. J. Sutanto, B. van den Hurk, P. A. Dirmeyer, S. I. Seneviratne, T. Röckmann, K. E. Trenberth, E. M. Blyth, J. Wenninger, and G. Hoffmann
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2815–2827, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2815-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2815-2014, 2014
F. Aemisegger, S. Pfahl, H. Sodemann, I. Lehner, S. I. Seneviratne, and H. Wernli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 4029–4054, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4029-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-4029-2014, 2014
F. Deng, D. B. A. Jones, D. K. Henze, N. Bousserez, K. W. Bowman, J. B. Fisher, R. Nassar, C. O'Dell, D. Wunch, P. O. Wennberg, E. A. Kort, S. C. Wofsy, T. Blumenstock, N. M. Deutscher, D. W. T. Griffith, F. Hase, P. Heikkinen, V. Sherlock, K. Strong, R. Sussmann, and T. Warneke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3703–3727, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3703-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3703-2014, 2014
C. M. Surdu, C. R. Duguay, L. C. Brown, and D. Fernández Prieto
The Cryosphere, 8, 167–180, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014, 2014
R. Valentini, A. Arneth, A. Bombelli, S. Castaldi, R. Cazzolla Gatti, F. Chevallier, P. Ciais, E. Grieco, J. Hartmann, M. Henry, R. A. Houghton, M. Jung, W. L. Kutsch, Y. Malhi, E. Mayorga, L. Merbold, G. Murray-Tortarolo, D. Papale, P. Peylin, B. Poulter, P. A. Raymond, M. Santini, S. Sitch, G. Vaglio Laurin, G. R. van der Werf, C. A. Williams, and R. J. Scholes
Biogeosciences, 11, 381–407, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-381-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-381-2014, 2014
M. Pan and E. F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 4577–4588, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4577-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4577-2013, 2013
L. Gudmundsson and S. I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-10-13191-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-10-13191-2013, 2013
Manuscript not accepted for further review
R. Orth and S. I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3895–3911, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3895-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3895-2013, 2013
B. Mueller, M. Hirschi, C. Jimenez, P. Ciais, P. A. Dirmeyer, A. J. Dolman, J. B. Fisher, M. Jung, F. Ludwig, F. Maignan, D. G. Miralles, M. F. McCabe, M. Reichstein, J. Sheffield, K. Wang, E. F. Wood, Y. Zhang, and S. I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3707–3720, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3707-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3707-2013, 2013
S. Shukla, J. Sheffield, E. F. Wood, and D. P. Lettenmaier
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2781–2796, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2781-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2781-2013, 2013
D. I. Kelley, I. C. Prentice, S. P. Harrison, H. Wang, M. Simard, J. B. Fisher, and K. O. Willis
Biogeosciences, 10, 3313–3340, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3313-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3313-2013, 2013
B. Orlowsky and S. I. Seneviratne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1765–1781, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1765-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1765-2013, 2013
A. D. Griffiths, S. D. Parkes, S. D. Chambers, M. F. McCabe, and A. G. Williams
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 207–218, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-207-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-207-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Global hydrology | Techniques and Approaches: Modelling approaches
Mapping groundwater-dependent ecosystems using a high-resolution global groundwater model
Can large-scale tree cover change negate climate change impacts on future water availability?
Impact of runoff schemes on global flow discharge: a comprehensive analysis using the Noah-MP and CaMa-Flood models
The benefits and trade-offs of multi-variable calibration of the WaterGAP global hydrological model (WGHM) in the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins
Representation of a two-way coupled irrigation system in the Common Land Model
The effect of climate change on the simulated streamflow of six Canadian rivers based on the CanRCM4 regional climate model
Drivers of global irrigation expansion: the role of discrete global grid choice
Benchmarking historical performance and future projections from a global hydrologic model with a basin-scale model
Changes in mean evapotranspiration dominate groundwater recharge in semi-arid regions
Drought decreases streamflow response to precipitation especially in arid regions
Merging modelled and reported flood impacts in Europe in a combined flood event catalogue for 1950–2020
Future changes in seasonal drought in Australia
Global-scale evaluation of precipitation datasets for hydrological modelling
Toward Routing River Water in Land Surface Models with Recurrent Neural Networks
Influence of irrigation on root zone storage capacity estimation
River flow in the near future: a global perspective in the context of a high-emission climate change scenario
A high-resolution perspective of extreme rainfall and river flow under extreme climate change in Southeast Asia
Unveiling hydrological dynamics in data-scarce regions: experiences from the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes Basin
Technical note: Comparing three different methods for allocating river points to coarse-resolution hydrological modelling grid cells
Representing farmer irrigated crop area adaptation in a large-scale hydrological model
Combined impacts of climate and land-use change on future water resources in Africa
Deep learning for quality control of surface physiographic fields using satellite Earth observations
Global dryland aridity changes indicated by atmospheric, hydrological, and vegetation observations at meteorological stations
Root zone soil moisture in over 25 % of global land permanently beyond pre-industrial variability as early as 2050 without climate policy
Assessment of pluri-annual and decadal changes in terrestrial water storage predicted by global hydrological models in comparison with the GRACE satellite gravity mission
Improving the quantification of climate change hazards by hydrological models: a simple ensemble approach for considering the uncertain effect of vegetation response to climate change on potential evapotranspiration
Towards reducing the high cost of parameter sensitivity analysis in hydrologic modeling: a regional parameter sensitivity analysis approach
Point-scale multi-objective calibration of the Community Land Model (version 5.0) using in situ observations of water and energy fluxes and variables
Methodology for constructing a flood-hazard map for a future climate
Diagnosing modeling errors in global terrestrial water storage interannual variability
Hyper-resolution PCR-GLOBWB: opportunities and challenges from refining model spatial resolution to 1 km over the European continent
Poor correlation between large-scale environmental flow violations and freshwater biodiversity: implications for water resource management and the freshwater planetary boundary
Accuracy of five ground heat flux empirical simulation methods in the surface-energy-balance-based remote-sensing evapotranspiration models
Coupling a global glacier model to a global hydrological model prevents underestimation of glacier runoff
Revisiting large-scale interception patterns constrained by a synthesis of global experimental data
Investigating coastal backwater effects and flooding in the coastal zone using a global river transport model on an unstructured mesh
Using a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network to boost river streamflow forecasts over the western United States
Quantifying overlapping and differing information of global precipitation for GCM forecasts and El Niño–Southern Oscillation
Globally widespread and increasing violations of environmental flow envelopes
Inundation prediction in tropical wetlands from JULES-CaMa-Flood global land surface simulations
Soil moisture estimation in South Asia via assimilation of SMAP retrievals
Toward hyper-resolution global hydrological models including human activities: application to Kyushu island, Japan
Towards hybrid modeling of the global hydrological cycle
The importance of vegetation in understanding terrestrial water storage variations
Large-scale sensitivities of groundwater and surface water to groundwater withdrawal
A hydrography upscaling method for scale-invariant parametrization of distributed hydrological models
A novel method to identify sub-seasonal clustering episodes of extreme precipitation events and their contributions to large accumulation periods
Bright and blind spots of water research in Latin America and the Caribbean
Land surface modeling over the Dry Chaco: the impact of model structures, and soil, vegetation and land cover parameters
Nonstationary weather and water extremes: a review of methods for their detection, attribution, and management
Nicole Gyakowah Otoo, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Michelle T. H. van Vliet, Aafke M. Schipper, and Marc F. P. Bierkens
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2153–2165, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2153-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2153-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The contribution of groundwater to groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) is declining as a result of an increase in groundwater abstractions and climate change. This may lead to loss of habitat and biodiversity. This proposed framework enables the mapping and understanding of the temporal and spatial dynamics of GDEs on a large scale. The next step is to assess the global impacts of climate change and water use on GDE extent and health.
