Articles | Volume 24, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5015-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5015-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
28 Oct 2020
Research article |
| 28 Oct 2020
| 28 Oct 2020
Averaging over spatiotemporal heterogeneity substantially biases evapotranspiration rates in a mechanistic large-scale land evaporation model
Elham Rouholahnejad Freund
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Chair of Hydrology, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources,
University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, 8092
Zurich, Switzerland
Massimiliano Zappa
Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
James W. Kirchner
Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, 8092
Zurich, Switzerland
Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Francesc Gallart, Jana von Freyberg, María Valiente, James W. Kirchner, Pilar Llorens, and Jérôme Latron
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Matthias J. R. Speich, Massimiliano Zappa, Marc Scherstjanoi, and Heike Lischke
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Manuela I. Brunner, Daniel Farinotti, Harry Zekollari, Matthias Huss, and Massimiliano Zappa
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Julia L. A. Knapp, Colin Neal, Alessandro Schlumpf, Margaret Neal, and James W. Kirchner
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Manuel Antonetti, Christoph Horat, Ioannis V. Sideris, and Massimiliano Zappa
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Jana von Freyberg, Bjørn Studer, Michael Rinderer, and James W. Kirchner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5847–5865, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5847-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5847-2018, 2018
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Daniele Penna, Luisa Hopp, Francesca Scandellari, Scott T. Allen, Paolo Benettin, Matthias Beyer, Josie Geris, Julian Klaus, John D. Marshall, Luitgard Schwendenmann, Till H. M. Volkmann, Jana von Freyberg, Anam Amin, Natalie Ceperley, Michael Engel, Jay Frentress, Yamuna Giambastiani, Jeff J. McDonnell, Giulia Zuecco, Pilar Llorens, Rolf T. W. Siegwolf, Todd E. Dawson, and James W. Kirchner
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We perform dimensional analysis on a frequently used landscape evolution model (LEM). Defining characteristic scales in a novel way, we significantly simplify the LEM and develop an efficient numerical modeling approach. Our characteristic scales are physically meaningful; they quantify competitions between landscape-forming processes and are related to salient properties of landscape topography. Dimensional analyses of other LEMs may benefit from our approach in defining characteristic scales.
Manuel Antonetti and Massimiliano Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4425–4447, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4425-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4425-2018, 2018
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We developed 60 modelling chain combinations based on either experimentalists' (bottom-up) or modellers' (top-down) thinking and forced them with data of increasing accuracy. Results showed that the differences in performance arising from the forcing data were due to compensation effects. We also found that modellers' and experimentalists' concept of
model realismdiffers, and the level of detail a model should have to reproduce the processes expected must be agreed in advance.
Matthias J. R. Speich, Heike Lischke, and Massimiliano Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4097–4124, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4097-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4097-2018, 2018
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To simulate the water balance of, e.g., a forest plot, it is important to estimate the maximum volume of water available to plants. This depends on soil properties and the average depth of roots. Rooting depth has proven challenging to estimate. Here, we applied a model assuming that plants dimension their roots to optimize their carbon budget. We compared its results with values obtained by calibrating a dynamic water balance model. In most cases, there is good agreement between both methods.
Jana von Freyberg, Scott T. Allen, Stefan Seeger, Markus Weiler, and James W. Kirchner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3841–3861, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3841-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3841-2018, 2018
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We explored how the fraction of streamflow younger than ca. 3 months (Fyw) varies with landscape characteristics and climatic forcing, using an extensive isotope data set from 22 Swiss catchments. Overall, Fyw tends to be larger when catchments are wet and discharge is correspondingly higher, indicating an increase in the proportional contribution of faster flow paths at higher flows. We quantify this
discharge sensitivityof Fyw and relate it to the dominant streamflow-generating mechanisms.
