Articles | Volume 29, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2727-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-29-2727-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
01 Jul 2025
Research article |
| 01 Jul 2025
| 01 Jul 2025
A novel framework for analyzing rainy season dynamics in semi-arid environments: a case study in the Peruvian Rio Santa basin
Lorenz Hänchen
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Ökologie, Innsbruck, Austria
Emily Potter
University of Sheffield, School of Geography and Planning, Sheffield, UK
Cornelia Klein
UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK
Pierluigi Calanca
Climate and Agriculture, Agroscope Reckenholz, Zurich, Switzerland
Fabien Maussion
University of Bristol, School of Geographical Sciences, Bristol, UK
Wolfgang Gurgiser
Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Atmosphären- und Kryosphärenwissenschaften, Innsbruck, Austria
Georg Wohlfahrt
Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Ökologie, Innsbruck, Austria
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To date, farmers' perceptions of hydrological changes do not match analysis of meteorological data. In contrast to rainfall data, we find greening of vegetation, indicating increased water availability in the past decades. The start of the season is highly variable, making farmers' perceptions comprehensible. We show that the El Niño–Southern Oscillation has complex effects on vegetation seasonality but does not drive the greening we observe. Improved onset forecasts could help local farmers.
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Many mountain glaciers around the world flow into lakes – exactly how many however, has never been mapped. Across a large team of experts we have now identified all glaciers that end in lakes. Only about 1% do so, but they are generally larger than those which end on land. This is important to understand, as lakes can influence the behaviour of glacier ice, including how fast it disappears. This new dataset allows us to better model glaciers at a global scale, accounting for the effect of lakes.
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Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 475–495, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-475-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-475-2025, 2025
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Usually, glacier models are supplied with climate information from long (e.g. 100 year) simulations by global climate models. In this paper, we test the feasibility of supplying glacier models with shorter simulations, to get more accurate information on 5–10 year time scales. Reliable information on these time scales is very important, especially for water management experts to know how much meltwater to expect, for rivers, agriculture and drinking water.
Jordi Bolibar, Facundo Sapienza, Fabien Maussion, Redouane Lguensat, Bert Wouters, and Fernando Pérez
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6671–6687, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6671-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6671-2023, 2023
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We developed a new modelling framework combining numerical methods with machine learning. Using this approach, we focused on understanding how ice moves within glaciers, and we successfully learnt a prescribed law describing ice movement for 17 glaciers worldwide as a proof of concept. Our framework has the potential to discover important laws governing glacier processes, aiding our understanding of glacier physics and their contribution to water resources and sea-level rise.
Francis Nkrumah, Cornelia Klein, Kwesi Akumenyi Quagraine, Rebecca Berkoh-Oforiwaa, Nana Ama Browne Klutse, Patrick Essien, Gandomè Mayeul Leger Davy Quenum, and Hubert Azoda Koffi
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 773–788, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-773-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-773-2023, 2023
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It is not yet clear which variations in broader atmospheric conditions of the West African monsoon may lead to mesoscale convective system (MCS) occurrences in southern West Africa (SWA). In this study, we identified nine different weather patterns and categorized them as dry-, transition-, or monsoon-season types using a method called self-organizing maps (SOMs). It was revealed that a warmer Sahel region can create favourable conditions for MCS formation in SWA.
Julia Crook, Cornelia Klein, Sonja Folwell, Christopher M. Taylor, Douglas J. Parker, Adama Bamba, and Kouakou Kouadio
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 229–248, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-229-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-229-2023, 2023
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We estimate recent deforestation in West Africa and use a climate model allowing explicit convection to determine impacts on early season rainfall. We find enhanced rainfall over deforestation, in line with recent observational results, due to changes in circulation rather than humidity, showing potential for future studies. Local changes depend on initial soil moisture, deforestation extent, and ocean proximity, with sea breezes shifting inland where surface friction decreased.
Georg Wohlfahrt, Albin Hammerle, Felix M. Spielmann, Florian Kitz, and Chuixiang Yi
Biogeosciences, 20, 589–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-589-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-589-2023, 2023
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The trace gas carbonyl sulfide (COS), which is taken up by plant leaves in a process very similar to photosynthesis, is thought to be a promising proxy for the gross uptake of carbon dioxide by plants. Here we propose a new framework for estimating a key metric to that end, the so-called leaf relative uptake rate. The values we deduce by applying principles of plant optimality are considerably lower than published values and may help reduce the uncertainty of the global COS budget.
Nidheesh Gangadharan, Hugues Goosse, David Parkes, Heiko Goelzer, Fabien Maussion, and Ben Marzeion
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1417–1435, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1417-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1417-2022, 2022
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We describe the contributions of ocean thermal expansion and land-ice melting (ice sheets and glaciers) to global-mean sea-level (GMSL) changes in the Common Era. The mass contributions are the major sources of GMSL changes in the pre-industrial Common Era and glaciers are the largest contributor. The paper also describes the current state of climate modelling, uncertainties and knowledge gaps along with the potential implications of the past variabilities in the contemporary sea-level rise.
Camille Abadie, Fabienne Maignan, Marine Remaud, Jérôme Ogée, J. Elliott Campbell, Mary E. Whelan, Florian Kitz, Felix M. Spielmann, Georg Wohlfahrt, Richard Wehr, Wu Sun, Nina Raoult, Ulli Seibt, Didier Hauglustaine, Sinikka T. Lennartz, Sauveur Belviso, David Montagne, and Philippe Peylin
Biogeosciences, 19, 2427–2463, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2427-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2427-2022, 2022
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A better constraint of the components of the carbonyl sulfide (COS) global budget is needed to exploit its potential as a proxy of gross primary productivity. In this study, we compare two representations of oxic soil COS fluxes, and we develop an approach to represent anoxic soil COS fluxes in a land surface model. We show the importance of atmospheric COS concentration variations on oxic soil COS fluxes and provide new estimates for oxic and anoxic soil contributions to the COS global budget.
Lisa Kaser, Arianna Peron, Martin Graus, Marcus Striednig, Georg Wohlfahrt, Stanislav Juráň, and Thomas Karl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5603–5618, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5603-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5603-2022, 2022
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Biogenic volatile organic compounds (e.g., terpenoids) play an essential role in atmospheric chemistry. Urban greening activities need to consider the ozone- and aerosol-forming potential of these compounds released from vegetation. NMVOC emissions in urban environments are complex, and the biogenic component remains poorly quantified. For summer conditions biogenic emissions dominate terpene emissions and heat waves can significantly modulate urban biogenic terpenoid emissions.
Lorenz Hänchen, Cornelia Klein, Fabien Maussion, Wolfgang Gurgiser, Pierluigi Calanca, and Georg Wohlfahrt
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 595–611, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-595-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-595-2022, 2022
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To date, farmers' perceptions of hydrological changes do not match analysis of meteorological data. In contrast to rainfall data, we find greening of vegetation, indicating increased water availability in the past decades. The start of the season is highly variable, making farmers' perceptions comprehensible. We show that the El Niño–Southern Oscillation has complex effects on vegetation seasonality but does not drive the greening we observe. Improved onset forecasts could help local farmers.
Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Ara Cho, Jin Ma, Aleya Kaushik, Katherine D. Haynes, Ian Baker, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Mathijs Groenink, Wouter Peters, John B. Miller, Joseph A. Berry, Jerome Ogée, Laura K. Meredith, Wu Sun, Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, Timo Vesala, Ivan Mammarella, Huilin Chen, Felix M. Spielmann, Georg Wohlfahrt, Max Berkelhammer, Mary E. Whelan, Kadmiel Maseyk, Ulli Seibt, Roisin Commane, Richard Wehr, and Maarten Krol
Biogeosciences, 18, 6547–6565, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6547-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6547-2021, 2021
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The gas carbonyl sulfide (COS) can be used to estimate photosynthesis. To adopt this approach on regional and global scales, we need biosphere models that can simulate COS exchange. So far, such models have not been evaluated against observations. We evaluate the COS biosphere exchange of the SiB4 model against COS flux observations. We find that the model is capable of simulating key processes in COS biosphere exchange. Still, we give recommendations for further improvement of the model.
