Evaluation of Gridded Meteorological Datasets for Hydrological Modeling

Abstract The number and refinement of gridded meteorological datasets are on the rise at the global and regional scales. Although these datasets are now commonly used for hydrological modeling, the representation of precipitation amount and timing is crucial to correctly model streamflow. The Génie Rural à 4 paramètres journalier (GR4J) conceptual hydrological model combined with the CEMANEIGE snow routine was calibrated using four temperature and precipitation datasets [Système d’analyse fournissant des renseignements atmosphériques à la neige (SAFRAN), Mesoscale Analysis (MESAN), E-OBS, and Water and Global Change (WATCH) Forcing Data ERA-Interim (WFDEI)] on 931 French gauged catchments ranging in size from 10 to 10 000 km2. The efficiency of the calibrated hydrological model in simulating streamflow was higher for the models calibrated on high-resolution meteorological datasets (SAFRAN, MESAN) compared to coarse-resolution datasets (E-OBS, WFDEI), as well as for reanalysis (SAFRAN, MESAN, WFDEI) compared to datasets based on interpolation only (E-OBS). The systematic decrease in efficiency associated with precipitation bias or temporality highlights that the use of a hydrological model calibrated on meteorological datasets can assess these datasets, most particularly precipitation. It appears essential that datasets account for high-resolution topography to accurately represent elevation gradients and assimilate dense ground-based observation networks. This is particularly emphasized for hydrological applications in mountainous areas and areas subject to finescale events. For hydrological applications on nonmountainous regions, not subject to finescale events, both regional and global datasets give satisfactory results. It is crucial to continue improving precipitation datasets, especially in mountainous areas, and to assess their sensitivity to eventual corrupted observations. These datasets are essential to correct the bias of climate model outputs and to investigate the impact of climate change on hydrological regimes.

Download Full-text

High resolution satellite products improve hydrological modeling in northern Italy

10.5194/hess-2021-632 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lorenzo Alfieri ◽

Francesco Avanzi ◽

Fabio Delogu ◽

Simone Gabellani ◽

Giulia Bruno ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

River Discharge ◽

Model Calibration ◽

Environmental Science ◽

Hydrological Modeling ◽

Hydrological Model ◽

Observation Data ◽

Distributed Hydrological Model ◽

Po River ◽

Hydrological Applications

Abstract. Satellite Earth observations (EO) are an accurate and reliable data source for atmospheric and environmental science. Their increasing spatial and temporal resolution, as well as the seamless availability over ungauged regions, make them appealing for hydrological modeling. This work shows recent advances in the use of high-resolution satellite-based Earth observation data in hydrological modelling. In a set of experiments, the distributed hydrological model Continuum is set up for the Po River Basin (Italy) and forced, in turn, by satellite precipitation and evaporation, while satellite-derived soil moisture and snow depths are ingested into the model structure through a data-assimilation scheme. Further, satellite-based estimates of precipitation, evaporation and river discharge are used for hydrological model calibration, and results are compared with those based on ground observations. Despite the high density of conventional ground measurements and the strong human influence in the focus region, all satellite products show strong potential for operational hydrological applications, with skillful estimates of river discharge throughout the model domain. Satellite-based evaporation and snow depths marginally improve (by 2 % and 4 %) the mean Kling-Gupta efficiency (KGE) at 27 river gauges, compared to a baseline simulation (KGEmean = 0.51) forced by high-quality conventional data. Precipitation has the largest impact on the model output, though the satellite dataset on average shows poorer skills compared to conventional data. Interestingly, a model calibration heavily relying on satellite data, as opposed to conventional data, provides a skillful reconstruction of river discharges, paving the way to fully satellite-driven hydrological applications.

Download Full-text

High-Resolution Climate Change Impact Analysis on Expected Future Water Availability in the Upper Jordan Catchment and the Middle East

Journal of Hydrometeorology ◽

10.1175/jhm-d-13-0153.1 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 1517-1531 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Gerhard Smiatek ◽

