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Dr. Rafael Pimentel
Fluvial Dynamics and Hydrology Research Group. Andalusian Institute for Earth System Reserch. University of Cordoba

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0 Hydrology
0 Remote Sensing
0 Snow
0 Mediterranean area
0 Hydrological Modelling

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Data description paper
Published: 29 March 2021 in Earth System Science Data
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The main drawback of the reconstruction of high-resolution distributed global radiation (Rg) time series in mountainous semiarid environments is the common lack of station-based solar radiation registers. This work presents 19 years (2000–2018) of high-spatial-resolution (30 m) daily, monthly, and annual global radiation maps derived using the GIS-based model proposed by Aguilar et al. (2010) in a mountainous area in southern Europe: Sierra Nevada (SN) mountain range (Spain). The model was driven by in situ daily global radiation measurements, from 16 weather stations with historical records in the area; a 30 m digital elevation model; and 240 cloud-free Landsat images. The applicability of the modeling scheme was validated against daily global radiation records at the weather stations. Mean RMSE values of 2.63 MJ m−2 d−1 and best estimations on clear-sky days were obtained. Daily Rg at weather stations revealed greater variations in the maximum values but no clear trends with altitude in any of the statistics. However, at the monthly and annual scales, there is an increase in the high extreme statistics with the altitude of the weather station, especially above 1500 m a.s.l. Monthly Rg maps showed significant spatial differences of up to 200 MJ m−2 per month that clearly followed the terrain configuration. July and December were clearly the months with the highest and lowest values of Rg received, and the highest scatter in the monthly Rg values was found in the spring and fall months. The monthly Rg distribution was highly variable along the study period (2000–2018). Such variability, especially in the wet season (October–May), determined the interannual differences of up to 800 MJ m−2 yr−1 in the incoming global radiation in SN. The time series of the surface global radiation datasets here provided can be used to analyze interannual and seasonal variation characteristics of the global radiation received in SN with high spatial detail (30 m). They can also be used as cross-validation reference data for other global radiation distributed datasets generated in SN with different spatiotemporal interpolation techniques. Daily, monthly, and annual datasets in this study are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.921012 (Aguilar et al., 2021).

ACS Style

Cristina Aguilar; Rafael Pimentel; María J. Polo. Two decades of distributed global radiation time series across a mountainous semiarid area (Sierra Nevada, Spain). Earth System Science Data 2021, 13, 1335 -1359.

AMA Style

Cristina Aguilar, Rafael Pimentel, María J. Polo. Two decades of distributed global radiation time series across a mountainous semiarid area (Sierra Nevada, Spain). Earth System Science Data. 2021; 13 (3):1335-1359.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cristina Aguilar; Rafael Pimentel; María J. Polo. 2021. "Two decades of distributed global radiation time series across a mountainous semiarid area (Sierra Nevada, Spain)." Earth System Science Data 13, no. 3: 1335-1359.

Preprint content
Published: 04 March 2021
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In Mediterranean mountain regions, traditional irrigation systems still persist in areas where the  modernization approaches do not succeed in being operational. It is common that these systems alter the soil uses, vegetation distribution and hydrological natural regime. 

This is the case of the extensive network of irrigation ditches in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in southeastern Spain (an UNESCO  Reserve of the Biosphere, with areas as Natural and National Park), which originated in Muslim times, and is still operational in some areas. These ditches have contributed to maintaining local agricultural systems and populations in basins dominated by snow conditions, and they constitute a traditional regulation of water resources in the area. The network is made up of two types of irrigation ditches: “careo” and irrigation ditches. The first, the "careo", collects the meltwater and infiltrates it along its course, maintaining a high level of soil moisture and favouring deep percolation volumes that can be later consumed by the population through springs and natural fountains. The second, the irrigation ones, are used to transport water from the natural sources to the agricultural plots downstream the mountain area. In 2014, several irrigation ditches were restored in the Natural Park. This is a chance to further explore and quantify the role of this network in the hydrological budget on a local basis.  

The aim of this work is to evaluate to what extent the existence of these intermittent water networks affects the evolution of the surrounding vegetation. For this, one of the restored systems,  the Barjas Ditch in the village of Cañar, with a successful water circulation along its way, was selected from the increase of the soil water content in the ditch influence area and, indirectly a differential development of vegetation. Two analyses are performed using remote sensing information. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI, which is a spectral index used to estimate the quantity, quality and development of vegetation that can therefore be used indirectly as an indicator of the state of soil moisture, was used as the indicator of evolution. For this purpose, a historical set of LandSat satellite images  (TM, ETM+ and OLI) has been used. On the one hand, a global analysis on the whole mountainous range was carried out, comparing NDVI patterns in areas affected and non-affected by the ditches. On the other hand, the restored  Barjas ditch is used to assess vegetation changes before and after the restoration.

ACS Style

Javier Aparicio; Rafael Pimentel; María José Polo. Environmental benefits of traditional irrigation ditches in the Sierra Nevada (Spain) ecosystem by analysing the spatial-temporal evolution of NDVI on different time scales. 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Javier Aparicio, Rafael Pimentel, María José Polo. Environmental benefits of traditional irrigation ditches in the Sierra Nevada (Spain) ecosystem by analysing the spatial-temporal evolution of NDVI on different time scales. . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Javier Aparicio; Rafael Pimentel; María José Polo. 2021. "Environmental benefits of traditional irrigation ditches in the Sierra Nevada (Spain) ecosystem by analysing the spatial-temporal evolution of NDVI on different time scales." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 04 March 2021
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Streamflow in Mediterranean Mountain Areas is highly linked to the storage capacity of snowpacks and its seasonal dynamics, these becoming the only water source,during long periods, particularly during dryer seasons such as spring or summer. This fact makes that to have a better understanding of the significant drivers of change in the hydrological regimen in many mountain rivers requires a process-oriented approach  to assess the different interacting effects and their propagation from atmospheric conditions to runoff and baseflow generation in these areas. Snow dynamics has a direct and major impact on the partitioning of river flow into baseflow, subsurface flow, and runoff. Moreover, the snowpack is extremely affected by the partitioning of precipitation and water outflows (i.e., rainfall vs snowfall and snowmelt vs evaposublimation) that largely modify the riverflow regime with a stronge nonlinearity of their interactions.

This work presents the characterization of streamflow events in mountain rivers of semiarid areas based on a process-oriented approach from the identification of the major sources/sinks of water in the snow-dominated headwaters of different basins in the Sierra Nevada area, in southern Spain, within an altitudinal range of 1000-3479 m a.s.l. For this, two  catchments with available time series of streamflow are analyzed together with meteorological data and the simulation of water fluxes from the snowpack by the physically-based model SNOWMED, validated and operational in this area (www.uco.es/dfh/snowmed). First, the Cadiar River catchment (area of 0.19 km2 and mean elevation of 2034 m, 20-yr daily flow series), which is highly dominated by snow,was chosen as a representative catchment with direct dominant impacts on streamflow from snow-related water fluxes. Secondly, the contributing catchment area upstream the Órgive gauge station, in the Guadalfeo River(area of 1058 km2 and mean elevation of 1418.5 m, 28-yr daily flow series), which includes the previous case, was analized to assess the snow impacts propagation and lamination by other runoff generation conditions downstream the snow-dominated areas..  

The resulting streamflow-event series i) shows the variability of the flooding and recession periods in this area on both the seasonal and annual scales due to the variability of the snow regime upstream, and ii) constitutes a key database to assess the impact of climate trends on these rivers and understand how future climate may condition the availability of water during the dry season in the downstream areas. The results not only expand this comprehension of how snowpack-streamflow interacts in semiarid regions, but also provide us with an assessment on predictable events within a short and seasonal forecasting local framework, that can be applied to other Mediterranean mountain rivers after local analyses.