Freek Engel, Anne J. Hoek van Dijke, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, and Imme Benedict
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1895–1918, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1895-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1895-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A warming climate alters the freshwater availability over land, and, due to related tree cover change and potential forestation, this availability can be further enhanced or negated. We find that large-scale change in tree cover may counteract climate-driven changes on a global scale, whereas, regionally, the climate and tree cover impacts can differ extensively. Current ecosystem restoration projects should account for the effects of (re-)forestation on (non-)local water availability.
Mohamed Hamitouche, Giorgia Fosser, Alessandro Anav, Cenlin He, and Tzu-Shun Lin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1221–1240, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1221-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1221-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates how different methods of simulating runoff impact river flow predictions globally. By comparing seven approaches within the Noah-Multi-parameterisation (Noah-MP) land surface model, we found significant differences in accuracy, with some methods underestimating or overestimating runoff. The results are crucial for improving water resource management and flood prediction. Our work highlights the need for precise modelling to better prepare for climate-related challenges.
Howlader Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, Petra Döll, Seyed-Mohammad Hosseini-Moghari, Fabrice Papa, and Andreas Güntner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 567–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-567-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-567-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We calibrate a global hydrological model using multiple observations to analyse the benefits and trade-offs of multi-variable calibration. We found such an approach to be very important for understanding the real-world system. However, some observations are very essential to the system, in particular, streamflow. We also showed uncertainties in the calibration results, which are often useful for making informed decisions. We emphasize considering observation uncertainty in model calibration.
Shulei Zhang, Hongbin Liang, Fang Li, Xingjie Lu, and Yongjiu Dai
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4093, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4093, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study enhances irrigation modeling in the Common Land Model by capturing the full irrigation process, detailing water supplies from various sources, and enabling bidirectional coupling between water demand and supply. The proposed model accurately simulates irrigation water withdrawals, energy fluxes, river flow, and crop yields. It offers insights into irrigation-related climate impacts and water scarcity, contributing to sustainable water management and improved Earth system modeling.
Vivek K. Arora, Aranildo Lima, and Rajesh Shrestha
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 291–312, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-291-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-291-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a Canada-wide assessment of climate change impacts on the hydro-climatology of the region's major river basins. We find that precipitation, runoff, and temperature are all expected to increase over Canada in the future. The northerly Mackenzie and Yukon rivers are relatively less affected by climate change compared to the southerly Fraser and Columbia rivers, which are located in the milder northwestern Pacific region.
Sophie Wagner, Fabian Stenzel, Tobias Krueger, and Jana de Wiljes
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5049–5068, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5049-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5049-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Statistical models that explain global irrigation rely on location-referenced data. Traditionally, a system based on longitude and latitude lines is chosen. However, this introduces bias to the analysis due to the Earth's curvature. We propose using a system based on hexagonal grid cells that allows for distortion-free representation of the data. We show that this increases the model's accuracy by 28 % and identify biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of historical global irrigation expansion.
Rajesh R. Shrestha, Alex J. Cannon, Sydney Hoffman, Marie Whibley, and Aranildo Lima
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3170, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3170, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate the historical performance and future projections from a global hydrologic model, the Community Water Model, against a watershed hydrologic model, the Variable Infiltration Capacity for the Liard River basin in Canada. Results from the two models are generally consistent at annual and monthly time scales, suggesting that a calibrated global hydrologic model can provide robust projections. We explain the differences in projections in terms of model uncertainties.
Tuvia Turkeltaub and Golan Bel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4263–4274, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4263-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4263-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Future climate projections suggest that climate change will impact groundwater recharge, with its exact effects being uncertain due to incomplete understanding of rainfall, evapotranspiration, and recharge relations. We studied the effects of changes in the average, spread, and frequency of extreme events of rainfall and evapotranspiration on groundwater recharge. We found that increasing or decreasing the potential evaporation has the most dominant effect on groundwater recharge.
Alessia Matanó, Raed Hamed, Manuela I. Brunner, Marlies H. Barendrecht, and Anne F. Van Loon
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2715, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2715, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Persistent droughts change how rivers respond to rainfall. Our study of over 5,000 catchments worldwide found that hydrological and soil moisture droughts decrease river flow response to rain, especially in arid regions, while vegetation decline slightly increases it. Snow-covered areas are more resilient due to stored water buffering changes. Droughts can also cause long-lasting changes, with short, intense droughts reducing river response to rainfall and prolonged droughts increasing it.
Dominik Paprotny, Belinda Rhein, Michalis I. Vousdoukas, Paweł Terefenko, Francesco Dottori, Simon Treu, Jakub Śledziowski, Luc Feyen, and Heidi Kreibich
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3983–4010, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3983-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3983-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Long-term trends in flood losses are regulated by multiple factors, including climate variation, population and economic growth, land-use transitions, reservoir construction, and flood risk reduction measures. Here, we reconstruct the factual circumstances in which almost 15 000 potential riverine, coastal and compound floods in Europe occurred between 1950 and 2020. About 10 % of those events are reported to have caused significant socioeconomic impacts.