Harald Kunstmann ◽

Andreas Heckl

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

High Resolution ◽

Water Availability ◽

Impact Analysis ◽

River Flow ◽

Climate Model ◽

Mesoscale Model ◽

Global Climate Model ◽

Full Range ◽

The Impact

Abstract The impact of climate change on the future water availability of the upper Jordan River (UJR) and its tributaries Dan, Snir, and Hermon located in the eastern Mediterranean is evaluated by a highly resolved distributed approach with the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) run at 18.6- and 6.2-km resolution offline coupled with the Water Flow and Balance Simulation Model (WaSiM). The MM5 was driven with NCEP reanalysis for 1971–2000 and with Hadley Centre Coupled Model, version 3 (HadCM3), GCM forcings for 1971–2099. Because only one regional–global climate model combination was applied, the results may not give the full range of possible future projections. To describe the Dan spring behavior, the hydrological model was extended by a bypass approach to allow the fast discharge components of the Snir to enter the Dan catchment. Simulation results for the period 1976–2000 reveal that the coupled system was able to reproduce the observed discharge rates in the partially karstic complex terrain to a reasonable extent with the high-resolution 6.2-km meteorological input only. The performed future climate simulations show steadily rising temperatures with 2.2 K above the 1976–2000 mean for the period 2031–60 and 3.5 K for the period 2070–99. Precipitation trends are insignificant until the middle of the century, although a decrease of approximately 12% is simulated. For the end of the century, a reduction in rainfall ranging between 10% and 35% can be expected. Discharge in the UJR is simulated to decrease by 12% until 2060 and by 26% until 2099, both related to the 1976–2000 mean. The discharge decrease is associated with a lower number of high river flow years.

Download Full-text

Climate SPHINX: evaluating the impact of resolution and stochastic physics parameterisations in the EC-Earth global climate model

Geoscientific Model Development ◽

10.5194/gmd-10-1383-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 1383-1402 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Paolo Davini ◽

Jost von Hardenberg ◽

Susanna Corti ◽

Hannah M. Christensen ◽

Stephan Juricke ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Large Scale ◽

Climate Model ◽

Global Climate ◽

Rainfall Variability ◽

Global Climate Model ◽

Small Scale ◽

Low Resolution ◽

The Impact ◽

Stochastic Physics

Abstract. The Climate SPHINX (Stochastic Physics HIgh resolutioN eXperiments) project is a comprehensive set of ensemble simulations aimed at evaluating the sensitivity of present and future climate to model resolution and stochastic parameterisation. The EC-Earth Earth system model is used to explore the impact of stochastic physics in a large ensemble of 30-year climate integrations at five different atmospheric horizontal resolutions (from 125 up to 16 km). The project includes more than 120 simulations in both a historical scenario (1979–2008) and a climate change projection (2039–2068), together with coupled transient runs (1850–2100). A total of 20.4 million core hours have been used, made available from a single year grant from PRACE (the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and close to 1.5 PB of output data have been produced on SuperMUC IBM Petascale System at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Garching, Germany. About 140 TB of post-processed data are stored on the CINECA supercomputing centre archives and are freely accessible to the community thanks to an EUDAT data pilot project. This paper presents the technical and scientific set-up of the experiments, including the details on the forcing used for the simulations performed, defining the SPHINX v1.0 protocol. In addition, an overview of preliminary results is given. An improvement in the simulation of Euro-Atlantic atmospheric blocking following resolution increase is observed. It is also shown that including stochastic parameterisation in the low-resolution runs helps to improve some aspects of the tropical climate – specifically the Madden–Julian Oscillation and the tropical rainfall variability. These findings show the importance of representing the impact of small-scale processes on the large-scale climate variability either explicitly (with high-resolution simulations) or stochastically (in low-resolution simulations).

Download Full-text

Seasonal Surface Air Temperature and Precipitation in the FSU Climate Model Coupled to the CLM2

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli3470.1 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 18 (16) ◽

pp. 3217-3228 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

D. W. Shin ◽

S. Cocke ◽

T. E. LaRow ◽

James J. O’Brien

Keyword(s):

Heat Flux ◽

Air Temperature ◽

Climate Model ◽

Initial Conditions ◽

Sensible Heat Flux ◽

Surface Air Temperature ◽

Community Land Model ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

The Impact ◽

Convective Scheme

Abstract The current Florida State University (FSU) climate model is upgraded by coupling the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Land Model Version 2 (CLM2) as its land component in order to make a better simulation of surface air temperature and precipitation on the seasonal time scale, which is important for crop model application. Climatological and seasonal simulations with the FSU climate model coupled to the CLM2 (hereafter FSUCLM) are compared to those of the control (the FSU model with the original simple land surface treatment). The current version of the FSU model is known to have a cold bias in the temperature field and a wet bias in precipitation. The implementation of FSUCLM has reduced or eliminated this bias due to reduced latent heat flux and increased sensible heat flux. The role of the land model in seasonal simulations is shown to be more important during summertime than wintertime. An additional experiment that assimilates atmospheric forcings produces improved land-model initial conditions, which in turn reduces the biases further. The impact of various deep convective parameterizations is examined as well to further assess model performance. The land scheme plays a more important role than the convective scheme in simulations of surface air temperature. However, each convective scheme shows its own advantage over different geophysical locations in precipitation simulations.

