Articles | Volume 27, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3505-2023
© 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-27-3505-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
06 Oct 2023
Research article |
| 06 Oct 2023
| 06 Oct 2023
To what extent does river routing matter in hydrological modeling?
Nicolás Cortés-Salazar
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Nicolás Vásquez
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Naoki Mizukami
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Advanced Mining Technology Center, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Ximena Vargas
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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Sofía Segovia-Escafi, Pablo A. Mendoza, Miguel Lagos-Zúñiga, Lucía Scaff, and Andreas F. Prein
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 6481–6510, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-6481-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-6481-2026, 2026
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High-resolution climate simulations can improve our understanding of precipitation and temperature patterns in regions with complex terrain. We evaluate a new climate dataset against in-situ observations and assess its potential for hydrological modeling. Our results show that, despite some limitations in dry areas, high-resolution climate models can provide useful daily-scale information for hydrological applications, supporting their use in water resources planning and decision-making.
David R. Casson, Guoqiang Tang, Nicolás Vásquez, Andrew W. Wood, and Martyn P. Clark
The Cryosphere, 20, 5895–5940, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5895-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5895-2026, 2026
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Improving mountain snow prediction requires better representation of meteorological uncertainty. This study generates meteorological ensembles accounting for topography, gauge undercatch, and large-scale atmospheric patterns. Driving a physics-based snow model calibrated using a Large Sample Emulator with these ensembles propagates forcing uncertainty into snow accumulation and melt, producing probablistic estimates for data assimilation and hydrological forecasting.
Millie C. Spencer, Alfonso Fernandez, Emma Tyrrell, Robert Clasing, Enrique Muñoz, Pablo A. Mendoza, Jorge Berkhoff, and Noah P. Molotch
The Cryosphere, 20, 5559–5583, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5559-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5559-2026, 2026
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Mountain glaciers are important freshwater reservoirs. Quantifying their loss is essential for forecasting water availability. While glacier retreat is well studied in many regions, glacier loss on the Nevados de Chillán volcanic complex in south-central Chile remains uncertain. Using satellite and drone images, we find all 28 glaciers on Nevados de Chillán lost volume over the past 7 decades, with melt rates accelerating markedly since 2000.
Jerónimo Sota, Pablo A. Mendoza, and Miguel Lagos-Zúñiga
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4067, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4067, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).
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Despite snowmelt runoff from mountainous domains is a vital water source, river flows months ahead remain difficult to predict. This study tested several ways to improve dynamical forecasts across 21 Andean basins using nearly four decades of past data. Results show that some configurations improve forecasts only at specific times or in certain basins, while others can reduce accuracy. The results can help water managers choose more reliable forecasting tools for decision making.
Matthias Cuntz, Stephan Thober, Anne Verhoef, Yijian Zeng, Aaron Boone, Agnès Ducharne, Sujan Koirala, David M. Lawrence, Philipp de Vrese, Carsten Montzka, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Harry Vereecken, Dani Or, Salma Tafasca, Naoki Mizukami, Rich Ellis, Patrick C. McGuire, and Lukas Gudmundsson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4223, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4223, 2026
Preprint archived
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Land surface models (LSMs) are essential tools to analyze future climate change. Here we pushed state-of-the-art LSMs out of their comfort zone revealing hidden connections between processes encoded into the models. The LSMs reacted differently due to complex, sometimes counter-intuitive interactions of different water fluxes. We identified surface runoff and soil evaporation as the two main reasons behind model differences, which should be improved by using more mechanistic descriptions.
Chayan Roychoudhury, Rajesh Kumar, Cenlin He, William Y. Y. Cheng, Kirpa Ram, Naoki Mizukami, and Avelino F. Arellano
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 5209–5257, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5209-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5209-2026, 2026
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Snow and ice in the high mountains of Asia feed rivers supplying water to over a billion people, but airborne soot and dust darken the snow and speed up melting. We built a 17-year record of these conditions by blending satellite observations with a complex model that simulates weather, air pollution, land, and snow as one connected system. The record agrees well with independent measurements and traces soot on the glaciers to its regional sources, helping assess risks to Asia's water supply.
Cyril Thébault, Wouter J. M. Knoben, Nans Addor, Andrew J. Newman, Diana Spieler, Nicolás A. Vásquez, Yalan Song, Gaby J. Gründemann, Shaun Carney, Mukesh Kumar, Katie van Werkhoven, Chaopeng Shen, Andrew W. Wood, and Martyn P. Clark
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 3945–3977, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3945-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3945-2026, 2026
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Reliable river flow prediction guide water supply planning and flood protection. We tested whether selecting or combining multiple models improves accuracy compared with a single model. 78 models were used and tested in 559 river basins across the United States. A carefully chosen single model nearly matched more complex multi-model approaches, while combining models gave slightly higher accuracy and lower uncertainty. However, no approach worked best everywhere.
Matías Moreno, Pablo Mendoza, Eduardo Muñoz-Castro, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, and Alonso Pizarro
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2912, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2912, 2026
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We developed a new method called SPEAK to better evaluate how well hydrological models reproduce spatial patterns such as evapotranspiration across different regions. We tested it in 99 Chilean catchments with different climates and terrain types. Compared with existing methods, SPEAK more accurately represented spatial patterns and was less affected by map resolution or catchment characteristics. This could help improve water resource modelling and planning across diverse local conditions.
Nicolás A. Vásquez, Pablo A. Mendoza, Wouter Knoben, Martyn Clark, Tricia Stadnyk, and Naoki Mizukami
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1363, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1363, 2026
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Although distributed hydrological models are often calibrated using only streamflow data, this practice may provide unrealistic representations of the water cycle. We show that, while streamflow annual cycles can be reasonably simulated, the seasonality of other key variables - such as evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and snow cover - may be severely misrepresented. Our results highlight the need to assess seasonal patterns of variables beyond streamflow when calibrating hydrological models.