ACS Style

Pedro Torralbo; Rafael Pimentel; Javier Aparicio; Javier Herrero; Cristina Aguilar; María J. Polo. Streamflow event classification in snowfed rivers in Mediterranean catchments: a process-oriented assessment . 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Pedro Torralbo, Rafael Pimentel, Javier Aparicio, Javier Herrero, Cristina Aguilar, María J. Polo. Streamflow event classification in snowfed rivers in Mediterranean catchments: a process-oriented assessment . . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pedro Torralbo; Rafael Pimentel; Javier Aparicio; Javier Herrero; Cristina Aguilar; María J. Polo. 2021. "Streamflow event classification in snowfed rivers in Mediterranean catchments: a process-oriented assessment ." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 04 March 2021
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An optimal operation criteria in Mediterranean dams is specially required to prevent damages associated with flood and drought events, which are common and directly connected with the intrinsic seasonal and annual climate variability over these regions. That need is clear in multipurpose dams, that usually include hydropower systems in these catchments. These systems must guarantee an equilibrium between an optimum storage for production and the capacity needed for flood abatement. Specially relevant are torrential flooding events, in which quick decisions need to be taken to prevent not only the associated damages, but also the energy production losses connected to a conservative approach. Those facts are translated into a huge range of possibilities that difficulties the optimization of decision making processes. On the one hand,  several meteorological forecasting systems at different spatiotemporal scales are currently available. However, the greater uncertainty linked to the rapid response time of these catchments limits their use. On the other hand, the insufficient number of control points with available real time measurements (i.e., precipitation gauges and water level controls) challenges the creation of early warning systems with an appropriate uncertainty quantification.

This study proposes the basis for the definition of an early warning system based on a limited number of real time in situ measurements in a characteristic Mediterranean catchment. The Cala dam (59 hm3), located in the Rivera de Cala river, was chosen as an example. Cala dam is mainly used for hydroelectric production, but also for irrigation and leisure activities. Their upstream catchment (535 km2) is characterized by agroforestry uses and a quick response to intense precipitation due to steep slopes, shallow soils and groundwater redistribution, which does not favour the lamination of water. In situ historical information from, stations with available real time data in the watershed is used to: (a) define driver indicators of key streamflow states (i.e., a threshold in the cumulative precipitation since the beginning of the hydrological year or precipitation intensity over certain months); and, (b) caracterize and cluster precipitation-runoff events over the catchment. The three resulting most significant three types of events were validated during the last period of the observed data. This information was translated into a decision tree using a conditional structure, constituting the basis of the designed early warning system This scheme allows to identify the potential occurrence of a warning situation, which is fixed by the normal operational rules of the reservoir. Once the flood event is underway, the use of real time information about the water volume stored in the reservoir and the estimated probability of occurrence of an discharge event in the next hour based on antecedents precipitation, are the hydrological indicators to base the decision on together with the generation thresholds and requirements of the hydropower system. The approach is also validated based on historical information within a hindcast process during the validation period.

ACS Style

Eva Contreras; Sergio Vela; Rafael Pimentel; María José Polo. Basis for a flood early-warning system approach in fast-flow  Mediterranean catchments: The case study of Cala reservoir (Spain). 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Eva Contreras, Sergio Vela, Rafael Pimentel, María José Polo. Basis for a flood early-warning system approach in fast-flow  Mediterranean catchments: The case study of Cala reservoir (Spain). . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Eva Contreras; Sergio Vela; Rafael Pimentel; María José Polo. 2021. "Basis for a flood early-warning system approach in fast-flow  Mediterranean catchments: The case study of Cala reservoir (Spain)." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 04 March 2021
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Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) can have direct effects on streamflows at the catchment scale. However, studies of this type are still lacking in some tropical areas of the globe where LULC changes constitute the main antropic changes at watershed scale; for instance, deforestation, and agricultural modification among others. Therefore, for analysing impacts on streamflow, the first challenge is to achieve a good characterization of LULC. 

Here the objective is to evaluate whether these changes have occurred for two small basins on the South American coast in Ecuador (Junín and Paján) and, to analyse their possible effects on flows with special emphasis on minimum flows. Both catchments are characterized by savanna (Aw) climate with  seasonal rainfall patterns and a long period of minimum to zero precipitation. Changes in LULC are studied using two sources of remote sensing information: ESA-CCI-LC at spatial resolution of 300 m and Landsat TM at spatial resolution of 30 m, together with local authorities reports within the last decades. While ESA-CCI-LC directly provides LULC information , LULC was retrieved from surface reflectance after preprocessing (atmospheric and topographic corrections) from Landsat by  using a supervised algorithm. In a preliminary approach the observed changes are compared with variation in streamflow in the outlet of both catchment. 

Results show that for one of the catchments, Junín, ESA-CCI-LC does not reflect changes, while the analysis with Landsat TM shows a decrease of 11.7% of evergreen forest and an increase in agricultural activities. For the other basin, Paján, the first source indicates an increase in evergreen forest, while the second source indicates the opposite, a decrease of 7.4%. The contradictions in these sources highlight the importance of taking into account local knowledge as well as the appropriate selection of spatial resolution in the analysis. Finally, regarding the effects of the LULC changes in streamflow the initial approach was not sufficient to capture any direct effect and therefore, a deeper analysis based on specific features of the streamflow signal are planned as the next step.  

ACS Style

Andy Giler-Ormaza; Rafael Pimentel; Cristina Aguilar. Assessing changes in land use and their effects on river flows in tropical catchments of Ecuador. 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Andy Giler-Ormaza, Rafael Pimentel, Cristina Aguilar. Assessing changes in land use and their effects on river flows in tropical catchments of Ecuador. . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andy Giler-Ormaza; Rafael Pimentel; Cristina Aguilar. 2021. "Assessing changes in land use and their effects on river flows in tropical catchments of Ecuador." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 04 March 2021
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Mediterranean mountain areas are especially vulnerable to changes. Climatic trends observed in the last decades point out to an increasing number of extreme events (i.e., number of heat waves and droughts) and consequently, a direct alteration of the hydrological states of their associated ecosystems. The savanna type ecosystem called dehesa is one of them. This system is the result of a long-term co-evolution of indigenous ecosystems and human settlement in a sustainable balance, with high relevance from both the environmental (biodiversity) and socioeconomic (livestock farming, including Iberian pork food industry) point of view. Dehesa systems have a complex vegetation cover structure, where isolated trees, mainly holm oak, cork oak and oak, Mediterranean shrubs, and pastures coexist. Different problems have arisen in dehesa during last years, an example of them are seca episodes, a disease of oak trees that results in drying and final death. This condition is caused by a fungus, but very likely triggered by external hydrological related conditions like air temperature and soil water content.  Remote sensing techniques have been widely used as the best alternative to monitor vegetation patterns over these areas. However, the presence of clouds and the fixed spatiotemporal resolution of these sensors constitute a limitation in more local studies.

This work proposes the combined use of remote sensing by both terrestrial photography and satelital sensors, and hydrometeorological information as data sources for improving the hydrological characterization of vegetation in dehesa areas. The study was carried out in the Santa Clotilde experimental area, within the Cardeña-Montoro Natural Park (southern Spain). Three years of local sub-daily terrestrial photography and hydrometeorological information allowed us to define different hydrometeorological/ecohydrological indicators that are representative of key vegetation states. This local information is linked with vegetation indexes derived from high spatial resolution satellite information (i.e., Landsat TM, ETM+ and OLI (30 m x 30 m) and Sentinel-2 (10 m x 10 m) and distributed meteorological variables to extend the results from the local to the watershed scale. The promising results will be used in a short future as the basis of an advanced monitoring service where meteorological seasonal forecast information could be used to derive key indicators and help in a priori diagnosis of the system facilitating decisions making.