Kyle B. Delwiche, Sara Helen Knox, Avni Malhotra, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Gavin McNicol, Sarah Feron, Zutao Ouyang, Dario Papale, Carlo Trotta, Eleonora Canfora, You-Wei Cheah, Danielle Christianson, Ma. Carmelita R. Alberto, Pavel Alekseychik, Mika Aurela, Dennis Baldocchi, Sheel Bansal, David P. Billesbach, Gil Bohrer, Rosvel Bracho, Nina Buchmann, David I. Campbell, Gerardo Celis, Jiquan Chen, Weinan Chen, Housen Chu, Higo J. Dalmagro, Sigrid Dengel, Ankur R. Desai, Matteo Detto, Han Dolman, Elke Eichelmann, Eugenie Euskirchen, Daniela Famulari, Kathrin Fuchs, Mathias Goeckede, Sébastien Gogo, Mangaliso J. Gondwe, Jordan P. Goodrich, Pia Gottschalk, Scott L. Graham, Martin Heimann, Manuel Helbig, Carole Helfter, Kyle S. Hemes, Takashi Hirano, David Hollinger, Lukas Hörtnagl, Hiroki Iwata, Adrien Jacotot, Gerald Jurasinski, Minseok Kang, Kuno Kasak, John King, Janina Klatt, Franziska Koebsch, Ken W. Krauss, Derrick Y. F. Lai, Annalea Lohila, Ivan Mammarella, Luca Belelli Marchesini, Giovanni Manca, Jaclyn Hatala Matthes, Trofim Maximov, Lutz Merbold, Bhaskar Mitra, Timothy H. Morin, Eiko Nemitz, Mats B. Nilsson, Shuli Niu, Walter C. Oechel, Patricia Y. Oikawa, Keisuke Ono, Matthias Peichl, Olli Peltola, Michele L. Reba, Andrew D. Richardson, William Riley, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, Youngryel Ryu, Torsten Sachs, Ayaka Sakabe, Camilo Rey Sanchez, Edward A. Schuur, Karina V. R. Schäfer, Oliver Sonnentag, Jed P. Sparks, Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens, Cove Sturtevant, Ryan C. Sullivan, Daphne J. Szutu, Jonathan E. Thom, Margaret S. Torn, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Jessica Turner, Masahito Ueyama, Alex C. Valach, Rodrigo Vargas, Andrej Varlagin, Alma Vazquez-Lule, Joseph G. Verfaillie, Timo Vesala, George L. Vourlitis, Eric J. Ward, Christian Wille, Georg Wohlfahrt, Guan Xhuan Wong, Zhen Zhang, Donatella Zona, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Benjamin Poulter, and Robert B. Jackson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 3607–3689, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3607-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3607-2021, 2021
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Methane is an important greenhouse gas, yet we lack knowledge about its global emissions and drivers. We present FLUXNET-CH4, a new global collection of methane measurements and a critical resource for the research community. We use FLUXNET-CH4 data to quantify the seasonality of methane emissions from freshwater wetlands, finding that methane seasonality varies strongly with latitude. Our new database and analysis will improve wetland model accuracy and inform greenhouse gas budgets.
Anna B. Harper, Karina E. Williams, Patrick C. McGuire, Maria Carolina Duran Rojas, Debbie Hemming, Anne Verhoef, Chris Huntingford, Lucy Rowland, Toby Marthews, Cleiton Breder Eller, Camilla Mathison, Rodolfo L. B. Nobrega, Nicola Gedney, Pier Luigi Vidale, Fred Otu-Larbi, Divya Pandey, Sebastien Garrigues, Azin Wright, Darren Slevin, Martin G. De Kauwe, Eleanor Blyth, Jonas Ardö, Andrew Black, Damien Bonal, Nina Buchmann, Benoit Burban, Kathrin Fuchs, Agnès de Grandcourt, Ivan Mammarella, Lutz Merbold, Leonardo Montagnani, Yann Nouvellon, Natalia Restrepo-Coupe, and Georg Wohlfahrt
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 3269–3294, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3269-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3269-2021, 2021
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We evaluated 10 representations of soil moisture stress in the JULES land surface model against site observations of GPP and latent heat flux. Increasing the soil depth and plant access to deep soil moisture improved many aspects of the simulations, and we recommend these settings in future work using JULES. In addition, using soil matric potential presents the opportunity to include parameters specific to plant functional type to further improve modeled fluxes.
Arianna Peron, Lisa Kaser, Anne Charlott Fitzky, Martin Graus, Heidi Halbwirth, Jürgen Greiner, Georg Wohlfahrt, Boris Rewald, Hans Sandén, and Thomas Karl
Biogeosciences, 18, 535–556, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-535-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-535-2021, 2021
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Drought events are expected to become more frequent with climate change. Along with these events atmospheric ozone is also expected to increase. Both can stress plants. Here we investigate to what extent these factors modulate the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from oak plants. We find an antagonistic effect between drought stress and ozone, impacting the emission of different BVOCs, which is indirectly controlled by stomatal opening, allowing plants to control their water budget.
Lilian Schuster, Fabien Maussion, Lukas Langhamer, and Gina E. Moseley
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1–17, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1-2021, 2021
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Precipitation and moisture sources over an arid region in northeast Greenland are investigated from 1979 to 2017 by a Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic driven by reanalysis data. Dominant winter moisture sources are the North Atlantic above 45° N. In summer local and north Eurasian continental sources dominate. In positive phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation, evaporation and moisture transport from the Norwegian Sea are stronger, resulting in more precipitation.
Yuan Zhang, Ana Bastos, Fabienne Maignan, Daniel Goll, Olivier Boucher, Laurent Li, Alessandro Cescatti, Nicolas Vuichard, Xiuzhi Chen, Christof Ammann, M. Altaf Arain, T. Andrew Black, Bogdan Chojnicki, Tomomichi Kato, Ivan Mammarella, Leonardo Montagnani, Olivier Roupsard, Maria J. Sanz, Lukas Siebicke, Marek Urbaniak, Francesco Primo Vaccari, Georg Wohlfahrt, Will Woodgate, and Philippe Ciais
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 5401–5423, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5401-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5401-2020, 2020
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We improved the ORCHIDEE LSM by distinguishing diffuse and direct light in canopy and evaluated the new model with observations from 159 sites. Compared with the old model, the new model has better sunny GPP and reproduced the diffuse light fertilization effect observed at flux sites. Our simulations also indicate different mechanisms causing the observed GPP enhancement under cloudy conditions at different times. The new model has the potential to study large-scale impacts of aerosol changes.
Felix M. Spielmann, Albin Hammerle, Florian Kitz, Katharina Gerdel, and Georg Wohlfahrt
Biogeosciences, 17, 4281–4295, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4281-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4281-2020, 2020
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Carbonyl sulfide (COS) can be used as a proxy for plant photosynthesis on an ecosystem scale. However, the relationships between COS and CO2 fluxes and their dependence on daily to seasonal changes in environmental drivers are still poorly understood. We examined COS and CO2 ecosystem fluxes above an agriculturally used mountain grassland for 6 months. Harvesting of the grassland disturbed the otherwise stable COS-to-CO2 uptake ratio. We even found the canopy to release COS during those times.
Julia Eis, Fabien Maussion, and Ben Marzeion
The Cryosphere, 13, 3317–3335, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3317-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3317-2019, 2019
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To provide estimates of past glacier mass changes, an adequate initial state is required. However, information about past glacier states at regional or global scales is largely incomplete. Our study presents a new way to initialize the Open Global Glacier Model from past climate information and present-day geometries. We show that even with perfectly known but incomplete boundary conditions, the problem of model initialization leads to nonunique solutions, and we propose an ensemble approach.
