Climate and landscape jointly control European streamflow behaviour

Rudlang, Julia M.; do Nascimento, Thiago V. M.; van der Ent, Ruud; Fenicia, Fabrizio; Hrachowitz, Markus

doi:10.5194/hess-30-4481-2026

Articles | Volume 30, issue 14

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4481-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4481-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 30, issue 14

Research article

|

17 Jul 2026

Research article |

| 17 Jul 2026

Climate and landscape jointly control European streamflow behaviour

Julia M. Rudlang, Thiago V. M. do Nascimento, Ruud van der Ent, Fabrizio Fenicia, and Markus Hrachowitz

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4481-2026-supplement

Data sets

EStreams: An Integrated Dataset and Catalogue of Streamflow, Hydro-Climatic Variables and Landscape Descriptors for Europe (1.2) Thiago V. M. do Nascimento et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14778580

Model code and software

JuliaRudlang/Drivers-of-streamflow-behaviour: Scripts used in analysis of drivers of streamflow behaviour in Europe (Version v2) Julia M. Rudlang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17987884

Short summary

River flow (streamflow) behaviour varies across Europe and is shaped by climate and landscape. Using data from more than 7000 European catchments, we identified 10 hydrological response types based on flow magnitude, timing, and seasonality. At the continental scale, streamflow behaviour is mainly driven by climate, but landscape features are equally or more influential in several regions. These results show that streamflow behaviour emerges from the combined effects of climate and landscape.