Paolo Benettin, Till H. M. Volkmann, Jana von Freyberg, Jay Frentress, Daniele Penna, Todd E. Dawson, and James W. Kirchner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2881–2890, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2881-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2881-2018, 2018
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Evaporation causes the isotopic composition of soil water to become different from that of the original precipitation source. If multiple samples originating from the same source are available, they can be used to reconstruct the original source composition. However, soil water is influenced by seasonal variability in both precipitation sources and evaporation patterns. We show that this variability, if not accounted for, can lead to biased estimates of the precipitation source water.
Christoph Horat, Manuel Antonetti, Katharina Liechti, Pirmin Kaufmann, and Massimiliano Zappa
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2018-119, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2018-119, 2018
Publication in NHESS not foreseen
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Two forecasting chains are forced by information from numerical weather predictions. The framework presented in the companion paper by Antonetti et al. has been set up for the Swiss Verzasca basin. The forecasts obtained with the uncalibrated RGM-PRO model are compared to forecasts yielded by the calibrated PREVAH-HRU model. Results shows that the uncalibrated model is able to compete with the calibrated operational prediction system and was consistently superior for
high-flow situations.
Love Råman Vinnå, Alfred Wüest, Massimiliano Zappa, Gabriel Fink, and Damien Bouffard
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 31–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-31-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-31-2018, 2018
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Responses of inland waters to climate change vary on global and regional scales. Shifts in river discharge regimes act as positive and negative feedbacks in influencing water temperature. The extent of this effect on warming is controlled by the change in river discharge and lake hydraulic residence time. A shift of deep penetrating river intrusions from summer towards winter can potentially counteract the otherwise negative climate effects on deep-water oxygen content.
Konrad Bogner, Katharina Liechti, and Massimiliano Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5493–5502, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5493-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5493-2017, 2017
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The enhanced availability of many different weather prediction systems nowadays makes it very difficult for flood and water resource managers to choose the most reliable and accurate forecast. In order to circumvent this problem of choice, different approaches for combining this information have been applied at the Sihl River (CH) and the results have been verified. The outcome of this study highlights the importance of forecast combination in order to improve the quality of forecast systems.
Albrecht von Boetticher, Jens M. Turowski, Brian W. McArdell, Dieter Rickenmann, Marcel Hürlimann, Christian Scheidl, and James W. Kirchner
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3963–3978, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3963-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3963-2017, 2017
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The open-source fluid dynamic solver presented in v. Boetticher et al. (2016) combines a Coulomb viscosplastic rheological model with a Herschel–Bulkley model based on material properties for 3-D debris flow simulations. Here, we validate the solver and illustrate the model sensitivity to water content, channel curvature, content of fine material and channel bed roughness. We simulate both laboratory-scale and large-scale debris-flow experiments, using only one of the two calibration parameters.
Jana von Freyberg, Bjørn Studer, and James W. Kirchner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1721–1739, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1721-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1721-2017, 2017
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We present a newly developed instrument package that enables the online analysis of stable water isotopes and major ion chemistry at 30 min intervals in the field. The resulting data streams provide an unprecedented view of hydrochemical dynamics on the catchment scale. Based on a detailed analysis of the variable behavior of isotopic and chemical tracers in stream water and precipitation over a 4-week period, we developed a conceptual hypothesis for runoff generation in the studied catchment.
Elham Rouholahnejad Freund and James W. Kirchner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 217–233, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-217-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-217-2017, 2017
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Our analysis shows that averaging over sub-grid heterogeneity in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (ET), as typical earth system models do, overestimates the average of the spatially variable ET. We also show when aridity index increases with altitude, lateral redistribution would transfer water from more humid uplands to more arid lowlands, resulting in a net increase in ET. Therefore, the Earth system models that neglect lateral transfer underestimate ET in those regions.
Alexander R. Beer, James W. Kirchner, and Jens M. Turowski
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 885–894, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-885-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-885-2016, 2016
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Spatial bedrock erosion data from stream channels are important for engineering issues and landscape evolution model assessment. However, acquiring such data is challenging and only few data sets exist. Detecting changes in repeated photographs of painted bedrock surfaces easily allows for semi-quantitative conclusions on the spatial distribution of sediment transport and its effects: abrasion on surfaces facing the streamflow and shielding of surfaces by abundant sediment.