Anna M. Ukkola, Steven Thomas, Elisabeth Vogel, Ulrike Bende-Michl, Steven Siems, Vjekoslav Matic, and Wendy Sharples
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.31223/X56110, https://doi.org/10.31223/X56110, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Future drought changes in Australia –the driest inhabited continent on Earth– have remained stubbornly uncertain. We assess future drought changes in Australia using projections from climate and hydrological models. We show an increasing probability of drought over highly-populated and agricultural regions of Australia in coming decades, suggesting potential impacts on agricultural activities, ecosystems and urban water supply.
Solomon H. Gebrechorkos, Julian Leyland, Simon J. Dadson, Sagy Cohen, Louise Slater, Michel Wortmann, Philip J. Ashworth, Georgina L. Bennett, Richard Boothroyd, Hannah Cloke, Pauline Delorme, Helen Griffith, Richard Hardy, Laurence Hawker, Stuart McLelland, Jeffrey Neal, Andrew Nicholas, Andrew J. Tatem, Ellie Vahidi, Yinxue Liu, Justin Sheffield, Daniel R. Parsons, and Stephen E. Darby
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3099–3118, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3099-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3099-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluated six high-resolution global precipitation datasets for hydrological modelling. MSWEP and ERA5 showed better performance, but spatial variability was high. The findings highlight the importance of careful dataset selection for river discharge modelling due to the lack of a universally superior dataset. Further improvements in global precipitation data products are needed.
Mauricio Lima, Katherine Deck, Oliver R. A. Dunbar, and Tapio Schneider
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.14212, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.14212, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Machine learning is playing an increasingly important role in hydrological modeling. In this paper, we introduce an adaptation of existing machine learning models forecasting streamflow in river basins, redesigning them with the goal of integrating them into climate models. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our adapted model by showing that it outperforms a physics-based river model. These results motivate further studies of the use of machine learning based river models inside climate models.
Fransje van Oorschot, Ruud J. van der Ent, Andrea Alessandri, and Markus Hrachowitz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2313–2328, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2313-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2313-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Vegetation plays a crucial role in regulating the water cycle by transporting water from the subsurface to the atmosphere via roots; this transport depends on the extent of the root system. In this study, we quantified the effect of irrigation on roots at a global scale. Our results emphasize the importance of accounting for irrigation in estimating the vegetation root extent, which is essential to adequately represent the water cycle in hydrological and climate models.
Omar V. Müller, Patrick C. McGuire, Pier Luigi Vidale, and Ed Hawkins
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2179–2201, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2179-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2179-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work evaluates how rivers are projected to change in the near future compared to the recent past in the context of a warming world. We show that important rivers of the world will notably change their flows, mainly during peaks, exceeding the variations that rivers used to exhibit. Such large changes may produce more frequent floods, alter hydropower generation, and potentially affect the ocean's circulation.
Mugni Hadi Hariadi, Gerard van der Schrier, Gert-Jan Steeneveld, Samuel J. Sutanto, Edwin Sutanudjaja, Dian Nur Ratri, Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan, and Albert Klein Tank
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1935–1956, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1935-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1935-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We utilize the high-resolution CMIP6 for extreme rainfall and streamflow projection over Southeast Asia. This region will experience an increase in both dry and wet extremes in the near future. We found a more extreme low flow and high flow, along with an increasing probability of low-flow and high-flow events. We reveal that the changes in low-flow events and their probabilities are not only influenced by extremely dry climates but also by the catchment characteristics.
Ayenew D. Ayalew, Paul D. Wagner, Dejene Sahlu, and Nicola Fohrer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1853–1872, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1853-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1853-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The study presents a pioneering comprehensive integrated approach to unravel hydrological complexities in data-scarce regions. By integrating diverse data sources and advanced analytics, we offer a holistic understanding of water systems, unveiling hidden patterns and driving factors. This innovative method holds immense promise for informed decision-making and sustainable water resource management, addressing a critical need in hydrological science.
Juliette Godet, Eric Gaume, Pierre Javelle, Pierre Nicolle, and Olivier Payrastre
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1403–1413, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1403-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1403-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work was performed in order to precisely address a point that is often neglected by hydrologists: the allocation of points located on a river network to grid cells, which is often a mandatory step for hydrological modelling.
Jim Yoon, Nathalie Voisin, Christian Klassert, Travis Thurber, and Wenwei Xu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 899–916, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-899-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-899-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Global and regional models used to evaluate water shortages typically neglect the possibility that irrigated crop areas may change in response to future hydrological conditions, such as the fallowing of crops in response to drought. Here, we enhance a model used for water shortage analysis with farmer agents that dynamically adapt their irrigated crop areas based on simulated hydrological conditions. Results indicate that such cropping adaptation can strongly alter simulated water shortages.
Celray James Chawanda, Albert Nkwasa, Wim Thiery, and Ann van Griensven
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 117–138, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-117-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-117-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Africa's water resources are being negatively impacted by climate change and land-use change. The SWAT+ hydrological model was used to simulate the hydrological cycle in Africa, and results show likely decreases in river flows in the Zambezi and Congo rivers and highest flows in the Niger River basins due to climate change. Land cover change had the biggest impact in the Congo River basin, emphasizing the importance of including land-use change in studies.
Tom Kimpson, Margarita Choulga, Matthew Chantry, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Souhail Boussetta, Peter Dueben, and Tim Palmer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4661–4685, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4661-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4661-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Lakes play an important role when we try to explain and predict the weather. More accurate and up-to-date description of lakes all around the world for numerical models is a continuous task. However, it is difficult to assess the impact of updated lake description within a weather prediction system. In this work, we develop a method to quickly and automatically define how, where, and when updated lake description affects weather prediction.
Haiyang Shi, Geping Luo, Olaf Hellwich, Xiufeng He, Alishir Kurban, Philippe De Maeyer, and Tim Van de Voorde
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4551–4562, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4551-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4551-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Using evidence from meteorological stations, this study assessed the climatic, hydrological, and ecological aridity changes in global drylands and their associated mechanisms. A decoupling between atmospheric, hydrological, and vegetation aridity was found. This highlights the added value of using station-scale data to assess dryland change as a complement to results based on coarse-resolution reanalysis data and land surface models.