Download Full-text

Impact of an Exponential Profile of Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity within the ISBA LSM: Simulations over the Rhône Basin

Journal of Hydrometeorology ◽

10.1175/jhm469.1 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 61-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 60

Author(s):

B. Decharme ◽

H. Douville ◽

A. Boone ◽

F. Habets ◽

J. Noilhan

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Land Surface ◽

Large Scale ◽

Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity ◽

Rooting Depth ◽

Surface Model ◽

Low Resolution ◽

The Impact ◽

Hydrological Applications

Abstract This study focuses on the influence of an exponential profile of saturated hydraulic conductivity, ksat, with soil depth on the water budget simulated by the Interaction Soil Biosphere Atmosphere (ISBA) land surface model over the French Rhône River basin. With this exponential profile, the saturated hydraulic conductivity at the surface increases by approximately a factor of 10, and its mean value increases in the root zone and decreases in the deeper region of the soil in comparison with the values given by Clapp and Hornberger. This new version of ISBA is compared to the original version in offline simulations using the Rhône-Aggregation high-resolution database. Low-resolution simulations, where all atmospheric data and surface parameters have been aggregated, are also performed to test the impact of the modified ksat profile at the typical scale of a climate model. The simulated discharges are compared to observations from a dense network consisting of 88 gauging stations. Results of the high-resolution experiments show that the exponential profile of ksat globally improves the simulated discharges and that the assumption of an increase in saturated hydraulic conductivity from the soil surface to a depth close to the rooting depth in comparison with values given by Clapp and Hornberger is reasonable. Results of the scaling experiments indicate that this parameterization is also suitable for large-scale hydrological applications. Nevertheless, low-resolution simulations with both model versions overestimate evapotranspiration (especially from the plant transpiration and the wet fraction of the canopy) to the detriment of total runoff, which emphasizes the need for implementing subgrid distribution of precipitation and land surface properties in large-scale hydrological applications.

Download Full-text

Impact of climate change on water requirements and growth of potato in different climatic zones of Montenegro

Journal of Water and Climate Change ◽

10.2166/wcc.2018.211 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 657-671 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mirko Knežević ◽

Ljubomir Zivotić ◽

Nataša Čereković ◽

Ana Topalović ◽

Nikola Koković ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Model ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Baseline Period ◽

Yield Reduction ◽

Adaptation Measures ◽

Impact Of Climate Change ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Viable Solution ◽

The Impact

Abstract The impact of climate change on potato cultivation in Montenegro was assessed. Three scenarios (A1B, A1Bs and A2) for 2001–2030, 2071–2100 and 2071–2100, respectively, were generated by a regional climate model and compared with the baseline period 1961–1990. The results indicated an increase of temperature during the summer season from 1.3 to 4.8 °C in the mountain region and from 1 to 3.4 °C in the coastal zone. The precipitation decreased between 5 and 50% depending on the scenario, region and season. The changes in temperature and precipitation influenced phenology, yield and water needs. The impact was more pronounced in the coastal areas than in the mountain regions. The growing season was shortened 13.6, 22.9 and 29.7 days for A1B, A1Bs and A2, respectively. The increase of irrigation requirement was 4.0, 19.5 and 7.3 mm for A1B, A1Bs and A2, respectively. For the baseline conditions, yield reduction under rainfed cultivation was lower than 30%. For A1B, A1Bs and A2 scenarios, yield reductions were 31.0 ± 8.2, 36.3 ± 11.6 and 34.1 ± 10.9%, respectively. Possible adaptation measures include shifting of production to the mountain (colder) areas and irrigation application. Rainfed cultivation remains a viable solution when the anticipation of sowing is adopted.

Download Full-text

The Role of the Spatial Distribution of Radar Rainfall on Hydrological Modeling for an Urbanized River Basin in Japan

Water ◽

10.3390/w11081703 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 1703 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Shakti P. C. ◽

Tsuyoshi Nakatani ◽

Ryohei Misumi

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Spatial Resolution ◽

Hydrological Modeling ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Rainfall Data ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Radar Rainfall ◽

