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The Critical Role of the Routing Scheme in Simulating Peak River Discharge in Global Hydrological ModelsGlobal 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 (Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project phase 2a) project. The runoff simulations were used as input for the global river routing model CaMa-Flood (Catchment-based Macro-scale Floodplain). 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 (Global Runoff Data Centre) 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 two-thirds 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.
Document ID
20170007342
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Zhao, Fang
(Potsdam-Inst. fuer Klimafolgenforschung Potsdam, Germany)
Veldkamp, Ted I. E.
(Vrije Univ. Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Frieler, Katja
(Potsdam-Inst. fuer Klimafolgenforschung Potsdam, Germany)
Schewe, Jacob
(Potsdam-Inst. fuer Klimafolgenforschung Potsdam, Germany)
Ostberg, Sebastian
(Potsdam-Inst. fuer Klimafolgenforschung Potsdam, Germany)
Willner, Sven
(Potsdam-Inst. fuer Klimafolgenforschung Potsdam, Germany)
Schauberger, Bernhard
(Potsdam-Inst. fuer Klimafolgenforschung Potsdam, Germany)
Gosling, Simon N.
(Nottingham Univ. United Kingdom)
Schmied, Hannes Muller
(Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Univ. Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
Portmann, Felix T.
(Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Univ. Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
Leng, Guoyong
(Pacific Northwest National Lab. Richland, WA, United States)
Huang, Maoyi
(Pacific Northwest National Lab. Richland, WA, United States)
Liu, Xingcai
(Academia Sinica Beijing, China)
Tang, Qiuhong
(Academia Sinica Beijing, China)
Hanasaki, Naota
(National Inst. for Environmental Studies Tsukuba, Japan)
Biemans, Hester
(Wageningen Univ. Wageningen, Netherlands)
Gerten, Dieter
(Potsdam-Inst. fuer Klimafolgenforschung Potsdam, Germany)
Wada, Yoshihide
(International Inst. for Applied Systems Analysis Laxenburg, Austria)
Pokhrel, Yadu
(Michigan State Univ. East Lansing, MI, United States)
Stacke, Tobias
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Meteorologie Hamburg, Germany)
Ciais, Philippe
(Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Chang, Jinfeng
(Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Ducharne, Agnes
(Paris Univ. France)
Guimberteau, Matthieu
(Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Wada, Yoshihide
(Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Kim, Hyungjun
(Tokyo Univ. Japan)
Yamazaki, Dai
(Utrecht Univ. Utrecht, Netherlands)
Date Acquired
August 3, 2017
Publication Date
June 28, 2017
Publication Information
Publication: Environmental Research Letters
Publisher: IOP
Volume: 12
Issue: 7
e-ISSN: 1748-9326
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN44438
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
peak river discharge
Dams
flood hazards
Global hydrological models (GHMs)
Meteorological forcings

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