Articles | Volume 27, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1841-2023
© Author(s) 2023. 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-27-1841-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
11 May 2023
Research article |
| 11 May 2023
| 11 May 2023
Reconstructing five decades of sediment export from two glacierized high-alpine catchments in Tyrol, Austria, using nonparametric regression
Lena Katharina Schmidt
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of
Potsdam, Potsdam 14476, Germany
Till Francke
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of
Potsdam, Potsdam 14476, Germany
Peter Martin Grosse
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of
Potsdam, Potsdam 14476, Germany
Christoph Mayer
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Munich 80539, Germany
Axel Bronstert
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of
Potsdam, Potsdam 14476, Germany
Related authors
Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Peter Martin Grosse, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 139–161, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-139-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-139-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
How suspended sediment export from glacierized high-alpine areas responds to future climate change is hardly assessable as many interacting processes are involved, and appropriate physical models are lacking. We present the first study, to our knowledge, exploring machine learning to project sediment export until 2100 in two high-alpine catchments. We find that uncertainties due to methodological limitations are small until 2070. Negative trends imply that peak sediment may have already passed.
Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Erwin Rottler, Theresa Blume, Johannes Schöber, and Axel Bronstert
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 653–669, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change fundamentally alters glaciated high-alpine areas, but it is unclear how this affects riverine sediment transport. As a first step, we aimed to identify the most important processes and source areas in three nested catchments in the Ötztal, Austria, in the past 15 years. We found that areas above 2500 m were crucial and that summer rainstorms were less influential than glacier melt. These findings provide a baseline for studies on future changes in high-alpine sediment dynamics.
Till Francke, Cosimo Brogi, Alby Duarte Rocha, Michael Förster, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Daniel Rasche, Marvin Reich, Paul Schattan, Lena Scheiffele, and Martin Schrön
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 819–842, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-819-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-819-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Multiple methods for measuring soil moisture beyond the point scale exist. Their validation is generally hindered by not knowing the truth. We propose a virtual framework in which this truth is fully known and the sensor observations for cosmic ray neutron sensing, remote sensing, and hydrogravimetry are simulated. This allows for the rigorous testing of these virtual sensors to understand their effectiveness and limitations.
Patricio Yeste, Matilde García-Valdecasas Ojeda, Sonia R. Gámiz-Fortis, Yolanda Castro-Díez, Axel Bronstert, and María Jesús Esteban-Parra
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5331–5352, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5331-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5331-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Integrating streamflow and evaporation data can help improve the physical realism of hydrologic models. We investigate the capabilities of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) to reproduce both hydrologic variables for 189 headwater located in Spain. Results from sensitivity analyses indicate that adding two vegetation parameters is enough to improve the representation of evaporation and that the performance of VIC exceeded that of the largest modelling effort currently available in Spain.
Daniel Altdorff, Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, Sabine Attinger, Albrecht Bauriegel, Frank Beyrich, Peter Biró, Peter Dietrich, Rebekka Eichstädt, Peter Martin Grosse, Arvid Markert, Jakob Terschlüsen, Ariane Walz, Steffen Zacharias, and Sascha E. Oswald
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3848, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3848, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The German federal state of Brandenburg is particularly prone to soil moisture droughts. To support the management of related risks, we introduce a novel soil moisture and drought monitoring network based on cosmic-ray neutron sensing technology. This initiative is driven by a collaboration of research institutions and federal state agencies, and it is the first of its kind in Germany to have started operation. In this brief communication, we outline the network design and share first results.
Amalie Skålevåg, Oliver Korup, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4771–4796, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4771-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4771-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a cluster-based approach for inferring sediment discharge event types from suspended sediment concentration and streamflow. Applying it to a glacierised catchment, we find event magnitude and shape complexity to be the key characteristics separating event types, while hysteresis is less important. The four event types are attributed to compound rainfall–melt extremes, high snowmelt and glacier melt, freeze–thaw-modulated snow-melt and precipitation, and late-season glacier melt.
Anna Wendleder, Jasmin Bramboeck, Jamie Izzard, Thilo Erbertseder, Pablo d'Angelo, Andreas Schmitt, Duncan J. Quincey, Christoph Mayer, and Matthias H. Braun
The Cryosphere, 18, 1085–1103, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1085-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1085-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study analyses the basal sliding and the hydrological drainage of Baltoro Glacier, Pakistan. The surface velocity was characterized by a spring speed-up, summer peak, and autumn speed-up. Snow melt has the largest impact on the spring speed-up, summer velocity peak, and the transition from inefficient to efficient drainage. Drainage from supraglacial lakes contributed to the fall speed-up. Increased summer temperatures will intensify the magnitude of meltwater and thus surface velocities.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 989–1000, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive technique used to obtain estimates of soil water content (SWC) at a horizontal footprint of around 150 m and a vertical penetration depth of up to 30 cm. However, typical CRNS applications require the local calibration of a function which converts neutron counts to SWC. As an alternative, we propose a generalized function as a way to avoid the use of local reference measurements of SWC and hence a major source of uncertainty.
Stefano Gianessi, Matteo Polo, Luca Stevanato, Marcello Lunardon, Till Francke, Sascha E. Oswald, Hami Said Ahmed, Arsenio Toloza, Georg Weltin, Gerd Dercon, Emil Fulajtar, Lee Heng, and Gabriele Baroni
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 13, 9–25, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-9-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-9-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Soil moisture monitoring is important for many applications, from improving weather prediction to supporting agriculture practices. Our capability to measure this variable is still, however, limited. In this study, we show the tests conducted on a new soil moisture sensor at several locations. The results show that the new sensor is a valid and compact alternative to more conventional, non-invasive soil moisture sensors that can pave the way for a wide range of applications.
Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Peter Martin Grosse, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 139–161, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-139-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-139-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
How suspended sediment export from glacierized high-alpine areas responds to future climate change is hardly assessable as many interacting processes are involved, and appropriate physical models are lacking. We present the first study, to our knowledge, exploring machine learning to project sediment export until 2100 in two high-alpine catchments. We find that uncertainties due to methodological limitations are small until 2070. Negative trends imply that peak sediment may have already passed.
Fanny Brun, Owen King, Marion Réveillet, Charles Amory, Anton Planchot, Etienne Berthier, Amaury Dehecq, Tobias Bolch, Kévin Fourteau, Julien Brondex, Marie Dumont, Christoph Mayer, Silvan Leinss, Romain Hugonnet, and Patrick Wagnon
The Cryosphere, 17, 3251–3268, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3251-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The South Col Glacier is a small body of ice and snow located on the southern ridge of Mt. Everest. A recent study proposed that South Col Glacier is rapidly losing mass. In this study, we examined the glacier thickness change for the period 1984–2017 and found no thickness change. To reconcile these results, we investigate wind erosion and surface energy and mass balance and find that melt is unlikely a dominant process, contrary to previous findings.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Lena Scheiffele, Katya Dimitrova Petrova, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, Benjamin Trost, Daniel Rasche, Andreas Güntner, Veronika Döpper, Michael Förster, Markus Köhli, Lisa Angermann, Nikolaos Antonoglou, Manuela Zude-Sasse, and Sascha E. Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3243–3262, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive estimation of root-zone soil water content (SWC). The signal observed by a single CRNS sensor is influenced by the SWC in a radius of around 150 m (the footprint). Here, we have put together a cluster of eight CRNS sensors with overlapping footprints at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany. That way, we hope to represent spatial SWC heterogeneity instead of retrieving just one average SWC estimate from a single sensor.
Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Erwin Rottler, Theresa Blume, Johannes Schöber, and Axel Bronstert
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 653–669, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change fundamentally alters glaciated high-alpine areas, but it is unclear how this affects riverine sediment transport. As a first step, we aimed to identify the most important processes and source areas in three nested catchments in the Ötztal, Austria, in the past 15 years. We found that areas above 2500 m were crucial and that summer rainstorms were less influential than glacier melt. These findings provide a baseline for studies on future changes in high-alpine sediment dynamics.
Maik Heistermann, Heye Bogena, Till Francke, Andreas Güntner, Jannis Jakobi, Daniel Rasche, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Benjamin Fersch, Jannis Groh, Amol Patil, Thomas Pütz, Marvin Reich, Steffen Zacharias, Carmen Zengerle, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2501–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) to measure spatio-temporal soil moisture patterns during a 2-month campaign in the Wüstebach headwater catchment in Germany. Stationary, mobile, and airborne CRNS technology monitored the root-zone water dynamics as well as spatial heterogeneity in the 0.4 km2 area. The 15 CRNS stations were supported by a hydrogravimeter, biomass sampling, and a wireless soil sensor network to facilitate holistic hydrological analysis.
Astrid Oetting, Emma C. Smith, Jan Erik Arndt, Boris Dorschel, Reinhard Drews, Todd A. Ehlers, Christoph Gaedicke, Coen Hofstede, Johann P. Klages, Gerhard Kuhn, Astrid Lambrecht, Andreas Läufer, Christoph Mayer, Ralf Tiedemann, Frank Wilhelms, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 16, 2051–2066, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2051-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2051-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study combines a variety of geophysical measurements in front of and beneath the Ekström Ice Shelf in order to identify and interpret geomorphological evidences of past ice sheet flow, extent and retreat.
The maximal extent of grounded ice in this region was 11 km away from the continental shelf break.
The thickness of palaeo-ice on the calving front around the LGM was estimated to be at least 305 to 320 m.
We provide essential boundary conditions for palaeo-ice-sheet models.