Beatriz Recinos, Fabien Maussion, Timo Rothenpieler, and Ben Marzeion
The Cryosphere, 13, 2657–2672, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2657-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2657-2019, 2019
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We have implemented a frontal ablation parameterization into the Open Global Glacier Model and have shown that inversion methods based on mass conservation systematically underestimate the mass turnover (and therefore the thickness) of tidewater glaciers when neglecting frontal ablation. This underestimation can rise up to 19 % on a regional scale. Not accounting for frontal ablation will have an impact on the estimate of the glaciers’ potential contribution to sea level rise.
Paul C. Stoy, Tarek S. El-Madany, Joshua B. Fisher, Pierre Gentine, Tobias Gerken, Stephen P. Good, Anne Klosterhalfen, Shuguang Liu, Diego G. Miralles, Oscar Perez-Priego, Angela J. Rigden, Todd H. Skaggs, Georg Wohlfahrt, Ray G. Anderson, A. Miriam J. Coenders-Gerrits, Martin Jung, Wouter H. Maes, Ivan Mammarella, Matthias Mauder, Mirco Migliavacca, Jacob A. Nelson, Rafael Poyatos, Markus Reichstein, Russell L. Scott, and Sebastian Wolf
Biogeosciences, 16, 3747–3775, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3747-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3747-2019, 2019
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Key findings are the nearly optimal response of T to atmospheric water vapor pressure deficits across methods and scales. Additionally, the notion that T / ET intermittently approaches 1, which is a basis for many partitioning methods, does not hold for certain methods and ecosystems. To better constrain estimates of E and T from combined ET measurements, we propose a combination of independent measurement techniques to better constrain E and T at the ecosystem scale.
Johannes Horak, Marlis Hofer, Fabien Maussion, Ethan Gutmann, Alexander Gohm, and Mathias W. Rotach
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2715–2734, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-2715-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-2715-2019, 2019
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This study presents an in-depth evaluation of the Intermediate Complexity Atmospheric Research (ICAR) model for high-resolution precipitation fields in complex topography. ICAR is evaluated with data from weather stations located in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. While ICAR underestimates rainfall amounts, it clearly improves over a coarser global model and shows potential to generate precipitation fields for long-term impact studies focused on the local impact of a changing global climate.
Fabien Maussion, Anton Butenko, Nicolas Champollion, Matthias Dusch, Julia Eis, Kévin Fourteau, Philipp Gregor, Alexander H. Jarosch, Johannes Landmann, Felix Oesterle, Beatriz Recinos, Timo Rothenpieler, Anouk Vlug, Christian T. Wild, and Ben Marzeion
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 909–931, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-909-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-909-2019, 2019
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Mountain glaciers are one of the few remaining subsystems of the global climate system for which no globally applicable community-driven model exists. Here we present the Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM; www.oggm.org), developed to provide a modular and open-source numerical model framework for simulating past and future change of any glacier in the world.
Tobias Zolles, Fabien Maussion, Stephan Peter Galos, Wolfgang Gurgiser, and Lindsey Nicholson
The Cryosphere, 13, 469–489, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-469-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-469-2019, 2019
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A mass and energy balance model was subjected to sensitivity and uncertainty analysis on two different Alpine glaciers. The global sensitivity analysis allowed for a mass balance measurement independent assessment of the model sensitivity and functioned as a reduction of the model free parameter space. A novel approach of a multi-objective optimization estimates the uncertainty of the simulated mass balance and the energy fluxes. The final model uncertainty is up to 1300 kg m−3 per year.
Hugues Goosse, Pierre-Yves Barriat, Quentin Dalaiden, François Klein, Ben Marzeion, Fabien Maussion, Paolo Pelucchi, and Anouk Vlug
Clim. Past, 14, 1119–1133, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1119-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1119-2018, 2018
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Glaciers provide iconic illustrations of past climate change, but records of glacier length fluctuations have not been used systematically to test the ability of models to reproduce past changes. One reason is that glacier length depends on several complex factors and so cannot be simply linked to the climate simulated by models. This is done here, and it is shown that the observed glacier length fluctuations are generally well within the range of the simulations.
Mary E. Whelan, Sinikka T. Lennartz, Teresa E. Gimeno, Richard Wehr, Georg Wohlfahrt, Yuting Wang, Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Timothy W. Hilton, Sauveur Belviso, Philippe Peylin, Róisín Commane, Wu Sun, Huilin Chen, Le Kuai, Ivan Mammarella, Kadmiel Maseyk, Max Berkelhammer, King-Fai Li, Dan Yakir, Andrew Zumkehr, Yoko Katayama, Jérôme Ogée, Felix M. Spielmann, Florian Kitz, Bharat Rastogi, Jürgen Kesselmeier, Julia Marshall, Kukka-Maaria Erkkilä, Lisa Wingate, Laura K. Meredith, Wei He, Rüdiger Bunk, Thomas Launois, Timo Vesala, Johan A. Schmidt, Cédric G. Fichot, Ulli Seibt, Scott Saleska, Eric S. Saltzman, Stephen A. Montzka, Joseph A. Berry, and J. Elliott Campbell
Biogeosciences, 15, 3625–3657, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3625-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3625-2018, 2018
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Measurements of the trace gas carbonyl sulfide (OCS) are helpful in quantifying photosynthesis at previously unknowable temporal and spatial scales. While CO2 is both consumed and produced within ecosystems, OCS is mostly produced in the oceans or from specific industries, and destroyed in plant leaves in proportion to CO2. This review summarizes the advancements we have made in the understanding of OCS exchange and applications to vital ecosystem water and carbon cycle questions.
Dominikus Heinzeller, Diarra Dieng, Gerhard Smiatek, Christiana Olusegun, Cornelia Klein, Ilse Hamann, Seyni Salack, Jan Bliefernicht, and Harald Kunstmann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 815–835, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-815-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-815-2018, 2018
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Climate change and population growth pose severe challenges to 21st century rural Africa. Within the framework of the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), an ensemble of high-resolution regional climate change simulations is provided to support adaptation and mitigation measures. This contribution presents the concept and design of the simulations and provides information on the format and dissemination of the available data.
Jannis von Buttlar, Jakob Zscheischler, Anja Rammig, Sebastian Sippel, Markus Reichstein, Alexander Knohl, Martin Jung, Olaf Menzer, M. Altaf Arain, Nina Buchmann, Alessandro Cescatti, Damiano Gianelle, Gerard Kiely, Beverly E. Law, Vincenzo Magliulo, Hank Margolis, Harry McCaughey, Lutz Merbold, Mirco Migliavacca, Leonardo Montagnani, Walter Oechel, Marian Pavelka, Matthias Peichl, Serge Rambal, Antonio Raschi, Russell L. Scott, Francesco P. Vaccari, Eva van Gorsel, Andrej Varlagin, Georg Wohlfahrt, and Miguel D. Mahecha
Biogeosciences, 15, 1293–1318, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1293-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1293-2018, 2018
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Our work systematically quantifies extreme heat and drought event impacts on gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration globally across a wide range of ecosystems. We show that heat extremes typically increased mainly respiration whereas drought decreased both fluxes. Combined heat and drought extremes had opposing effects offsetting each other for respiration, but there were also strong reductions in GPP and hence the strongest reductions in the ecosystems carbon sink capacity.
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
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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.
Federico Carotenuto, Teodoro Georgiadis, Beniamino Gioli, Christel Leyronas, Cindy E. Morris, Marianna Nardino, Georg Wohlfahrt, and Franco Miglietta
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14919–14936, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14919-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14919-2017, 2017
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A new model was developed to simulate cultivable bioaerosol emissions. The model is able to reproduce the average daily behavior of a Mediterranean grassland and may help in studying the abundance of such aerosols in the atmosphere and their potential impact on clouds and cloud processes. The model has been developed thanks to a newfound application of an old micrometeorological technique to measurements of cultivable microorganisms.