This work has been funded by project SIERRA Seguimiento hIdrológico de la vEgetación en montaña mediteRránea mediante fusión de sensores Remotos en Andalucía), with the economic collaboration of the European Funding for Rural Development (FEDER) and the Office for Economy, Knowledge, Enterprises and University of the Andalusian Regional Government.

ACS Style

Rafael Pimentel; Pedro Torralbo; Javier Aparicio; María José Pérez-Palazón; Ana Andreu; María Patrocinio González-Dugo; María José Polo. Combining remote sensing and hydrological information for improving hydrological characterization of dehesas in Mediterranean mountain areas: a study case in Cardeña-Montoro Natural Park (Spain) . 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Rafael Pimentel, Pedro Torralbo, Javier Aparicio, María José Pérez-Palazón, Ana Andreu, María Patrocinio González-Dugo, María José Polo. Combining remote sensing and hydrological information for improving hydrological characterization of dehesas in Mediterranean mountain areas: a study case in Cardeña-Montoro Natural Park (Spain) . . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafael Pimentel; Pedro Torralbo; Javier Aparicio; María José Pérez-Palazón; Ana Andreu; María Patrocinio González-Dugo; María José Polo. 2021. "Combining remote sensing and hydrological information for improving hydrological characterization of dehesas in Mediterranean mountain areas: a study case in Cardeña-Montoro Natural Park (Spain) ." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 12 November 2020 in Science of The Total Environment
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The largest forest wildfire in Swedish modern history burnt 14,000 ha of Boreal forest in the Västmanland County (south-central Sweden) during the summer of 2014. Here, we assess the impacts of this wildfire on the hydrological regime during the three years after it happened. In the empirical experiment carried out, four catchments (two burnt and two non-burnt nearby) with similar character and climate and with mean area of 20 km2 were compared. A total of 23 descriptors accounting for climate, land cover and flow signatures were defined and evaluated before and after the wildfire, using both remote sensing products and in situ streamflow observations. The results show three main changes in the hydrological behaviour of the burnt areas: (i) variation in duration and timing of snow season, with shorter and later beginning of the season; (ii) more dynamic behaviour of the streamflow, with smaller variation coefficient, a reduction in duration of high and low flows conditions and a more oscillating pattern; and, (iii) variations in catchment response (flashiness, runoff coefficient and actual evapotranspiration) from rainfall-events mainly during summer, but also in late autumn The study also reflects the usefulness of the combined analysis of flow signatures and remote sensing products to detect changes in catchment hydrology.

ACS Style

Rafael Pimentel; Berit Arheimer. Hydrological impacts of a wildfire in a Boreal region: The Västmanland fire 2014 (Sweden). Science of The Total Environment 2020, 756, 143519 .

AMA Style

Rafael Pimentel, Berit Arheimer. Hydrological impacts of a wildfire in a Boreal region: The Västmanland fire 2014 (Sweden). Science of The Total Environment. 2020; 756 ():143519.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafael Pimentel; Berit Arheimer. 2020. "Hydrological impacts of a wildfire in a Boreal region: The Västmanland fire 2014 (Sweden)." Science of The Total Environment 756, no. : 143519.

Preprint content
Published: 28 October 2020
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The main drawback of the reconstruction of high resolution distributed global radiation (Rg) time series in mountainous semiarid environments is the common lack of station-based solar radiation registers. This work presents nineteen years (2000–2018) of high spatial resolution (30 m × 30 m) monthly and annual global radiation maps derived using the model proposed by Aguilar et al. (2010), driven by in situ daily global radiation measurements, from sixteen weather stations with historical records in the area, and a high resolution digital elevation model in a mountainous area in southern Europe: Sierra Nevada (SN) Mountain Range (Spain). The applicability of the modeling scheme was validated against daily global radiation registers at the weather stations with mean RMSE values of 2.63 MJ m−2 day−1 and best estimations on clear-sky days. Filled daily Rg at weather stations revealed quite stable minimum daily Rg values and greater variations in the maximum daily Rg, but no clear trends with altitude in any of the statistics unlike the analysis at the monthly and annual scale when there is an increase in the high extreme statistics with the altitude of the weather station, especially above 1500 m a.s.l. Monthly distributed Rg time series showed significant spatial differences of up to 200 MJ m−2 month−1 that clearly followed the terrain configuration. July and December were clearly the months with the highest and lowest values of Rg received and the highest dispersion in the monthly Rg values was found in the spring and fall months. The great heterogeneity found in the monthly distribution of Rg along the study period (2000–2018), especially at the wet season, finally determined the inter annual differences of up to 800 MJ m−2 year−1 in the incoming global radiation in SN. The time series of the surface global radiation datasets here provided can be used to analyze trends, inter-annual and seasonal variation characteristics of the global radiation received in SN with high spatial detail (30 m). Datasets are available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.921012 (Aguilar et al., 2020).

ACS Style

Cristina Aguilar; Rafael Pimentel; María J. Polo. Two decades of distributed global radiation time series across a mountainous semiarid area (Sierra Nevada, Spain). 2020, 2020, 1 -31.

AMA Style

Cristina Aguilar, Rafael Pimentel, María J. Polo. Two decades of distributed global radiation time series across a mountainous semiarid area (Sierra Nevada, Spain). . 2020; 2020 ():1-31.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cristina Aguilar; Rafael Pimentel; María J. Polo. 2020. "Two decades of distributed global radiation time series across a mountainous semiarid area (Sierra Nevada, Spain)." 2020, no. : 1-31.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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Water storage availability of semiarid regions is closely linked to the snow reservoir and its changes. The change of hydrological regime in mountain rivers is strongly affected by the snowpack’s dynamics, which plays a crucial role during spring and/or summer season in Mediterranean areas, becoming one of the major water sources to streamflow. This influence can be analyzed from different approaches; however, due to the concurrence of different processes, whose interaction and propagation undoubtedly affect runoff and baseflow generation, a process-oriented approach is required for further understanding the ultimate reasons behind the observed changes. Hence, the partitioning of river flow into baseflow, subsurface flown, and runoff, is a key step in hydrograph analysis and for better understanding snowfed rivers and how climate variability can influence their regime.

This work presents an assessment of different baseflow separation methods in mountain rivers of semiarid areas in the framework of a process-oriented approach for identifying the major sources/sinks of water. The study area comprises the headwaters of the different basins in the Sierra Nevada area, in southern Spain, within an altitudinal range of 1000-3479 m a.s.l., high slopes, and different facing. For this, a 20-yr series of daily flow in a gauged point in the Guadalfeo River that drains the southwestern area of Sierra Nevada is analyzed. Five standard baseflow separation methods, together with the simulation by the physically-based hydrological model WiMMed, which includes the module SNOWMED developed from an energy-water balance approach and validated in the study site, were selected and their results compared. Discussion on the effects of the final baseflow series on the descriptors of the direct-runoff hydrograph (daily time step) series is also included, considering snowmelt- and rainfall-driven events, and their combination.

The results not only provide a better understanding of baseflow separation in snowfed rivers in semiarid regions, but also assess hydrograph analysis in a process-oriented approach.  

ACS Style

Pedro Torralbo; Rafael Pimentel; María José Pérez-Palazón; Javier Aparicio; Javier Herrero; Cristina Aguilar; María José Polo. Baseflow separation methods in snowfed rivers in Mediterranean catchments: a process-oriented assessment for hydrograph analysis. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Pedro Torralbo, Rafael Pimentel, María José Pérez-Palazón, Javier Aparicio, Javier Herrero, Cristina Aguilar, María José Polo. Baseflow separation methods in snowfed rivers in Mediterranean catchments: a process-oriented assessment for hydrograph analysis. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pedro Torralbo; Rafael Pimentel; María José Pérez-Palazón; Javier Aparicio; Javier Herrero; Cristina Aguilar; María José Polo. 2020. "Baseflow separation methods in snowfed rivers in Mediterranean catchments: a process-oriented assessment for hydrograph analysis." , no. : 1.

