The relationship between flood severity and probability is a key component of flood risk management, and depends on factors including rainfall, soil wetness, and watershed properties. In this study, we combine radar rainfall data and flood simulations to better understand how these factors shape flood frequency. We apply our method to an agricultural watershed in the Midwestern US where the flood properties are changing. Conventional methods will fail to account for these changes.

Modelling of shallow water table fluctuations is usually carried out using physically based numerical models. These models have notable limitations regarding intensive required data and computational burden. This paper presents an alternative modelling approach for modelling of such cases by introducing modifications to the calculation of groundwater recharge and saturated flow of a conceptual hydrologic model.

This study applies a two-way coupled agent-based model (ABM) with a river-reservoir management model (RiverWare) to analyze the role of risk perception in water management decisions using the Bayesian inference mapping joined with the cost–loss model. The calibration results capture the dynamics of historical irrigated area and streamflow changes and suggest that the proposed framework improves the representation of human decision-making processes compared to conventional rule-based ABMs.

This study evaluates the effect of conceptual hydro(geo)logical model (CHM) structure, climate change and groundwater abstraction on future groundwater-level prediction uncertainty. If the current groundwater abstraction trend continues, groundwater level is predicted to decline quickly. Groundwater abstraction in NW Bangladesh should decrease by 60 % to ensure sustainable use. Abstraction scenarios are the dominant uncertainty source, followed by CHM uncertainty and climate model uncertainty.

River network structure is an overlooked feature of catchments. We demonstrate that network structure impacts broad spatial patterns of river characteristics in catchments using regulatory data. River habitat quality increased with network density, but other characteristics responded differently between study catchments. Network density was quantified using a method that can easily be applied to any catchment. We suggest that river network structure should be included in catchment-level studies.

Water resource management on volcanic islands is challenging and faces several issues. Taking advantage of new heliborne geophysical technology, correlated with borehole and spring data, we develop a watershed-scale conceptual model and demonstrate that permeability increases with age for the studied formations. Moreover, complex geological structures lead to preferential flow circulations and to discrepancy between topographical and hydrogeological watersheds, influencing river flow rates.

In this Technical Note, we present two water balance formulas: the Turc–Mezentsev and Tixeront–Fu formulas. These formulas have a puzzling numerical similarity, which we discuss in detail and try to interpret mathematically and hydrologically.

The value of using longer periods of record of river discharge information from global precipitation datasets is assessed for irrigation area planning. Results show that for all river discharge simulations the benefit of choosing the irrigated area based on the 30 years of simulated data is higher compared to using only 5 years of observed discharge data. Hence, irrigated areas can be better planned using 30 years of river discharge information from global precipitation datasets.

Hydrology education strives to teach students both quantitative ability and complex professional skills. Our research shows that role-play simulations are useful to make students able to integrate various analytical skills in complicated settings while not interfering with traditional teaching that fosters their ability to solve mathematical problems. Despite this there are several potential challenging areas in using role-plays, and we therefore suggest ways around these potential roadblocks.

This study evaluated the influence of low-frequency oscillations that are linked to large-scale oceanographic–atmospheric processes, on streamflow variability in small mountain rivers of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, aiming to explore streamflow variability, estimate the net contribution to the energy of low-frequency oscillations to streamflow anomalies, and analyze the linkages between streamflow anomalies and large-scale, low-frequency oceanographic–atmospheric processes.

This paper is a review article on the cloud removal methods of MODIS snow cover products.

Estimates of hydrologic responses at ungauged watersheds can be conditioned on information transferred from other gauged watersheds. This paper presents an approach to consider the variable controls on information transfer among watersheds under different conditions while at the same time featuring uncertainty representation in both the model structure and the model parameters.

Remotely sensed snow observations may improve operational streamflow forecasting in remote regions, such as Alaska. In this study, we insert remotely sensed observations of snow extent into the operational framework employed by the US National Weather Service’s Alaska Pacific River Forecast Center. Our work indicates that the snow observations can improve snow estimates and streamflow forecasting. This work provides direction for forecasters to implement remote sensing in their operations.

We show that a conventional hydraulic understanding of groundwater level fluctuation is too simplistic for the extensive floodplains of Bangladesh and West Bengal. This is crucial because 150 million people of the region rely on groundwater for drinking and irrigation. We describe a more complex situation: the coupled hydro-mechanical action of surface water coming and going as the seasons change. Our model results will assist sustainable management of groundwater resources across the region.

We focus on the positive effects of litter crusts on soil water holding capacity and water interception capacity compared with biocrusts. Litter crusts can significantly improve sandy water content and organic matter. Water-holding capacity increased with development of litter crusts in the sandy interface. Water infiltration rate is increased by sandy and litter crusts' interface properties. Litter crusts provided a better microhabitat conducive to plant growth in sandy lands.

Quantifying the impact of upstream water use on downstream water scarcity is critical for water management. Comparing natural and observed runoff in China's 12 basins, this study found surface water use increased 1.6 times for the 1970s-2000s, driving most arid and semi-arid (ASA) basins into water scarcity status. The water stress decreased downstream in ASA basins due to reduced upstream inflow since the 2000s. Upstream water use caused over a 30 % increase in water scarcity in ASA basins.