Heye Reemt Bogena, Martin Schrön, Jannis Jakobi, Patrizia Ney, Steffen Zacharias, Mie Andreasen, Roland Baatz, David Boorman, Mustafa Berk Duygu, Miguel Angel Eguibar-Galán, Benjamin Fersch, Till Franke, Josie Geris, María González Sanchis, Yann Kerr, Tobias Korf, Zalalem Mengistu, Arnaud Mialon, Paolo Nasta, Jerzy Nitychoruk, Vassilios Pisinaras, Daniel Rasche, Rafael Rosolem, Hami Said, Paul Schattan, Marek Zreda, Stefan Achleitner, Eduardo Albentosa-Hernández, Zuhal Akyürek, Theresa Blume, Antonio del Campo, Davide Canone, Katya Dimitrova-Petrova, John G. Evans, Stefano Ferraris, Félix Frances, Davide Gisolo, Andreas Güntner, Frank Herrmann, Joost Iwema, Karsten H. Jensen, Harald Kunstmann, Antonio Lidón, Majken Caroline Looms, Sascha Oswald, Andreas Panagopoulos, Amol Patil, Daniel Power, Corinna Rebmann, Nunzio Romano, Lena Scheiffele, Sonia Seneviratne, Georg Weltin, and Harry Vereecken
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1125–1151, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring of increasingly frequent droughts is a prerequisite for climate adaptation strategies. This data paper presents long-term soil moisture measurements recorded by 66 cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS) operated by 24 institutions and distributed across major climate zones in Europe. Data processing followed harmonized protocols and state-of-the-art methods to generate consistent and comparable soil moisture products and to facilitate continental-scale analysis of hydrological extremes.
Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 75–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive tool for measuring hydrogen pools like soil moisture, snow, or vegetation. This study presents a directional shielding approach, aiming to measure in specific directions only. The results show that non-directional neutron transport blurs the signal of the targeted direction. For typical instruments, this does not allow acceptable precision at a daily time resolution. However, the mere statistical distinction of two rates is feasible.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4807–4824, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a powerful technique for retrieving representative estimates of soil moisture in footprints extending over hectometres in the horizontal and decimetres in the vertical. This study, however, demonstrates the potential of CRNS to obtain spatio-temporal patterns of soil moisture beyond isolated footprints. To that end, we analyse data from a unique observational campaign that featured a dense network of more than 20 neutron detectors in an area of just 1 km2.
Joschka Geissler, Christoph Mayer, Juilson Jubanski, Ulrich Münzer, and Florian Siegert
The Cryosphere, 15, 3699–3717, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3699-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3699-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The study demonstrates the potential of photogrammetry for analyzing glacier retreat with high spatial resolution. Twenty-three glaciers within the Ötztal Alps are analyzed. We compare photogrammetric and glaciologic mass balances of the Vernagtferner by using the ELA for our density assumption and an UAV survey for a temporal correction of the geodetic mass balances. The results reveal regions of anomalous mass balance and allow estimates of the imbalance between mass balances and ice dynamics.
Lukas Müller, Martin Horwath, Mirko Scheinert, Christoph Mayer, Benjamin Ebermann, Dana Floricioiu, Lukas Krieger, Ralf Rosenau, and Saurabh Vijay
The Cryosphere, 15, 3355–3375, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3355-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3355-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Harald Moltke Bræ, a marine-terminating glacier in north-western Greenland, undergoes remarkable surges of episodic character. Our data show that a recent surge from 2013 to 2019 was initiated at the glacier front and exhibits a pronounced seasonality with flow velocities varying by 1 order of magnitude, which has not been observed at Harald Moltke Bræ in this way before. These findings are crucial for understanding surge mechanisms at Harald Moltke Bræ and other marine-terminating glaciers.
Mirko Scheinert, Christoph Mayer, Martin Horwath, Matthias Braun, Anja Wendt, and Daniel Steinhage
Polarforschung, 89, 57–64, https://doi.org/10.5194/polf-89-57-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/polf-89-57-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Ice sheets, glaciers and further ice-covered areas with their changes as well as interactions with the solid Earth and the ocean are subject of intensive research, especially against the backdrop of global climate change. The resulting questions are of concern to scientists from various disciplines such as geodesy, glaciology, physical geography and geophysics. Thus, the working group "Polar Geodesy and Glaciology", founded in 2013, offers a forum for discussion and stimulating exchange.
Christoph Mayer, Markus Weber, Anja Wendt, and Wilfried Hagg
Polarforschung, 89, 1–7, https://doi.org/10.5194/polf-89-1-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/polf-89-1-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Only five small glaciers exist in the German part of the Alps. They are too small to play an important role in the regional hydrological system, but are significant remnants of the earlier glaciation of the northern Alps. Therefore, they have been mapped already in the 19th century and are monitored since about 1950. A survey in 2018 documents the recent status of the glaciers. The synthesis of the long term monitoring and an estimate of the future for these small ice bodies is presented here.
Clemens Schannwell, Reinhard Drews, Todd A. Ehlers, Olaf Eisen, Christoph Mayer, Mika Malinen, Emma C. Smith, and Hannes Eisermann
The Cryosphere, 14, 3917–3934, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3917-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3917-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
To reduce uncertainties associated with sea level rise projections, an accurate representation of ice flow is paramount. Most ice sheet models rely on simplified versions of the underlying ice flow equations. Due to the high computational costs, ice sheet models based on the complete ice flow equations have been restricted to < 1000 years. Here, we present a new model setup that extends the applicability of such models by an order of magnitude, permitting simulations of 40 000 years.
Benjamin Fersch, Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Jannis Jakobi, Gabriele Baroni, Theresa Blume, Heye Bogena, Christian Budach, Tobias Gränzig, Michael Förster, Andreas Güntner, Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, Mandy Kasner, Markus Köhli, Birgit Kleinschmit, Harald Kunstmann, Amol Patil, Daniel Rasche, Lena Scheiffele, Ulrich Schmidt, Sandra Szulc-Seyfried, Jannis Weimar, Steffen Zacharias, Marek Zreda, Bernd Heber, Ralf Kiese, Vladimir Mares, Hannes Mollenhauer, Ingo Völksch, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2289–2309, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, 2020
Erwin Rottler, Till Francke, Gerd Bürger, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1721–1740, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1721-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1721-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In the attempt to identify and disentangle long-term impacts of changes in snow cover and precipitation along with reservoir constructions, we employ a set of analytical tools on hydro-climatic time series. We identify storage reservoirs as an important factor redistributing runoff from summer to winter. Furthermore, our results hint at more (intense) rainfall in recent decades. Detected increases in high discharge can be traced back to corresponding changes in precipitation.
Clemens Schannwell, Reinhard Drews, Todd A. Ehlers, Olaf Eisen, Christoph Mayer, and Fabien Gillet-Chaulet
The Cryosphere, 13, 2673–2691, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2673-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2673-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Ice rises are important ice-sheet features that archive the ice sheet's history in their internal structure. Here we use a 3-D numerical ice-sheet model to simulate mechanisms that lead to changes in the geometry of the internal structure. We find that changes in snowfall result in much larger and faster changes than similar changes in ice-shelf geometry. This result is integral to fully unlocking the potential of ice rises as ice-dynamic archives and potential ice-core drilling sites.
Tobias Pilz, José Miguel Delgado, Sebastian Voss, Klaus Vormoor, Till Francke, Alexandre Cunha Costa, Eduardo Martins, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1951–1971, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1951-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1951-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This work investigates different model types for drought prediction in a dryland region. Consequently, the performances of seasonal reservoir volume forecasts derived by a process-based and a statistical hydrological model were evaluated. The process-based approach obtained lower accuracy while resolution and reliability of drought prediction were comparable. Initialisation of the process-based model is worthwhile for more in-depth analyses, provided adequate rainfall forecasts are available.
José Miguel Delgado, Sebastian Voss, Gerd Bürger, Klaus Vormoor, Aline Murawski, José Marcelo Rodrigues Pereira, Eduardo Martins, Francisco Vasconcelos Júnior, and Till Francke
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5041–5056, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5041-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5041-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The feasibility of drought prediction is assessed in the Brazilian northeast. The models were provided by a regional agency and a European meteorological agency and downscaling was done using three empirical models. This work showed that the combination of different forecast and downscaling models can provide skillful predictions of drought events on timescales relevant to water managers. But the models also showed little to no skill for quantitative predictions of monthly precipitation.
Till Francke, Saskia Foerster, Arlena Brosinsky, Erik Sommerer, Jose A. Lopez-Tarazon, Andreas Güntner, Ramon J. Batalla, and Axel Bronstert
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1063–1075, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1063-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1063-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a hydro-sedimentological dataset for the Isábena catchment, northeastern Spain, for the period 2010–2018. It contains the results of several years of monitoring rainfall, discharge and sediment flux and analysing soil spectroscopic properties. The dataset features data in high spatial and temporal resolution suitable for the advanced process understanding of water and sediment fluxes, their origin and connectivity and sediment budgeting and for model development.
Ulrich Strasser, Thomas Marke, Ludwig Braun, Heidi Escher-Vetter, Irmgard Juen, Michael Kuhn, Fabien Maussion, Christoph Mayer, Lindsey Nicholson, Klaus Niedertscheider, Rudolf Sailer, Johann Stötter, Markus Weber, and Georg Kaser
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 151–171, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-151-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-151-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A hydrometeorological and glaciological data set is presented with recordings from several research sites in the Rofental (1891–3772 m a.s.l., Ötztal Alps, Austria). The data sets are spanning 150 years and represent a unique pool of high mountain observations, enabling combined research of atmospheric, cryospheric and hydrological processes in complex terrain, and the development of state-of-the-art hydroclimatological and glacier mass balance models.
Tobias Pilz, Till Francke, and Axel Bronstert
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3001–3023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3001-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3001-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
To discretise and transfer a landscape into a hydrological model, many different algorithms and software implementations exist. These are, however, often model specific, commercial, and allow for only a limited workflow automation. Overcoming these limitations, the software package lumpR was developed. It employs an hillslope-based discretisation algorithm directed at large-scale application. The software is demonstrated in a case study and crucial discretisation parameters are investigated.