Rain Events ◽

The Impact ◽

Hydrological Applications

Recently, the use of gridded rainfall data with high spatial resolutions in hydrological applications has greatly increased. Various types of radar rainfall data with varying spatial resolutions are available in different countries worldwide. As a result of the variety in spatial resolutions of available radar rainfall data, the hydrological community faces the challenge of selecting radar rainfall data with an appropriate spatial resolution for hydrological applications. In this study, we consider the impact of the spatial resolution of radar rainfall on simulated river runoff to better understand the impact of radar resolution on hydrological applications. Very high-resolution polarimetric radar rainfall (XRAIN) data are used as input for the Hydrologic Engineering Center–Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) to simulate runoff from the Tsurumi River Basin, Japan. A total of 20 independent rainfall events from 2012–2015 were selected and categorized into isolated/convective and widespread/stratiform events based on their distribution patterns. First, the hydrological model was established with basin and model parameters that were optimized for each individual rainfall event; then, the XRAIN data were rescaled at various spatial resolutions to be used as input for the model. Finally, we conducted a statistical analysis of the simulated results to determine the optimum spatial resolution for radar rainfall data used in hydrological modeling. Our results suggest that the hydrological response was more sensitive to isolated or convective rainfall data than it was to widespread rain events, which are best simulated at ≤1 km and ≤5 km, respectively; these results are applicable in all sub-basins of the Tsurumi River Basin, except at the river outlet.

Download Full-text

Diagnosing the Strength of Land–Atmosphere Coupling at Subseasonal to Seasonal Time Scales in Asia

Journal of Hydrometeorology ◽

10.1175/jhm-d-13-0104.1 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 320-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Di Liu ◽

Guiling Wang ◽

Rui Mei ◽

Zhongbo Yu ◽

Huanghe Gu

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Time Scales ◽

Climate Model ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Precipitation Amount ◽

Data Sources ◽

Conditional Correlation ◽

Global Land ◽

Land Data Assimilation System ◽

The Impact

Abstract This paper focuses on diagnosing the strength of soil moisture–atmosphere coupling at subseasonal to seasonal time scales over Asia using two different approaches: the conditional correlation approach [applied to the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) data, the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data, and output from the regional climate model, version 4 (RegCM4)] and the Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (GLACE) approach applied to the RegCM4. The conditional correlation indicators derived from the model output and the two observational/reanalysis datasets agree fairly well with each other in the spatial pattern of the land–atmosphere coupling signal, although the signal in CFSR data is stronger and spatially more extensive than the GLDAS data and the RegCM4 output. Based on the impact of soil moisture on 2-m air temperature, the land–atmosphere coupling hotspots common to all three data sources include the Indochina region in spring and summer, the India region in summer and fall, and north-northeastern China and southwestern Siberia in summer. For precipitation, all data sources produce a weak and spatially scattered signal, indicating the lack of any strong coupling between soil moisture and precipitation, for both precipitation amount and frequency. Both the GLACE approach and the conditional correlation approach (applied to all three data sources) identify evaporation and evaporative fraction as important links for the coupling between soil moisture and precipitation/temperature. Results on soil moisture–temperature coupling strength from the GLACE-type experiment using RegCM4 are in good agreement with those from the conditional correlation analysis applied to output from the same model, despite substantial differences between the two approaches in the terrestrial segment of the land–atmosphere coupling.

Download Full-text

Temperature decrease through the Eocene-Oligocene transition controls eco-hydrologic shifts in Central Asia

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10034 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Alexander Rohrmann ◽