En Ning Lai, Lan Wang-Erlandsson, Vili Virkki, Miina Porkka, and Ruud J. van der Ent
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3999–4018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3999-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3999-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This research scrutinized predicted changes in root zone soil moisture dynamics across different climate scenarios and different climate regions globally between 2021 and 2100. The Mediterranean and most of South America stood out as regions that will likely experience permanently drier conditions, with greater severity observed in the no-climate-policy scenarios. These findings underscore the impact that possible future climates can have on green water resources.
Julia Pfeffer, Anny Cazenave, Alejandro Blazquez, Bertrand Decharme, Simon Munier, and Anne Barnoud
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3743–3768, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3743-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3743-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) satellite mission enabled the quantification of water mass redistributions from 2002 to 2017. The analysis of GRACE satellite data shows here that slow changes in terrestrial water storage occurring over a few years to a decade are severely underestimated by global hydrological models. Several sources of errors may explain such biases, likely including the inaccurate representation of groundwater storage changes.
Thedini Asali Peiris and Petra Döll
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3663–3686, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3663-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3663-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrological models often overlook vegetation's response to CO2 and climate, impairing their ability to forecast impacts on evapotranspiration and water resources. To address this, we suggest involving two model variants: (1) the standard method and (2) a modified approach (proposed here) based on the Priestley–Taylor equation (PT-MA). While not universally applicable, a dual approach helps consider uncertainties related to vegetation responses to climate change, enhancing model representation.
Samah Larabi, Juliane Mai, Markus Schnorbus, Bryan A. Tolson, and Francis Zwiers
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3241–3263, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3241-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3241-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The computational cost of sensitivity analysis (SA) becomes prohibitive for large hydrologic modeling domains. Here, using a large-scale Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) deployment, we show that watershed classification helps identify the spatial pattern of parameter sensitivity within the domain at a reduced cost. Findings reveal the opportunity to leverage climate and land cover attributes to reduce the cost of SA and facilitate more rapid deployment of large-scale land surface models.
Tanja Denager, Torben O. Sonnenborg, Majken C. Looms, Heye Bogena, and Karsten H. Jensen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2827–2845, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2827-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2827-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study contributes to improvements in the model characterization of water and energy fluxes. The results show that multi-objective autocalibration in combination with mathematical regularization is a powerful tool to improve land surface models. Using the direct measurement of turbulent fluxes as the target variable, parameter optimization matches simulations and observations of latent heat, whereas sensible heat is clearly biased.
Yuki Kimura, Yukiko Hirabayashi, Yuki Kita, Xudong Zhou, and Dai Yamazaki
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1627–1644, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1627-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1627-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Since both the frequency and magnitude of flood will increase by climate change, information on spatial distributions of potential inundation depths (i.e., flood-hazard map) is required. We developed a method for constructing realistic future flood-hazard maps which addresses issues due to biases in climate models. A larger population is estimated to face risk in the future flood-hazard map, suggesting that only focusing on flood-frequency change could cause underestimation of future risk.
Hoontaek Lee, Martin Jung, Nuno Carvalhais, Tina Trautmann, Basil Kraft, Markus Reichstein, Matthias Forkel, and Sujan Koirala
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1531–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1531-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1531-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We spatially attribute the variance in global terrestrial water storage (TWS) interannual variability (IAV) and its modeling error with two data-driven hydrological models. We find error hotspot regions that show a disproportionately large significance in the global mismatch and the association of the error regions with a smaller-scale lateral convergence of water. Our findings imply that TWS IAV modeling can be efficiently improved by focusing on model representations for the error hotspots.
Jannis M. Hoch, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Niko Wanders, Rens L. P. H. van Beek, and Marc F. P. Bierkens
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1383–1401, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1383-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1383-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To facilitate locally relevant simulations over large areas, global hydrological models (GHMs) have moved towards ever finer spatial resolutions. After a decade-long quest for hyper-resolution (i.e. equal to or smaller than 1 km), the presented work is a first application of a GHM at 1 km resolution over Europe. This not only shows that hyper-resolution can be achieved but also allows for a thorough evaluation of model results at unprecedented detail and the formulation of future research.
Chinchu Mohan, Tom Gleeson, James S. Famiglietti, Vili Virkki, Matti Kummu, Miina Porkka, Lan Wang-Erlandsson, Xander Huggins, Dieter Gerten, and Sonja C. Jähnig
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6247–6262, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6247-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6247-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The relationship between environmental flow violations and freshwater biodiversity at a large scale is not well explored. This study intended to carry out an exploratory evaluation of this relationship at a large scale. While our results suggest that streamflow and EF may not be the only determinants of freshwater biodiversity at large scales, they do not preclude the existence of relationships at smaller scales or with more holistic EF methods or with other biodiversity data or metrics.
Zhaofei Liu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6207–6226, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6207-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6207-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Ground heat flux (G) accounts for a significant fraction of the surface energy balance (SEB), but there is insufficient research on these models compared with other flux. The accuracy of G simulation methods in the SEB-based remote sensing evapotranspiration models is evaluated. Results show that the accuracy of each method varied significantly at different sites and at half-hour intervals. Further improvement of G simulations is recommended for the remote sensing evapotranspiration modelers.
Pau Wiersma, Jerom Aerts, Harry Zekollari, Markus Hrachowitz, Niels Drost, Matthias Huss, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, and Rolf Hut
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5971–5986, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5971-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5971-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We test whether coupling a global glacier model (GloGEM) with a global hydrological model (PCR-GLOBWB 2) leads to a more realistic glacier representation and to improved basin runoff simulations across 25 large-scale basins. The coupling does lead to improved glacier representation, mainly by accounting for glacier flow and net glacier mass loss, and to improved basin runoff simulations, mostly in strongly glacier-influenced basins, which is where the coupling has the most impact.
Feng Zhong, Shanhu Jiang, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Liliang Ren, Jaap Schellekens, and Diego G. Miralles
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5647–5667, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5647-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5647-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A synthesis of rainfall interception data from past field campaigns is performed, including 166 forests and 17 agricultural plots distributed worldwide. These site data are used to constrain and validate an interception model that considers sub-grid heterogeneity and vegetation dynamics. A global, 40-year (1980–2019) interception dataset is generated at a daily temporal and 0.1° spatial resolution. This dataset will serve as a benchmark for future investigations of the global hydrological cycle.
Dongyu Feng, Zeli Tan, Darren Engwirda, Chang Liao, Donghui Xu, Gautam Bisht, Tian Zhou, Hong-Yi Li, and L. Ruby Leung
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5473–5491, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5473-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5473-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Sea level rise, storm surge and river discharge can cause coastal backwater effects in downstream sections of rivers, creating critical flood risks. This study simulates the backwater effects using a large-scale river model on a coastal-refined computational mesh. By decomposing the backwater drivers, we revealed their relative importance and long-term variations. Our analysis highlights the increasing strength of backwater effects due to sea level rise and more frequent storm surge.
