A retrospective on hydrological catchment modelling based on half a century with the HBV model

Seibert, Jan; Bergström, Sten

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1371-2022

Articles | Volume 26, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1371-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

History of hydrology (HESS/HGSS inter-journal SI)

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1371-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 5

Research article

|

14 Mar 2022

Research article |

| 14 Mar 2022

A retrospective on hydrological catchment modelling based on half a century with the HBV model

Jan Seibert and Sten Bergström

Model code and software

HBV-light model software University of Zurich https://www.geo.uzh.ch/en/units/h2k/Services/HBV-Model.html

Short summary

Hydrological catchment models are commonly used as the basis for water resource management planning. The HBV model, which is a typical example of such a model, was first applied about 50 years ago in Sweden. We describe and reflect on the model development and applications. The aim is to provide an understanding of the background of model development and a basis for addressing the balance between model complexity and data availability that will continue to face hydrologists in the future.