Articles | Volume 29, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3545-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3545-2025
Research article
 | 
05 Aug 2025
Research article |  | 05 Aug 2025

Adaptation of root zone storage capacity to climate change and its effects on future streamflow in Alpine catchments: towards non-stationary model parameters

Magali Ponds, Sarah Hanus, Harry Zekollari, Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis, Gerrit Schoups, Roland Kaitna, and Markus Hrachowitz

Model code and software

magali-ponds/Semi-Distributed Hydrological Model with Adapted Rootzone Storage Capacity in Julia Programming Language (Version v1.0) M. Ponds and S. Hanus https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15463800

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Short summary
This research examines how future climate changes impact root zone storage, a key hydrological model parameter. Root zone storage – the soil water accessible to plants – adapts to climate but is often kept constant in models. We estimated climate-adapted storage in six Austrian Alps catchments. While storage increased, streamflow projections showed minimal change, which suggests that dynamic root zone representation is less critical in humid regions but warrants further study in arid areas.
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