Albrecht von Boetticher, Jens M. Turowski, Brian W. McArdell, Dieter Rickenmann, and James W. Kirchner
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2909–2923, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2909-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2909-2016, 2016
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Debris flows are characterized by unsteady flows of water with different content of clay, silt, sand, gravel, and large particles, resulting in a dense moving mixture mass. Here we present a three-dimensional fluid dynamic solver that simulates the flow as a mixture of a pressure-dependent rheology model of the gravel mixed with a Herschel–Bulkley rheology of the fine material suspension. We link rheological parameters to the material composition. The user must specify two free model parameters.
Manuel Antonetti, Rahel Buss, Simon Scherrer, Michael Margreth, and Massimiliano Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2929–2945, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2929-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2929-2016, 2016
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We evaluated three automatic mapping approaches of dominant runoff processes (DRPs) with different complexity using similarity measures and synthetic runoff simulations. The most complex DRP maps were the most similar to the reference maps. Runoff simulations derived from the simpler DRP maps were more uncertain due to inaccuracies in the input data and rather coarse simplifications in the mapping criteria. It would thus be worthwhile trying to obtain DRP maps that are as realistic as possible.
Lieke Melsen, Adriaan Teuling, Paul Torfs, Massimiliano Zappa, Naoki Mizukami, Martyn Clark, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2207–2226, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2207-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2207-2016, 2016
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In this study we investigated the sensitivity of a large-domain hydrological model for spatial and temporal resolution. We evaluated the results on a mesoscale catchment in Switzerland. Our results show that the model was hardly sensitive for the spatial resolution, which implies that spatial variability is likely underestimated. Our results provide a motivation to improve the representation of spatial variability in hydrological models in order to increase their credibility on a smaller scale.
Michal Jenicek, Jan Seibert, Massimiliano Zappa, Maria Staudinger, and Tobias Jonas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 859–874, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-859-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-859-2016, 2016
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We quantified how long snowmelt affects runoff, and we estimated the sensitivity of catchments to changes in snowpack. This is relevant as the increase of air temperature might cause decreased snow storage. We used time series from 14 catchments in Switzerland. On average, a decrease of maximum snow storage by 10 % caused a decrease of minimum discharge in July by 2 to 9 %. The results showed a higher sensitivity of summer low flow to snow in alpine catchments compared to pre-alpine catchments.
J. W. Kirchner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 279–297, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-279-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-279-2016, 2016
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Catchment mean transit times have been widely inferred from seasonal cycles of environmental tracers in precipitation and streamflow. Here I show that these cycles yield strongly biased estimates of mean transit times in spatially heterogeneous catchments (and, by implication, in real-world catchments). However, I also show that these cycles can be used to reliably estimate the fraction of "young" water in streamflow, meaning water that fell as precipitation less than roughly 2–3 months ago.
J. W. Kirchner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 299–328, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-299-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-299-2016, 2016
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Here I show that seasonal tracer cycles yield strongly biased estimates of mean transit times in nonstationary catchments (and, by implication, in real-world catchments). However, they can be used to reliably estimate the fraction of "young" water in streamflow, meaning water that fell as precipitation less than roughly 2–3 months ago. This young water fraction varies systematically between high and low flows and may help in characterizing controls on stream chemistry.
F. Kobierska, T. Jonas, J. W. Kirchner, and S. M. Bernasconi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3681–3693, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3681-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3681-2015, 2015
A. von Boetticher, J. M. Turowski, B. W. McArdell, D. Rickenmann, M. Hürlimann, C. Scheidl, and J. W. Kirchner
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmdd-8-6379-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmdd-8-6379-2015, 2015
Preprint withdrawn
M. Zappa, N. Andres, P. Kienzler, D. Näf-Huber, C. Marti, and M. Oplatka
Proc. IAHS, 370, 235–242, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-235-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-235-2015, 2015
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The most severe threat for the city of Zürich (Switzerland) are flash-floods from the small Sihl river. An assessment using a rainfall-runoff model evaluated more than 40000 extreme flood scenarios. These scenarios identified deficits for the safety of Zürich. The combination of different structural and flood management measures can lead to an optimal safety also in case of unfavorable initial conditions. Pending questions concern the costs, political decisions and the environmental matters.