Katharina Gerdel, Felix Maximilian Spielmann, Albin Hammerle, and Georg Wohlfahrt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3525–3537, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3525-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3525-2017, 2017
Zhiyuan Zhang, Renduo Zhang, Yang Zhou, Alessandro Cescatti, Georg Wohlfahrt, Minmin Sun, Juan Zhu, Vincenzo Magliulo, Feng Tao, and Guanhong Chen
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2017-345, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2017-345, 2017
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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This study highlight the key role of temperature as main controlling factor of the maximum respiration rates in most terrestrial ecosystems, while other driving forces reduce the maximum respiration rates and temperature sensitivity of the respiratory process. These findings are particularly relevant under the current scenario of rapid global warming, given that the potential climate-induced changes in ecosystem respiration may lead to substantial anomalies in terrestrial carbon budget.
Ines Bamberger, Nadine K. Ruehr, Michael Schmitt, Andreas Gast, Georg Wohlfahrt, and Almut Arneth
Biogeosciences, 14, 3649–3667, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3649-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3649-2017, 2017
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We studied the effects of summer heatwaves and drought on photosynthesis and isoprene emissions in black locust trees. While photosynthesis decreased, isoprene emission increased sharply during the heatwaves. Comparing isoprene emissions of stressed and unstressed trees at the same temperature, however, demonstrated that stressed trees emitted less isoprene than expected. This reveals that in order to predict isoprene emissions during heat waves, model parameters need to be re-evaluated.
Stephan Peter Galos, Christoph Klug, Fabien Maussion, Federico Covi, Lindsey Nicholson, Lorenzo Rieg, Wolfgang Gurgiser, Thomas Mölg, and Georg Kaser
The Cryosphere, 11, 1417–1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1417-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1417-2017, 2017
Daniel Farinotti, Douglas J. Brinkerhoff, Garry K. C. Clarke, Johannes J. Fürst, Holger Frey, Prateek Gantayat, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Claire Girard, Matthias Huss, Paul W. Leclercq, Andreas Linsbauer, Horst Machguth, Carlos Martin, Fabien Maussion, Mathieu Morlighem, Cyrille Mosbeux, Ankur Pandit, Andrea Portmann, Antoine Rabatel, RAAJ Ramsankaran, Thomas J. Reerink, Olivier Sanchez, Peter A. Stentoft, Sangita Singh Kumari, Ward J. J. van Pelt, Brian Anderson, Toby Benham, Daniel Binder, Julian A. Dowdeswell, Andrea Fischer, Kay Helfricht, Stanislav Kutuzov, Ivan Lavrentiev, Robert McNabb, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Huilin Li, and Liss M. Andreassen
The Cryosphere, 11, 949–970, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-949-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-949-2017, 2017
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ITMIX – the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment – was the first coordinated performance assessment for models inferring glacier ice thickness from surface characteristics. Considering 17 different models and 21 different test cases, we show that although solutions of individual models can differ considerably, an ensemble average can yield uncertainties in the order of 10 ± 24 % the mean ice thickness. Ways forward for improving such estimates are sketched.
Robert F. Grant, Albrecht Neftel, and Pierluigi Calanca
Biogeosciences, 13, 3549–3571, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3549-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3549-2016, 2016
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The magnitude of N2O emissions from managed grasslands depends on weather and on harvesting and fertilizer practices. Modelling provides a means to predict these emissions under diverse weather and management types. In this modelling study, we show that N2O emissions depend on how weather affects temperatures and water contents of surface litter and near-surface soil. N2O emissions modelled from the grassland were increased by suboptimal harvesting practices, fertilizer timing and soil properties.
Wolfgang Gurgiser, Irmgard Juen, Katrin Singer, Martina Neuburger, Simone Schauwecker, Marlis Hofer, and Georg Kaser
Earth Syst. Dynam., 7, 499–515, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-499-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-499-2016, 2016
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Working on the interface of water availability and water demand in a small Andean catchment, peasants’ reports on detrimental precipitation changes during the last decades have attracted our scientific interest. We could not confirm any precipitation trends in this period with nearby precipitation records, but we found precipitation patterns that very likely pose challenges for rain-fed farming – in addition to potential other stresses by environmental and sociopolitical changes.
S. Biskop, F. Maussion, P. Krause, and M. Fink
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 209–225, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-209-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-209-2016, 2016
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In this study, the hydrological model J2000g was extended and applied to four selected endorheic lake basins in the southern-central part of the TP aiming to provide a more quantitative understanding of the key factors controlling their water balance. The model results indicated that the relative contribution of glacier runoff to total water inflow (between 14 and 30 %) plays a less important role compared to runoff generation from rainfall and snowmelt in non-glacierized land areas.
R. Prinz, L. I. Nicholson, T. Mölg, W. Gurgiser, and G. Kaser
The Cryosphere, 10, 133–148, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-133-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-133-2016, 2016
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Lewis Glacier has lost > 80 % of its extent since the late 19th century. A sensitivity study using a process-based model assigns this shrinking to decreased atmospheric moisture without increasing air temperatures required. The glacier retreat implies a distinctly different coupling between the glacier's surface-air layer and its surrounding boundary layer, underlining the difficulty of deriving palaeoclimates for larger glacier extents on the basis of modern measurements of small glaciers.
W. Jud, L. Fischer, E. Canaval, G. Wohlfahrt, A. Tissier, and A. Hansel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 277–292, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-277-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-277-2016, 2016
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“Breathing” ozone can have harmful effects on sensitive vegetation when sufficient ozone enters the plant leaves through the stomatal pores. Here we show that cis-abienol, a semi-volatile organic compound secreted by the leaf hairs (trichomes) of various tobacco varieties, protects the leaves from breathing ozone. Ozone is efficiently removed by chemical reactions with cis-abienol at the plant surface, forming oxygenated VOC (formaldehyde and methyl vinyl ketone) that are released into the air.
N. Kljun, P. Calanca, M. W. Rotach, and H. P. Schmid
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 3695–3713, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3695-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3695-2015, 2015
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Flux footprint models describe the surface area of influence of a flux measurement. They are used for designing flux tower sites, and for interpretation of flux measurements. The two-dimensional footprint parameterisation (FFP) presented here is suitable for processing large data sets, and, unlike other fast footprint models, FFP is applicable to daytime or night-time measurements, fluxes from short masts over grassland to tall towers over mature forests, and even to airborne flux measurements.
L. Wingate, J. Ogée, E. Cremonese, G. Filippa, T. Mizunuma, M. Migliavacca, C. Moisy, M. Wilkinson, C. Moureaux, G. Wohlfahrt, A. Hammerle, L. Hörtnagl, C. Gimeno, A. Porcar-Castell, M. Galvagno, T. Nakaji, J. Morison, O. Kolle, A. Knohl, W. Kutsch, P. Kolari, E. Nikinmaa, A. Ibrom, B. Gielen, W. Eugster, M. Balzarolo, D. Papale, K. Klumpp, B. Köstner, T. Grünwald, R. Joffre, J.-M. Ourcival, M. Hellstrom, A. Lindroth, C. George, B. Longdoz, B. Genty, J. Levula, B. Heinesch, M. Sprintsin, D. Yakir, T. Manise, D. Guyon, H. Ahrends, A. Plaza-Aguilar, J. H. Guan, and J. Grace
Biogeosciences, 12, 5995–6015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-5995-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-5995-2015, 2015
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The timing of plant development stages and their response to climate and management were investigated using a network of digital cameras installed across different European ecosystems. Using the relative red, green and blue content of images we showed that the green signal could be used to estimate the length of the growing season in broadleaf forests. We also developed a model that predicted the seasonal variations of camera RGB signals and how they relate to leaf pigment content and area well.
F. Maussion, W. Gurgiser, M. Großhauser, G. Kaser, and B. Marzeion
The Cryosphere, 9, 1663–1683, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1663-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1663-2015, 2015
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Using a newly developed open-source tool, we downscale the glacier surface energy and mass balance fluxes at Shallap Glacier. This allows an unprecedented quantification of the ENSO influence on a tropical glacier at climatological time scales (1980-2013). We find a stronger and steadier anti-correlation between Pacific sea-surface temperature (SST) and glacier mass balance than previously reported and provide keys to understand its mechanism.
