Articles | Volume 21, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-669-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-669-2017
Review article
 | 
02 Feb 2017
Review article |  | 02 Feb 2017

Review article: Hydrological modeling in glacierized catchments of central Asia – status and challenges

Yaning Chen, Weihong Li, Gonghuan Fang, and Zhi Li

Abstract. Meltwater from glacierized catchments is one of the most important water supplies in central Asia. Therefore, the effects of climate change on glaciers and snow cover will have increasingly significant consequences for runoff. Hydrological modeling has become an indispensable research approach to water resources management in large glacierized river basins, but there is a lack of focus in the modeling of glacial discharge. This paper reviews the status of hydrological modeling in glacierized catchments of central Asia, discussing the limitations of the available models and extrapolating these to future challenges and directions. After reviewing recent efforts, we conclude that the main sources of uncertainty in assessing the regional hydrological impacts of climate change are the unreliable and incomplete data sets and the lack of understanding of the hydrological regimes of glacierized catchments of central Asia. Runoff trends indicate a complex response to changes in climate. For future variation of water resources, it is essential to quantify the responses of hydrologic processes to both climate change and shrinking glaciers in glacierized catchments, and scientific focus should be on reducing uncertainties linked to these processes.

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Short summary
This paper reviews the status of hydrological modeling in the mountainous region of central Asia, discussing the limitations of the available models and shedding light on future directions. We conclude that the main sources of uncertainty in hydrological modeling are the input uncertainty and lack of understanding of the hydrological regimes. Future focuses should be on the use of multi-source of input data combined with multi-objective calibration and validation.