Articles | Volume 16, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1553-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1553-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Model description paper
| 
17 Mar 2023
Model description paper |
| 17 Mar 2023
| 17 Mar 2023
Evaluating a global soil moisture dataset from a multitask model (GSM3 v1.0) with potential applications for crop threats
Jiangtao Liu
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, USA
David Hughes
Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA, USA
Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University
Park, PA, USA
The Current and Emerging Threat to Crop Innovation Lab, The
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
Farshid Rahmani
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, USA
Kathryn Lawson
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, USA
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, USA
Related authors
Jiangtao Liu, Chaopeng Shen, Fearghal O'Donncha, Yalan Song, Wei Zhi, Hylke E. Beck, Tadd Bindas, Nicholas Kraabel, and Kathryn Lawson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1706, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1706, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Using global and regional datasets, we compared attention-based models and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models to predict hydrologic variables. Our results show LSTM models perform better in simpler tasks, whereas attention-based models perform better in complex scenarios, offering insights for improved water resource management.
Dapeng Feng, Hylke Beck, Jens de Bruijn, Reetik Kumar Sahu, Yusuke Satoh, Yoshihide Wada, Jiangtao Liu, Ming Pan, Kathryn Lawson, and Chaopeng Shen
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7181–7198, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7181-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7181-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate hydrologic modeling is vital to characterizing water cycle responses to climate change. For the first time at this scale, we use differentiable physics-informed machine learning hydrologic models to simulate rainfall–runoff processes for 3753 basins around the world and compare them with purely data-driven and traditional modeling approaches. This sets a benchmark for hydrologic estimates around the world and builds foundations for improving global hydrologic simulations.
Doaa Aboelyazeed, Chonggang Xu, Forrest M. Hoffman, Jiangtao Liu, Alex W. Jones, Chris Rackauckas, Kathryn Lawson, and Chaopeng Shen
Biogeosciences, 20, 2671–2692, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2671-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2671-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Photosynthesis is critical for life and has been affected by the changing climate. Many parameters come into play while modeling, but traditional calibration approaches face many issues. Our framework trains coupled neural networks to provide parameters to a photosynthesis model. Using big data, we independently found parameter values that were correlated with those in the literature while giving higher correlation and reduced biases in photosynthesis rates.
Wouter J. M. Knoben, Ashwin Raman, Gaby J. Gründemann, Mukesh Kumar, Alain Pietroniro, Chaopeng Shen, Yalan Song, Cyril Thébault, Katie van Werkhoven, Andrew W. Wood, and Martyn P. Clark
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2361–2375, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2361-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2361-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrologic models are needed to provide simulations of water availability, floods, and droughts. The accuracy of these simulations is often quantified with so-called performance scores. A common thought is that different models are more or less applicable to different landscapes, depending on how the model works. We show that performance scores are not helpful in distinguishing between different models and thus cannot easily be used to select an appropriate model for a specific place.
Yuan Yang, Ming Pan, Dapeng Feng, Mu Xiao, Taylor Dixon, Robert Hartman, Chaopeng Shen, Yalan Song, Agniv Sengupta, Luca Delle Monache, and F. Martin Ralph
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1708, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1708, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We explore a machine learning-based data integration method that integrates streamflow (Q) and snow water equivalent (SWE) to improve streamflow estimates at various lag times (1–10 days, 1–6 months) and timescales (daily and monthly) over Western U.S. basins. Benefits rank as: integrating Q at the daily scale > Q at the monthly scale > SWE at the monthly scale > SWE at the daily scale. Results highlight the method’s potential for short- and long-term streamflow forecasting in the Western U.S.
Jiangtao Liu, Chaopeng Shen, Fearghal O'Donncha, Yalan Song, Wei Zhi, Hylke E. Beck, Tadd Bindas, Nicholas Kraabel, and Kathryn Lawson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1706, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1706, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Using global and regional datasets, we compared attention-based models and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models to predict hydrologic variables. Our results show LSTM models perform better in simpler tasks, whereas attention-based models perform better in complex scenarios, offering insights for improved water resource management.