Janin Schaffer, Ralph Timmermann, Jan Erik Arndt, Steen Savstrup Kristensen, Christoph Mayer, Mathieu Morlighem, and Daniel Steinhage
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 8, 543–557, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-543-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-543-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The RTopo-2 data set provides consistent maps of global ocean bathymetry and ice surface topographies for Greenland and Antarctica at 30 arcsec grid spacing. We corrected data from earlier products in the areas of Petermann, Hagen Bræ, and Helheim glaciers, incorporated original data for the floating ice tongue of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Glacier, and applied corrections for the geometry of Getz, Abbot, and Fimbul ice shelf cavities. The data set is available from the PANGAEA database.
A. Diez, O. Eisen, C. Hofstede, A. Lambrecht, C. Mayer, H. Miller, D. Steinhage, T. Binder, and I. Weikusat
The Cryosphere, 9, 385–398, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-385-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-385-2015, 2015
M. Juen, C. Mayer, A. Lambrecht, H. Han, and S. Liu
The Cryosphere, 8, 377–386, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-377-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-377-2014, 2014
M. Thoma, K. Grosfeld, D. Barbi, J. Determann, S. Goeller, C. Mayer, and F. Pattyn
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 1–21, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1-2014, 2014
Q. Liu, C. Mayer, and S. Liu
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-4545-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-4545-2013, 2013
Revised manuscript not accepted
M. Zemp, E. Thibert, M. Huss, D. Stumm, C. Rolstad Denby, C. Nuth, S. U. Nussbaumer, G. Moholdt, A. Mercer, C. Mayer, P. C. Joerg, P. Jansson, B. Hynek, A. Fischer, H. Escher-Vetter, H. Elvehøy, and L. M. Andreassen
The Cryosphere, 7, 1227–1245, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1227-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1227-2013, 2013
U. Minora, D. Bocchiola, C. D'Agata, D. Maragno, C. Mayer, A. Lambrecht, B. Mosconi, E. Vuillermoz, A. Senese, C. Compostella, C. Smiraglia, and G. Diolaiuti
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-2891-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-7-2891-2013, 2013
Revised manuscript not accepted
E. Collier, T. Mölg, F. Maussion, D. Scherer, C. Mayer, and A. B. G. Bush
The Cryosphere, 7, 779–795, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-779-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-779-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Catchment hydrology | Techniques and Approaches: Modelling approaches
Exploring the potential processes controlling changes in precipitation–runoff relationships in non-stationary environments
A diversity-centric strategy for the selection of spatio-temporal training data for LSTM-based streamflow forecasting
Simulating the Tone River eastward diversion project in Japan carried out 4 centuries ago
Lack of robustness of hydrological models: a large-sample diagnosis and an attempt to identify hydrological and climatic drivers
Achieving water budget closure through physical hydrological process modelling: insights from a large-sample study
Heavy-tailed flood peak distributions: what is the effect of the spatial variability of rainfall and runoff generation?
State updating of the Xin'anjiang model: joint assimilating streamflow and multi-source soil moisture data via the asynchronous ensemble Kalman filter with enhanced error models
Improving the hydrological consistency of a process-based solute-transport model by simultaneous calibration of streamflow and stream concentrations
Leveraging a time-series event separation method to disentangle time-varying hydrologic controls on streamflow – application to wildfire-affected catchments
The significance of the leaf area index for evapotranspiration estimation in SWAT-T for characteristic land cover types of West Africa
Improved representation of soil moisture processes through incorporation of cosmic-ray neutron count measurements in a large-scale hydrologic model
Spatio-temporal patterns and trends of streamflow in water-scarce Mediterranean basins
A large-sample modelling approach towards integrating streamflow and evaporation data for the Spanish catchments
Technical note: An approach for handling multiple temporal frequencies with different input dimensions using a single LSTM cell
Seasonal variation in land cover estimates reveals sensitivities and opportunities for environmental models
Estimating response times, flow velocities, and roughness coefficients of Canadian Prairie basins
Learning landscape features from streamflow with autoencoders
On the use of streamflow transformations for hydrological model calibration
Simulation-based inference for parameter estimation of complex watershed simulators
Multi-scale soil moisture data and process-based modeling reveal the importance of lateral groundwater flow in a subarctic catchment
Catchment response to climatic variability: implications for root zone storage and streamflow predictions
Hybrid hydrological modeling for large alpine basins: a semi-distributed approach
Karst aquifer discharge response to rainfall interpreted as anomalous transport
HESS Opinions: Never train a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network on a single basin
Large-sample hydrology – a few camels or a whole caravan?
Comment on “Are soils overrated in hydrology?” by Gao et al. (2023)
Projections of streamflow intermittence under climate change in European drying river networks
Multi-decadal fluctuations in root zone storage capacity through vegetation adaptation to hydro-climatic variability have minor effects on the hydrological response in the Neckar River basin, Germany
Technical note: What does the Standardized Streamflow Index actually reflect? Insights and implications for hydrological drought analysis
Extended range forecasting of stream water temperature with deep learning models
Projected future changes in the cryosphere and hydrology of a mountainous catchment in the upper Heihe River, China
On the importance of plant phenology in the evaporative process of a semi-arid woodland: could it be why satellite-based evaporation estimates in the miombo differ?
Analyzing the generalization capabilities of hybrid hydrological models for extrapolation to extreme events
Regionalization of GR4J model parameters for river flow prediction in Paraná, Brazil
Evolution of river regimes in the Mekong River basin over 8 decades and the role of dams in recent hydrological extremes
Skill of seasonal flow forecasts at catchment scale: an assessment across South Korea
To what extent do flood-inducing storm events change future flood hazards?
When ancient numerical demons meet physics-informed machine learning: adjoint-based gradients for implicit differentiable modeling
Assessing the value of high-resolution rainfall and streamflow data for hydrological modeling: An analysis based on 63 catchments in southeast China
Runoff component quantification and future streamflow projection in a large mountainous basin based on a multidata-constrained cryospheric-hydrological model
Assessing the impact of climate change on high return levels of peak flows in Bavaria applying the CRCM5 large ensemble
Impacts of climate and land surface change on catchment evapotranspiration and runoff from 1951 to 2020 in Saxony, Germany
Quantifying and reducing flood forecast uncertainty by the CHUP-BMA method
Developing a tile drainage module for the Cold Regions Hydrological Model: lessons from a farm in southern Ontario, Canada
To bucket or not to bucket? Analyzing the performance and interpretability of hybrid hydrological models with dynamic parameterization
Widespread flooding dynamics under climate change: characterising floods using grid-based hydrological modelling and regional climate projections
HESS Opinions: The sword of Damocles of the impossible flood
Scale-dependency in modeling nivo-glacial hydrological systems: the case of the Arolla basin, Switzerland
Evaluating the effects of topography and land use change on hydrological signatures: a comparative study of two adjacent watersheds
Metamorphic testing of machine learning and conceptual hydrologic models
Tian Lan, Tongfang Li, Hongbo Zhang, Jiefeng Wu, Yongqin David Chen, and Chong-Yu Xu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 903–924, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-903-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-903-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study develops an integrated framework based on the novel Driving index for changes in Precipitation–Runoff Relationships (DPRR) to explore the controlling changes in precipitation–runoff relationships in non-stationary environments. According to the quantitative results of the candidate driving factors, the possible process explanations for changes in the precipitation–runoff relationships are deduced. The main contribution offers a comprehensive understanding of hydrological processes.
Everett Snieder and Usman T. Khan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 785–798, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-785-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-785-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Improving the accuracy of flood forecasts is paramount to minimising flood damage. Machine learning (ML) models are increasingly being applied for flood forecasting. Such models are typically trained on large historic hydrometeorological datasets. In this work, we evaluate methods for selecting training datasets that maximise the spatio-temporal diversity of the represented hydrological processes. Empirical results showcase the importance of hydrological diversity in training ML models.
Joško Trošelj and Naota Hanasaki
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 753–766, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-753-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-753-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents the first distributed hydrological simulation which confirms claims raised by historians that the eastward diversion project of the Tone River in Japan was conducted 4 centuries ago to increase low flows and subsequent travelling possibilities surrounding the capital, Edo (Tokyo), using inland navigation. We showed that great steps forward can be made for improving quality of life with small human engineering waterworks and small interventions in the regime of natural flows.
Léonard Santos, Vazken Andréassian, Torben O. Sonnenborg, Göran Lindström, Alban de Lavenne, Charles Perrin, Lila Collet, and Guillaume Thirel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 683–700, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-683-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-683-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This work investigates how hydrological models are transferred to a period in which climate conditions are different to the ones of the period in which they were set up. The robustness assessment test built to detect dependencies between model error and climatic drivers was applied to three hydrological models in 352 catchments in Denmark, France and Sweden. Potential issues are seen in a significant number of catchments for the models, even though the catchments differ for each model.
Xudong Zheng, Dengfeng Liu, Shengzhi Huang, Hao Wang, and Xianmeng Meng
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 627–653, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-627-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-627-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Water budget non-closure is a widespread phenomenon among multisource datasets which undermines the robustness of hydrological inferences. This study proposes a Multisource Dataset Correction Framework grounded in Physical Hydrological Process Modelling to enhance water budget closure, termed PHPM-MDCF. We examined the efficiency and robustness of the framework using the CAMELS dataset and achieved an average reduction of 49 % in total water budget residuals across 475 CONUS basins.
Elena Macdonald, Bruno Merz, Viet Dung Nguyen, and Sergiy Vorogushyn
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 447–463, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-447-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-447-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Flood peak distributions indicate how likely the occurrence of an extreme flood is at a certain river. If the distribution has a so-called heavy tail, extreme floods are more likely than might be anticipated. We find heavier tails in small catchments compared to large catchments, and spatially variable rainfall leads to a lower occurrence probability of extreme floods. Spatially variable runoff does not show effects. The results can improve estimations of probabilities of extreme floods.
Junfu Gong, Xingwen Liu, Cheng Yao, Zhijia Li, Albrecht H. Weerts, Qiaoling Li, Satish Bastola, Yingchun Huang, and Junzeng Xu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 335–360, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-335-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-335-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our study introduces a new method to improve flood forecasting by combining soil moisture and streamflow data using an advanced data assimilation technique. By integrating field and reanalysis soil moisture data and assimilating this with streamflow measurements, we aim to enhance the accuracy of flood predictions. This approach reduces the accumulation of past errors in the initial conditions at the start of the forecast, helping to better prepare for and respond to floods.
