The critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological models
Global hydrological models (GHMs) have been applied to assess global flood hazards, but their capacity to capture the timing and amplitude of peak river discharge—which is crucial in flood simulations—has traditionally not been the focus of examination. Here we evaluate to what degree the choice of...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7250 |
| _version_ | 1827870848034275328 |
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| author | Fang Zhao Ted I E Veldkamp Katja Frieler Jacob Schewe Sebastian Ostberg Sven Willner Bernhard Schauberger Simon N Gosling Hannes Müller Schmied Felix T Portmann Guoyong Leng Maoyi Huang Xingcai Liu Qiuhong Tang Naota Hanasaki Hester Biemans Dieter Gerten Yusuke Satoh Yadu Pokhrel Tobias Stacke Philippe Ciais Jinfeng Chang Agnes Ducharne Matthieu Guimberteau Yoshihide Wada Hyungjun Kim Dai Yamazaki |
| author_facet | Fang Zhao Ted I E Veldkamp Katja Frieler Jacob Schewe Sebastian Ostberg Sven Willner Bernhard Schauberger Simon N Gosling Hannes Müller Schmied Felix T Portmann Guoyong Leng Maoyi Huang Xingcai Liu Qiuhong Tang Naota Hanasaki Hester Biemans Dieter Gerten Yusuke Satoh Yadu Pokhrel Tobias Stacke Philippe Ciais Jinfeng Chang Agnes Ducharne Matthieu Guimberteau Yoshihide Wada Hyungjun Kim Dai Yamazaki |
| author_sort | Fang Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Global hydrological models (GHMs) have been applied to assess global flood hazards, but their capacity to capture the timing and amplitude of peak river discharge—which is crucial in flood simulations—has traditionally not been the focus of examination. Here we evaluate to what degree the choice of river routing scheme affects simulations of peak discharge and may help to provide better agreement with observations. To this end we use runoff and discharge simulations of nine GHMs forced by observational climate data (1971–2010) within the ISIMIP2a project. The runoff simulations were used as input for the global river routing model CaMa-Flood. The simulated daily discharge was compared to the discharge generated by each GHM using its native river routing scheme. For each GHM both versions of simulated discharge were compared to monthly and daily discharge observations from 1701 GRDC stations as a benchmark. CaMa-Flood routing shows a general reduction of peak river discharge and a delay of about two to three weeks in its occurrence, likely induced by the buffering capacity of floodplain reservoirs. For a majority of river basins, discharge produced by CaMa-Flood resulted in a better agreement with observations. In particular, maximum daily discharge was adjusted, with a multi-model averaged reduction in bias over about 2/3 of the analysed basin area. The increase in agreement was obtained in both managed and near-natural basins. Overall, this study demonstrates the importance of routing scheme choice in peak discharge simulation, where CaMa-Flood routing accounts for floodplain storage and backwater effects that are not represented in most GHMs. Our study provides important hints that an explicit parameterisation of these processes may be essential in future impact studies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:02:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-98c37d09eadf4aa4add85168fe7e418f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:02:45Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-98c37d09eadf4aa4add85168fe7e418f2023-08-09T14:33:38ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262017-01-0112707500310.1088/1748-9326/aa7250The critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological modelsFang Zhao0Ted I E Veldkamp1Katja Frieler2Jacob Schewe3Sebastian Ostberg4Sven Willner5Bernhard Schauberger6Simon N Gosling7Hannes Müller Schmied8Felix T Portmann9Guoyong Leng10Maoyi Huang11Xingcai Liu12Qiuhong Tang13Naota Hanasaki14Hester Biemans15Dieter Gerten16Yusuke Satoh17Yadu Pokhrel18Tobias Stacke19Philippe Ciais20Jinfeng Chang21Agnes Ducharne22Matthieu Guimberteau23Yoshihide Wada24Hyungjun Kim25Dai Yamazaki26Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, Germany; Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) , VU Amsterdam, NetherlandsPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, GermanyPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, GermanyPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, Germany; Geography Department , Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, GermanyPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, GermanyPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, Germany; Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement , Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceSchool of Geography, University of Nottingham , Nottingham, United KingdomInstitute of Physical Geography , Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany; Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) , Frankfurt, GermanyInstitute of Physical Geography , Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, GermanyAtmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division , Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, United States of AmericaAtmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division , Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, United States of AmericaKey Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes , Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes , Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaNational Institute for Environmental Studies , Tsukuba, JapanEarth System Science and Climate Change , Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, Netherlands; Environmental Assessment Agency , Bilthoven, NetherlandsPotsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , Potsdam, Germany; Geography Department , Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, GermanyInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis , Laxenburg, AustriaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering , Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States of AmericaMax-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie , Bundesstraße 53, 20146 Hamburg, GermanyLaboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement , Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceLaboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement , Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceSorbonne Universités , UMR 71619 METIS, UPMC/CNRS/EPHE, Paris, FranceLaboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement , Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis , Laxenburg, Austria; Center for Climate Systems Research , Columbia University, New York, NY, United States of America; NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies , New York, NY, United States of America; Department of Physical Geography , Utrecht University, Utretcht, NetherlandsInstitute of Industrial Science , The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanDepartment of Physical Geography , Utrecht University, Utretcht, Netherlands; Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology , Kanagawa, JapanGlobal hydrological models (GHMs) have been applied to assess global flood hazards, but their capacity to capture the timing and amplitude of peak river discharge—which is crucial in flood simulations—has traditionally not been the focus of examination. Here we evaluate to what degree the choice of river routing scheme affects simulations of peak discharge and may help to provide better agreement with observations. To this end we use runoff and discharge simulations of nine GHMs forced by observational climate data (1971–2010) within the ISIMIP2a project. The runoff simulations were used as input for the global river routing model CaMa-Flood. The simulated daily discharge was compared to the discharge generated by each GHM using its native river routing scheme. For each GHM both versions of simulated discharge were compared to monthly and daily discharge observations from 1701 GRDC stations as a benchmark. CaMa-Flood routing shows a general reduction of peak river discharge and a delay of about two to three weeks in its occurrence, likely induced by the buffering capacity of floodplain reservoirs. For a majority of river basins, discharge produced by CaMa-Flood resulted in a better agreement with observations. In particular, maximum daily discharge was adjusted, with a multi-model averaged reduction in bias over about 2/3 of the analysed basin area. The increase in agreement was obtained in both managed and near-natural basins. Overall, this study demonstrates the importance of routing scheme choice in peak discharge simulation, where CaMa-Flood routing accounts for floodplain storage and backwater effects that are not represented in most GHMs. Our study provides important hints that an explicit parameterisation of these processes may be essential in future impact studies.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7250ISIMIPglobal hydrological modelspeak river dischargeriver routingflooddaily runoff |
| spellingShingle | Fang Zhao Ted I E Veldkamp Katja Frieler Jacob Schewe Sebastian Ostberg Sven Willner Bernhard Schauberger Simon N Gosling Hannes Müller Schmied Felix T Portmann Guoyong Leng Maoyi Huang Xingcai Liu Qiuhong Tang Naota Hanasaki Hester Biemans Dieter Gerten Yusuke Satoh Yadu Pokhrel Tobias Stacke Philippe Ciais Jinfeng Chang Agnes Ducharne Matthieu Guimberteau Yoshihide Wada Hyungjun Kim Dai Yamazaki The critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological models Environmental Research Letters ISIMIP global hydrological models peak river discharge river routing flood daily runoff |
| title | The critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological models |
| title_full | The critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological models |
| title_fullStr | The critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological models |
| title_full_unstemmed | The critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological models |
| title_short | The critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological models |
| title_sort | critical role of the routing scheme in simulating peak river discharge in global hydrological models |
| topic | ISIMIP global hydrological models peak river discharge river routing flood daily runoff |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7250 |
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