Mohammad Sina Jahangir, John Quilty, Chaopeng Shen, Andrea Scott, Scott Steinschneider, and Jan Adamowski
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-846, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-846, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a novel hybrid approach to streamflow prediction, significantly improving the efficiency and accuracy of fine-tuning deep learning models for hydrological prediction. Tested across numerous catchments in the U.S. and Europe, this method accelerates the fine-tuning process and improves prediction accuracy in locations beyond the training data. This innovative approach sets the stage for future hydrological models leveraging transfer learning.
Peijun Li, Yalan Song, Ming Pan, Kathryn Lawson, and Chaopeng Shen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-483, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-483, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores how combining different model types improves streamflow predictions, especially in data-sparse scenarios. By integrating two highly accurate models with distinct mechanisms and leveraging multiple meteorological datasets, we highlight their unique strengths and set new accuracy benchmarks across spatiotemporal conditions. Our findings enhance the understanding of how diverse models and multi-source data can be effectively used to improve hydrological predictions.
Ather Abbas, Yuan Yang, Ming Pan, Yves Tramblay, Chaopeng Shen, Haoyu Ji, Solomon H. Gebrechorkos, Florian Pappenberger, Jong Cheol Pyo, Dapeng Feng, George Huffman, Phu Nguyen, Christian Massari, Luca Brocca, Tan Jackson, and Hylke E. Beck
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4194, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4194, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our study evaluated 23 precipitation datasets using a hydrological model at global scale to assess their suitability and accuracy. We found that MSWEP V2.8 excels due to its ability to integrate data from multiple sources, while others, such as IMERG and JRA-3Q, demonstrated strong regional performances. This research assists in selecting the appropriate dataset for applications in water resource management, hazard assessment, agriculture, and environmental monitoring.
Dapeng Feng, Hylke Beck, Jens de Bruijn, Reetik Kumar Sahu, Yusuke Satoh, Yoshihide Wada, Jiangtao Liu, Ming Pan, Kathryn Lawson, and Chaopeng Shen
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7181–7198, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7181-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7181-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate hydrologic modeling is vital to characterizing water cycle responses to climate change. For the first time at this scale, we use differentiable physics-informed machine learning hydrologic models to simulate rainfall–runoff processes for 3753 basins around the world and compare them with purely data-driven and traditional modeling approaches. This sets a benchmark for hydrologic estimates around the world and builds foundations for improving global hydrologic simulations.
Yalan Song, Wouter J. M. Knoben, Martyn P. Clark, Dapeng Feng, Kathryn Lawson, Kamlesh Sawadekar, and Chaopeng Shen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3051–3077, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3051-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3051-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Differentiable models (DMs) integrate neural networks and physical equations for accuracy, interpretability, and knowledge discovery. We developed an adjoint-based DM for ordinary differential equations (ODEs) for hydrological modeling, reducing distorted fluxes and physical parameters from errors in models that use explicit and operation-splitting schemes. With a better numerical scheme and improved structure, the adjoint-based DM matches or surpasses long short-term memory (LSTM) performance.
Peter Reichert, Kai Ma, Marvin Höge, Fabrizio Fenicia, Marco Baity-Jesi, Dapeng Feng, and Chaopeng Shen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2505–2529, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2505-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2505-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We compared the predicted change in catchment outlet discharge to precipitation and temperature change for conceptual and machine learning hydrological models. We found that machine learning models, despite providing excellent fit and prediction capabilities, can be unreliable regarding the prediction of the effect of temperature change for low-elevation catchments. This indicates the need for caution when applying them for the prediction of the effect of climate change.
Doaa Aboelyazeed, Chonggang Xu, Forrest M. Hoffman, Jiangtao Liu, Alex W. Jones, Chris Rackauckas, Kathryn Lawson, and Chaopeng Shen
Biogeosciences, 20, 2671–2692, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2671-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2671-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Photosynthesis is critical for life and has been affected by the changing climate. Many parameters come into play while modeling, but traditional calibration approaches face many issues. Our framework trains coupled neural networks to provide parameters to a photosynthesis model. Using big data, we independently found parameter values that were correlated with those in the literature while giving higher correlation and reduced biases in photosynthesis rates.