Jordy Salmon-Monviola, Ophélie Fovet, and Markus Hrachowitz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 127–158, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-127-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-127-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
To increase the predictive power of hydrological models, it is necessary to improve their consistency, i.e. their physical realism, which is measured by the ability of the model to reproduce observed system dynamics. Using a model to represent the dynamics of water and nitrate and dissolved organic carbon concentrations in an agricultural catchment, we showed that using solute-concentration data for calibration is useful to improve the hydrological consistency of the model.
Haley A. Canham, Belize Lane, Colin B. Phillips, and Brendan P. Murphy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 27–43, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-27-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-27-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The influence of watershed disturbances has proved challenging to disentangle from natural streamflow variability. This study evaluates the influence of time-varying hydrologic controls on rainfall–runoff in undisturbed and wildfire-disturbed watersheds using a novel time-series event separation method. Across watersheds, water year type and season influenced rainfall–runoff patterns. Accounting for these controls enabled clearer isolation of wildfire effects.
Fabian Merk, Timo Schaffhauser, Faizan Anwar, Ye Tuo, Jean-Martial Cohard, and Markus Disse
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5511–5539, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5511-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5511-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Evapotranspiration (ET) is computed from the vegetation (plant transpiration) and soil (soil evaporation). In western Africa, plant transpiration correlates with vegetation growth. Vegetation is often represented using the leaf area index (LAI). In this study, we evaluate the importance of the LAI for ET calculation. We take a close look at this interaction and highlight its relevance. Our work contributes to the understanding of terrestrial water cycle processes .
Eshrat Fatima, Rohini Kumar, Sabine Attinger, Maren Kaluza, Oldrich Rakovec, Corinna Rebmann, Rafael Rosolem, Sascha E. Oswald, Luis Samaniego, Steffen Zacharias, and Martin Schrön
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5419–5441, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study establishes a framework to incorporate cosmic-ray neutron measurements into the mesoscale Hydrological Model (mHM). We evaluate different approaches to estimate neutron counts within the mHM using the Desilets equation, with uniformly and non-uniformly weighted average soil moisture, and the physically based code COSMIC. The data improved not only soil moisture simulations but also the parameterisation of evapotranspiration in the model.
Laia Estrada, Xavier Garcia, Joan Saló-Grau, Rafael Marcé, Antoni Munné, and Vicenç Acuña
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5353–5373, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5353-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5353-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrological modelling is a powerful tool to support decision-making. We assessed spatio-temporal patterns and trends of streamflow for 2001–2022 with a hydrological model, integrating stakeholder expert knowledge on management operations. The results provide insight into how climate change and anthropogenic pressures affect water resources availability in regions vulnerable to water scarcity, thus raising the need for sustainable management practices and integrated hydrological modelling.
Patricio Yeste, Matilde García-Valdecasas Ojeda, Sonia R. Gámiz-Fortis, Yolanda Castro-Díez, Axel Bronstert, and María Jesús Esteban-Parra
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5331–5352, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5331-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5331-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Integrating streamflow and evaporation data can help improve the physical realism of hydrologic models. We investigate the capabilities of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) to reproduce both hydrologic variables for 189 headwater located in Spain. Results from sensitivity analyses indicate that adding two vegetation parameters is enough to improve the representation of evaporation and that the performance of VIC exceeded that of the largest modelling effort currently available in Spain.
Eduardo Acuña Espinoza, Frederik Kratzert, Daniel Klotz, Martin Gauch, Manuel Álvarez Chaves, Ralf Loritz, and Uwe Ehret
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3355, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3355, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks have demonstrated state-of-the-art performance for rainfall-runoff hydrological modeling. However, most studies focus on daily-scale predictions, limiting the benefits of sub-daily (e.g. hourly) predictions in applications like flood forecasting. In this study, we introduce a new architecture, multi-frequency LSTM (MF-LSTM), designed to use input of various temporal frequencies to produce sub-daily (e.g. hourly) predictions at a moderate computational cost.
Daniel T. Myers, David Jones, Diana Oviedo-Vargas, John Paul Schmit, Darren L. Ficklin, and Xuesong Zhang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5295–5310, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5295-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5295-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We studied how streamflow and water quality models respond to land cover data collected by satellites during the growing season versus the non-growing season. The land cover data showed more trees during the growing season and more built areas during the non-growing season. We next found that the use of non-growing season data resulted in a higher modeled nutrient export to streams. Knowledge of these sensitivities would be particularly important when models inform water resource management.
Kevin R. Shook, Paul H. Whitfield, Christopher Spence, and John W. Pomeroy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5173–5192, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5173-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5173-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Recent studies suggest that the velocities of water running off landscapes in the Canadian Prairies may be much smaller than generally assumed. Analyses of historical flows for 23 basins in central Alberta show that many of the rivers responded more slowly and that the flows are much slower than would be estimated from equations developed elsewhere. The effects of slow flow velocities on the development of hydrological models of the region are discussed, as are the possible causes.
Alberto Bassi, Marvin Höge, Antonietta Mira, Fabrizio Fenicia, and Carlo Albert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4971–4988, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4971-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4971-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The goal is to remove the impact of meteorological drivers in order to uncover the unique landscape fingerprints of a catchment from streamflow data. Our results reveal an optimal two-feature summary for most catchments, with a third feature associated with aridity and intermittent flow that is needed for challenging cases. Baseflow index, aridity, and soil or vegetation attributes strongly correlate with learnt features, indicating their importance for streamflow prediction.
Guillaume Thirel, Léonard Santos, Olivier Delaigue, and Charles Perrin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4837–4860, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4837-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4837-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We discuss how mathematical transformations impact calibrated hydrological model simulations. We assess how 11 transformations behave over the complete range of streamflows. Extreme transformations lead to models that are specialized for extreme streamflows but show poor performance outside the range of targeted streamflows and are less robust. We show that no a priori assumption about transformations can be taken as warranted.
Robert Hull, Elena Leonarduzzi, Luis De La Fuente, Hoang Viet Tran, Andrew Bennett, Peter Melchior, Reed M. Maxwell, and Laura E. Condon
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4685–4713, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4685-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4685-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Large-scale hydrologic simulators are a needed tool to explore complex watershed processes and how they may evolve with a changing climate. However, calibrating them can be difficult because they are costly to run and have many unknown parameters. We implement a state-of-the-art approach to model calibration using neural networks with a set of experiments based on streamflow in the upper Colorado River basin.
Jari-Pekka Nousu, Kersti Leppä, Hannu Marttila, Pertti Ala-aho, Giulia Mazzotti, Terhikki Manninen, Mika Korkiakoski, Mika Aurela, Annalea Lohila, and Samuli Launiainen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4643–4666, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4643-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4643-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We used hydrological models, field measurements, and satellite-based data to study the soil moisture dynamics in a subarctic catchment. The role of groundwater was studied with different ways to model the groundwater dynamics and via comparisons to the observational data. The choice of groundwater model was shown to have a strong impact, and representation of lateral flow was important to capture wet soil conditions. Our results provide insights for ecohydrological studies in boreal regions.
Nienke Tempel, Laurène Bouaziz, Riccardo Taormina, Ellis van Noppen, Jasper Stam, Eric Sprokkereef, and Markus Hrachowitz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4577–4597, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4577-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4577-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores the impact of climatic variability on root zone water storage capacities and, thus, on hydrological predictions. Analysing data from 286 areas in Europe and the US, we found that, despite some variations in root zone storage capacity due to changing climatic conditions over multiple decades, these changes are generally minor and have a limited effect on water storage and river flow predictions.
Bu Li, Ting Sun, Fuqiang Tian, Mahmut Tudaji, Li Qin, and Guangheng Ni
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4521–4538, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4521-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4521-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper developed hybrid semi-distributed hydrological models by employing a process-based model as the backbone and utilizing deep learning to parameterize and replace internal modules. The main contribution is to provide a high-performance tool enriched with explicit hydrological knowledge for hydrological prediction and to improve understanding about the hydrological sensitivities to climate change in large alpine basins.
Dan Elhanati, Nadine Goeppert, and Brian Berkowitz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4239–4249, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4239-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4239-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A continuous time random walk framework was developed to allow modeling of a karst aquifer discharge response to measured rainfall. The application of the numerical model yielded robust fits between modeled and measured discharge values, especially for the distinctive long tails found during recession times. The findings shed light on the interplay of slow and fast flow in the karst system and establish the application of the model for simulating flow and transport in such systems.
Frederik Kratzert, Martin Gauch, Daniel Klotz, and Grey Nearing
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4187–4201, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4187-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4187-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Recently, a special type of neural-network architecture became increasingly popular in hydrology literature. However, in most applications, this model was applied as a one-to-one replacement for hydrology models without adapting or rethinking the experimental setup. In this opinion paper, we show how this is almost always a bad decision and how using these kinds of models requires the use of large-sample hydrology data sets.
Franziska Clerc-Schwarzenbach, Giovanni Selleri, Mattia Neri, Elena Toth, Ilja van Meerveld, and Jan Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4219–4237, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4219-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4219-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We show that the differences between the forcing data included in three CAMELS datasets (US, BR, GB) and the forcing data included for the same catchments in the Caravan dataset affect model calibration considerably. The model performance dropped when the data from the Caravan dataset were used instead of the original data. Most of the model performance drop could be attributed to the differences in precipitation data. However, differences were largest for the potential evapotranspiration data.
Ying Zhao, Mehdi Rahmati, Harry Vereecken, and Dani Or
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4059–4063, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4059-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4059-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Gao et al. (2023) question the importance of soil in hydrology, sparking debate. We acknowledge some valid points but critique their broad, unsubstantiated views on soil's role. Our response highlights three key areas: (1) the false divide between ecosystem-centric and soil-centric approaches, (2) the vital yet varied impact of soil properties, and (3) the call for a scale-aware framework. We aim to unify these perspectives, enhancing hydrology's comprehensive understanding.