Kieran M. R. Hunt, Gwyneth R. Matthews, Florian Pappenberger, and Christel Prudhomme
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5449–5472, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5449-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5449-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we use three models to forecast river streamflow operationally for 13 months (September 2020 to October 2021) at 10 gauges in the western US. The first model is a state-of-the-art physics-based streamflow model (GloFAS). The second applies a bias-correction technique to GloFAS. The third is a type of neural network (an LSTM). We find that all three are capable of producing skilful forecasts but that the LSTM performs the best, with skilful 5 d forecasts at nine stations.
Tongtiegang Zhao, Haoling Chen, Yu Tian, Denghua Yan, Weixin Xu, Huayang Cai, Jiabiao Wang, and Xiaohong Chen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4233–4249, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4233-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4233-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper develops a novel set operations of coefficients of determination (SOCD) method to explicitly quantify the overlapping and differing information for GCM forecasts and ENSO teleconnection. Specifically, the intersection operation of the coefficient of determination derives the overlapping information for GCM forecasts and the Niño3.4 index, and then the difference operation determines the differing information in GCM forecasts (Niño3.4 index) from the Niño3.4 index (GCM forecasts).
Vili Virkki, Elina Alanärä, Miina Porkka, Lauri Ahopelto, Tom Gleeson, Chinchu Mohan, Lan Wang-Erlandsson, Martina Flörke, Dieter Gerten, Simon N. Gosling, Naota Hanasaki, Hannes Müller Schmied, Niko Wanders, and Matti Kummu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3315–3336, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3315-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3315-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Direct and indirect human actions have altered streamflow across the world since pre-industrial times. Here, we apply a method of environmental flow envelopes (EFEs) that develops the existing global environmental flow assessments by methodological advances and better consideration of uncertainty. By assessing the violations of the EFE, we comprehensively quantify the frequency, severity, and trends of flow alteration during the past decades, illustrating anthropogenic effects on streamflow.
Toby R. Marthews, Simon J. Dadson, Douglas B. Clark, Eleanor M. Blyth, Garry D. Hayman, Dai Yamazaki, Olivia R. E. Becher, Alberto Martínez-de la Torre, Catherine Prigent, and Carlos Jiménez
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3151–3175, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3151-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3151-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Reliable data on global inundated areas remain uncertain. By matching a leading global data product on inundation extents (GIEMS) against predictions from a global hydrodynamic model (CaMa-Flood), we found small but consistent and non-random biases in well-known tropical wetlands (Sudd, Pantanal, Amazon and Congo). These result from known limitations in the data and the models used, which shows us how to improve our ability to make critical predictions of inundation events in the future.
Jawairia A. Ahmad, Barton A. Forman, and Sujay V. Kumar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2221–2243, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2221-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2221-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Assimilation of remotely sensed data into a land surface model to improve the spatiotemporal estimation of soil moisture across South Asia exhibits potential. Satellite retrieval assimilation corrects biases that are generated due to an unmodeled hydrologic phenomenon, i.e., irrigation. The improvements in fine-scale, modeled soil moisture estimates by assimilating coarse-scale retrievals indicates the utility of the described methodology for data-scarce regions.
Naota Hanasaki, Hikari Matsuda, Masashi Fujiwara, Yukiko Hirabayashi, Shinta Seto, Shinjiro Kanae, and Taikan Oki
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1953–1975, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1953-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1953-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Global hydrological models (GHMs) are usually applied with a spatial resolution of about 50 km, but this time we applied the H08 model, one of the most advanced GHMs, with a high resolution of 2 km to Kyushu island, Japan. Since the model was not accurate as it was, we incorporated local information and improved the model, which revealed detailed water stress in subregions that were not visible with the previous resolution.
Basil Kraft, Martin Jung, Marco Körner, Sujan Koirala, and Markus Reichstein
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1579–1614, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1579-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1579-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a physics-aware machine learning model of the global hydrological cycle. As the model uses neural networks under the hood, the simulations of the water cycle are learned from data, and yet they are informed and constrained by physical knowledge. The simulated patterns lie within the range of existing hydrological models and are plausible. The hybrid modeling approach has the potential to tackle key environmental questions from a novel perspective.
Tina Trautmann, Sujan Koirala, Nuno Carvalhais, Andreas Güntner, and Martin Jung
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1089–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1089-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1089-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We assess the effect of how vegetation is defined in a global hydrological model on the composition of total water storage (TWS). We compare two experiments, one with globally uniform and one with vegetation parameters that vary in space and time. While both experiments are constrained against observational data, we found a drastic change in the partitioning of TWS, highlighting the important role of the interaction between groundwater–soil moisture–vegetation in understanding TWS variations.
Marc F. P. Bierkens, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, and Niko Wanders
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5859–5878, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5859-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5859-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce a simple analytical framework that allows us to estimate to what extent large-scale groundwater withdrawal affects groundwater levels and streamflow. It also calculates which part of the groundwater withdrawal comes out of groundwater storage and which part from a reduction in streamflow. Global depletion rates obtained with the framework are compared with estimates from satellites, from global- and continental-scale groundwater models, and from in situ datasets.
Dirk Eilander, Willem van Verseveld, Dai Yamazaki, Albrecht Weerts, Hessel C. Winsemius, and Philip J. Ward
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5287–5313, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5287-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5287-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Digital elevation models and derived flow directions are crucial to distributed hydrological modeling. As the spatial resolution of models is typically coarser than these data, we need methods to upscale flow direction data while preserving the river structure. We propose the Iterative Hydrography Upscaling (IHU) method and show it outperforms other often-applied methods. We publish the multi-resolution MERIT Hydro IHU hydrography dataset and the algorithm as part of the pyflwdir Python package.
Jérôme Kopp, Pauline Rivoire, S. Mubashshir Ali, Yannick Barton, and Olivia Martius
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5153–5174, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5153-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5153-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Episodes of extreme rainfall events happening in close temporal succession can lead to floods with dramatic impacts. We developed a novel method to individually identify those episodes and deduced the regions where they occur frequently and where their impact is substantial. Those regions are the east and northeast of the Asian continent, central Canada and the south of California, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, and north of Argentina and south of Bolivia.