Dapeng Feng, Hylke Beck, Kathryn Lawson, and Chaopeng Shen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2357–2373, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2357-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2357-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Powerful hybrid models (called δ or delta models) embrace the fundamental learning capability of AI and can also explain the physical processes. Here we test their performance when applied to regions not in the training data. δ models rivaled the accuracy of state-of-the-art AI models under the data-dense scenario and even surpassed them for the data-sparse one. They generalize well due to the physical structure included. δ models could be ideal candidates for global hydrologic assessment.
Louise J. Slater, Louise Arnal, Marie-Amélie Boucher, Annie Y.-Y. Chang, Simon Moulds, Conor Murphy, Grey Nearing, Guy Shalev, Chaopeng Shen, Linda Speight, Gabriele Villarini, Robert L. Wilby, Andrew Wood, and Massimiliano Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1865–1889, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1865-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1865-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Hybrid forecasting systems combine data-driven methods with physics-based weather and climate models to improve the accuracy of predictions for meteorological and hydroclimatic events such as rainfall, temperature, streamflow, floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, or atmospheric rivers. We review recent developments in hybrid forecasting and outline key challenges and opportunities in the field.
Chaopeng Shen, Eric Laloy, Amin Elshorbagy, Adrian Albert, Jerad Bales, Fi-John Chang, Sangram Ganguly, Kuo-Lin Hsu, Daniel Kifer, Zheng Fang, Kuai Fang, Dongfeng Li, Xiaodong Li, and Wen-Ping Tsai
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5639–5656, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5639-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5639-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Recently, deep learning (DL) has emerged as a revolutionary tool for transforming industries and scientific disciplines. We argue that DL can offer a complementary avenue toward advancing hydrology. New methods are being developed to interpret the knowledge learned by deep networks. We argue that open competitions, integrating DL and process-based models, more data sharing, data collection from citizen scientists, and improved education will be needed to incubate advances in hydrology.
W. J. Riley and C. Shen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2463–2483, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2463-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2463-2014, 2014
Related subject area
Hydrology
DECIPHeR-GW v1: a coupled hydrological model with improved representation of surface–groundwater interactions
Wastewater matters: incorporating wastewater treatment and reuse into a process-based hydrological model (CWatM v1.08)
A reach-integrated hydraulic modelling approach for large-scale and real-time inundation mapping
Graphical representation of global water models
LM4-SHARC v1.0: resolving the catchment-scale soil–hillslope aquifer–river continuum for the GFDL Earth system modeling framework
SWAT+MODFLOW: A New Hydrologic Model for Simulating Surface-Subsurface Flow in Managed Watersheds
The Process and Value of Reprogramming a Legacy Global Hydrological Model
Selecting a conceptual hydrological model using Bayes' factors computed with replica-exchange Hamiltonian Monte Carlo and thermodynamic integration
SMASH v1.0: A Differentiable and Regionalizable High-Resolution Hydrological Modeling and Data Assimilation Framework
The Water Table Model (WTM) (v2.0.1): coupled groundwater and dynamic lake modelling
Modelling rainfall with a Bartlett–Lewis process: pyBL (v1.0.0), a Python software package and an application with short records
Virtual Joint Field Campaign: a framework of synthetic landscapes to assess multiscale measurement methods of water storage
SERGHEI v2.0: introducing a performance-portable, high-performance, three-dimensional variably saturated subsurface flow solver (SERGHEI-RE)
A component based modular treatment of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum: the GEOSPACE framework (v.1.2.9)
Fitting the junction model and other parameterizations for the unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity curve: KRIAfitter version 1.0
The global water resources and use model WaterGAP v2.2e: description and evaluation of modifications and new features