Louise Mimeau, Annika Künne, Alexandre Devers, Flora Branger, Sven Kralisch, Claire Lauvernet, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Núria Bonada, Zoltán Csabai, Heikki Mykrä, Petr Pařil, Luka Polović, and Thibault Datry
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-272, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-272, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
Our study projects how climate change will affect drying of river segments and stream networks in Europe, using advanced modeling techniques to assess changes in six river networks across diverse ecoregions. We found that drying events will become more frequent, intense and start earlier or last longer, potentially turning some river sections from perennial to intermittent. The results are valuable for river ecologists in evaluating the ecological health of river ecosystem.
Siyuan Wang, Markus Hrachowitz, and Gerrit Schoups
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4011–4033, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4011-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4011-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Root zone storage capacity (Sumax) changes significantly over multiple decades, reflecting vegetation adaptation to climatic variability. However, this temporal evolution of Sumax cannot explain long-term fluctuations in the partitioning of water fluxes as expressed by deviations ΔIE from the parametric Budyko curve over time with different climatic conditions, and it does not have any significant effects on shorter-term hydrological response characteristics of the upper Neckar catchment.
Fabián Lema, Pablo A. Mendoza, Nicolás A. Vásquez, Naoki Mizukami, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, and Ximena Vargas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-221, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-221, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrological droughts affect ecosystems and socioeconomic activities worldwide. Despite they are commonly described with the Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI), there is limited understanding of what it truly reflects in terms of water cycle processes. Here, we used state-of-the-art hydrological models in Andean basins to examine drivers of SSI fluctuations. The results highlight the importance of careful selection of indices and time scales for accurate drought characterization and monitoring.
Ryan S. Padrón, Massimiliano Zappa, Luzi Bernhard, and Konrad Bogner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2591, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2591, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We generate operational forecasts of daily maximum stream water temperature for the next month at 54 stations in Switzerland with our best performing data-driven model. The average forecast error is 0.38 °C for 1 day ahead and increases to 0.90 °C for 1 month ahead given the uncertainty in the meteorological variables influencing water temperature. Here we compare the skill of several models, how well they can forecast at new and ungauged stations, and the importance of different model inputs.
Zehua Chang, Hongkai Gao, Leilei Yong, Kang Wang, Rensheng Chen, Chuntan Han, Otgonbayar Demberel, Batsuren Dorjsuren, Shugui Hou, and Zheng Duan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3897–3917, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3897-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3897-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
An integrated cryospheric–hydrologic model, FLEX-Cryo, was developed that considers glaciers, snow cover, and frozen soil and their dynamic impacts on hydrology. We utilized it to simulate future changes in cryosphere and hydrology in the Hulu catchment. Our projections showed the two glaciers will melt completely around 2050, snow cover will reduce, and permafrost will degrade. For hydrology, runoff will decrease after the glacier has melted, and permafrost degradation will increase baseflow.
Henry M. Zimba, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Kawawa E. Banda, Petra Hulsman, Nick van de Giesen, Imasiku A. Nyambe, and Hubert H. G. Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3633–3663, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3633-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3633-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The fall and flushing of new leaves in the miombo woodlands co-occur in the dry season before the commencement of seasonal rainfall. The miombo species are also said to have access to soil moisture in deep soils, including groundwater in the dry season. Satellite-based evaporation estimates, temporal trends, and magnitudes differ the most in the dry season, most likely due to inadequate understanding and representation of the highlighted miombo species attributes in simulations.
Eduardo Acuna Espinoza, Ralf Loritz, Frederik Kratzert, Daniel Klotz, Martin Gauch, Manuel Álvarez Chaves, Nicole Bäuerle, and Uwe Ehret
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2147, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2147, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Data-driven techniques have shown the potential to outperform process-based models in rainfall-runoff simulations. Hybrid models, combining both approaches, aim to enhance accuracy and maintain interpretability. Expanding the set of test cases to evaluate hybrid models under different conditions we test their generalization capabilities for extreme hydrological events.
Louise Akemi Kuana, Arlan Scortegagna Almeida, Emílio Graciliano Ferreira Mercuri, and Steffen Manfred Noe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3367–3390, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3367-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3367-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The authors compared regionalization methods for river flow prediction in 126 catchments from the south of Brazil, a region with humid subtropical and hot temperate climate. The regionalization method based on physiographic–climatic similarity had the best performance for predicting daily and Q95 reference flow. We showed that basins without flow monitoring can have a good approximation of streamflow using machine learning and physiographic–climatic information as inputs.
Huy Dang and Yadu Pokhrel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3347–3365, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3347-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3347-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
By examining basin-wide simulations of a river regime over 83 years with and without dams, we present evidence that climate variation was a key driver of hydrologic variabilities in the Mekong River basin (MRB) over the long term; however, dams have largely altered the seasonality of the Mekong’s flow regime and annual flooding patterns in major downstream areas in recent years. These findings could help us rethink the planning of future dams and water resource management in the MRB.
Yongshin Lee, Francesca Pianosi, Andres Peñuela, and Miguel Angel Rico-Ramirez
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3261–3279, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3261-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3261-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Following recent advancements in weather prediction technology, we explored how seasonal weather forecasts (1 or more months ahead) could benefit practical water management in South Korea. Our findings highlight that using seasonal weather forecasts for predicting flow patterns 1 to 3 months ahead is effective, especially during dry years. This suggest that seasonal weather forecasts can be helpful in improving the management of water resources.
Mariam Khanam, Giulia Sofia, and Emmanouil N. Anagnostou
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3161–3190, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3161-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3161-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Flooding worsens due to climate change, with river dynamics being a key in local flood control. Predicting post-storm geomorphic changes is challenging. Using self-organizing maps and machine learning, this study forecasts post-storm alterations in stage–discharge relationships across 3101 US stream gages. The provided framework can aid in updating hazard assessments by identifying rivers prone to change, integrating channel adjustments into flood hazard assessment.
Yalan Song, Wouter J. M. Knoben, Martyn P. Clark, Dapeng Feng, Kathryn Lawson, Kamlesh Sawadekar, and Chaopeng Shen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3051–3077, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3051-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3051-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Differentiable models (DMs) integrate neural networks and physical equations for accuracy, interpretability, and knowledge discovery. We developed an adjoint-based DM for ordinary differential equations (ODEs) for hydrological modeling, reducing distorted fluxes and physical parameters from errors in models that use explicit and operation-splitting schemes. With a better numerical scheme and improved structure, the adjoint-based DM matches or surpasses long short-term memory (LSTM) performance.
Mahmut Tudaji, Yi Nan, and Fuqiang Tian
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1438, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1438, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Common intuition holds that higher input data resolution leads to better results. To assess the benefits of high-resolution data, we conducted simulation experiments using data with various temporal resolutions across multiple catchments, and found that higher resolution data does not always improve model performance, challenging the necessity of pursuing such data. In catchments with small areas or significant flow variability, high-resolution data is more valuable.
Mengjiao Zhang, Yi Nan, and Fuqiang Tian
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1464, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1464, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our study conducted a detailed analysis of runoff component and future trend in the Yarlung Tsangpo River basin owing to the existed differences in the published results, and find that the contributions of snowmelt and glacier melt runoff to streamflow were limited, both for ~5 % which were much lower than previous results. The streamflow there will continuously increase in the future, but the overestimated contribution from glacier melt would lead to an underestimation on such increasing trend.
Florian Willkofer, Raul R. Wood, and Ralf Ludwig
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2969–2989, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2969-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2969-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Severe flood events pose a threat to riverine areas, yet robust estimates of the dynamics of these events in the future due to climate change are rarely available. Hence, this study uses data from a regional climate model, SMILE, to drive a high-resolution hydrological model for 98 catchments of hydrological Bavaria and exploits the large database to derive robust values for the 100-year flood events. Results indicate an increase in frequency and intensity for most catchments in the future.
Maik Renner and Corina Hauffe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2849–2869, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2849-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2849-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Climate and land surface changes influence the partitioning of water balance components decisively. Their impact is quantified for 71 catchments in Saxony. Germany. Distinct signatures in the joint water and energy budgets are found: (i) past forest dieback caused a decrease in and subsequent recovery of evapotranspiration in the affected regions, and (ii) the recent shift towards higher aridity imposed a large decline in runoff that has not been seen in the observation records before.
Zhen Cui, Shenglian Guo, Hua Chen, Dedi Liu, Yanlai Zhou, and Chong-Yu Xu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2809–2829, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2809-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2809-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ensemble forecasting facilitates reliable flood forecasting and warning. This study couples the copula-based hydrologic uncertainty processor (CHUP) with Bayesian model averaging (BMA) and proposes the novel CHUP-BMA method of reducing inflow forecasting uncertainty of the Three Gorges Reservoir. The CHUP-BMA avoids the normal distribution assumption in the HUP-BMA and considers the constraint of initial conditions, which can improve the deterministic and probabilistic forecast performance.
Mazda Kompanizare, Diogo Costa, Merrin L. Macrae, John W. Pomeroy, and Richard M. Petrone
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2785–2807, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2785-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2785-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A new agricultural tile drainage module was developed in the Cold Region Hydrological Model platform. Tile flow and water levels are simulated by considering the effect of capillary fringe thickness, drainable water and seasonal regional groundwater dynamics. The model was applied to a small well-instrumented farm in southern Ontario, Canada, where there are concerns about the impacts of agricultural drainage into Lake Erie.
Eduardo Acuña Espinoza, Ralf Loritz, Manuel Álvarez Chaves, Nicole Bäuerle, and Uwe Ehret
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2705–2719, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2705-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2705-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrological hybrid models promise to merge the performance of deep learning methods with the interpretability of process-based models. One hybrid approach is the dynamic parameterization of conceptual models using long short-term memory (LSTM) networks. We explored this method to evaluate the effect of the flexibility given by LSTMs on the process-based part.