M. Zappa, T. Vitvar, A. Rücker, G. Melikadze, L. Bernhard, V. David, M. Jans-Singh, N. Zhukova, and M. Sanda
Proc. IAHS, 369, 25–30, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-369-25-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-369-25-2015, 2015
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A research effort involving Switzerland, Georgia and the Czech Republic has been launched to evaluate the relation between snowpack and summer low flows. Two rainfall-runoff models will simulate over 10 years of snow hydrology and runoff in nested streams. Processes involved will be also evaluated by mean by means of high frequency sampling of the environmental isotopes 18O and 2H. The paper presents first analysis of available datasets of 18O, 2H, discharge, snowpack and modelling experiments.
P. Ronco, M. Bullo, S. Torresan, A. Critto, R. Olschewski, M. Zappa, and A. Marcomini
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1561–1576, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1561-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1561-2015, 2015
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The aim of the paper is the application of the KULTURisk regional risk assessment (KR-RRA) methodology, presented in the companion paper (Part 1), to the Sihl River basin, in northern Switzerland. Flood-related risks have been assessed for different receptors lying in the Sihl river valley including the city of Zurich, which represents a typical case of river flooding in an urban area, by means of a calibration process of the methodology to the site-specific context and features.
F. U. M. Heimann, D. Rickenmann, J. M. Turowski, and J. W. Kirchner
Earth Surf. Dynam., 3, 15–34, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-3-15-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-3-15-2015, 2015
F. U. M. Heimann, D. Rickenmann, M. Böckli, A. Badoux, J. M. Turowski, and J. W. Kirchner
Earth Surf. Dynam., 3, 35–54, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-3-35-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-3-35-2015, 2015
S. Jörg-Hess, F. Fundel, T. Jonas, and M. Zappa
The Cryosphere, 8, 471–485, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-471-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-471-2014, 2014
K. Liechti, L. Panziera, U. Germann, and M. Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3853–3869, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3853-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3853-2013, 2013
F. Fundel, S. Jörg-Hess, and M. Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 395–407, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-395-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-395-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Global hydrology | Techniques and Approaches: Mathematical applications
Projecting end-of-century climate extremes and their impacts on the hydrology of a representative California watershed
Integrating process-related information into an artificial neural network for root-zone soil moisture prediction
Coherence of global hydroclimate classification systems
Design flood estimation for global river networks based on machine learning models
Attributing correlation skill of dynamical GCM precipitation forecasts to statistical ENSO teleconnection using a set-theory-based approach
The spatial extent of hydrological and landscape changes across the mountains and prairies of Canada in the Mackenzie and Nelson River basins based on data from a warm-season time window
Rainfall Estimates on a Gridded Network (REGEN) – a global land-based gridded dataset of daily precipitation from 1950 to 2016
A framework for deriving drought indicators from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
Hydrological effects of climate variability and vegetation dynamics on annual fluvial water balance in global large river basins
Spatial patterns and characteristics of flood seasonality in Europe
Derived Optimal Linear Combination Evapotranspiration (DOLCE): a global gridded synthesis ET estimate
Effects of different reference periods on drought index (SPEI) estimations from 1901 to 2014
The transformed-stationary approach: a generic and simplified methodology for non-stationary extreme value analysis
Global trends in extreme precipitation: climate models versus observations
A global water cycle reanalysis (2003–2012) merging satellite gravimetry and altimetry observations with a hydrological multi-model ensemble
A generic method for hydrological drought identification across different climate regions
Simplifying a hydrological ensemble prediction system with a backward greedy selection of members – Part 1: Optimization criteria
Simplifying a hydrological ensemble prediction system with a backward greedy selection of members – Part 2: Generalization in time and space
Fadji Z. Maina, Alan Rhoades, Erica R. Siirila-Woodburn, and Peter-James Dennedy-Frank
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3589–3609, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3589-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3589-2022, 2022
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In this work, we assess the effects of end-of-century extreme dry and wet conditions on the hydrology of California. Our results, derived from cutting-edge and high-resolution climate and hydrologic models, highlight that (1) water storage will be larger and increase earlier in the year, yet the summer streamflow will decrease as a result of high evapotranspiration rates, and that (2) groundwater and lower-order streams are very sensitive to decreases in snowmelt and higher evapotranspiration.