Alyssa J. DeVincentis, Hervé Guillon, Romina Díaz Gómez, Noelle K. Patterson, Francine van den Brandeler, Arthur Koehl, J. Pablo Ortiz-Partida, Laura E. Garza-Díaz, Jennifer Gamez-Rodríguez, Erfan Goharian, and Samuel Sandoval Solis
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4631–4650, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4631-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4631-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Latin America and the Caribbean face many water-related stresses which are expected to worsen with climate change. To assess the vulnerability, we reviewed over 20 000 multilingual research articles using machine learning and an understanding of the regional landscape. Results reveal that the region’s inherent vulnerability is compounded by research blind spots in niche topics (reservoirs and risk assessment) and subregions (Caribbean nations), as well as by its reliance on one country (Brazil).
Michiel Maertens, Gabriëlle J. M. De Lannoy, Sebastian Apers, Sujay V. Kumar, and Sarith P. P. Mahanama
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4099–4125, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4099-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4099-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we simulated the water balance over the South American Dry Chaco and assessed the impact of land cover changes thereon using three different land surface models. Our simulations indicated that different models result in a different partitioning of the total water budget, but all showed an increase in soil moisture and percolation over the deforested areas. We also found that, relative to independent data, no specific land surface model is significantly better than another.
Louise J. Slater, Bailey Anderson, Marcus Buechel, Simon Dadson, Shasha Han, Shaun Harrigan, Timo Kelder, Katie Kowal, Thomas Lees, Tom Matthews, Conor Murphy, and Robert L. Wilby
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3897–3935, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3897-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3897-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Weather and water extremes have devastating effects each year. One of the principal challenges for society is understanding how extremes are likely to evolve under the influence of changes in climate, land cover, and other human impacts. This paper provides a review of the methods and challenges associated with the detection, attribution, management, and projection of nonstationary weather and water extremes.
Cited articles
Adler, R., Huffman, G., Chang, A., Ferraro, R., Xie, P.-P., Janowiak, J.,
Rudolf, B., Schneider, U., Curtis, S., Bolvin, D., Gruber, A., Susskind, J.,
Arkin, P., and Nelkin, E.: The version-2 Global Precipitation Climatology
Project (GPCP) monthly precipitation analysis (1970–Present), J. Hydrol., 4, 1147–1167, 2003.
Anderson, M., Norman, J., Mecikalski, J., Otkin, J., and Kustas, W.: A
climatological study of evapotranspiration and moisture stress across the
continental United States based on thermal remote sensing: 1. Model
formulation, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D10117, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007506, 2007.
Baldocchi, D., Falge, E., Gu, L., Olson, R., Hollinger, D., Running, S.,
Anthoni, P., Bernhofer, C., Davis, K., Evans, R., Fuentes, J., Goldstein, A.,
Katul, G., Law, B., Lee, X., Malhi, Y., Meyers, T., Munger, W., Oechel, W.,
Paw, K., Pilegaard, K., Schmid, H., Valentini, R., Verma, S., Vesala, T.,
Wilson, K., and Wofsyn, S.: FLUXNET: a new tool to study the temporal and
spatial variability of ecosystem-scale carbon dioxide, water vapor, and
energy flux densities, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 82, 2415–2434, 2001.
Burba, G., McDermitt, D., Anderson, D., and Furtaw, M. D.: Novel design of
an enclosed CO2/H2O gas analyser for eddy covariance flux
measurements, Tellus, 62, 743–748, 2010.
Chen, X., Su, Z., Ma, Y., Liu, S., Yu, Q., and Xu, Z.: Development of a
10-year (2001–2010) 0.1° data set of land-surface energy balance for
mainland China, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 13097–13117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13097-2014, 2014.
Coccia, G. and Wood, E. F.: CFSR-Land: a new high temporal resolution global
land data assimilation product, J. Geophys. Res., in preparation, 2015.
Courault, D., Seguin, B., and Olioso, A.: Review on estimation of
evapotranspiration from remote sensing data: from empirical to numerical
modeling approaches, Irrig. Drain. Syst., 19, 223–249, 2005.
Dee, D., Uppala, M., S., Simmons, J., A., Berrisford, P., Poli, P.,
Kobayashi, S., Andrae, U., Balmaseda, A., M., Balsamo, G., Bauer, P.,
Bechtold, P., Beljaars, M., A. C., van de Berg, L., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N.,
Delsol, C., Dragani, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, J., A., Haimberger, L.,
Healy, B., S., Hersbach, H., Hólm, V., E., Isaksen, L., Kallberg, P.,
Khaler, M., Matricardi, M., McNally, P., A., Monge-Sanz, M., B.,
Morcrette, J.-J., Park, B.-K., Peubey, C., de Rosnay, P., Tavolato, C.,
Thapaut, J.-N., and Vitart, F.: The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and
performance of the data assimilation system, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 137,
553–597, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828, 2011.
Ershadi, A., McCabe, M. F., Evans, J. P., Chaney, N. W., and Wood, E. F.:
Multi-site evaluation of terrestrial evaporation models using FLUXNET data,
Agr. Forest Meteorol., 187, 46–61, 2014.
Ferguson, C. R. and Wood, E. F.: An evaluation of satellite remote-sensing
data products for land surface hydrology: Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS),
J. Hydrometeorol., 11, 1234–1262, 2010.
Fisher, J., Tu, K., and Baldocchi, D.: Global estimates of the
land-atmosphere water flux based on monthly AVHRR and ISLSCP-II data,
validated at 16 FLUXNET sites, Remote Sens. Environ., 112, 901–919, 2008.
Foken, T., Wimmer, F., Mauder, M., Thomas, C., and Liebethal, C.: Some
aspects of the energy balance closure problem, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 4395–4402,
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-4395-2006, 2006.
Gash, J.: An analytical model of rainfall interception by forests, Q. J. Roy.
Meteorol. Soc., 105, 43–45, 1979.
Gash, J. and Stewart, J.: The evaporation from Thetford Forest during
1975, J. Hydrol., 35, 385–396, 1977.
Hirschi, M., Michel, D., Lehner, I., and Seneviratne, S. I.: A site-level
comparison of lysimeter and eddy-covariance flux measurements of evapotranspiration,
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., in preparation, 2016.
Jia, L., Su, Z., van den Hurk, B., Menenti, M., Moene, A., De Bruin, H. A. R., and Yrisarry, J. J. B.: Estimation of sensible heat
flux using the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) and ATSR measurements,
Phys. Chem. Earth, 28, 75–88, 2003.