Generalised drought index: a novel multi-scale daily approach for drought assessment
Development and performance of a high-resolution surface wave and storm surge forecast model: application to a large lake
Deep dive into hydrologic simulations at global scale: harnessing the power of deep learning and physics-informed differentiable models (δHBV-globe1.0-hydroDL)
PyEt v1.3.1: a Python package for the estimation of potential evapotranspiration
Prediction of hysteretic matric potential dynamics using artificial intelligence: application of autoencoder neural networks
Regionalization in global hydrological models and its impact on runoff simulations: a case study using WaterGAP3 (v 1.0.0)
STORM v.2: A simple, stochastic rainfall model for exploring the impacts of climate and climate change at and near the land surface in gauged watersheds
Fluvial flood inundation and socio-economic impact model based on open data
RoGeR v3.0.5 – a process-based hydrological toolbox model in Python
Coupling a large-scale glacier and hydrological model (OGGM v1.5.3 and CWatM V1.08) – towards an improved representation of mountain water resources in global assessments
An open-source refactoring of the Canadian Small Lakes Model for estimates of evaporation from medium-sized reservoirs
EvalHyd v0.1.2: a polyglot tool for the evaluation of deterministic and probabilistic streamflow predictions
Modelling water quantity and quality for integrated water cycle management with the Water Systems Integrated Modelling framework (WSIMOD) software
HGS-PDAF (version 1.0): a modular data assimilation framework for an integrated surface and subsurface hydrological model
Wflow_sbm v0.7.3, a spatially distributed hydrological model: from global data to local applications
Reservoir Assessment Tool version 3.0: a scalable and user-friendly software platform to mobilize the global water management community
HydroFATE (v1): a high-resolution contaminant fate model for the global river system
Validation of a new global irrigation scheme in the land surface model ORCHIDEE v2.2
GPEP v1.0: the Geospatial Probabilistic Estimation Package to support Earth science applications
GEMS v1.0: Generalizable Empirical Model of Snow Accumulation and Melt, based on daily snow mass changes in response to climate and topographic drivers
mesas.py v1.0: a flexible Python package for modeling solute transport and transit times using StorAge Selection functions
rSHUD v2.0: advancing the Simulator for Hydrologic Unstructured Domains and unstructured hydrological modeling in the R environment
GLOBGM v1.0: a parallel implementation of a 30 arcsec PCR-GLOBWB-MODFLOW global-scale groundwater model
Development of inter-grid-cell lateral unsaturated and saturated flow model in the E3SM Land Model (v2.0)
pyESDv1.0.1: an open-source Python framework for empirical-statistical downscaling of climate information
Representing the impact of Rhizophora mangroves on flow in a hydrodynamic model (COAWST_rh v1.0): the importance of three-dimensional root system structures
Dynamically weighted ensemble of geoscientific models via automated machine-learning-based classification
Enhancing the representation of water management in global hydrological models
NEOPRENE v1.0.1: a Python library for generating spatial rainfall based on the Neyman–Scott process
Uncertainty estimation for a new exponential-filter-based long-term root-zone soil moisture dataset from Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) surface observations
Validating the Nernst–Planck transport model under reaction-driven flow conditions using RetroPy v1.0
DynQual v1.0: a high-resolution global surface water quality model
Data space inversion for efficient uncertainty quantification using an integrated surface and sub-surface hydrologic model
Simulation of crop yield using the global hydrological model H08 (crp.v1)
Yanchen Zheng, Gemma Coxon, Mostaquimur Rahman, Ross Woods, Saskia Salwey, Youtong Rong, and Doris E. Wendt
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 4247–4271, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4247-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4247-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Groundwater is vital for people and ecosystems, but most physical models lack the representation of surface–groundwater interactions, leading to inaccurate streamflow predictions in groundwater-rich areas. This study presents DECIPHeR-GW v1, which links surface and groundwater systems to improve predictions of streamflow and groundwater levels. Tested across England and Wales, DECIPHeR-GW shows high accuracy, especially in southeast England, making it a valuable tool for large-scale water management.