Roiya Souissi, Mehrez Zribi, Chiara Corbari, Marco Mancini, Sekhar Muddu, Sat Kumar Tomer, Deepti B. Upadhyaya, and Ahmad Al Bitar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3263–3297, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3263-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3263-2022, 2022
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In this study, we investigate the combination of surface soil moisture information with process-related features, namely, evaporation efficiency, soil water index and normalized difference vegetation index, using artificial neural networks to predict root-zone soil moisture. The joint use of process-related features yielded more accurate predictions in the case of arid and semiarid conditions. However, they have no to little added value in temperate to tropical conditions.
Kathryn L. McCurley Pisarello and James W. Jawitz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 6173–6183, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-6173-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-6173-2021, 2021
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Climate classification systems divide the Earth into zones of similar climates. We compared the within-zone hydroclimate similarity and zone shape complexity of a suite of climate classification systems, including new ones formed in this study. The most frequently used system had high similarity but high complexity. We propose the Water-Energy Clustering framework, which also had high similarity but lower complexity. This new system is therefore proposed for future hydroclimate assessments.
Gang Zhao, Paul Bates, Jeffrey Neal, and Bo Pang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5981–5999, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5981-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5981-2021, 2021
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Design flood estimation is a fundamental task in hydrology. We propose a machine- learning-based approach to estimate design floods anywhere on the global river network. This approach shows considerable improvement over the index-flood-based method, and the average bias in estimation is less than 18 % for 10-, 20-, 50- and 100-year design floods. This approach is a valid method to estimate design floods globally, improving our prediction of flood hazard, especially in ungauged areas.
Tongtiegang Zhao, Haoling Chen, Quanxi Shao, Tongbi Tu, Yu Tian, and Xiaohong Chen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5717–5732, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5717-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5717-2021, 2021
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This paper develops a novel approach to attributing correlation skill of dynamical GCM forecasts to statistical El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnection using the coefficient of determination. Three cases of attribution are effectively facilitated, which are significantly positive anomaly correlation attributable to positive ENSO teleconnection, attributable to negative ENSO teleconnection and not attributable to ENSO teleconnection.
Paul H. Whitfield, Philip D. A. Kraaijenbrink, Kevin R. Shook, and John W. Pomeroy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 2513–2541, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-2513-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-2513-2021, 2021
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Using only warm season streamflow records, regime and change classifications were produced for ~ 400 watersheds in the Nelson and Mackenzie River basins, and trends in water storage and vegetation were detected from satellite imagery. Three areas show consistent changes: north of 60° (increased streamflow and basin greenness), in the western Boreal Plains (decreased streamflow and basin greenness), and across the Prairies (three different patterns of increased streamflow and basin wetness).
Steefan Contractor, Markus G. Donat, Lisa V. Alexander, Markus Ziese, Anja Meyer-Christoffer, Udo Schneider, Elke Rustemeier, Andreas Becker, Imke Durre, and Russell S. Vose
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 919–943, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-919-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-919-2020, 2020
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This paper provides the documentation of the REGEN dataset, a global land-based daily observational precipitation dataset from 1950 to 2016 at a gridded resolution of 1° × 1°. REGEN is currently the longest-running global dataset of daily precipitation and is expected to facilitate studies looking at changes and variability in several aspects of daily precipitation distributions, extremes and measures of hydrological intensity.