Jiménez, C., Prigent, C., Mueller, B., Seneviratne, S. I., McCabe, M. F.,
Wood, E. F., Rossow, W. B., Balsamo, G., Betts, A. K., Dirmeyer, P. A.,
Fisher, J. B., Jung, M., Kanamitsu, M., Reichle, R. H., Reichstein, M.,
Rodell, M., Sheffield, J., Tu, K., and Wang, K.: Global intercomparison of
12 land surface heat flux estimates, J. Geophys. Res., 116, 6809–6866, D02102,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014545, 2011.
Jimenez, C., McCabe, M., Seneviratne, S. I., Wood, E., and Rossow, W.:
4th LandFlux Workshop, GEWEX News, 22, 17–18, 2012.
Joyce, R. J., Janowiak, J. E., Arkin, P. A., and Xie, P.: CMORPH: a method
that produces global precipitation estimates from passive microwave and
infrared data at high spatial and temporal resolution, J. Hydrometeorol., 5, 487–503, 2004.
Jung, M., Reichstein, M., Ciais, P., Seneviratne, S. I., Sheffield, J.,
Goulden, M. L., Bonan, G., Cescatti, A., Chen, J., and de Jeu, R.: Recent
decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend due to limited moisture
supply, Nature, 467, 951–954, 2010.
Kalma, J., McVicar, T., and McCabe, M.: Estimating land surface evaporation:
a review of methods using remotely sensed surface temperature data, Surv.
Geophys., 29, 421–469, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-008-9037-z, 2008.
Kelly, R., Chang, A., Tsang, L., and Foster, J.: A prototype AMSR-E global
snow area and snow depth algorithm, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 41, 230–242, 2003.
Kustas, W. and Norman, J.: A two-source energy balance approach using
directional radiometric temperature observations for sparse canopy covered
surfaces, Agron. J., 92, 847–854, 2000.
Liu, Y. Y., de Jeu, R. A. M., McCabe, M., Evans, J., and van
Dijk, A. I. J. M.: Global long-term passive microwave satellite-based
retrievals of vegetation optical depth, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L18402,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL048684, 2011a.
Liu, Y. Y., Parinussa, R. M., Dorigo, W. A., De Jeu, R. A. M., Wagner, W.,
van Dijk, A. I. J. M., McCabe, M. F., and Evans, J. P.: Developing an
improved soil moisture dataset by blending passive and active microwave
satellite-based retrievals, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 425–436,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-425-2011, 2011b.
Liu, Y. Y., van Dijk, A. I. J. M., de Jeu, R. A. M., Canadell, J. G.,
McCabe, M. F., Evans, J. P., and Wang, G.: Recent reversal in loss of global
terrestrial biomass, Nat. Clim. Change, 5, 470–474, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2581, 2015.
Luojus, K. and Pulliainen, J.: Global Snow Monitoring for Climatic Research:
Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) Product Guide, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland, 2010.
Mao, J., Fu, W., Shi, X., Ricciuto, D. M., Fisher, J. B., Dickinson, R. E.,
Wei, Y., Shem, W., Piao, S., Wang, K., Schwalm, C. R., Tian, H., Mu, M.,
Arain, A., Ciais, P., Cook, R., Dai, Y., Hayes, D., Hoffman, F. M.,
Huang, M., Huang, S., Huntzinger, D. N., Ito, A., Jain, A., King, A. W.,
Lei, H., Lu, C., Michalak, A. M., Parazoo, N., Peng, C., Peng, S.,
Poulter, B., Schaefer, K., Jafarov, E., Thornton, P. E., Wang, W., Zeng, N.,
Zeng, Z., Zhao, F., Zh, Q., and Zhu, Z: Disentangling climatic and
anthropogenic controls on global terrestrial evapotranspiration trends,
Environ. Res. Lett., 10, 094008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/9/094008, 2015.
Martens, B., Miralles, D. G., Lievens, H., Fernández-Prieto, D., and
Verhoest, N.: Improving terrestrial evaporation estimates over continental
Australia through assimilation of SMOS soil moisture, Int. J. Appl. Earth
Obs., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2015.09.012, in press, 2016.
McCabe, M. F. and Wood, E.: Scale influences on the remote estimation of
evapotranspiration using multiple satellite sensors, Remote Sens. Environ.,
105, 271–285, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2006.07.006, 2006.
McCabe, M. F., Ershadi, A., Jimenez, C., Miralles, D. G., Michel, D., and
Wood, E. F.: The GEWEX LandFlux project: evaluation of model evaporation
using tower-based and globally-gridded forcing data, Geosci. Model Dev.
Discuss., 8, 6809–6866, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmdd-8-6809-2015, 2015.
Miralles, D. G., Gash, J. H., Holmes, T. R. H., de Jeu, R. A. M., and Dolman,
A. J.: Global canopy interception from satellite observations, J. Geophys. Res.,
115, D16122, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD013530, 2010.
Miralles, D. G., Holmes, T. R. H., De Jeu, R. A. M., Gash, J. H.,
Meesters, A. G. C. A., and Dolman, A. J.: Global land-surface evaporation
estimated from satellite-based observations, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15,
453–469, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-453-2011, 2011a.
Miralles, D. G., De Jeu, R. A. M., Gash, J. H., Holmes, T. R. H., and
Dolman, A. J.: Magnitude and variability of land evaporation and its
components at the global scale, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 967–981,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-967-2011, 2011b.
Miralles, D. G., Jiménez, C., Jung, M., Michel, D., Ershadi, A., McCabe, M. F.,
Hirschi, M., Martens, B., Dolman, A. J., Fisher, J. B., Mu, Q., Seneviratne, S. I.,
Wood, E. F., and Fernaǹndez-Prieto, D.: The WACMOS-ET project – Part 2: Evaluation
of global terrestrial evaporation data sets, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 823–842,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-823-2016, 2016.
Monin, A. and Obukhov, A.: Basic laws of turbulent mixing in the surface
layer of the atmosphere, Tr. Akad. Nauk SSSR Geophiz. Inst., 24, 163–187, 1954.
Monteith, J.: Evaporation and environment, Sym. Soc. Exp. Biol., 19, 205–234, 1965.
Mooney, P. A., Mulligan, F. J., and Fealya, R.: Comparison of ERA-40,
ERA-Interim and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data with observed surface air
temperatures over Ireland, Int. J. Cancer, 31, 545–557, 2011.