E. Collier, F. Maussion, L. I. Nicholson, T. Mölg, W. W. Immerzeel, and A. B. G. Bush
The Cryosphere, 9, 1617–1632, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1617-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1617-2015, 2015
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We investigate the impact of surface debris on glacier energy and mass fluxes and on atmosphere-glacier feedbacks in the Karakoram range, by including debris in an interactively coupled atmosphere-glacier model. The model is run from 1 May to 1 October 2004, with a simple specification of debris thickness. We find an appreciable reduction in ablation that exceeds 5m w.e. on glacier tongues, as well as significant alterations to near-surface air temperatures and boundary layer dynamics.
G. Wohlfahrt, C. Amelynck, C. Ammann, A. Arneth, I. Bamberger, A. H. Goldstein, L. Gu, A. Guenther, A. Hansel, B. Heinesch, T. Holst, L. Hörtnagl, T. Karl, Q. Laffineur, A. Neftel, K. McKinney, J. W. Munger, S. G. Pallardy, G. W. Schade, R. Seco, and N. Schoon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7413–7427, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7413-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7413-2015, 2015
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Methanol is the second most abundant volatile organic compound in the troposphere and plays a significant role in atmospheric chemistry. While there is consensus about the dominant role of plants as the major source and the reaction with OH as the major sink, global methanol budgets diverge considerably in terms of source/sink estimates. Here we present micrometeorological methanol flux data from eight sites in order to provide a first cross-site synthesis of the terrestrial methanol exchange.
M. Balzarolo, L. Vescovo, A. Hammerle, D. Gianelle, D. Papale, E. Tomelleri, and G. Wohlfahrt
Biogeosciences, 12, 3089–3108, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3089-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3089-2015, 2015
J. Curio, F. Maussion, and D. Scherer
Earth Syst. Dynam., 6, 109–124, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-109-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-109-2015, 2015
K. Mallick, A. Jarvis, G. Wohlfahrt, G. Kiely, T. Hirano, A. Miyata, S. Yamamoto, and L. Hoffmann
Biogeosciences, 12, 433–451, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-433-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-433-2015, 2015
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This paper demonstrates a novel analytical method for recovering global fields noontime near-surface net available energy (the sum of the sensible and latent heat flux) and ground heat flux using day-night land surface temperature and net radiation combining AIRS and MODIS optical, thermal and atmospheric data. This method could potentially overcome the stumbling blocks associated with the empirical parameterisations for determining the ground heat flux in global evapotranspiration modelling.
K. Mallick, A. Jarvis, G. Wohlfahrt, G. Kiely, T. Hirano, A. Miyata, S. Yamamoto, and L. Hoffmann
Biogeosciences, 11, 7369–7382, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-7369-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-7369-2014, 2014
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We have successfully used NASA-AIRS temperature-humidity profiles and associated radiances within a Bowen ratio framework to produce the first ever global sounder latent and sensible heat fluxes (SoLH and SoSH). These SoLH and SoSH estimates do not require any land surface parameterisations of the aerodynamic and stomatal conductances and hence are ideally suited to interrogate or improve the surface paramaterisations embedded in the land components of Earth system models.
L. Hörtnagl and G. Wohlfahrt
Biogeosciences, 11, 7219–7236, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-7219-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-7219-2014, 2014
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The methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) exchange of a temperate mountain grassland near Neustift, Austria, was measured during 2010–2012 over a time period of 22 months using the eddy covariance method. The meadow acted as a sink for both compounds during certain time periods, but was a clear source of CH4 and N2O on an annual timescale. Both gases contributed to an increase of the global warming potential (GWP), effectively reducing the sink strength in terms of CO2 equivalents.
E. Collier, L. I. Nicholson, B. W. Brock, F. Maussion, R. Essery, and A. B. G. Bush
The Cryosphere, 8, 1429–1444, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1429-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1429-2014, 2014
L. Hörtnagl, I. Bamberger, M. Graus, T. M. Ruuskanen, R. Schnitzhofer, M. Walser, A. Unterberger, A. Hansel, and G. Wohlfahrt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 5369–5391, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5369-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5369-2014, 2014
I. Bamberger, L. Hörtnagl, M. Walser, A. Hansel, and G. Wohlfahrt
Biogeosciences, 11, 2429–2442, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-2429-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-2429-2014, 2014
M. Verma, M. A. Friedl, A. D. Richardson, G. Kiely, A. Cescatti, B. E. Law, G. Wohlfahrt, B. Gielen, O. Roupsard, E. J. Moors, P. Toscano, F. P. Vaccari, D. Gianelle, G. Bohrer, A. Varlagin, N. Buchmann, E. van Gorsel, L. Montagnani, and P. Propastin
Biogeosciences, 11, 2185–2200, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-2185-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-2185-2014, 2014
E. Dietze, F. Maussion, M. Ahlborn, B. Diekmann, K. Hartmann, K. Henkel, T. Kasper, G. Lockot, S. Opitz, and T. Haberzettl
Clim. Past, 10, 91–106, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-91-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-91-2014, 2014
W. Gurgiser, B. Marzeion, L. Nicholson, M. Ortner, and G. Kaser
The Cryosphere, 7, 1787–1802, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1787-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1787-2013, 2013
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
G. Lasslop, M. Migliavacca, G. Bohrer, M. Reichstein, M. Bahn, A. Ibrom, C. Jacobs, P. Kolari, D. Papale, T. Vesala, G. Wohlfahrt, and A. Cescatti
Biogeosciences, 9, 5243–5259, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-5243-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-5243-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Subject: Hydrometeorology | Techniques and Approaches: Mathematical applications
A 60-year drought analysis of meteorological data in the western Po River basin
Expected annual minima from an idealized moving-average drought index
Increasing Sensitivity to Soil Moisture Deficits Predominantly Intensifies Evapotranspiration Stress in a Greening China
Estimating global precipitation fields by interpolating rain gauge observations using the local ensemble transform Kalman filter and reanalysis precipitation
Meteorological drought projections for Australia from downscaled high-resolution CMIP6 climate simulations
Using statistical models to depict the response of multi-timescale drought to forest cover change across climate zones
Past, present and future rainfall erosivity in central Europe based on convection-permitting climate simulations
The most extreme rainfall erosivity event ever recorded in China up to 2022: the 7.20 storm in Henan Province
The role of atmospheric rivers in the distribution of heavy precipitation events over North America
Study on a mother wavelet optimization framework based on change-point detection of hydrological time series
Projected changes in droughts and extreme droughts in Great Britain strongly influenced by the choice of drought index
Atmospheric water transport connectivity within and between ocean basins and land
Technical Note: Space–time statistical quality control of extreme precipitation observations
The relative importance of antecedent soil moisture and precipitation in flood generation in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin
Rainfall pattern analysis in 24 East Asian megacities using a complex network
Comparison between canonical vine copulas and a meta-Gaussian model for forecasting agricultural drought over China
Analysis of flash droughts in China using machine learning
Performance-based comparison of regionalization methods to improve the at-site estimates of daily precipitation
The use of personal weather station observations to improve precipitation estimation and interpolation
The 2018 northern European hydrological drought and its drivers in a historical perspective
Assimilating shallow soil moisture observations into land models with a water budget constraint
Emerging climate signals in the Lena River catchment: a non-parametric statistical approach
Near-0 °C surface temperature and precipitation type patterns across Canada
A universal multifractal approach to assessment of spatiotemporal extreme precipitation over the Loess Plateau of China
Significant spatial patterns from the GCM seasonal forecasts of global precipitation
Bayesian performance evaluation of evapotranspiration models based on eddy covariance systems in an arid region
Technical note: An improved Grassberger–Procaccia algorithm for analysis of climate system complexity
The influence of long-term changes in canopy structure on rainfall interception loss: a case study in Speulderbos, the Netherlands
Geostatistical assessment of warm-season precipitation observations in Korea based on the composite precipitation and satellite water vapor data
Investigating water budget dynamics in 18 river basins across the Tibetan Plateau through multiple datasets
Does the GPM mission improve the systematic error component in satellite rainfall estimates over TRMM? An evaluation at a pan-India scale
Assessment of an ensemble seasonal streamflow forecasting system for Australia
Technical note: Combining quantile forecasts and predictive distributions of streamflows
Scaled distribution mapping: a bias correction method that preserves raw climate model projected changes
Temporal and spatial changes of rainfall and streamflow in the Upper Tekezē–Atbara river basin, Ethiopia
Seasonal streamflow forecasting by conditioning climatology with precipitation indices
Bias correcting precipitation forecasts to improve the skill of seasonal streamflow forecasts
Flood triggering in Switzerland: the role of daily to monthly preceding precipitation
Comparing bias correction methods in downscaling meteorological variables for a hydrologic impact study in an arid area in China
Explaining and forecasting interannual variability in the flow of the Nile River
Drought severity–duration–frequency curves: a foundation for risk assessment and planning tool for ecosystem establishment in post-mining landscapes
Characterising the space–time structure of rainfall in the Sahel with a view to estimating IDAF curves
Spatial analysis of precipitation in a high-mountain region: exploring methods with multi-scale topographic predictors and circulation types
Variability of extreme precipitation over Europe and its relationships with teleconnection patterns
Drought evolution characteristics and precipitation intensity changes during alternating dry–wet changes in the Huang–Huai–Hai River basin
Structural break or long memory: an empirical survey on daily rainfall data sets across Malaysia
Calibration of aerodynamic roughness over the Tibetan Plateau with Ensemble Kalman Filter analysed heat flux
Technical Note: Downscaling RCM precipitation to the station scale using statistical transformations – a comparison of methods
Spectral representation of the annual cycle in the climate change signal
Simultaneous estimation of land surface scheme states and parameters using the ensemble Kalman filter: identical twin experiments
Emanuele Mombrini, Stefania Tamea, Alberto Viglione, and Roberto Revelli
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2255–2273, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2255-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2255-2025, 2025
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In northwestern Italy, overall drought conditions appear to have worsened over the last 60 years due to both precipitation deficits and increased evapotranspiration caused by temperature increases. In addition to changes in drought conditions, changes in the characteristics of drought periods, both at a local and at a region-wide level, are found. Links between all the aforementioned changes and terrain characteristics are highlighted, finding generally worse conditions in lower-lying areas.