Helena Gerdener, Olga Engels, and Jürgen Kusche
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 227–248, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-227-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-227-2020, 2020
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GRACE-derived drought indicators enable us to detect hydrological droughts based on changes observed in all storages. By performing synthetic experiments, we find that droughts identified by existing and modified indicators are biased by trends and GRACE-based spatial noise. A modified version of the Zhao et al. (2017) indicator is found to be particularly robust against spatial noise and is therefore applied to real GRACE data over South Africa.
Jianyu Liu, Qiang Zhang, Vijay P. Singh, Changqing Song, Yongqiang Zhang, Peng Sun, and Xihui Gu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4047–4060, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4047-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4047-2018, 2018
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Considering effective precipitation (Pe), the Budyko framework was extended to the annual water balance analysis. To reflect the mismatch between water supply (precipitation, P) and energy (potential evapotranspiration,
E0), a climate seasonality and asynchrony index (SAI) were proposed in terms of both phase and amplitude mismatch between P and E0.
Julia Hall and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3883–3901, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3883-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3883-2018, 2018
Sanaa Hobeichi, Gab Abramowitz, Jason Evans, and Anna Ukkola
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1317–1336, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1317-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1317-2018, 2018
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We present a new global ET dataset and associated uncertainty with monthly temporal resolution for 2000–2009 and 0.5 grid cell size. Six existing gridded ET products are combined using a weighting approach trained by observational datasets from 159 FLUXNET sites. We confirm that point-based estimates of flux towers provide information at the grid scale of these products. We also show that the weighted product performs better than 10 different existing global ET datasets in a range of metrics.
Myoung-Jin Um, Yeonjoo Kim, Daeryong Park, and Jeongbin Kim
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4989–5007, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4989-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4989-2017, 2017
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This study aims to understand how different reference periods (i.e., calibration periods) of climate data for estimating the drought index influence regional drought assessments. Specifically, we investigate the influence of different reference periods on historical drought characteristics such as trends, frequency, intensity and spatial extents using the Standard Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) estimated from the two widely used global datasets.
Lorenzo Mentaschi, Michalis Vousdoukas, Evangelos Voukouvalas, Ludovica Sartini, Luc Feyen, Giovanni Besio, and Lorenzo Alfieri
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3527–3547, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3527-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3527-2016, 2016
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The climate is subject to variations which must be considered
studying the intensity and frequency of extreme events.
We introduce in this paper a new methodology
for the study of variable extremes, which consists in detecting
the pattern of variability of a time series, and applying these patterns
to the analysis of the extreme events.
This technique comes with advantages with respect to the previous ones
in terms of accuracy, simplicity, and robustness.
B. Asadieh and N. Y. Krakauer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 877–891, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-877-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-877-2015, 2015
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We present a systematic comparison of changes in historical extreme precipitation in station observations (HadEX2) and 15 climate models from the CMIP5 (as the largest and most recent sets of available observational and modeled data sets), on global and continental scales for 1901-2010, using both parametric (linear regression) and non-parametric (the Mann-Kendall as well as Sen’s slope estimator) methods, taking care to sample observations and models spatially and temporally in comparable ways.
A. I. J. M. van Dijk, L. J. Renzullo, Y. Wada, and P. Tregoning
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2955–2973, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2955-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2955-2014, 2014
M. H. J. van Huijgevoort, P. Hazenberg, H. A. J. van Lanen, and R. Uijlenhoet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 2437–2451, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-2437-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-2437-2012, 2012
D. Brochero, F. Anctil, and C. Gagné
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 3307–3325, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-3307-2011, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-3307-2011, 2011
D. Brochero, F. Anctil, and C. Gagné
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 3327–3341, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-3327-2011, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-3327-2011, 2011
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Short summary
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the largest flux from the land to the atmosphere and thus contributes to Earth's energy and water balance. Due to its impact on atmospheric dynamics, ET is a key driver of droughts and heatwaves. In this paper, we demonstrate how averaging over land surface heterogeneity contributes to substantial overestimates of ET fluxes. We also demonstrate how one can correct for the effects of small-scale heterogeneity without explicitly representing it in land surface models.
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the largest flux from the land to the atmosphere and thus contributes...