Eduardo Muñoz-Castro, Bailey J. Anderson, Paul C. Astagneau, Daniel L. Swain, Pablo A. Mendoza, and Manuela I. Brunner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 825–848, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-825-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-825-2026, 2026
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Flood impacts can be enhanced when they occur after droughts, yet the effectiveness of hydrological models in simulating these events remains unclear. Here, we calibrated four conceptual hydrological models across 63 catchments in Chile and Switzerland to assess their ability to detect streamflow extremes and their transitions. We show that drought-to-flood transitions are generally poorly captured, especially in semi-arid high-mountain catchments than in humid low-elevation ones.
Naoki Mizukami, Samar Minallah, Cenlin He, Chayan Roychoudhury, William Y.Y. Cheng, and Rajesh Kumar
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4586, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4586, 2025
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We examined how air pollution particles that darken snow affect water resources in High Mountain Asia, a region that supplies rivers vital to millions of populations. Using computer models, we found that these particles cause snow to melt two weeks to a month earlier, shifting when water becomes available. This leads to more runoff at first but less later in the year, slightly reducing annual river flow. The findings highlight the need to link air pollution control with water management.
Mozhgan A. Farahani, Andrew W. Wood, Guoqiang Tang, and Naoki Mizukami
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 4515–4537, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4515-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4515-2025, 2025
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We present a new strategy to calibrate large-domain land/hydrology models over diverse regions. Using the Structure for Unifying Multiple Modeling Alternatives (SUMMA) and mizuRoute models, our approach integrates catchment attributes, parameters, and performance metrics to optimize streamflow simulations. Leveraging advances in machine learning for hydrology, we improve calibration and enable regionalization to ungauged basins, which is valuable for national-scale water security studies.
Fabián Lema, Pablo A. Mendoza, Nicolás A. Vásquez, Naoki Mizukami, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, and Ximena Vargas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1981–2002, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1981-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1981-2025, 2025
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Hydrological droughts affect ecosystems and socioeconomic activities worldwide. Despite the fact that they are commonly described with the Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI), there is limited understanding of what they truly reflect 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 timescales for accurate drought characterization and monitoring.
Diego Araya, Pablo A. Mendoza, Eduardo Muñoz-Castro, and James McPhee
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4385–4408, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4385-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4385-2023, 2023
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Dynamical systems are used by many agencies worldwide to produce seasonal streamflow forecasts, which are critical for decision-making. Such systems rely on hydrology models, which contain parameters that are typically estimated using a target performance metric (i.e., objective function). This study explores the effects of this decision across mountainous basins in Chile, illustrating tradeoffs between seasonal forecast quality and the models' capability to simulate streamflow characteristics.
Zhi Li, Shang Gao, Mengye Chen, Jonathan Gourley, Naoki Mizukami, and Yang Hong
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6181–6196, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6181-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6181-2022, 2022
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Operational streamflow prediction at a continental scale is critical for national water resources management. However, limited computational resources often impede such processes, with streamflow routing being one of the most time-consuming parts. This study presents a recent development of a hydrologic system that incorporates a vector-based routing scheme with a lake module that markedly speeds up streamflow prediction. Moreover, accuracy is improved and flood false alarms are mitigated.
Ulises M. Sepúlveda, Pablo A. Mendoza, Naoki Mizukami, and Andrew J. Newman
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3419–3445, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3419-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3419-2022, 2022
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This paper characterizes parameter sensitivities across more than 5500 grid cells for a commonly used macroscale hydrological model, including a suite of eight performance metrics and 43 soil, vegetation and snow parameters. The results show that the model is highly overparameterized and, more importantly, help to provide guidance on the most relevant parameters for specific target processes across diverse climatic types.
Inne Vanderkelen, Shervan Gharari, Naoki Mizukami, Martyn P. Clark, David M. Lawrence, Sean Swenson, Yadu Pokhrel, Naota Hanasaki, Ann van Griensven, and Wim Thiery
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4163–4192, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4163-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4163-2022, 2022
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Human-controlled reservoirs have a large influence on the global water cycle. However, dam operations are rarely represented in Earth system models. We implement and evaluate a widely used reservoir parametrization in a global river-routing model. Using observations of individual reservoirs, the reservoir scheme outperforms the natural lake scheme. However, both schemes show a similar performance due to biases in runoff timing and magnitude when using simulated runoff.
Oscar M. Baez-Villanueva, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, Pablo A. Mendoza, Ian McNamara, Hylke E. Beck, Joschka Thurner, Alexandra Nauditt, Lars Ribbe, and Nguyen Xuan Thinh
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5805–5837, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5805-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5805-2021, 2021
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Most rivers worldwide are ungauged, which hinders the sustainable management of water resources. Regionalisation methods use information from gauged rivers to estimate streamflow over ungauged ones. Through hydrological modelling, we assessed how the selection of precipitation products affects the performance of three regionalisation methods. We found that a precipitation product that provides the best results in hydrological modelling does not necessarily perform the best for regionalisation.
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Short summary
This paper shows how important river models can be for water resource applications that involve hydrological models and, in particular, parameter calibration. To this end, we conduct numerical experiments in a pilot basin using a combination of hydrologic model simulations obtained from a large sample of parameter sets and different routing methods. We find that routing can affect streamflow simulations, even at monthly time steps; the choice of parameters; and relevant streamflow metrics.
This paper shows how important river models can be for water resource applications that involve...
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