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Published: 23 March 2020
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AQUACLEW (Advancing Data Quality for European Water Services) is an ERA4CS project with the overall goal to improve quality of climate services. The project brings together nine European organisations, with different experience and expertise in developing climate services, providing data and collaborating with users. The project aims to investigate how to increase user uptake in a broad community using general information from a web interface, as well as tailored user-specific decision-support in seven case studies across Europe. Additionally, we track our ‘climate friendliness’ throughout the project.

AQUACLEW uses innovative research techniques and integrated co-development with users to advance the quality and usability of climate services for a number of water related sectors. We pose the following research questions: 1) how do we improve co-development to better incorporate multiple user feedbacks along the entire climate service production chain, from research to production, service use and decision making? 2) How should data, quality-assurance metrics and guidance be tailored along the whole data-production chain to closer meet user requirements, including resolution and precision?

Firstly, initial results show that the iterative approach between providers and users of data, demands confidence building through active engagement and involvement of experts to think on different pathways of action for users to interact with climate services and to integrate climate projections into their practice. To facilitate this interaction a number of online activities were designed:  a guided-tour for the climate service, feedback loops, and game-like activities were included in the meetings with focus groups.

Secondly we focused on investigating how data, quality-assurance metrics and guidance could be tailored along the whole data-production chain to closer meet user requirements, through three different experiments following different protocols. Protocols were developed for differentiated split sample testing in hydrological models and bias adjustment methods, and an expert elicitation. All three protocols were applied across four of seven case studies that had common factors to test the improvements of data production. The protocols had a strong impact through improved data quality in impact assessments for climate change adaptation in water management, thus decision-making can be better supported.

Lastly, we found preliminarily that ‘climate friendly’ efforts have provoked regular discussions within the consortium, suggestions for new ways to be climate friendly, challenges to travel by train and to find online solutions.

ACS Style

Christiana Photiadou; Lorna Little; Peter Berg; Rafael Pimentel; Maria Jose Polo; Torben Sonnenborg; Ernesto Pasten-Zapata; Vazken Andréassian; Johaness Lückenkötter; Philip Kruse; David Leidinger; Andreas Huber; Stefan Achleitner; Andrea Lira Loarca; Berit Arheimer. Best practises and lessons learnt from AQUACLEW. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Christiana Photiadou, Lorna Little, Peter Berg, Rafael Pimentel, Maria Jose Polo, Torben Sonnenborg, Ernesto Pasten-Zapata, Vazken Andréassian, Johaness Lückenkötter, Philip Kruse, David Leidinger, Andreas Huber, Stefan Achleitner, Andrea Lira Loarca, Berit Arheimer. Best practises and lessons learnt from AQUACLEW. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Christiana Photiadou; Lorna Little; Peter Berg; Rafael Pimentel; Maria Jose Polo; Torben Sonnenborg; Ernesto Pasten-Zapata; Vazken Andréassian; Johaness Lückenkötter; Philip Kruse; David Leidinger; Andreas Huber; Stefan Achleitner; Andrea Lira Loarca; Berit Arheimer. 2020. "Best practises and lessons learnt from AQUACLEW." , no. : 1.

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Published: 23 March 2020
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Climate services provide data dealing with future climate scenarios and projections. Climatic models ensemble mean is commonly used as the recommended value to assess climate change effects in impact studies. This ensemble is composed of different combinations of Global Circulation Models (GCM) and Regional Climate Models (RCM), not being a fixed number the quantity of RCM-GCM combinations needed to calculate this ensemble.  Recommendations found in literature indicate a range usually between 5 to 10 endmembers, but the suitability of some of the models is not always included in the assessment of the applications. How to choose correctly these number of models or to reduce its number is an issue currently under debate. In heterogeneous and/or small areas where the spatial significant scales cannot be adequately captured by coarse grids, climatic models often have problem to correctly represent hydrometeorological variables due to the GCM-RCM parameterizations. Moreover, some of these combinations give completely uneven simulated climate regime during the reference period and, consequently, hydrological variables like river flow are poorly simulated from these generated drivers.

This work proposes an alternative methodology to project hydrological variables without using model ensemble mean, selecting only the model that best represent climate regime, defining transfer functions to overpass the spatial scale issues, and assessing uncertainty by using stochastics techniques. The methodology is applied in the Guadalfeo River Basin, a mountainous semiarid watershed in Sierra Nevada (southern Spain), where alpine and Mediterranean climate coexist, and the highest summits of the Iberian Peninsula are located; hence,  snow plays a key role in the water availability and management, and future impacts are key to assess adaptation plans . The projected variables are used to assess changes in climatic impact indicators in future scenarios projections for water allocation for three different end-user sectors: small hydropower generation, water allocation in a reservoir system, coastal municipality dealing with water allocation conditioned by agriculture and tourism. 

 

This work was funded by the project AQUACLEW, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Commission [Grant 690462].

ACS Style

María José Perez-Palazon; Pascual Herrera-Grimaldi; Rafael Pimentel; María José Polo. Uncertainty assessment of climate impact indicators in future scenarios projections for water allocation in small catchments. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

María José Perez-Palazon, Pascual Herrera-Grimaldi, Rafael Pimentel, María José Polo. Uncertainty assessment of climate impact indicators in future scenarios projections for water allocation in small catchments. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

María José Perez-Palazon; Pascual Herrera-Grimaldi; Rafael Pimentel; María José Polo. 2020. "Uncertainty assessment of climate impact indicators in future scenarios projections for water allocation in small catchments." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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By definition a climate service (CS) is a provision of climate information to assist decision-making. Therefore, CS users are the crucial agent in the CS production chain. User role needs to go further than only making use of the CS, their function must be taken into account during CS design and implementation. This can be accomplished by creating a feedback loop, in which users interact with CS developers. Nevertheless, the a priori user knowledge (i.e. their background, expectations of CS, previous experiences with CS) can condition user role in this co-development process. Identifying this previous knowledge and how this can condition user perception about CS is not easy. On-line surveys and personal interviews which are the most extended technique to gather information about users, on the one hand, are not usually designed to dig into the user a priori knowledge, and on the other hand, can be influenced by many subjective aspects.

This work tries to assess the role of user previous knowledge and the perception that users have about CS. An experiment was designed and carried out with about 100 final year bachelor and master engineering students (agronomic, civil, forestry, geotechnical, hydraulic) across Europe (Germany, Austria, France and Spain) as potential CS users with similar initial knowledge. In the experiment the student population was split into two samples. Specific CS training was given to one, no training to the other. Therefore, users with and without a priori knowledge about CS were simulated. Then a role game, in which they become consultants hired by a water management authority to make a decision regarding the management of a lake, was played.  Different levels of information (i.e. ensemble mean, ensemble spread, robustness of climate model) are provided to the students along the game to evaluate basic climate concepts.

Experiment results show that previous knowledge has a role in the decision taken by the users. Trained users required more complex information before being willing to make a decision, while non-trained ones trust less complex information. No significant differences were found between countries or the two educational levels. 

This work was funded by the project AQUACLEW, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Commission [Grant 690462].