James H. Stagge, Kyungmin Sung, Irenee Felix Munyejuru, and Md Atif Ibne Haidar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 719–732, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-719-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-719-2025, 2025
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The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and related drought indices are used globally to measure drought severity. The index uses a predictable structure, which we leverage to determine the theoretical likelihood of a year with an extreme worse than a given threshold. We show these likelihoods differ by the length (number of months) and resolution (daily vs. monthly) of the index. This is important for drought managers when setting decision thresholds or when communicating risk to the public.
Yuan Liu, Yong Wang, Yong Zhao, Shouzhi Chen, Longhao Wang, Wenjing Yang, Xing Li, Xinxi Li, Huimin Lei, Huanyu Chang, Jiaqi Zhai, Yongnan Zhu, Qingming Wang, and Ting Ye
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3764, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3764, 2025
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In the real hydrological Earth system, the relationships between variables are not constant. This study employed advanced statistical models incorporating the physical mechanisms to examine how evaporation stress responds over time to key factors. We found that stronger soil drought effects can be expected undergoing rapid greening. It may enhance the comprehension of evaporation stress and help optimize parameters in Earth system models and promote greening initiatives.
Yuka Muto and Shunji Kotsuki
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5401–5417, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5401-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5401-2024, 2024
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It is crucial to improve global precipitation estimates to understand water-related disasters and water resources. This study proposes a new methodology to interpolate global precipitation fields from ground rain gauge observations using ensemble data assimilation and the precipitation of a numerical weather prediction model. Our estimates agree better with independent rain gauge observations than existing precipitation estimates, especially in mountainous or rain-gauge-sparse regions.
Rohan Eccles, Ralph Trancoso, Jozef Syktus, Sarah Chapman, Nathan Toombs, Hong Zhang, Shaoxiu Ma, and Ryan McGloin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2341, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2341, 2024
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Rainfall and evaporation are two key variables influencing when droughts occur and their severity. We use the latest climate simulations for Australia to see how changes to rainfall and evaporation influence future droughts for Australia and show increases are likely over most of Australia, especially in the south. Increases to evaporation are shown to be larger than changes to rainfall over most of the continent. We show that keeping emissions to lower levels can work to mitigate these impacts.
Yan Li, Bo Huang, and Henning W. Rust
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 321–339, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-321-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-321-2024, 2024
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The inconsistent changes in temperature and precipitation induced by forest cover change are very likely to affect drought condition. We use a set of statistical models to explore the relationship between forest cover change and drought change in different timescales and climate zones. We find that the influence of forest cover on droughts varies under different precipitation and temperature quantiles. Forest cover also could modulate the impacts of precipitation and temperature on drought.
Magdalena Uber, Michael Haller, Christoph Brendel, Gudrun Hillebrand, and Thomas Hoffmann
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 87–102, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-87-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-87-2024, 2024
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We calculated past, present and future rainfall erosivity in central Europe from high-resolution precipitation data (3 km and 1 h) generated by the COSMO-CLM convection-permitting climate model. Future rainfall erosivity can be up to 84 % higher than it was in the past. Such increases are much higher than estimated previously from regional climate model output. Convection-permitting simulations have an enormous and, to date, unexploited potential for the calculation of future rainfall erosivity.
Yuanyuan Xiao, Shuiqing Yin, Bofu Yu, Conghui Fan, Wenting Wang, and Yun Xie
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4563–4577, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4563-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4563-2023, 2023
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An exceptionally heavy rainfall event occurred on 20 July 2021 in central China (the 7.20 storm). The storm presents a rare opportunity to examine the extreme rainfall erosivity. The storm, with an average recurrence interval of at least 10 000 years, was the largest in terms of its rainfall erosivity on record over the past 70 years in China. The study suggests that extreme erosive events can occur anywhere in eastern China and are not necessarily concentrated in low latitudes.
Sara M. Vallejo-Bernal, Frederik Wolf, Niklas Boers, Dominik Traxl, Norbert Marwan, and Jürgen Kurths
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2645–2660, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2645-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2645-2023, 2023
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Employing event synchronization and complex networks analysis, we reveal a cascade of heavy rainfall events, related to intense atmospheric rivers (ARs): heavy precipitation events (HPEs) in western North America (NA) that occur in the aftermath of land-falling ARs are synchronized with HPEs in central and eastern Canada with a delay of up to 12 d. Understanding the effects of ARs in the rainfall over NA will lead to better anticipating the evolution of the climate dynamics in the region.
Jiqing Li, Jing Huang, Lei Zheng, and Wei Zheng
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2325–2339, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2325-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2325-2023, 2023
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Under the joint action of climate–human activities the use of runoff data whose mathematical properties have changed has become the key to watershed management. To determine whether the data have been changed, the number and the location of changes, we proposed a change-point detection framework. The problem of determining the parameters of wavelet transform has been solved by comparing the accuracy of identifying change points. This study helps traditional models adapt to environmental changes.
Nele Reyniers, Timothy J. Osborn, Nans Addor, and Geoff Darch
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1151–1171, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1151-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1151-2023, 2023
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In an analysis of future drought projections for Great Britain based on the Standardised Precipitation Index and the Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, we show that the choice of drought indicator has a decisive influence on the resulting projected changes in drought characteristics, although both result in increased drying. This highlights the need to understand the interplay between increasing atmospheric evaporative demand and drought impacts under a changing climate.
Dipanjan Dey, Aitor Aldama Campino, and Kristofer Döös
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 481–493, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-481-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-481-2023, 2023
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One of the most striking and robust features of climate change is the acceleration of the atmospheric water cycle branch. Earlier studies were able to provide a quantification of the global atmospheric water cycle, but they missed addressing the atmospheric water transport connectivity within and between ocean basins and land. These shortcomings were overcome in the present study and presented a complete synthesised and quantitative view of the atmospheric water cycle.