Dor Fridman, Mikhail Smilovic, Peter Burek, Sylvia Tramberend, and Taher Kahil
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 3735–3754, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3735-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3735-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Global hydrological models are applied at high spatial resolutions to quantify water availability and evaluate water scarcity mitigation options. Yet, they mainly oversee critical local processes. This paper presents and demonstrates the inclusion of wastewater treatment and reuse into a global hydrological model. As a result, model performance improves, and models consider treated wastewater as an alternative water source.
Robert Chlumsky, James R. Craig, and Bryan A. Tolson
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 3387–3403, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3387-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3387-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We aim to improve mapping of floods and present a new method for hydraulic modelling that uses a combination of novel geospatial analysis and existing hydraulic modelling approaches. This method is wrapped into a modelling software called Blackbird. We compared Blackbird with two other existing options for flood mapping and found that the Blackbird model outperformed both. The Blackbird model has the potential to support real-time and large-scale flood mapping applications in the future.
Hannes Müller Schmied, Simon Newland Gosling, Marlo Garnsworthy, Laura Müller, Camelia-Eliza Telteu, Atiq Kainan Ahmed, Lauren Seaby Andersen, Julien Boulange, Peter Burek, Jinfeng Chang, He Chen, Lukas Gudmundsson, Manolis Grillakis, Luca Guillaumot, Naota Hanasaki, Aristeidis Koutroulis, Rohini Kumar, Guoyong Leng, Junguo Liu, Xingcai Liu, Inga Menke, Vimal Mishra, Yadu Pokhrel, Oldrich Rakovec, Luis Samaniego, Yusuke Satoh, Harsh Lovekumar Shah, Mikhail Smilovic, Tobias Stacke, Edwin Sutanudjaja, Wim Thiery, Athanasios Tsilimigkras, Yoshihide Wada, Niko Wanders, and Tokuta Yokohata
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 2409–2425, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2409-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2409-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Global water models contribute to the evaluation of important natural and societal issues but are – as all models – simplified representation of reality. So, there are many ways to calculate the water fluxes and storages. This paper presents a visualization of 16 global water models using a standardized visualization and the pathway towards this common understanding. Next to academic education purposes, we envisage that these diagrams will help researchers, model developers, and data users.
Minki Hong, Nathaniel Chaney, Sergey Malyshev, Enrico Zorzetto, Anthony Preucil, and Elena Shevliakova
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 2275–2301, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2275-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2275-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study shows the significance of groundwater in resolving the coupled terrestrial water–energy cycle. LM4-SHARC (soil–hillslope aquifer–river continuum) describes the hillslope groundwater using its emergent properties, yielding noticeable improvements in soil moisture/temperature and groundwater discharge predictions. The implications of groundwater-mediated hydrologic interactions between hillslopes and streams need further exploration in the Earth system modeling community.
Ryan Bailey, Salam Abbas, Jeffrey Arnold, and Michael White
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-300, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-300, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Water managers often make use of computer models to assess a region’s water supply under future conditions and management scenarios. This article introduces a new computer model that combines a land surface model (SWAT+) and a groundwater model (MODFLOW) and shows how it can be applied to managed, irrigated watersheds. This new model can be used for regions that rely on both surface water and groundwater for drinking water, agriculture, and industry.
Emmanuel Nyenah, Petra Döll, Martina Flörke, Leon Mühlenbruch, Lasse Nissen, and Robert Reinecke
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1096, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1096, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We reprogrammed the latest WaterGAP model (2.2e) to create a sustainable global hydrological model. By utilizing best software practices like modular design, version control, and clear documentation, the new WaterGAP supports collaboration across teams. It can be easily understood, applied, and enhanced by both novice and experienced modellers. Additionally, we share the reprogramming process to assist in the reprogramming of other large geoscientific research software.