ACS Style

Rafael Pimentel; María José Polo; María José Pérez-Palazón; Stefan Achleitner; Manuel Díez-Minguito; Andreas Huber; Philip Kruse; Andrea Lira; Johannes Lückenkötter; Maria-Helena Ramos. Assessing the role of a priori user knowledge in climate services perception: An experiment with university students across Europe. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Rafael Pimentel, María José Polo, María José Pérez-Palazón, Stefan Achleitner, Manuel Díez-Minguito, Andreas Huber, Philip Kruse, Andrea Lira, Johannes Lückenkötter, Maria-Helena Ramos. Assessing the role of a priori user knowledge in climate services perception: An experiment with university students across Europe. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rafael Pimentel; María José Polo; María José Pérez-Palazón; Stefan Achleitner; Manuel Díez-Minguito; Andreas Huber; Philip Kruse; Andrea Lira; Johannes Lückenkötter; Maria-Helena Ramos. 2020. "Assessing the role of a priori user knowledge in climate services perception: An experiment with university students across Europe." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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It is common practice to apply some form of bias correction to climate models before use in impact modelling, such as hydrology. The standard method is to evaluate the correction method based on a cross validation procedure with two or more sub-periods. This allows the method to be assessed on data not previously seen in the calibration step. However, with standard split-sample setups, the data is most likely in a similar climate regime as the calibration data. In effect, the method is evaluated in the same climate regime as it is calibrated, and informs little about the performance outside the current climate regime.

To address this issue, a discrete split sample test (DSST) was set up so that as diverse climate regimes as possible were sampled. The simplest climate analogue would be to perform the DSST on the coldest years and evaluate on the warmest, to mimic a changing temperature. Here, the tests are extended to more exotic indicators, such as snow pack, the joint probability of wet and cold seasons, the number of hot days in a year, the convective activity during summer; all related to a specific case study issue. Six different bias correction methods of both standard quantile mapping and other approaches to scale the reference time series are included. The methods are applied in a pseudo-reality framework to six climate model projections from Euro-CORDEX 12.5 km simulations. The analysis is focused on comparing the DSST performance with the impact on the climate change signals, and to the reliability of each method when applied to different climate regimes.

ACS Style

Katharina Klehmet; Peter Berg; Pascual Herrera; David Leidinger; Anthony Lemoine; Ernesto Pasten-Zapata; Rafael Pimentel. Exploring the performance of bias correction applied outside the calibration period’s climate regime. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Katharina Klehmet, Peter Berg, Pascual Herrera, David Leidinger, Anthony Lemoine, Ernesto Pasten-Zapata, Rafael Pimentel. Exploring the performance of bias correction applied outside the calibration period’s climate regime. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Katharina Klehmet; Peter Berg; Pascual Herrera; David Leidinger; Anthony Lemoine; Ernesto Pasten-Zapata; Rafael Pimentel. 2020. "Exploring the performance of bias correction applied outside the calibration period’s climate regime." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 10 March 2020
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Commonly, the analysis of climate change impacts on hydrology involves a series of steps that begin with a General Circulation Model followed by the application of a downscaling or bias correction method and then coupling the climate outputs to a hydrological model. Nevertheless, frequently the hydrological models employed in these analyses are not tested to assess their skill to simulate the hydrology of a catchment under changing climate regimes. We evaluate such skill by applying a Differential Split Sampling Test (DSST) using the available observations. The models are calibrated during the three most extreme dry (or wet) years and evaluated on the three most wet (or dry) years. The DSST is applied on three catchments located across Europe: Denmark, France and Spain. This spatial distribution allows us to evaluate the method on diverse climatic and hydrological regimes. Furthermore, the DSST is applied to three different models in each of the catchments and case-specific metrics are evaluated to determine the practical usefulness of the models. Based on the DSST results, we assign a weight to the hydrological models and drive them with six Euro-CORDEX Regional Climate Models to assess climate change scenarios for the case-specific metrics. This methodology allows us to increase the confidence of our projections considering the hydrological model uncertainty for transient climatic conditions.

ACS Style

Ernesto Pasten-Zapata; Paul Royer-Gaspard; Rafael Pimentel; Torben O. Sonnenborg; Anthony Lemoine; María José Pérez-Palazón; Raphael Schneider; Christiana Photiadou. Testing the simulation skill of hydrological models under transient climate conditions for European case studies. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Ernesto Pasten-Zapata, Paul Royer-Gaspard, Rafael Pimentel, Torben O. Sonnenborg, Anthony Lemoine, María José Pérez-Palazón, Raphael Schneider, Christiana Photiadou. Testing the simulation skill of hydrological models under transient climate conditions for European case studies. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ernesto Pasten-Zapata; Paul Royer-Gaspard; Rafael Pimentel; Torben O. Sonnenborg; Anthony Lemoine; María José Pérez-Palazón; Raphael Schneider; Christiana Photiadou. 2020. "Testing the simulation skill of hydrological models under transient climate conditions for European case studies." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 09 March 2020
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The assimilation of different satellite and in-situ products generally improves the hydrological model predictive skill. Most studies have focused on assimilating a single product at a time with the ensemble size subjectively chosen by the modeller. In this study, we use the European-scale Hydrological Predictions for the Environment hydrological model in the Umeälven catchment in northern Sweden with the stream discharge and local reservoir inflow as target variables to objectively choose an ensemble size that optimises model performance. We further assess the effect of assimilating different satellite products namely snow water equivalent, fractional snow cover, and actual and potential evapotranspiration; as well as in situ measurements of river discharge and local reservoir inflows. We finally investigate the combinations of those products that improve model predictions of the target variables and how the model performance varies through the year for those combinations. We found that an ensemble size of 50 was sufficient for all products except the reservoir inflow, which required 100 members and that in situ products outperform satellite products when assimilated. In particular, potential evapotranspiration alone or as combinations with other products did not generally improve predictions of our target variables. However, assimilating combinations of the snow products, discharge and local reservoir without ET products improves the model performance.

ACS Style

Jude Lubega Musuuza; Louise Crochemore; David Gustafsson; Rafael Pimentel; Ilias Pechlivanidis. Impact of satellite and in situ data assimilation on hydrological predictions. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Jude Lubega Musuuza, Louise Crochemore, David Gustafsson, Rafael Pimentel, Ilias Pechlivanidis. Impact of satellite and in situ data assimilation on hydrological predictions. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jude Lubega Musuuza; Louise Crochemore; David Gustafsson; Rafael Pimentel; Ilias Pechlivanidis. 2020. "Impact of satellite and in situ data assimilation on hydrological predictions." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 03 March 2020 in Remote Sensing
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The assimilation of different satellite and in situ products generally improves the hydrological model predictive skill. Most studies have focused on assimilating a single product at a time with the ensemble size subjectively chosen by the modeller. In this study, we used the European-scale Hydrological Predictions for the Environment hydrological model in the Umeälven catchment in northern Sweden with the stream discharge and local reservoir inflow as target variables to objectively choose an ensemble size that optimised model performance when the ensemble Kalman filter method is used. We further assessed the effect of assimilating different satellite products; namely, snow water equivalent, fractional snow cover, and actual and potential evapotranspiration, as well as in situ measurements of river discharge and local reservoir inflows. We finally investigated the combinations of those products that improved model predictions of the target variables and how the model performance varied through the year for those combinations. We found that an ensemble size of 50 was sufficient for all products except the reservoir inflow, which required 100 members and that in situ products outperform satellite products when assimilated. In particular, potential evapotranspiration alone or as combinations with other products did not generally improve predictions of our target variables. However, assimilating combinations of the snow products, discharge and local reservoir without evapotranspiration products improved the model performance.

ACS Style

Jude Lubega Musuuza; David Gustafsson; Rafael Pimentel; Louise Crochemore; Ilias Pechlivanidis. Impact of Satellite and In Situ Data Assimilation on Hydrological Predictions. Remote Sensing 2020, 12, 811 .

AMA Style

Jude Lubega Musuuza, David Gustafsson, Rafael Pimentel, Louise Crochemore, Ilias Pechlivanidis. Impact of Satellite and In Situ Data Assimilation on Hydrological Predictions. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12 (5):811.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jude Lubega Musuuza; David Gustafsson; Rafael Pimentel; Louise Crochemore; Ilias Pechlivanidis. 2020. "Impact of Satellite and In Situ Data Assimilation on Hydrological Predictions." Remote Sensing 12, no. 5: 811.