Guillaume Dupont-Nivet ◽

Michael Hren ◽

Dirk Sachse ◽

Niels Meijer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Central Asia ◽

Climate Model ◽

Global Climate ◽

Global Climate Model ◽

Temperature Drop ◽

Precipitation Amount ◽

Central China ◽

Broad Leaf ◽

Xining Basin ◽

The Impact

At ca. 34 Ma the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) marks the shift from greenhouse conditions during the Eocene to the icehouse of the Oligocene and was the most pronounced cooling event during the Cenozoic. This event is well documented in marine records with a significant increase in benthic foraminifera &#948;18O values suggesting a 5&#176;C cooling in air temperature through the EOT. Instead, the few but growing number of terrestrial records suggest a much larger cooling of 4-9&#176;C. Yet, details regarding the exact timing of cooling and ensuing terrestrial changes in climate, hydrology, and ecology are sparse. Here, we investigate the impact of the EOT cooling event and associated climatic changes on the hydrology and vegetation in central China. We use stable isotopes of hydrogen (&#948;Dwax) and carbon (&#948;13Cwax) from leaf-waxes, a paleo-hydrology proxy obtained from organic material in sedimentary rocks, in combination with pollen data from a continuous well-dated, high-resolution sedimentary section from the Xining Basin in NE Tibet (36&#176;42' N, 101&#176;43' E). We then compare our results to a fully-coupled, global climate model (GCM) simulating the pre- and post-EOT conditions in central Asia.The obtained &#948;Dwax record ranges between -160 to -190&#8240; and shows a complex two-step transition through the EOT with a rapid initial drop of -30&#8240; from 33.9 to 33.7 Ma, a recovery to pre-EOT values between 33.7 to 33.4 Ma and a second drop similar in magnitude as the first one. In contrast, &#948;13Cwax values remain unchanged at -29 to -28&#8240; through the EOT. The GCM indicates a difference in temperature throughout the year between pre- and post-EOT runs of 8-9&#176;C at the Xining Basin with change in seasonality due to the collapse of the pre-EOT wet spring season, yielding mainly autumn precipitation after the transition. The overall precipitation amount remained in both simulations dry with < 500 mm/yr. The combined results show that the region experienced: (a) a significant temperature drop of 8-9&#176;C through the EOT being the first-order control on the records decrease in &#948;Dwax&#160; (1-2 &#8240; per 1&#176;C in mid-latitudes and up-to 5 &#8240; per 1&#176;C in higher latitudes) through the EOT; (b) constant bioproductivity and/or similar water-use efficiency within plants displayed by unchanged &#948;13Cwax values; (c) a changeover from a &#8220;warm-wet&#8221; desert abundant in Nitraria and Ephedra shrubs to a &#8220;temperate&#8221; desert with an expansion of conifers and broad-leaf trees in the higher-elevation hinterlands. We interpret that this change in seasonality and cooler EOT temperatures reduced the plant&#8217;s overall transpirational pressure, contributing to the spread of conifers and broad-leaf trees after the EOT under regionally new hydrologic conditions.

Download Full-text

High resolution data for semi-distributed hydrological modeling: where should we draw the line?

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-12045 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Etienne Foulon ◽

Alain N. Rousseau ◽

Eduardo J. Scarpari Spolidorio ◽

Kian Abbasnezhadi

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Spatial Resolution ◽

Hydrological Modeling ◽

Hydrological Model ◽

Swat Model ◽

Computational Domain ◽

High Resolution Data ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Resolution Data ◽

Calibration Parameters

High-resolution data are readily available and used more than ever in hydrological modeling, despite few investigations demonstrating the added value. Nonetheless, a few studies have looked into the benefits of using increased spatial resolution data with the widely-used, semi-distributed, SWAT model. Meanwhile, far too little attention has been paid to the physically-based, semi-distributed, hydrological model HYDROTEL which is widely used for hydrological forecasting and hydroclimatic studies in Quebec, Canada. In a preliminary study, we demonstrated that increasing the spatial resolution of the digital elevation model (DEM) had a significant impact on the discretization of a watershed into hillslopes (i.e., computational units of HYDROTEL), and on their topographic attributes (slope, elevation and area). Accordingly, values of the calibration parameters were also substantially affected; whereas model performance was slightly improved for high- and low-flows only. This is why, we hereby propose the systematic assessment of HYDROTEL with respect to the resolution of the spatiotemporal computational domain for a specific physiographic scale. This investigation was conducted for the 350-km2 St. Charles River watershed, Quebec, Canada. The DEM used was derived from LiDAR data and aggregated at 20&#160;m. Due to a lack of accurate precipitation information at time scales less than 24&#160;hr, data from the high resolution deterministic precipitation analysis system, CaPA-HRDPA, were used to generate various time steps (6, 8, 12, and 24 hr) and to control results obtained from observed data. This approach, recently applied to three watersheds in Yukon, proved to be an excellent alternative to calibrate a hydrological model in a region known as a hydometeorological desert (see EGU 2020 presentation of Abbasnezhadi and Rousseau). The number of computational units ranged between 5 to 684 hillslopes, with mean areas ranging from 75 km2 to 0.5 km2. HYDROTEL was automatically calibrated over the 2013-2018 period using PADDS. We combined the Kling Gupta Efficiency and the log-transformed Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency to ensure good seasonal and annual representations of the hydrographs. The 12 most sensitive calibration parameters were adjusted using 150 optimisation trials with 150 repetitions each. Behavioral parameters were used to assess uncertainty and ensuing equifinality. All scenarios were evaluated using flow duration curves, performance indicators (RMSE, % Bias) and hydrograph analyses. In addition, quantitative analyses were done with respect to physiographic features such as: length of river segments, hillslopes, and sub-watershed boundaries for each resolution. We believe this study provides the needed systematic framework to assess trade-offs between spatiotemporal resolutions and modeling performances that can be achieved with HYDROTEL. Moreover, the use of various numbers of CaPA-HRDPA stations for model calibration has allowed us to determine the number of precipitation stations needed to achieve a given performance threshold.

Download Full-text