Articles | Volume 21, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1107-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1107-2017
Opinion article
 | 
22 Feb 2017
Opinion article |  | 22 Feb 2017

HESS Opinions Catchments as meta-organisms – a new blueprint for hydrological modelling

Hubert H. G. Savenije and Markus Hrachowitz

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Cited articles

Alila, Y., Kuraś, P. K., Schnorbus, M., and Hudson, R.: Forests and floods: A new paradigm sheds light on age-old controversies, Water Resour. Res., 45, W08416, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR007207, 2009.
Ambroise, B., Beven, K., and Freer, J.: Toward a generalization of the TOPMODEL concepts: Topographic indices of hydrological similarity, Water Resour. Res., 32, 2135–2145, 1996.
Andreadis, K. M. and Lettenmaier, D. P.: Assimilating remotely sensed snow observations into a macroscale hydrology model, Adv. Water Resour., 29, 872–886, 2006.
Bak, P.: How nature works: the science of self-organized criticality, Springer, New York, 1996.
Beven, K. J.: Changing ideas in hydrology – the case of physically-based models, J. Hydrol., 105, 157–172, 1989.
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Short summary
The natural environment that we live in is the result of evolution. This does not only apply to ecosystems, but also to the physical environment through which the water flows. This has resulted in the formation of flow patterns that obey sometimes surprisingly simple mathematical laws. Hydrological models should represent the physics of these patterns and should account for the fact that the ecosystem adjusts itself continuously to changing circumstances. Physics-based models are alive!