Adam Griffin, Alison L. Kay, Paul Sayers, Victoria Bell, Elizabeth Stewart, and Sam Carr
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2635–2650, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2635-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2635-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Widespread flooding is a major problem in the UK and is greatly affected by climate change and land-use change. To look at how widespread flooding changes in the future, climate model data (UKCP18) were used with a hydrological model (Grid-to-Grid) across the UK, and 14 400 events were identified between two time slices: 1980–2010 and 2050–2080. There was a strong increase in the number of winter events in the future time slice and in the peak return periods.
Alberto Montanari, Bruno Merz, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2603–2615, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2603-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Floods often take communities by surprise, as they are often considered virtually
impossibleyet are an ever-present threat similar to the sword suspended over the head of Damocles in the classical Greek anecdote. We discuss four reasons why extremely large floods carry a risk that is often larger than expected. We provide suggestions for managing the risk of megafloods by calling for a creative exploration of hazard scenarios and communicating the unknown corners of the reality of floods.
Anne-Laure Argentin, Pascal Horton, Bettina Schaefli, Jamal Shokory, Felix Pitscheider, Leona Repnik, Mattia Gianini, Simone Bizzi, Stuart Lane, and Francesco Comiti
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1687, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1687, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this article, we show that by taking the optimal parameters calibrated with a semi-lumped model for the discharge at a catchment's outlet, we can accurately simulate runoff at various points within the study area, including three nested and three neighboring catchments. In addition, we demonstrate that employing more intricate melt models, which better represent physical processes, enhances the transfer of parameters in the simulation, until an overparametrization limit is reached.
Haifan Liu, Haochen Yan, and Mingfu Guan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-136, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-136, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
In mountainous areas, the relationship between slope and annual hydrological processes is pronounced. However, at lower elevations, this relationship is weak in steeper watersheds. In addition, urbanization leads to an increase in annual surface runoff in all watersheds, especially in steep-slope watersheds. Flatter watersheds exhibit a buffering capacity against urbanization. However, this buffering capacity is diminishing as annual rainfall intensity increases.
Peter Reichert, Kai Ma, Marvin Höge, Fabrizio Fenicia, Marco Baity-Jesi, Dapeng Feng, and Chaopeng Shen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2505–2529, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2505-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2505-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We compared the predicted change in catchment outlet discharge to precipitation and temperature change for conceptual and machine learning hydrological models. We found that machine learning models, despite providing excellent fit and prediction capabilities, can be unreliable regarding the prediction of the effect of temperature change for low-elevation catchments. This indicates the need for caution when applying them for the prediction of the effect of climate change.
Cited articles
Abermann, J., Lambrecht, A., Fischer, A., and Kuhn, M.: Quantifying changes and trends in glacier area and volume in the Austrian Ötztal Alps (1969–1997–2006), The Cryosphere, 3, 205–215, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-3-205-2009, 2009.
Al-Mukhtar, M.: Random forest, support vector machine, and neural networks
to modelling suspended sediment in Tigris River-Baghdad, Environ. Monit.
Assess., 191, 673, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7821-5, 2019.
Antoniazza, G. and Lane, S. N.: Sediment yield over glacial cycles: A
conceptual model, Prog. Phys. Geogr. Earth Environ., 58, 842–865,
https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133321997292, 2021.
Ballantyne, C. K.: Paraglacial geomorphology, Quat. Sci. Rev., 21,
1935–2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00005-7, 2002.
Bendixen, M., Lønsmann Iversen, L., Anker Bjørk, A., Elberling, B.,
Westergaard-Nielsen, A., Overeem, I., Barnhart, K. R., Abbas Khan, S., Box,
J. E., Abermann, J., Langley, K., and Kroon, A.: Delta progradation in
Greenland driven by increasing glacial mass loss, Nature, 550, 101–104,
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23873, 2017a.
Bendixen, M., Lønsmann Iversen, L., Anker Bjørk, A., Elberling, B.,
Westergaard-Nielsen, A., Overeem, I., Barnhart, K. R., Abbas Khan, S., Box,
J. E., Abermann, J., Langley, K., and Kroon, A.: Delta progradation in
Greenland driven by increasing glacial mass loss, Nature, 550, 101–104,
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23873, 2017b.
Beniston, M., Farinotti, D., Stoffel, M., Andreassen, L. M., Coppola, E., Eckert, N., Fantini, A., Giacona, F., Hauck, C., Huss, M., Huwald, H., Lehning, M., López-Moreno, J.-I., Magnusson, J., Marty, C., Morán-Tejéda, E., Morin, S., Naaim, M., Provenzale, A., Rabatel, A., Six, D., Stötter, J., Strasser, U., Terzago, S., and Vincent, C.: The European mountain cryosphere: a review of its current state, trends, and future challenges, The Cryosphere, 12, 759–794, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-759-2018, 2018.
Bergmann, H. and Reinwarth, O.: Die Pegelstation Vernagtbach (Ötztaler
Alpen) – Planung, Bau und Messergebnisse, Z. Für Gletscherkunde
Glazialgeol., 12, 57–180, 1977.
Bilotta, G. S. and Brazier, R. E.: Understanding the influence of suspended
solids on water quality and aquatic biota, Water Res., 42, 2849–2861,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2008.03.018, 2008.
Bogen, J.: The impact of climate change on glacial sediment delivery to
rivers, in: Sediment Dynamics in Changing Environments, Proceedings of a symposium held in Christchurch, New Zealand, December 2008, IAHS Publ., 325, 432–439, 2008.
Braun, L. N., Escher-Vetter, H., Siebers, M., and Weber, M.: Water Balance
of the highly Glaciated Vernagt Basin, Ötztal Alps, in: The water
balance of the alps: what do we need to protect the water resources of the
Alps?, Proceedings of the conference held at Innsbruck university, 28–29 September 2006, Univ. Press, Innsbruck, https://diglib.uibk.ac.at/ulbdok/content/pageview/268995 (last access: 8 May 2023), 2007.
Breiman, L.: Random Forests, Mach. Learn., 45, 5–32,
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010933404324, 2001.
Breiman, L., Friedman, J. H., Olshen, R. A., and Stone, C. J.:
Classification And Regression Trees, Routledge, New York, 368 pp., https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315139470, 1984.
Brooke, S., Chadwick, A. J., Silvestre, J., Lamb, M. P., Edmonds, D. A., and
Ganti, V.: Where rivers jump course, Science, 376, 987–990,
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm1215, 2022.
Buckel, J. and Otto, J.-C.: The Austrian Glacier Inventory GI 4 (2015) in
ArcGis (shapefile) format, PANGAEA [data set],
https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.887415, 2018.
Carrivick, J. L. and Heckmann, T.: Short-term geomorphological evolution of
proglacial systems, Geomorphology, 287, 3–28,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.01.037, 2017.
Chiarle, M., Geertsema, M., Mortara, G., and Clague, J. J.: Relations
between climate change and mass movement: Perspectives from the Canadian
Cordillera and the European Alps, Glob. Planet. Change, 202, 103499,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2021.103499, 2021.
Costa, A., Molnar, P., Stutenbecker, L., Bakker, M., Silva, T. A., Schlunegger, F., Lane, S. N., Loizeau, J.-L., and Girardclos, S.: Temperature signal in suspended sediment export from an Alpine catchment, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 509–528, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-509-2018, 2018.
Delaney, I. and Adhikari, S.: Increased Subglacial Sediment Discharge in a
Warming Climate: Consideration of Ice Dynamics, Glacial Erosion, and Fluvial
Sediment Transport, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2019GL085672,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085672, 2020.
Delaney, I., Bauder, A., Werder, M., and Farinotti, D.: Regional and annual
variability in subglacial sediment transport by water for two glaciers in
the Swiss Alps, Front. Earth Sci., 6, 175,
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000305762, 2018.
eHYD: Hydrographic Service, Austria, Bundesministerium für
Landwirtschaft, Regionen und Tourismus [data set], https://ehyd.gv.at/ (last access: 8 May 2023), 2021.
Escher-Vetter, H.: Climate change information derived from long-term
measurements of winter and summer mass balance, in: Extended Abstracts, 29th
International Conference on Alpine Meteorology, Chambéry, France,
465–468, 2007.
Escher-Vetter, H. and Siebers, M.: Sensitivity of glacier runoff to summer
snowfall events, Ann. Glaciol., 46, 309–315,
https://doi.org/10.3189/172756407782871251, 2007.
Escher-Vetter, H., Oerter, H., Reinwarth, O., Braun, L. N., and Weber, M.:
Hydrological and meteorological records from the Vernagtferner Basin –
Vernagtbach station, for the years 1970 to 2001, PANGAEA [data set],
https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.775113, 2012.
Escher-Vetter, H., Braun, L. N., and Siebers, M.: Hydrological and
meteorological records from the Vernagtferner Basin – Vernagtbach station,
for the years 2002 to 2012, PANGAEA [data set],
https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.829530, 2014.
Francke, T.: ssc_prediction – Prediction of sedigraphs and
hydrographs from other predictors using RF/QRF, GitHub [code],
https://github.com/TillF/ssc_prediction (last access: 8 May 2023), 2017.
Francke, T., López-Tarazón, J. A., and Schröder, B.: Estimation
of suspended sediment concentration and yield using linear models, random
forests and quantile regression forests, Hydrol. Process., 22, 4892–4904,
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.7110, 2008a.
Francke, T., López-Tarazón, J. A., Vericat, D., Bronstert, A., and
Batalla, R. J.: Flood-based analysis of high-magnitude sediment transport
using a non-parametric method, Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 33, 2064–2077,
https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.1654, 2008b.
Gabbud, C. and Lane, S. N.: Ecosystem impacts of Alpine water intakes for
hydropower: the challenge of sediment management, WIREs Water, 3, 41–61,
https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1124, 2016.
Guillén-Ludeña, S., Manso, P. A., and Schleiss, A. J.: Multidecadal
Sediment Balance Modelling of a Cascade of Alpine Reservoirs and
Perspectives Based on Climate Warming, Water, 10, 1759,
https://doi.org/10.3390/w10121759, 2018.
