Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
HESS
Articles | Volume 26, issue 16
Articles | Volume 26, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4323-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4323-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 26, issue 16
Research article
 | 
24 Aug 2022
Research article |  | 24 Aug 2022

Benchmarking global hydrological and land surface models against GRACE in a medium-sized tropical basin

Silvana Bolaños Chavarría, Micha Werner, Juan Fernando Salazar, and Teresita Betancur Vargas

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4323-2022-supplement

Data sets

Improved methods for observing Earth’s time variable mass distribution with GRACE using spherical cap mascons M. M. Watkins, D. N. Wiese, D.-N. Yuan, C. Boening, and F. W. Landerer https: //grace.jpl.nasa.gov/data/get-data/jpl_global_mascons/

earth2observe/water- resource-reanalysis-v1: Revised Release J. Schellekens, E. Dutra, G. Balsamo, A. van Dijk, F. Sperna Weiland, M. Minvielle, C. Calvet, B. Decharme, S. Eisner, G. Fink, M. Flörke, S. Peßenteiner, R. van Beek, J. Polcher, H. Beck, A. Martínez-de la Torre, R. Orth, B. Calton, S. Burke, and G. Weedon https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.167070

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Short summary
Using total water storage (TWS) from GRACE satellites, we assess the reliability of global hydrological and land surface models over a medium-sized tropical basin with a well-developed gauging network. We find the models poorly represent TWS for the monthly series, but they improve in representing seasonality and long-term trends. We conclude that GRACE provides a valuable dataset to benchmark global simulations of TWS change, offering a useful tool to improve global models in tropical basins.
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