Abbas El Hachem, Jochen Seidel, Florian Imbery, Thomas Junghänel, and András Bárdossy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6137–6146, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6137-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6137-2022, 2022
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Through this work, a methodology to identify outliers in intense precipitation data was presented. The results show the presence of several suspicious observations that strongly differ from their surroundings. Many identified outliers did not have unusually high values but disagreed with their neighboring values at the corresponding time steps. Weather radar and discharge data were used to distinguish between single events and false observations.
Qihua Ran, Jin Wang, Xiuxiu Chen, Lin Liu, Jiyu Li, and Sheng Ye
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4919–4931, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4919-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4919-2022, 2022
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This study aims to further evaluate the relative importance of antecedent soil moisture and rainfall on flood generation and the controlling factors. The relative importance of antecedent soil moisture and daily rainfall present a significant correlation with drainage area; the larger the watershed, and the more essential the antecedent soil saturation rate is in flood generation, the less important daily rainfall will be.
Kyunghun Kim, Jaewon Jung, Hung Soo Kim, Masahiko Haraguchi, and Soojun Kim
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4823–4836, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4823-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4823-2022, 2022
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This study applied a new methodology (complex network), instead of using classic methods, to establish the relationships between rainfall events in large East Asian cities. The relationships show that western China and Southeast Asia have a lot of influence on each other. Moreover, it is confirmed that the relationships arise from the effect of the East Asian monsoon. In future, complex network may be able to be applied to analyze the concurrent relationships between extreme rainfall events.
Haijiang Wu, Xiaoling Su, Vijay P. Singh, Te Zhang, Jixia Qi, and Shengzhi Huang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3847–3861, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3847-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3847-2022, 2022
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Agricultural drought forecasting lies at the core of overall drought risk management and is critical for food security and drought early warning. Using three-dimensional scenarios, we attempted to compare the agricultural drought forecast performance of a canonical vine copula (3C-vine) model and meta-Gaussian (MG) model over China. The findings show that the 3C-vine model exhibits more skill than the MG model when using 1– to 3-month lead times for forecasting agricultural drought.
Linqi Zhang, Yi Liu, Liliang Ren, Adriaan J. Teuling, Ye Zhu, Linyong Wei, Linyan Zhang, Shanhu Jiang, Xiaoli Yang, Xiuqin Fang, and Hang Yin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3241–3261, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3241-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3241-2022, 2022
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In this study, three machine learning methods displayed a good detection capacity of flash droughts. The RF model was recommended to estimate the depletion rate of soil moisture and simulate flash drought by considering the multiple meteorological variable anomalies in the adjacent time to drought onset. The anomalies of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration exhibited a stronger synergistic but asymmetrical effect on flash droughts compared to slowly developing droughts.
Abubakar Haruna, Juliette Blanchet, and Anne-Catherine Favre
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2797–2811, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2797-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2797-2022, 2022
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Reliable prediction of floods depends on the quality of the input data such as precipitation. However, estimation of precipitation from the local measurements is known to be difficult, especially for extremes. Regionalization improves the estimates by increasing the quantity of data available for estimation. Here, we compare three regionalization methods based on their robustness and reliability. We apply the comparison to a dense network of daily stations within and outside Switzerland.
András Bárdossy, Jochen Seidel, and Abbas El Hachem
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 583–601, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-583-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-583-2021, 2021
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In this study, the applicability of data from private weather stations (PWS) for precipitation interpolation was investigated. Due to unknown errors and biases in these observations, a two-step filter was developed that uses indicator correlations and event-based spatial precipitation patterns. The procedure was tested and cross validated for the state of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). The biggest improvement is achieved for the shortest time aggregations.
Sigrid J. Bakke, Monica Ionita, and Lena M. Tallaksen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5621–5653, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5621-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5621-2020, 2020
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This study provides an in-depth analysis of the 2018 northern European drought. Large parts of the region experienced 60-year record-breaking temperatures, linked to high-pressure systems and warm surrounding seas. Meteorological drought developed from May and, depending on local conditions, led to extreme low flows and groundwater drought in the following months. The 2018 event was unique in that it affected most of Fennoscandia as compared to previous droughts.
Bo Dan, Xiaogu Zheng, Guocan Wu, and Tao Li
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5187–5201, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5187-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5187-2020, 2020
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Data assimilation is a procedure to generate an optimal combination of the state variable in geoscience, based on the model outputs and observations. The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) scheme is a widely used assimilation method in soil moisture estimation. This study proposed several modifications of EnKF for improving this assimilation. The study shows that the quality of the assimilation result is improved, while the degree of water budget imbalance is reduced.
Eric Pohl, Christophe Grenier, Mathieu Vrac, and Masa Kageyama
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2817–2839, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2817-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2817-2020, 2020
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Existing approaches to quantify the emergence of climate change require several user choices that make these approaches less objective. We present an approach that uses a minimum number of choices and showcase its application in the extremely sensitive, permafrost-dominated region of eastern Siberia. Designed as a Python toolbox, it allows for incorporating climate model, reanalysis, and in situ data to make use of numerous existing data sources and reduce uncertainties in obtained estimates.
Eva Mekis, Ronald E. Stewart, Julie M. Theriault, Bohdan Kochtubajda, Barrie R. Bonsal, and Zhuo Liu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1741–1761, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1741-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1741-2020, 2020
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This article provides a Canada-wide analysis of near-0°C temperature conditions (±2°C) using hourly surface temperature and precipitation type observations from 92 locations for the 1981–2011 period. Higher annual occurrences were found in Atlantic Canada, although high values also occur in other regions. Trends of most indicators show little or no change despite a systematic warming over Canada. A higher than expected tendency for near-0°C conditions was also found at some stations.
Jianjun Zhang, Guangyao Gao, Bojie Fu, Cong Wang, Hoshin V. Gupta, Xiaoping Zhang, and Rui Li
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 809–826, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-809-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-809-2020, 2020
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We proposed an approach that integrates universal multifractals and a segmentation algorithm to precisely identify extreme precipitation (EP) and assess spatiotemporal EP variation over the Loess Plateau, using daily data. Our results explain how EP contributes to the widely distributed severe natural hazards. These findings are of great significance for ecological management in the Loess Plateau. Our approach is also helpful for spatiotemporal EP assessment at the regional scale.
Tongtiegang Zhao, Wei Zhang, Yongyong Zhang, Zhiyong Liu, and Xiaohong Chen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1–16, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1-2020, 2020
Guoxiao Wei, Xiaoying Zhang, Ming Ye, Ning Yue, and Fei Kan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2877–2895, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-2877-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-2877-2019, 2019
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Accurately evaluating evapotranspiration (ET) is a critical challenge in improving hydrological process modeling. Here we evaluated four ET models (PM, SW, PT–FC, and AA) under the Bayesian framework. Our results reveal that the SW model has the best performance. This is in part because the SW model captures the main physical mechanism in ET; the other part is that the key parameters, such as the extinction factor, could be well constrained with observation data.
Chongli Di, Tiejun Wang, Xiaohua Yang, and Siliang Li
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5069–5079, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5069-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5069-2018, 2018
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The original Grassberger–Procaccia algorithm for complex analysis was modified by incorporating the normal-based K-means clustering technique and the RANSAC algorithm. The calculation accuracy of the proposed method was shown to outperform traditional algorithms. The proposed algorithm was used to diagnose climate system complexity in the Hai He basin. The spatial patterns of the complexity of precipitation and air temperature reflected the influence of the dominant climate system.
César Cisneros Vaca, Christiaan van der Tol, and Chandra Prasad Ghimire
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3701–3719, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3701-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3701-2018, 2018
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The influence of long-term changes in canopy structure on rainfall interception loss was studied in a 55-year old forest. Interception loss was similar at the same site (38 %), when the forest was 29 years old. In the past, the forest was denser and had a higher storage capacity, but the evaporation rates were lower. We emphasize the importance of quantifying downward sensible heat flux and heat release from canopy biomass in tall forest in order to improve the quantification of evaporation.