Damian N. Mingo, Remko Nijzink, Christophe Ley, and Jack S. Hale
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1709–1736, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1709-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1709-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrologists are often faced with selecting amongst a set of competing models with different numbers of parameters and ability to fit available data. Bayes’ factor is a tool that can be used to compare models; however, it is very difficult to compute Bayes' factor numerically. In our paper, we explore and develop highly efficient algorithms for computing Bayes’ factor of hydrological systems, which will introduce this useful tool for selecting models into everyday hydrological practice.
François Colleoni, Ngo Nghi Truyen Huynh, Pierre-André Garambois, Maxime Jay-Allemand, Didier Organde, Benjamin Renard, Thomas De Fournas, Apolline El Baz, Julie Demargne, and Pierre Javelle
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-690, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-690, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present smash, an open-source framework for high-resolution hydrological modeling and data assimilation. It combines process-based models with neural networks for regionalization, enabling accurate simulations from catchment to country scale. With an efficient, differentiable solver, smash supports large-scale calibration and parallel computing. Tested on open datasets, it shows strong performance in river flow prediction, making it a valuable tool for research and operational use.
Kerry L. Callaghan, Andrew D. Wickert, Richard Barnes, and Jacqueline Austermann
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1463–1486, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1463-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1463-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present the Water Table Model (WTM), a new model for simulating groundwater and lake levels at continental scales over millennia. The WTM enables long-term evaluations of water-table changes. As a proof of concept, we simulate the North American water table for the present and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), showing that North America held more groundwater and lake water during the LGM than it does today – enough to lower sea levels by 14.98 cm. The open-source code is available on GitHub.
Chi-Ling Wei, Pei-Chun Chen, Chien-Yu Tseng, Ting-Yu Dai, Yun-Ting Ho, Ching-Chun Chou, Christian Onof, and Li-Pen Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1357–1373, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1357-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1357-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
pyBL is an open-source package for generating realistic rainfall time series based on the Bartlett–Lewis (BL) model. It can preserve not only standard but also extreme rainfall statistics across various timescales. Notably, compared to traditional frequency analysis methods, the BL model requires only half the record length (or even shorter) to achieve similar consistency in estimating sub-hourly rainfall extremes. This makes it a valuable tool for modelling rainfall extremes with short records.
Till Francke, Cosimo Brogi, Alby Duarte Rocha, Michael Förster, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Daniel Rasche, Marvin Reich, Paul Schattan, Lena Scheiffele, and Martin Schrön
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 819–842, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-819-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-819-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Multiple methods for measuring soil moisture beyond the point scale exist. Their validation is generally hindered by not knowing the truth. We propose a virtual framework in which this truth is fully known and the sensor observations for cosmic ray neutron sensing, remote sensing, and hydrogravimetry are simulated. This allows for the rigorous testing of these virtual sensors to understand their effectiveness and limitations.
Zhi Li, Gregor Rickert, Na Zheng, Zhibo Zhang, Ilhan Özgen-Xian, and Daniel Caviedes-Voullième
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 547–562, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-547-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-547-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce SERGHEI-RE, a 3D subsurface flow simulator with performance-portable parallel computing capabilities. SERGHEI-RE performs effectively on various computational devices: from personal computers to advanced clusters. It allows users to solve flow equations with multiple numerical schemes, making it adaptable to various hydrological scenarios. Testing results show its accuracy and performance, confirming that SERGHEI-RE is a powerful tool for hydrological research.
Concetta D'Amato, Niccolò Tubini, and Riccardo Rigon
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4128, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4128, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents GEOSPACE and its 1D implementation: an open-source tool for simulating soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (SPAC) interactions. Using object-oriented programming, GEOSPACE modularizes SPAC processes, focusing on infiltration, evapotranspiration, and root water uptake. The 1D deployment integrates plant transpiration, soil evaporation, and root growth, providing a flexible and validated framework for ecohydrological modeling and applications.
Gerrit Huibert de Rooij
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3487, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3487, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Water flows ever more slowly in soil when the soil dries out. This can be described by the conductivity curve that accounts for water filling up small spaces, sticking to grains if films, and water vapour diffusion. This paper introduces a relatively simple model for this curve that needs one parameter less then most others. It works well for most soils, but some need the extra parameter. The paper also presents a computer program to determine the parameter values of this and other models.