Journal article
Published: 05 February 2020 in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
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Recent advancements in catchment hydrology (such as understanding catchment similarity, accessing new data sources, and refining methods for parameter constraints) make it possible to apply catchment models for ungauged basins over large domains. Here we present a cutting-edge case study applying catchment-modelling techniques with evaluation against river flow at the global scale for the first time. The modelling procedure was challenging but doable, and even the first model version showed better performance than traditional gridded global models of river flow. We used the open-source code of the HYPE model and applied it for >130 000 catchments (with an average resolution of 1000 km2), delineated to cover the Earth's landmass (except Antarctica). The catchments were characterized using 20 open databases on physiographical variables, to account for spatial and temporal variability of the global freshwater resources, based on exchange with the atmosphere (e.g. precipitation and evapotranspiration) and related budgets in all compartments of the land (e.g. soil, rivers, lakes, glaciers, and floodplains), including water stocks, residence times, and the pathways between various compartments. Global parameter values were estimated using a stepwise approach for groups of parameters regulating specific processes and catchment characteristics in representative gauged catchments. Daily and monthly time series (>10 years) from 5338 gauges of river flow across the globe were used for model evaluation (half for calibration and half for independent validation), resulting in a median monthly KGE of 0.4. However, the World-Wide HYPE (WWH) model shows large variation in model performance, both between geographical domains and between various flow signatures. The model performs best (KGE >0.6) in the eastern USA, Europe, South-East Asia, and Japan, as well as in parts of Russia, Canada, and South America. The model shows overall good potential to capture flow signatures of monthly high flows, spatial variability of high flows, duration of low flows, and constancy of daily flow. Nevertheless, there remains large potential for model improvements, and we suggest both redoing the parameter estimation and reconsidering parts of the model structure for the next WWH version. This first model version clearly indicates challenges in large-scale modelling, usefulness of open data, and current gaps in process understanding. However, we also found that catchment modelling techniques can contribute to advance global hydrological predictions. Setting up a global catchment model has to be a long-term commitment as it demands many iterations; this paper shows a first version, which will be subjected to continuous model refinements in the future. WWH is currently shared with regional/local modellers to appreciate local knowledge.

ACS Style

Berit Arheimer; Rafael Pimentel; Kristina Isberg; Louise Crochemore; Jafet C. M. Andersson; Abdulghani Hasan; Luis E. Pineda. Global catchment modelling using World-Wide HYPE (WWH), open data, and stepwise parameter estimation. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 2020, 24, 535 -559.

AMA Style

Berit Arheimer, Rafael Pimentel, Kristina Isberg, Louise Crochemore, Jafet C. M. Andersson, Abdulghani Hasan, Luis E. Pineda. Global catchment modelling using World-Wide HYPE (WWH), open data, and stepwise parameter estimation. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 2020; 24 (2):535-559.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Berit Arheimer; Rafael Pimentel; Kristina Isberg; Louise Crochemore; Jafet C. M. Andersson; Abdulghani Hasan; Luis E. Pineda. 2020. "Global catchment modelling using World-Wide HYPE (WWH), open data, and stepwise parameter estimation." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 24, no. 2: 535-559.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2019 in Hydrological Sciences Journal
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Advances in open data science serve large-scale model developments and, subsequently, hydroclimate services. Local river flow observations are key in hydrology but data sharing remains limited due to unclear quality, or to political, economic or infrastructure reasons. This paper provides methods for quality checking openly accessible river-flow time series. Availability, outliers, homogeneity and trends were assessed in 21 586 time series from 13 data providers worldwide. We found a decrease in data availability since the 1980s, scarce open information in southern Asia, the Middle East and North and Central Africa, and significant river-flow trends in Africa, Australia, southwest Europe and Southeast Asia. We distinguish numerical outliers from high-flow peaks, and to integrate all investigated quality characteristics in a composite indicator. We stress the need to maintain existing gauging networks, and highlight opportunities in extending existing global databases, understanding drivers for trends and inhomogeneity, and in innovative acquisition methods in data-scarce regions.

ACS Style

Louise Crochemore; K. Isberg; Rafael Pimentel; Luis E. Pineda; A. Hasan; Berit Arheimer. Lessons learnt from checking the quality of openly accessible river flow data worldwide. Hydrological Sciences Journal 2019, 65, 699 -711.

AMA Style

Louise Crochemore, K. Isberg, Rafael Pimentel, Luis E. Pineda, A. Hasan, Berit Arheimer. Lessons learnt from checking the quality of openly accessible river flow data worldwide. Hydrological Sciences Journal. 2019; 65 (5):699-711.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Louise Crochemore; K. Isberg; Rafael Pimentel; Luis E. Pineda; A. Hasan; Berit Arheimer. 2019. "Lessons learnt from checking the quality of openly accessible river flow data worldwide." Hydrological Sciences Journal 65, no. 5: 699-711.

Articles
Published: 02 July 2019 in Hydrological Sciences Journal
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This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through on-line media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focussed on process-based understanding of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for some years to come.

ACS Style

Günter Blöschl; Marc F.P. Bierkens; Antonio Chambel; Christophe Cudennec; Georgia Destouni; Aldo Fiori; James W. Kirchner; Jeffrey J. McDonnell; Hubert H.G. Savenije; Murugesu Sivapalan; Christine Stumpp; Elena Toth; Elena Volpi; Gemma Carr; Claire Lupton; Josè Salinas; Borbála Széles; Alberto Viglione; Hafzullah Aksoy; Scott T. Allen; Anam Amin; Vazken Andréassian; Berit Arheimer; Santosh K. Aryal; Victor Baker; Earl Bardsley; Marlies H. Barendrecht; Alena Bartosova; Okke Batelaan; Wouter Berghuijs; Keith Beven; Theresa Blume; Thom Bogaard; Pablo Borges De Amorim; Michael E. Böttcher; Gilles Boulet; Korbinian Breinl; Mitja Brilly; Luca Brocca; Wouter Buytaert; Attilio Castellarin; Andrea Castelletti; Xiaohong Chen; Yangbo Chen; Yuanfang Chen; Peter Chifflard; Pierluigi Claps; Martyn P. Clark; Adrian Collins; Barry Croke; Annette Dathe; Paula Cunha David; Felipe P. J. De Barros; Gerrit De Rooij; Giuliano Di Baldassarre; Jessica M. Driscoll; Doris Duethmann; Ravindra Dwivedi; Ebru Eris; William H. Farmer; James Feiccabrino; Grant Ferguson; Ennio Ferrari; Stefano Ferraris; Benjamin Fersch; David Finger; Laura Foglia; Keirnan Fowler; Boris Gartsman; Simon Gascoin; Eric Gaume; Alexander Gelfan; Josie Geris; Shervan Gharari; Tom Gleeson; Miriam Glendell; Alena Gonzalez Bevacqua; María P. González-Dugo; Salvatore Grimaldi; A. B. Gupta; Björn Guse; Dawei Han; David Hannah; Adrian Harpold; Stefan Haun; Kate Heal; Kay Helfricht; Mathew Herrnegger; Matthew Hipsey; Hana Hlaváčiková; Clara Hohmann; Ladislav Holko; Christopher Hopkinson; Markus Hrachowitz; Tissa Illangasekare; Azhar Inam; Camyla Innocente; Erkan Istanbulluoglu; Ben Jarihani; Zahra Kalantari; Andis Kalvans; Sonu Khanal; Sina Khatami; Jens Kiesel; Mike Kirkby; Wouter Knoben; Krzysztof Kochanek; Silvia Kohnová; Alla Kolechkina; Stefan Krause; David Kreamer; Heidi Kreibich; Harald Kunstmann; Holger Lange; Margarida L. R. Liberato; Eric Lindquist; Timothy Link; Junguo Liu; Daniel Peter Loucks; Charles Luce; Gil Mahé; Olga Makarieva; Julien Malard; Shamshagul Mashtayeva; Shreedhar Maskey; Josep Mas-Pla; Maria Mavrova-Guirguinova; Maurizio Mazzoleni; Sebastian Mernild; Bruce Dudley Misstear; Alberto Montanari; Hannes Müller-Thomy; Alireza Nabizadeh; Fernando Nardi; Christopher Neale; Nataliia Nesterova; Bakhram Nurtaev; Vincent Odongo; Subhabrata Panda; Saket Pande; Zhonghe Pang; Georgia Papacharalampous; Charles Perrin; Laurent Pfister; Rafael Pimentel; María J. Polo; David Post; Cristina Prieto Sierra; Maria-Helena Ramos; Maik Renner; José Eduardo Reynolds; Elena Ridolfi; Riccardo Rigon; Monica Riva; David E. Robertson; Renzo Rosso; Tirthankar Roy; Camyla Innocente dos Santos; Gianfausto Salvadori; Mel Sandells; Bettina Schaefli; Andreas Schumann; Anna Scolobig; Jan Seibert; Eric Servat; Mojtaba Shafiei; Ashish Sharma; Moussa Sidibe; Roy C. Sidle; Thomas Skaugen; Hugh Smith; Sabine M. Spiessl; Lina Stein; Ingelin Steinsland; Ulrich Strasser; Bob Su; Jan Szolgay; David Tarboton; Flavia Tauro; Guillaume Thirel; Fuqiang Tian; Rui Tong; Kamshat Tussupova; Hristos Tyralis; Remko Uijlenhoet; Rens Van Beek; Ruud van der Ent; Martine Van Der Ploeg; Anne F. Van Loon; Ilja Van Meerveld; Ronald Van Nooijen; Pieter R. Van Oel; Jean-Philippe Vidal; Jana Von Freyberg; Sergiy Vorogushyn; Przemyslaw Wachniew; Andrew J. Wade; Philip Ward; Ida K. Westerberg; Christopher White; Eric F. Wood; Ross Woods; Zongxue Xu; Koray K. Yilmaz; Yongqiang Zhang. Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH) – a community perspective. Hydrological Sciences Journal 2019, 64, 1141 -1158.