Sojung Park, Seon Ki Park, Jeung Whan Lee, and Yunho Park
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3435–3452, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3435-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3435-2018, 2018
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Understanding the precipitation characteristics is essential to design an optimal observation network. We studied the spatial and temporal characteristics of summertime precipitation systems in Korea via geostatistical analyses on the ground-based precipitation and satellite water vapor data. We found that, under a strict standard, an observation network with higher resolution is required in local areas with frequent heavy rainfalls, depending on directional features of precipitation systems.
Wenbin Liu, Fubao Sun, Yanzhong Li, Guoqing Zhang, Yan-Fang Sang, Wee Ho Lim, Jiahong Liu, Hong Wang, and Peng Bai
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 351–371, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-351-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-351-2018, 2018
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The dynamics of basin-scale water budgets over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are not well understood nowadays due to the lack of hydro-climatic observations. In this study, we investigate seasonal cycles and trends of water budget components (e.g. precipitation P, evapotranspiration ET and runoff Q) in 18 TP river basins during the period 1982–2011 through the use of multi-source datasets (e.g. in situ observations, satellite retrievals, reanalysis outputs and land surface model simulations).
Harsh Beria, Trushnamayee Nanda, Deepak Singh Bisht, and Chandranath Chatterjee
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 6117–6134, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6117-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6117-2017, 2017
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High-quality satellite precipitation forcings have provided a viable alternative to hydrologic modeling in data-scarce regions. Ageing TRMM sensors have recently been upgraded to GPM, promising enhanced spatio-temporal resolutions. Statistical and hydrologic evaluation of GPM measurements across 86 Indian river basins revealed improved low rainfall estimates with reduced effects of climatology and topography.
James C. Bennett, Quan J. Wang, David E. Robertson, Andrew Schepen, Ming Li, and Kelvin Michael
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 6007–6030, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6007-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6007-2017, 2017
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We assess a new streamflow forecasting system in Australia. The system is designed to meet the need of water agencies for 12-month forecasts. The forecasts perform well in a wide range of rivers. Forecasts for shorter periods (up to 6 months) are generally informative. Forecasts sometimes did not perform well in a few very dry rivers. We test several techniques for improving streamflow forecasts in drylands, with mixed success.
Konrad Bogner, Katharina Liechti, and Massimiliano Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5493–5502, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5493-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5493-2017, 2017
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The enhanced availability of many different weather prediction systems nowadays makes it very difficult for flood and water resource managers to choose the most reliable and accurate forecast. In order to circumvent this problem of choice, different approaches for combining this information have been applied at the Sihl River (CH) and the results have been verified. The outcome of this study highlights the importance of forecast combination in order to improve the quality of forecast systems.
Matthew B. Switanek, Peter A. Troch, Christopher L. Castro, Armin Leuprecht, Hsin-I Chang, Rajarshi Mukherjee, and Eleonora M. C. Demaria
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2649–2666, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2649-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2649-2017, 2017
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The commonly used bias correction method called quantile mapping assumes a constant function of error correction values between modeled and observed distributions. Our article finds that this function cannot be assumed to be constant. We propose a new bias correction method, called scaled distribution mapping, that does not rely on this assumption. Furthermore, the proposed method more explicitly accounts for the frequency of rain days and the likelihood of individual events.
Tesfay G. Gebremicael, Yasir A. Mohamed, Pieter v. Zaag, and Eyasu Y. Hagos
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2127–2142, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2127-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2127-2017, 2017
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This study was conducted to understand the spatio-temporal variations of streamflow in the Tekezē basin. Results showed rainfall over the basin did not significantly change. However, streamflow experienced high variabilities at seasonal and annual scales. Further studies are needed to verify hydrological changes by identifying the physical mechanisms behind those changes. Findings are useful as prerequisite for studying the effects of catchment management dynamics on the hydrological processes.
Louise Crochemore, Maria-Helena Ramos, Florian Pappenberger, and Charles Perrin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1573–1591, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1573-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1573-2017, 2017
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The use of general circulation model outputs for streamflow forecasting has developed in the last decade. In parallel, traditional streamflow forecasting is commonly based on historical data. This study investigates the impact of conditioning historical data based on circulation model precipitation forecasts on seasonal streamflow forecast quality. Results highlighted a trade-off between the sharpness and reliability of forecasts.
Louise Crochemore, Maria-Helena Ramos, and Florian Pappenberger
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3601–3618, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3601-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3601-2016, 2016
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This study investigates the way bias correcting precipitation forecasts can improve the skill of streamflow forecasts at extended lead times. Eight variants of bias correction approaches based on the linear scaling and the distribution mapping methods are applied to the precipitation forecasts prior to generating the streamflow forecasts. One of the main results of the study is that distribution mapping of daily values is successful in improving forecast reliability.
P. Froidevaux, J. Schwanbeck, R. Weingartner, C. Chevalier, and O. Martius
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3903–3924, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3903-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3903-2015, 2015
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We investigate precipitation characteristics prior to 4000 annual floods in Switzerland since 1961. The floods were preceded by heavy precipitation, but in most catchments extreme precipitation occurred only during the last 3 days prior to the flood events. Precipitation sums for earlier time periods (like e.g. 4-14 days prior to floods) were mostly average and do not correlate with the return period of the floods.
G. H. Fang, J. Yang, Y. N. Chen, and C. Zammit
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2547–2559, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2547-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2547-2015, 2015
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This study compares the effects of five precipitation and three temperature correction methods on precipitation, temperature, and streamflow through loosely coupling RCM (RegCM) and a distributed hydrological model (SWAT) in terms of frequency-based indices and time-series-based indices. The methodology and results can be used for other regions and other RCM and hydrologic models, and for impact studies of climate change on water resources at a regional scale.
M. S. Siam and E. A. B. Eltahir
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1181–1192, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1181-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1181-2015, 2015
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This paper explains the different natural modes of interannual variability in the flow of the Nile River and also presents a new index based on the sea surface temperature (SST) over the southern Indian Ocean to forecast the flow of the Nile River. It also presents a new hybrid forecasting algorithm that can be used to predict the Nile flow based on indices of the SST in the eastern Pacific and southern Indian oceans.
D. Halwatura, A. M. Lechner, and S. Arnold
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1069–1091, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1069-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1069-2015, 2015
G. Panthou, T. Vischel, T. Lebel, G. Quantin, and G. Molinié
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 5093–5107, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-5093-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-5093-2014, 2014
D. Masson and C. Frei
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 4543–4563, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4543-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4543-2014, 2014
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The question of how to utilize information from the physiography/topography in the spatial interpolation of rainfall is a long-standing discussion in the literature. In this study we test ideas that go beyond the approach in popular interpolation schemes today. The key message of our study is that these ideas can at best marginally improve interpolation accuracy, even in a region where a clear benefit would intuitively be expected.
A. Casanueva, C. Rodríguez-Puebla, M. D. Frías, and N. González-Reviriego
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 709–725, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-709-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-709-2014, 2014
D. H. Yan, D. Wu, R. Huang, L. N. Wang, and G. Y. Yang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2859–2871, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2859-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2859-2013, 2013
F. Yusof, I. L. Kane, and Z. Yusop
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1311–1318, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1311-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1311-2013, 2013
J. H. Lee, J. Timmermans, Z. Su, and M. Mancini
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 4291–4302, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-4291-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-4291-2012, 2012
L. Gudmundsson, J. B. Bremnes, J. E. Haugen, and T. Engen-Skaugen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 3383–3390, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-3383-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-3383-2012, 2012
T. Bosshard, S. Kotlarski, T. Ewen, and C. Schär
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 2777–2788, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-2777-2011, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-2777-2011, 2011
S. Nie, J. Zhu, and Y. Luo
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 2437–2457, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-2437-2011, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-2437-2011, 2011
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Short summary
In semi-arid regions, the timing and duration of the rainy season are crucial for agriculture. This study introduces a new framework for improving estimations of the onset and end of the rainy season by testing how well they fit local vegetation data. We improve the performance of existing methods and present a new one with higher performance. Our findings can help us to make informed decisions about water usage, and the framework can be applied to other regions as well.
In semi-arid regions, the timing and duration of the rainy season are crucial for agriculture....