Hannes Müller Schmied, Tim Trautmann, Sebastian Ackermann, Denise Cáceres, Martina Flörke, Helena Gerdener, Ellen Kynast, Thedini Asali Peiris, Leonie Schiebener, Maike Schumacher, and Petra Döll
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8817–8852, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8817-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8817-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Assessing water availability and water use at the global scale is challenging but essential for a range of purposes. We describe the newest version of the global hydrological model WaterGAP, which has been used for numerous water resource assessments since 1996. We show the effects of new model features, as well as model evaluations, against water abstraction statistics and observed streamflow and water storage anomalies. The publicly available model output for several variants is described.
João António Martins Careto, Rita Margarida Cardoso, Ana Russo, Daniela Catarina André Lima, and Pedro Miguel Matos Soares
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8115–8139, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8115-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8115-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study proposes a new daily drought index, the generalised drought index (GDI). The GDI not only identifies the same events as established indices but is also capable of improving their results. The index is empirically based and easy to compute, not requiring fitting the data to a probability distribution. The GDI can detect flash droughts and longer-term events, making it a versatile tool for drought monitoring.
Laura L. Swatridge, Ryan P. Mulligan, Leon Boegman, and Shiliang Shan
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7751–7766, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7751-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7751-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We develop an operational forecast system, Coastlines-LO, that can simulate water levels and surface waves in Lake Ontario driven by forecasts of wind speeds and pressure fields from an atmospheric model. The model has relatively low computational requirements, and results compare well with near-real-time observations, as well as with results from other existing forecast systems. Results show that with shorter forecast lengths, storm surge and wave predictions can improve in accuracy.
Dapeng Feng, Hylke Beck, Jens de Bruijn, Reetik Kumar Sahu, Yusuke Satoh, Yoshihide Wada, Jiangtao Liu, Ming Pan, Kathryn Lawson, and Chaopeng Shen
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7181–7198, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7181-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7181-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate hydrologic modeling is vital to characterizing water cycle responses to climate change. For the first time at this scale, we use differentiable physics-informed machine learning hydrologic models to simulate rainfall–runoff processes for 3753 basins around the world and compare them with purely data-driven and traditional modeling approaches. This sets a benchmark for hydrologic estimates around the world and builds foundations for improving global hydrologic simulations.
Matevž Vremec, Raoul A. Collenteur, and Steffen Birk
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7083–7103, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7083-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7083-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Geoscientists commonly use various potential evapotranpiration (PET) formulas for environmental studies, which can be prone to errors and sensitive to climate change. PyEt, a tested and open-source Python package, simplifies the application of 20 PET methods for both time series and gridded data, ensuring accurate and consistent PET estimations suitable for a wide range of environmental applications.
Nedal Aqel, Lea Reusser, Stephan Margreth, Andrea Carminati, and Peter Lehmann
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6949–6966, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6949-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6949-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The soil water potential (SWP) determines various soil water processes. Since remote sensing techniques cannot measure it directly, it is often deduced from volumetric water content (VWC) information. However, under dynamic field conditions, the relationship between SWP and VWC is highly ambiguous due to different factors that cannot be modeled with the classical approach. Applying a deep neural network with an autoencoder enables the prediction of the dynamic SWP.
Jenny Kupzig, Nina Kupzig, and Martina Flörke
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6819–6846, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6819-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6819-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Valid simulation results from global hydrological models (GHMs) are essential, e.g., to studying climate change impacts. Adapting GHMs to ungauged basins requires regionalization, enabling valid simulations. In this study, we highlight the impact of regionalization of GHMs on runoff simulations using an ensemble of regionalization methods for WaterGAP3. We have found that regionalization leads to temporally and spatially varying uncertainty, potentially reaching up to inter-model differences.