AMA Style

Günter Blöschl, Marc F.P. Bierkens, Antonio Chambel, Christophe Cudennec, Georgia Destouni, Aldo Fiori, James W. Kirchner, Jeffrey J. McDonnell, Hubert H.G. Savenije, Murugesu Sivapalan, Christine Stumpp, Elena Toth, Elena Volpi, Gemma Carr, Claire Lupton, Josè Salinas, Borbála Széles, Alberto Viglione, Hafzullah Aksoy, Scott T. Allen, Anam Amin, Vazken Andréassian, Berit Arheimer, Santosh K. Aryal, Victor Baker, Earl Bardsley, Marlies H. Barendrecht, Alena Bartosova, Okke Batelaan, Wouter Berghuijs, Keith Beven, Theresa Blume, Thom Bogaard, Pablo Borges De Amorim, Michael E. Böttcher, Gilles Boulet, Korbinian Breinl, Mitja Brilly, Luca Brocca, Wouter Buytaert, Attilio Castellarin, Andrea Castelletti, Xiaohong Chen, Yangbo Chen, Yuanfang Chen, Peter Chifflard, Pierluigi Claps, Martyn P. Clark, Adrian Collins, Barry Croke, Annette Dathe, Paula Cunha David, Felipe P. J. De Barros, Gerrit De Rooij, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Jessica M. Driscoll, Doris Duethmann, Ravindra Dwivedi, Ebru Eris, William H. Farmer, James Feiccabrino, Grant Ferguson, Ennio Ferrari, Stefano Ferraris, Benjamin Fersch, David Finger, Laura Foglia, Keirnan Fowler, Boris Gartsman, Simon Gascoin, Eric Gaume, Alexander Gelfan, Josie Geris, Shervan Gharari, Tom Gleeson, Miriam Glendell, Alena Gonzalez Bevacqua, María P. González-Dugo, Salvatore Grimaldi, A. B. Gupta, Björn Guse, Dawei Han, David Hannah, Adrian Harpold, Stefan Haun, Kate Heal, Kay Helfricht, Mathew Herrnegger, Matthew Hipsey, Hana Hlaváčiková, Clara Hohmann, Ladislav Holko, Christopher Hopkinson, Markus Hrachowitz, Tissa Illangasekare, Azhar Inam, Camyla Innocente, Erkan Istanbulluoglu, Ben Jarihani, Zahra Kalantari, Andis Kalvans, Sonu Khanal, Sina Khatami, Jens Kiesel, Mike Kirkby, Wouter Knoben, Krzysztof Kochanek, Silvia Kohnová, Alla Kolechkina, Stefan Krause, David Kreamer, Heidi Kreibich, Harald Kunstmann, Holger Lange, Margarida L. R. Liberato, Eric Lindquist, Timothy Link, Junguo Liu, Daniel Peter Loucks, Charles Luce, Gil Mahé, Olga Makarieva, Julien Malard, Shamshagul Mashtayeva, Shreedhar Maskey, Josep Mas-Pla, Maria Mavrova-Guirguinova, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Sebastian Mernild, Bruce Dudley Misstear, Alberto Montanari, Hannes Müller-Thomy, Alireza Nabizadeh, Fernando Nardi, Christopher Neale, Nataliia Nesterova, Bakhram Nurtaev, Vincent Odongo, Subhabrata Panda, Saket Pande, Zhonghe Pang, Georgia Papacharalampous, Charles Perrin, Laurent Pfister, Rafael Pimentel, María J. Polo, David Post, Cristina Prieto Sierra, Maria-Helena Ramos, Maik Renner, José Eduardo Reynolds, Elena Ridolfi, Riccardo Rigon, Monica Riva, David E. Robertson, Renzo Rosso, Tirthankar Roy, Camyla Innocente dos Santos, Gianfausto Salvadori, Mel Sandells, Bettina Schaefli, Andreas Schumann, Anna Scolobig, Jan Seibert, Eric Servat, Mojtaba Shafiei, Ashish Sharma, Moussa Sidibe, Roy C. Sidle, Thomas Skaugen, Hugh Smith, Sabine M. Spiessl, Lina Stein, Ingelin Steinsland, Ulrich Strasser, Bob Su, Jan Szolgay, David Tarboton, Flavia Tauro, Guillaume Thirel, Fuqiang Tian, Rui Tong, Kamshat Tussupova, Hristos Tyralis, Remko Uijlenhoet, Rens Van Beek, Ruud van der Ent, Martine Van Der Ploeg, Anne F. Van Loon, Ilja Van Meerveld, Ronald Van Nooijen, Pieter R. Van Oel, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Jana Von Freyberg, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Przemyslaw Wachniew, Andrew J. Wade, Philip Ward, Ida K. Westerberg, Christopher White, Eric F. Wood, Ross Woods, Zongxue Xu, Koray K. Yilmaz, Yongqiang Zhang. Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH) – a community perspective. Hydrological Sciences Journal. 2019; 64 (10):1141-1158.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Günter Blöschl; Marc F.P. Bierkens; Antonio Chambel; Christophe Cudennec; Georgia Destouni; Aldo Fiori; James W. Kirchner; Jeffrey J. McDonnell; Hubert H.G. Savenije; Murugesu Sivapalan; Christine Stumpp; Elena Toth; Elena Volpi; Gemma Carr; Claire Lupton; Josè Salinas; Borbála Széles; Alberto Viglione; Hafzullah Aksoy; Scott T. Allen; Anam Amin; Vazken Andréassian; Berit Arheimer; Santosh K. Aryal; Victor Baker; Earl Bardsley; Marlies H. Barendrecht; Alena Bartosova; Okke Batelaan; Wouter Berghuijs; Keith Beven; Theresa Blume; Thom Bogaard; Pablo Borges De Amorim; Michael E. Böttcher; Gilles Boulet; Korbinian Breinl; Mitja Brilly; Luca Brocca; Wouter Buytaert; Attilio Castellarin; Andrea Castelletti; Xiaohong Chen; Yangbo Chen; Yuanfang Chen; Peter Chifflard; Pierluigi Claps; Martyn P. Clark; Adrian Collins; Barry Croke; Annette Dathe; Paula Cunha David; Felipe P. J. De Barros; Gerrit De Rooij; Giuliano Di Baldassarre; Jessica M. Driscoll; Doris Duethmann; Ravindra Dwivedi; Ebru Eris; William H. Farmer; James Feiccabrino; Grant Ferguson; Ennio Ferrari; Stefano Ferraris; Benjamin Fersch; David Finger; Laura Foglia; Keirnan Fowler; Boris Gartsman; Simon Gascoin; Eric Gaume; Alexander Gelfan; Josie Geris; Shervan Gharari; Tom Gleeson; Miriam Glendell; Alena Gonzalez Bevacqua; María P. González-Dugo; Salvatore Grimaldi; A. B. Gupta; Björn Guse; Dawei Han; David Hannah; Adrian Harpold; Stefan Haun; Kate Heal; Kay Helfricht; Mathew Herrnegger; Matthew Hipsey; Hana Hlaváčiková; Clara Hohmann; Ladislav Holko; Christopher Hopkinson; Markus Hrachowitz; Tissa Illangasekare; Azhar Inam; Camyla Innocente; Erkan Istanbulluoglu; Ben Jarihani; Zahra Kalantari; Andis Kalvans; Sonu Khanal; Sina Khatami; Jens Kiesel; Mike Kirkby; Wouter Knoben; Krzysztof Kochanek; Silvia Kohnová; Alla Kolechkina; Stefan Krause; David Kreamer; Heidi Kreibich; Harald Kunstmann; Holger Lange; Margarida L. R. Liberato; Eric Lindquist; Timothy Link; Junguo Liu; Daniel Peter Loucks; Charles Luce; Gil Mahé; Olga Makarieva; Julien Malard; Shamshagul Mashtayeva; Shreedhar Maskey; Josep Mas-Pla; Maria Mavrova-Guirguinova; Maurizio Mazzoleni; Sebastian Mernild; Bruce Dudley Misstear; Alberto Montanari; Hannes Müller-Thomy; Alireza Nabizadeh; Fernando Nardi; Christopher Neale; Nataliia Nesterova; Bakhram Nurtaev; Vincent Odongo; Subhabrata Panda; Saket Pande; Zhonghe Pang; Georgia Papacharalampous; Charles Perrin; Laurent Pfister; Rafael Pimentel; María J. Polo; David Post; Cristina Prieto Sierra; Maria-Helena Ramos; Maik Renner; José Eduardo Reynolds; Elena Ridolfi; Riccardo Rigon; Monica Riva; David E. Robertson; Renzo Rosso; Tirthankar Roy; Camyla Innocente dos Santos; Gianfausto Salvadori; Mel Sandells; Bettina Schaefli; Andreas Schumann; Anna Scolobig; Jan Seibert; Eric Servat; Mojtaba Shafiei; Ashish Sharma; Moussa Sidibe; Roy C. Sidle; Thomas Skaugen; Hugh Smith; Sabine M. Spiessl; Lina Stein; Ingelin Steinsland; Ulrich Strasser; Bob Su; Jan Szolgay; David Tarboton; Flavia Tauro; Guillaume Thirel; Fuqiang Tian; Rui Tong; Kamshat Tussupova; Hristos Tyralis; Remko Uijlenhoet; Rens Van Beek; Ruud van der Ent; Martine Van Der Ploeg; Anne F. Van Loon; Ilja Van Meerveld; Ronald Van Nooijen; Pieter R. Van Oel; Jean-Philippe Vidal; Jana Von Freyberg; Sergiy Vorogushyn; Przemyslaw Wachniew; Andrew J. Wade; Philip Ward; Ida K. Westerberg; Christopher White; Eric F. Wood; Ross Woods; Zongxue Xu; Koray K. Yilmaz; Yongqiang Zhang. 2019. "Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH) – a community perspective." Hydrological Sciences Journal 64, no. 10: 1141-1158.