Hallet, B., Hunter, L., and Bogen, J.: Rates of erosion and sediment
evacuation by glaciers: A review of field data and their implications, Global
Planet. Change, 12, 213–235, https://doi.org/10.1016/0921-8181(95)00021-6,
1996.
Hanus, S., Hrachowitz, M., Zekollari, H., Schoups, G., Vizcaino, M., and Kaitna, R.: Future changes in annual, seasonal and monthly runoff signatures in contrasting Alpine catchments in Austria, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3429–3453, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3429-2021, 2021.
Hanzer, F., Förster, K., Nemec, J., and Strasser, U.: Projected cryospheric and hydrological impacts of 21st century climate change in the Ötztal Alps (Austria) simulated using a physically based approach, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1593–1614, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1593-2018, 2018.
Herman, F., De Doncker, F., Delaney, I., Prasicek, G., and Koppes, M.: The
impact of glaciers on mountain erosion, Nat. Rev. Earth Environ., 2,
422–435, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00165-9, 2021.
Hinderer, M., Kastowski, M., Kamelger, A., Bartolini, C., and Schlunegger,
F.: River loads and modern denudation of the Alps – A review, Earth-Sci.
Rev., 118, 11–44, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.01.001, 2013.
Huggel, C., Salzmann, N., Allen, S., Caplan-Auerbach, J., Fischer, L.,
Haeberli, W., Larsen, C., Schneider, D., and Wessels, R.: Recent and future
warm extreme events and high-mountain slope stability, Philos. T. R. Soc. A, 368, 2435–2459,
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0078, 2010.
Huggel, C., Clague, J. J., and Korup, O.: Is climate change responsible for
changing landslide activity in high mountains?, Earth Surf. Proc. Land.,
37, 77–91, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.2223, 2012.
Huss, M., Bookhagen, B., Huggel, C., Jacobsen, D., Bradley, R. S., Clague,
J. J., Vuille, M., Buytaert, W., Cayan, D. R., Greenwood, G., Mark, B. G.,
Milner, A. M., Weingartner, R., and Winder, M.: Toward mountains without
permanent snow and ice, Earths Future, 5, 418–435,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000514, 2017.
Hydrographic yearbook of Austria: Hydrographisches Jahrbuch von
Österreich, Hydrographischer Dienst in Österreich, Bundesministerium
für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft Abteilung
VII/3, https://wasser.umweltbundesamt.at/hydjb/ (last access: 8 May 2023), 2016.
Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics: Climate Data Vent, Ötztal Alps,
1935–2011, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.806582, 2013.
Juen, I. and Kaser, G.: Climate Data Vent, Ötztal Alps, 2012–2016, PANGAEA [data
set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.876595, 2017.
Koppes, M., Hallet, B., and Anderson, J.: Synchronous acceleration of ice
loss and glacial erosion, Glaciar Marinelli, Chilean Tierra del Fuego, J.
Glaciol., 55, 207–220, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214309788608796, 2009.
Kormann, C., Bronstert, A., Francke, T., Recknagel, T., and Graeff, T.:
Model-Based Attribution of High-Resolution Streamflow Trends in Two Alpine
Basins of Western Austria, Hydrology, 3, 7,
https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology3010007, 2016.
Kuhn, M., Nickus, U., and Pellet, F.: Precipitation Patterns in the Inner
Ötztal, 17. Internationale Tagung für Alpine Meteorologie, Offenbach
am Main, https://doi.org/10013/epic.41205.d002, 1982.
Kuhn, M., Helfricht, K., Ortner, M., Landmann, J., and Gurgiser, W.: Liquid
water storage in snow and ice in 86 Eastern Alpine basins and its changes
from 1970–97 to 1998–2006, Ann. Glaciol., 57, 11–18,
https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2016.24, 2016.
Lalk, P., Haimann, M., and Habersack, H.: Monitoring, Analyse und
Interpretation des Schwebstofftransportes an österreichischen
Flüssen, Österr. Wasser- Abfallwirtsch., 66, 306–315,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00506-014-0175-x, 2014.
Land Tirol: Digital terrain model of Tyrol, 10 m resolution, EPSG 31254, Land Tirol [data set], https://www.data.gv.at/katalog/dataset/land-tirol_tirolgelnde (last access; 8 May 2023), 2016.
Land Tirol: tiris OGD map service “Wasser”, Land Tirol [data set],
https://www.data.gv.at/katalog/dataset/0b5d6529-d88c-46c0-84f7-b37282e96ce8 (last access; 8 May 2023), 2021.
Lane, S. N., Bakker, M., Gabbud, C., Micheletti, N., and Saugy, J.-N.:
Sediment export, transient landscape response and catchment-scale
connectivity following rapid climate warming and Alpine glacier recession,
Geomorphology, 277, 210–227,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.02.015, 2017.
Lane, S. N., Bakker, M., Costa, A., Girardclos, S., Loizeau, J.-L., Molnar,
P., Silva, T., Stutenbecker, L., and Schlunegger, F.: Making stratigraphy in
the Anthropocene: climate change impacts and economic conditions controlling
the supply of sediment to Lake Geneva, Sci. Rep., 9, 8904,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44914-9, 2019.
Laser- und Luftbildatlas Tirol: https://lba.tirol.gv.at/public/karte.xhtml,
last access: 17 June 2022.
Leggat, M. S., Owens, P. N., Stott, T. A., Forrester, B. J., Déry, S.
J., and Menounos, B.: Hydro-meteorological drivers and sources of suspended
sediment flux in the pro-glacial zone of the retreating Castle Creek
Glacier, Cariboo Mountains, British Columbia, Canada, Earth Surf. Proc.
Land., 40, 1542–1559, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3755, 2015.
Li, D., Li, Z., Zhou, Y., and Lu, X. X.: Substantial Increases in the Water
and Sediment Fluxes in the Headwater Region of the Tibetan Plateau in
Response to Global Warming, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2020GL087745,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087745, 2020.
Li, D., Lu, X., Overeem, I., Walling, D. E., Syvitski, J., Kettner, A. J.,
Bookhagen, B., Zhou, Y., and Zhang, T.: Exceptional increases in fluvial
sediment fluxes in a warmer and wetter High Mountain Asia, Science, 374,
599–603, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi9649, 2021.
Li, D., Lu, X., Walling, D. E., Zhang, T., Steiner, J. F., Wasson, R. J.,
Harrison, S., Nepal, S., Nie, Y., Immerzeel, W. W., Shugar, D. H., Koppes,
M., Lane, S., Zeng, Z., Sun, X., Yegorov, A., and Bolch, T.: High Mountain
Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability,
Nat. Geosci., 15, 520–530, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y,
2022.
Lindeløv, J. K.: mcp: An R Package for Regression With Multiple Change
Points, OSF Preprints [code], https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/fzqxv, 2020.
Madsen, H., Lawrence, D., Lang, M., Martinkova, M., and Kjeldsen, T. R.:
Review of trend analysis and climate change projections of extreme
precipitation and floods in Europe, J. Hydrol., 519, 3634–3650,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.11.003, 2014.
Mallakpour, I. and Villarini, G.: A simulation study to examine the
sensitivity of the Pettitt test to detect abrupt changes in mean, Hydrol.
Sci. J., 61, 245–254, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2015.1008482, 2016.
Mao, L., Comiti, F., Carrillo, R., and Penna, D.: Sediment Transport in Proglacial Rivers, in: Geomorphology of Proglacial Systems, Geography of the Physical Environment, edited by: Heckmann, T. and Morche, D., Springer, Cham, 199–217, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94184-4_12, 2019.
Mather, A. L. and Johnson, R. L.: Quantitative characterization of stream
turbidity-discharge behavior using event loop shape modeling and power law
parameter decorrelation, Water Resour. Res., 50, 7766–7779,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR015417, 2014.
Meinshausen, N.: Quantile Regression Forests, J. Mach. Learn. Res., 7,
983–999, 2006.
Merten, G., Capel, P., and Minella, J. P. G.: Effects of suspended sediment
concentration and grain size on three optical turbidity sensors, J. Soils
Sediments, 14, 1235–1241, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0813-0, 2014.
Micheletti, N. and Lane, S. N.: Water yield and sediment export in small,
partially glaciated Alpine watersheds in a warming climate, Water Resour.
Res., 52, 4924–4943, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR018774, 2016.
Moriasi, D. N., Arnold, J. G., Van Liew, M. W., Bingner, R. L., Harmel, R.
D., and Veith, T. L.: Model Evaluation Guidelines for Systematic
Quantification of Accuracy in Watershed Simulations, T. ASABE, 50,
885–900, https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.23153, 2007.
Murphy, K. P.: Machine Learning: A Probabilistic Perspective, MIT Press,
1102 pp., ISBN 978-0-262-01802-9, 2012.
Naeser, T.: Schwebstoffuntersuchungen am Gletscherbach des Vernagtferners in
den Zentralen Ötztaler Alpen, Diploma thesis,
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, 92 pp., http://www.vernagtferner.de/Download/DANaeser.pdf (last access: 8 May 2023), 2002.
Nash, J. E. and Sutcliffe, J. V.: River flow forecasting through conceptual
models part I – A discussion of principles, J. Hydrol., 10, 282–290,
https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(70)90255-6, 1970.
Nones, M.: Dealing with sediment transport in flood risk management, Acta
Geophys., 67, 677–685, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-019-00273-7, 2019.
Pettitt, A. N.: A Non-Parametric Approach to the Change-Point Problem, J. R.
Stat. Soc. Ser. C-Appl., 28, 126–135,
https://doi.org/10.2307/2346729, 1979.
Pilla, R. M. and Williamson, C. E.: Earlier ice breakup induces changepoint
responses in duration and variability of spring mixing and summer
stratification in dimictic lakes, Limnol. Oceanogr., 67, S173–S183,
https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11888, 2022.
