Articles | Volume 23, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3057-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3057-2019
Research article
 | 
18 Jul 2019
Research article |  | 18 Jul 2019

Assessing the performance of global hydrological models for capturing peak river flows in the Amazon basin

Jamie Towner, Hannah L. Cloke, Ervin Zsoter, Zachary Flamig, Jannis M. Hoch, Juan Bazo, Erin Coughlan de Perez, and Elisabeth M. Stephens

Related authors

Influence of ENSO and tropical Atlantic climate variability on flood characteristics in the Amazon basin
Jamie Towner, Andrea Ficchí, Hannah L. Cloke, Juan Bazo, Erin Coughlan de Perez, and Elisabeth M. Stephens
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3875–3895, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3875-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3875-2021, 2021
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Hydrometeorology | Techniques and Approaches: Modelling approaches
The role of land–atmosphere coupling in subseasonal surface air temperature prediction across the contiguous United States
Yuna Lim, Andrea M. Molod, Randal D. Koster, and Joseph A. Santanello
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 3435–3445, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3435-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3435-2025, 2025
Short summary
Barriers to urban hydrometeorological simulation: a review
Xuan Chen, Job Augustijn van der Werf, Arjan Droste, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 3447–3480, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3447-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3447-2025, 2025
Short summary
Global catalog of soil moisture droughts over the past four decades
Jan Řehoř, Rudolf Brázdil, Oldřich Rakovec, Martin Hanel, Milan Fischer, Rohini Kumar, Jan Balek, Markéta Poděbradská, Vojtěch Moravec, Luis Samaniego, Yannis Markonis, and Miroslav Trnka
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 3341–3358, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3341-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3341-2025, 2025
Short summary
Probabilistic precipitation downscaling for ungauged mountain sites: a pilot study for the Hindu Kush Himalaya
Marc Girona-Mata, Andrew Orr, Martin Widmann, Daniel Bannister, Ghulam Hussain Dars, Scott Hosking, Jesse Norris, David Ocio, Tony Phillips, Jakob Steiner, and Richard E. Turner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 3073–3100, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3073-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3073-2025, 2025
Short summary
Implementation of global soil databases in the Noah-MP model and the effects on simulated mean and extreme soil hydrothermal changes
Kazeem Abiodun Ishola, Gerald Mills, Ankur Prabhat Sati, Benjamin Obe, Matthias Demuzere, Deepak Upreti, Gourav Misra, Paul Lewis, Daire Walsh, Tim McCarthy, and Rowan Fealy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2551–2582, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2551-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2551-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Alfieri, L., Burek, P., Dutra, E., Krzeminski, B., Muraro, D., Thielen, J., and Pappenberger, F.: GloFAS – global ensemble streamflow forecasting and flood early warning, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1161–1175, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1161-2013, 2013. 
Adreadis, K. M., Schumann, G. J.-P., Stampoulis, D., Bates, P. D., Brakenridge, G. R., and Kettner, A. J.: Can atmospheric reanalysis datasets be used to reproduce flooding over large scales?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 10369–10377, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075502, 2017. 
Andreadis, K. M., Schumann, G. J. P., Stampoulis, D., Bates, P. D., Brakenridge, G. R., and Kettner, A. J.: Can Atmospheric Reanalysis Data Sets Be Used to Reproduce Flooding Over Large Scales?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 10369–10377, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075502, 2017. 
Arnell, N. W. and Gosling, S. N.: The impacts of climate change on river flood risk at the global scale, Climatic Change, 134, 387–401, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1084-5, 2016. 
Download
Short summary
This study presents an intercomparison analysis of eight global hydrological models (GHMs), assessing their ability to simulate peak river flows in the Amazon basin. Results indicate that the meteorological input is the most influential component of the hydrological modelling chain, with the recent ERA-5 reanalysis dataset significantly improving the ability to simulate flood peaks in the Peruvian Amazon. In contrast, calibration of the Lisflood routing model was found to have no impact.
Share