Mu, Q., Heinsch, F. A., Zhao, M., and Running, S. W.: Development of a global
evapotranspiration algorithm based on MODIS and global meteorology data,
Remote Sens. Environ., 111, 519–536, 2007.
Mu, Q., Zhao, M., and Running, S.: Improvements to a MODIS global terrestrial
evapotranspiration algorithm, Remote Sens. Environ., 115, 1781–1800, 2011.
Mueller, B., Seneviratne, S. I., Jimenez, C., Corti, T., Hirschi, M.,
Balsamo, G., Ciais, P., Dirmeyer, P., Fisher, J. B., Guo, Z., Jung, M.,
Maignan, F., McCabe, M. F., Reichle, R., Reichstein, M., Rodell, M.,
Sheffield, J., Teuling, A. J., Wang, K., Wood, E. F., and Zhang, Y.:
Evaluation of global observations-based evapotranspiration datasets and IPCC AR4
simulations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L06402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL046230, 2011.
Mueller, B., Hirschi, M., Jimenez, C., Ciais, P., Dirmeyer, P. A.,
Dolman, A. J., Fisher, J. B., Jung, M., Ludwig, F., Maignan, F.,
Miralles, D. G., McCabe, M. F., Reichstein, M., Sheffield, J., Wang, K.,
Wood, E. F., Zhang, Y., and Seneviratne, S. I.: Benchmark products for land
evapotranspiration: LandFlux-EVAL multi-data set synthesis, Hydrol. Earth
Syst. Sci., 17, 3707–3720, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3707-2013, 2013.
Murphy, D. and Koop, T.: Review of the vapour pressures of ice and supercooled
water for atmospheric applications, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 131, 1539–1565, 2005.
Owe, M., de Jeu, R., and Walker, J.: A methodology for surface soil moisture
and vegetation optical depth retrieval using the microwave polarization
difference index, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 39, 1643–1654, 2001.
Pinty, B., Lavergne, T., Vossbeck, M., Kaminski, T., Aussedat, O.,
Giering, R., Gobron, N., Taberner, M., Verstraete, M. M., and
Widlowski, J.-L.: Retrieving surface parameters for climate models from
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-Multiangle Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MISR) albedo products, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 112,
D10116, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008105, 2007.
Pinty, B., Jung, M., Kaminski, T., Lavergne, T., Mund, M., Plummer, S.,
Thomas, E., and Widlowski, J.: Evaluation of the JRC-TIP 0.01°
products over a mid-latitude deciduous forest site, Remote Sens. Environ.,
115, 3567–3581, 2011a.
Pinty, B., Taberner, M., Haemmerle, V., Paradise, S., Vermote, E.,
Verstraete, M., Gobron, N., and Widlowski, J.-L.: Global-Scale Comparison of
MISR and MODIS Land Surface Albedos, J. Climate, 24, 732–749, 2011b.
Priestley, C. and Taylor, R.: On the Assessment of surface heat flux and
evaporation using large-scale parameters, Mon. Weather Rev., 100, 81–92, 1972.
Saha, S., Moorthi, S., Pan, H.-L., et al.: The NCEP climate forecast system
reanalysis, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 91, 1015–1057, 2010.
Seemann, S. W., Borbas, E. E., Knuteson, R. O., Stephenson, G. R., and
Huang, H.-L.: Development of a global infrared surface emissivity database
for application to clear sky retrievals from multispectral satellite radiance
measurements, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 47, 108–123, 2008.
Simard, M., Pinto, N., Fisher, J., and Baccini, A.: Mapping forest canopy
height globally with spaceborne lidar, J. Geophys. Res., 116, G04021,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JG001708, 2011.
Stackhouse, P., Gupta, S., Cox, S., Mikovitz, J., Zhang, T., and
Chiacchio, M.: 12-year surface radiation budget data set, GEWEX News, 14, 10–12, 2004.
Su, H., McCabe, M. F., and Wood, E. F.: Modeling evapotranspiration during
SMACEX: comparing two approaches for local- and regional-scale prediction, J.
Hydrometeorol., 6, 910–922, 2005.
Su, Z.: The Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) for estimation of turbulent
heat fluxes, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 6, 85–100, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-6-85-2002, 2002.
Szczypta, C., Calvet, J.-C., Albergel, C., Balsamo, G., Boussetta, S.,
Carrer, D., Lafont, S., and Meurey, C.: Verification of the new ECMWF
ERA-Interim reanalysis over France, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 647–666,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-647-2011, 2011.
Vinukollu, R. K., Sheffield, J., Wood, E. F., Bosilovich, M. G., and
Mocko, D.: Multimodel analysis of energy and water fluxes: intercomparisons
between operational analyses, a land surface model, and remote sensing, J.
Hydrometeorol., 13, 3–26, 2011.
Wang, K. and Dickinson, R.: A review of global terrestrial
evapotranspiration: Observation, modeling, climatology, and climatic
variability, Rev. Geophys., 50, RG2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011RG000373, 2012.
Wang, K., Wan, Z., Wang, P., Sparrow, M., Liu, J., Zhou, X., and
Haginoya, S.: Estimation of surface long wave radiation and broadband
emissivity using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land
surface temperature/emissivity products, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D11109,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD005566, 2005.
Xie, P. and Arkin, P. A.: Global precipitation: A 17-year monthly analysis
based on gauge observations, satellite estimates, and numerical model
outputs, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 2539–2558, 1997.
Zhang, K., Kimball, J. S., Nemani, R. R., and Running, S. W.: A continuous
satellite-derived global record of land surface evapotranspiration from 1983
to 2006, Remote Sens. Environ., 46, W09522, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008800, 2010.
Zhang, K., Kimball, J. S., Nemani, R. R., Running, S. W., Hong, Y., Gourley, J. J.,
and Yu, Z.: Vegetation Greening and Climate Change Promote Multidecadal Rises
of Global Land Evapotranspiration, Sci. Rep., 5, 15956, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15956, 2015.
Short summary
In this study a common reference input data set from satellite and in situ data is used to run four established evapotranspiration (ET) algorithms using sub-daily and daily input on a tower scale as a testbed for a global ET product. The PT-JPL model and GLEAM provide the best performance for satellite and in situ forcing as well as for the different temporal resolutions. PM-MOD and SEBS perform less well: the PM-MOD model generally underestimates, while SEBS generally overestimates ET.
In this study a common reference input data set from satellite and in situ data is used to run...