Pilz, T., Delgado, J. M., Voss, S., Vormoor, K., Francke, T., Costa, A. C., Martins, E., and Bronstert, A.: Seasonal drought prediction for semiarid northeast Brazil: what is the added value of a process-based hydrological model?, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1951–1971, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1951-2019, 2019.
Pohlert, T.: trend: Non-Parametric Trend Tests and Change-Point Detection, R
package version 1.1.2, CRAN [code], https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=trend (last access: 10 May 2023), 2020.
R Core Team: R: A language and environment for statistical computing, CRAN [code], https://www.R-project.org/ (last access: 10 May 2023), 2018.
Rottler, E., Francke, T., Bürger, G., and Bronstert, A.: Long-term changes in central European river discharge for 1869–2016: impact of changing snow covers, reservoir constructions and an intensified hydrological cycle, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1721–1740, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1721-2020, 2020.
Rottler, E., Vormoor, K., Francke, T., Warscher, M., Strasser, U., and
Bronstert, A.: Elevation-dependent compensation effects in snowmelt in the
Rhine River Basin upstream gauge Basel, Hydrol. Res., 52, 536–557,
https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2021.092, 2021.
Santander Meteorology Group: fume: FUME package, R package version 1.0,
CRAN [code], https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=fume (last access: 10 May 2023), 2012.
Savi, S., Comiti, F., and Strecker, M. R.: Pronounced increase in slope
instability linked to global warming: A case study from the eastern European
Alps, Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 46, 1328–1347, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5100, 2020.
Schaefli, B. and Gupta, H. V.: Do Nash values have value?, Hydrol. Process.,
21, 2075–2080, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.6825, 2007.
Schmidt, L. K. and Hydrographic Service of Tyrol, Austria: Discharge and
suspended sediment time series of 2006–2020 of gauges Vent Rofenache and
Tumpen in the glacierized high alpine Ötztal, Tyrol, Austria, B2SHARE [data set], https://b2share.eudat.eu/records/be13f43ce9bb46d8a7eedb7b56df3140, 2021.
Schmidt, L. K., Grosse, P. M., and Francke, T.: A Quantile Regression
Forests approach for sedigraph-reconstruction and sediment yield calculation,
B2SHARE [data set], https://b2share.109960a9fb42427b9d0a85b998b9d18c, 2022a.
Schmidt, L. K., Francke, T., Rottler, E., Blume, T., Schöber, J., and Bronstert, A.: Suspended sediment and discharge dynamics in a glaciated alpine environment: identifying crucial areas and time periods on several spatial and temporal scales in the Ötztal, Austria, Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 653–669, https://doi.org/10.23728/B2SHARE.78CDC99C8D454D8894C, 2022b.
Schmieder, J., Garvelmann, J., Marke, T., and Strasser, U.: Spatio-temporal
tracer variability in the glacier melt end-member – How does it affect
hydrograph separation results?, Hydrol. Process., 32, 1828–1843,
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11628, 2018.
Schöber, J. and Hofer, B.: The sediment budget of the glacial streams in
the catchment area of the Gepatsch reservoir in the Ötztal Alps in the
period 1965–2015, in: ICOLD (International Comission on Large Dam Systems)
Proceedings, Twenty-Sixth International Congress on Large Dams, Vienna,
Austria, ISBN 9780429465086, 2018.
Schöber, J., Schneider, K., Helfricht, K., Schattan, P., Achleitner, S.,
Schöberl, F., and Kirnbauer, R.: Snow cover characteristics in a
glacierized catchment in the Tyrolean Alps - Improved spatially distributed
modelling by usage of Lidar data, J. Hydrol., 519, 3492–3510,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.12.054, 2014.
Sen, P. K.: Estimates of the Regression Coefficient Based on Kendall's Tau,
J. Am. Stat. Assoc., 63, 1379–1389,
https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1968.10480934, 1968.
Singh, A. T., Sharma, P., Sharma, C., Laluraj, C. M., Patel, L., Pratap, B.,
Oulkar, S., and Thamban, M.: Water discharge and suspended sediment dynamics
in the Chandra River, Western Himalaya, J. Earth Syst. Sci., 129, 206,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01455-4, 2020.
Sommer, C., Malz, P., Seehaus, T. C., Lippl, S., Zemp, M., and Braun, M. H.:
Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the
early 21 st century, Nat. Commun., 11, 3209,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16818-0, 2020.
Strasser, U., Marke, T., Braun, L., Escher-Vetter, H., Juen, I., Kuhn, M., Maussion, F., Mayer, C., Nicholson, L., Niedertscheider, K., Sailer, R., Stötter, J., Weber, M., and Kaser, G.: The Rofental: a high Alpine research basin (1890–3770 m a.s.l.) in the Ötztal Alps (Austria) with over 150 years of hydrometeorological and glaciological observations, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 151–171, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-151-2018, 2018.
Tahmasebi, P., Kamrava, S., Bai, T., and Sahimi, M.: Machine learning in
geo- and environmental sciences: From small to large scale, Adv. Water
Resour., 142, 103619, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2020.103619, 2020.
Tschada, H. and Hofer, B.: Total solids load from the catchment area of the
Kaunertal hydroelectric power station: the results of 25 years of operation,
in: Hydrology of Mountainous Regions–II: Artificial Reservoirs, Water and
Slopes (Proceedings of two Lausanne Symposia), IAHS Publication, Lausanne,
Switzerland, 8, 1990.
Turowski, J. M., Rickenmann, D., and Dadson, S. J.: The partitioning of the
total sediment load of a river into suspended load and bedload: a review of
empirical data, Sedimentology, 57, 1126–1146,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2009.01140.x, 2010.
van Tiel, M., Kohn, I., Loon, A. F. V., and Stahl, K.: The compensating
effect of glaciers: Characterizing the relation between interannual
streamflow variability and glacier cover, Hydrol. Process., 34, 553–568,
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13603, 2019.
Veh, G., Lützow, N., Kharlamova, V., Petrakov, D., Hugonnet, R., and
Korup, O.: Trends, Breaks, and Biases in the Frequency of Reported Glacier
Lake Outburst Floods, Earths Future, 10, e2021EF002426,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002426, 2022.
Vercruysse, K., Grabowski, R. C., and Rickson, R. J.: Suspended sediment
transport dynamics in rivers: Multi-scale drivers of temporal variation,
Earth-Sci. Rev., 166, 38–52,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.12.016, 2017.
Vergara, I., Garreaud, R., and Ayala, Á.: Sharp Increase of Extreme
Turbidity Events Due To Deglaciation in the Subtropical Andes, J. Geophys.
Res.-Earth, 127, e2021JF006584, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JF006584,
2022.
Vormoor, K., Lawrence, D., Heistermann, M., and Bronstert, A.: Climate change impacts on the seasonality and generation processes of floods – projections and uncertainties for catchments with mixed snowmelt/rainfall regimes, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 913–931, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-913-2015, 2015.
Weber, M. and Prasch, M.: Influence of the Glaciers on Runoff Regime and Its
Change, in: Regional Assessment of Global Change Impacts, edited by: Mauser,
W. and Prasch, M., Springer International Publishing, Cham, 493–509, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16751-0_56, 2016.
Wijngaard, R. R., Helfricht, K., Schneeberger, K., Huttenlau, M., Schneider,
K., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: Hydrological response of the Ötztal
glacierized catchments to climate change, Hydrol. Res., 47, 979–995,
https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2015.093, 2016.
World Glacier Monitoring Service: Fluctuations of Glaciers Database, WGMS
[data set], https://doi.org/10.5904/wgms-fog-2021-05, 2021.
Yadav, V., Ghosh, S., Mueller, K., Karion, A., Roest, G., Gourdji, S. M.,
Lopez-Coto, I., Gurney, K. R., Parazoo, N., Verhulst, K. R., Kim, J.,
Prinzivalli, S., Fain, C., Nehrkorn, T., Mountain, M., Keeling, R. F.,
Weiss, R. F., Duren, R., Miller, C. E., and Whetstone, J.: The Impact of
COVID-19 on CO2 Emissions in the Los Angeles and Washington DC/Baltimore
Metropolitan Areas, Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2021GL092744,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL092744, 2021.
Yue, S. and Wang, C.: The Mann-Kendall Test Modified by Effective Sample
Size to Detect Trend in Serially Correlated Hydrological Series, Water
Resour. Manag., 18, 201–218,
https://doi.org/10.1023/B:WARM.0000043140.61082.60, 2004.
Yue, S., Kundzewicz, Z. W., and Wang, L.: Detection of Changes, in: Changes
in Flood Risk in Europe, edited by: Kundzewicz, Z. W., IAHS Press,
Wallingford, 387–408, ISBN 9780203098097, 2012.
Zhang, T., Li, D., Kettner, A. J., Zhou, Y., and Lu, X.: Constraining
Dynamic Sediment-Discharge Relationships in Cold Environments: The
Sediment-Availability-Transport (SAT) Model, Water Resour. Res., 57,
e2021WR030690, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030690, 2021.
Zhang, T., Li, D., East, A. E., Walling, D. E., Lane, S., Overeem, I.,
Beylich, A. A., Koppes, M., and Lu, X.: Warming-driven erosion and sediment
transport in cold regions, Nat. Rev. Earth Environ., 3, 832–851,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00362-0, 2022.
Zimmermann, A., Francke, T., and Elsenbeer, H.: Forests and erosion:
Insights from a study of suspended-sediment dynamics in an overland
flow-prone rainforest catchment, J. Hydrol., 428–429, 170–181,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.01.039, 2012.
Short summary
We present a suitable method to reconstruct sediment export from decadal records of hydroclimatic predictors (discharge, precipitation, temperature) and shorter suspended sediment measurements. This lets us fill the knowledge gap on how sediment export from glacierized high-alpine areas has responded to climate change. We find positive trends in sediment export from the two investigated nested catchments with step-like increases around 1981 which are linked to crucial changes in glacier melt.
We present a suitable method to reconstruct sediment export from decadal records of...