Preprint content
Published: 01 April 2019 in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions
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Recent advancements in catchment hydrology (such as understanding hydrological processes, accessing new data sources, and refining methods for parameter constraints) make it possible to apply catchment models for ungauged basins over large domains. Here we present a cutting-edge case study applying catchment-modelling techniques at the global scale for the first time. The modelling procedure was challenging but doable and even the first model version show better performance than traditional gridded global models of river flow. We used the open-source code of the HYPE model and applied it for > 130 000 catchments (with an average resolution of 1000 km2), delineated to cover the Earths landmass (except Antarctica). The catchments were characterized using 20 open databases on physiographical variables, to account for spatial and temporal variability of the global freshwater resources, based on exchange with the atmosphere (e.g. precipitation and evapotranspiration) and related budgets in all compartments of the land (e.g. soil, rivers, lakes, glaciers, and floodplains), including water stocks, residence times, interfacial fluxes, and the pathways between various compartments. Global parameter values were estimated using a step-wise approach for groups of parameters regulating specific processes and catchment characteristics in representative gauged catchments. Daily time-series (> 10 years) from 5338 gauges of river flow across the globe were used for model evaluation (half for calibration and half for independent validation), resulting in an average monthly KGE of 0.4. However, the world-wide HYPE (WWH) model shows large variation in model performance, both between geographical domains and between various flow signatures. The model performs best in Eastern USA, Europe, South-East Asia, and Japan, as well as in parts of Russia, Canada, and South America. The model shows overall good potential to capture flow signatures of monthly high flows, spatial variability of high flows, duration of low flows and constancy of daily flow. Nevertheless, there remains large potential for model improvements and we suggest both redoing the calibration and reconsidering parts of the model structure for the next WWH version. The calibration cycle should be repeated a couple of times to find robust values under new fixed parameter conditions. For the next iteration, special focus will be given to precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil storage, and dynamics from hydrological features, such as lakes, reservoirs, glaciers, and floodplains. This first model version clearly indicates challenges in large scale modelling, usefulness of open data and current gaps in processes understanding. Parts of the WWH can be shared with other modellers working at the regional scale to appreciate local knowledge, establish a critical mass of experts and improve the model in a collaborative manner. Setting up a global catchment model has to be a long-term commitment of continuous model refinements to achieve successful and truly useful results.

ACS Style

Berit Arheimer; Rafael Pimentel; Kristina Isberg; Louise Crochemore; Jafet C. M. Andersson; Abdulghani Hasan; Luis Pineda. Global catchment modelling using World-Wide HYPE (WWH), open data and stepwise parameter estimation. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions 2019, 1 -34.

AMA Style

Berit Arheimer, Rafael Pimentel, Kristina Isberg, Louise Crochemore, Jafet C. M. Andersson, Abdulghani Hasan, Luis Pineda. Global catchment modelling using World-Wide HYPE (WWH), open data and stepwise parameter estimation. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions. 2019; ():1-34.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Berit Arheimer; Rafael Pimentel; Kristina Isberg; Louise Crochemore; Jafet C. M. Andersson; Abdulghani Hasan; Luis Pineda. 2019. "Global catchment modelling using World-Wide HYPE (WWH), open data and stepwise parameter estimation." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions , no. : 1-34.