Manuel F. Rios Gaona, Katerina Michaelides, and Michael Bliss Singer
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5387–5412, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5387-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5387-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
STORM v.2 (short for STOchastic Rainfall Model version 2.0) is an open-source and user-friendly modelling framework for simulating rainfall fields over a basin. It also allows simulating the impact of plausible climate change either on the total seasonal rainfall or the storm’s maximum intensity.
Lukas Riedel, Thomas Röösli, Thomas Vogt, and David N. Bresch
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5291–5308, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5291-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5291-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
River floods are among the most devastating natural hazards. We propose a flood model with a statistical approach based on openly available data. The model is integrated in a framework for estimating impacts of physical hazards. Although the model only agrees moderately with satellite-detected flood extents, we show that it can be used for forecasting the magnitude of flood events in terms of socio-economic impacts and for comparing these with past events.
Robin Schwemmle, Hannes Leistert, Andreas Steinbrich, and Markus Weiler
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5249–5262, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5249-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5249-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The new process-based hydrological toolbox model, RoGeR (https://roger.readthedocs.io/), can be used to estimate the components of the hydrological cycle and the related travel times of pollutants through parts of the hydrological cycle. These estimations may contribute to effective water resources management. This paper presents the toolbox concept and provides a simple example of providing estimations to water resources management.
Sarah Hanus, Lilian Schuster, Peter Burek, Fabien Maussion, Yoshihide Wada, and Daniel Viviroli
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5123–5144, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5123-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a coupling of the large-scale glacier model OGGM and the hydrological model CWatM. Projected future increase in discharge is less strong while future decrease in discharge is stronger when glacier runoff is explicitly included in the large-scale hydrological model. This is because glacier runoff is projected to decrease in nearly all basins. We conclude that an improved glacier representation can prevent underestimating future discharge changes in large river basins.
M. Graham Clark and Sean K. Carey
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4911–4922, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4911-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4911-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides validation of the Canadian Small Lakes Model (CSLM) for estimating evaporation rates from reservoirs and a refactoring of the original FORTRAN code into MATLAB and Python, which are now stored in GitHub repositories. Here we provide direct observations of the surface energy exchange obtained with an eddy covariance system to validate the CSLM. There was good agreement between observations and estimations except under specific atmospheric conditions when evaporation is low.
Thibault Hallouin, François Bourgin, Charles Perrin, Maria-Helena Ramos, and Vazken Andréassian
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4561–4578, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4561-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4561-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The evaluation of the quality of hydrological model outputs against streamflow observations is widespread in the hydrological literature. In order to improve on the reproducibility of published studies, a new evaluation tool dedicated to hydrological applications is presented. It is open source and usable in a variety of programming languages to make it as accessible as possible to the community. Thus, authors and readers alike can use the same tool to produce and reproduce the results.
Barnaby Dobson, Leyang Liu, and Ana Mijic
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4495–4513, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4495-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4495-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Water management is challenging when models don't capture the entire water cycle. We propose that using integrated models facilitates management and improves understanding. We introduce a software tool designed for this task. We discuss its foundation, how it simulates water system components and their interactions, and its customisation. We provide a flexible way to represent water systems, and we hope it will inspire more research and practical applications for sustainable water management.
Qi Tang, Hugo Delottier, Wolfgang Kurtz, Lars Nerger, Oliver S. Schilling, and Philip Brunner
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3559–3578, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3559-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3559-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We have developed a new data assimilation framework by coupling an integrated hydrological model HydroGeoSphere with the data assimilation software PDAF. Compared to existing hydrological data assimilation systems, the advantage of our newly developed framework lies in its consideration of the physically based model; its large selection of different assimilation algorithms; and its modularity with respect to the combination of different types of observations, states and parameters.
Willem J. van Verseveld, Albrecht H. Weerts, Martijn Visser, Joost Buitink, Ruben O. Imhoff, Hélène Boisgontier, Laurène Bouaziz, Dirk Eilander, Mark Hegnauer, Corine ten Velden, and Bobby Russell
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3199–3234, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3199-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3199-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present the wflow_sbm distributed hydrological model, recently released by Deltares, as part of the Wflow.jl open-source modelling framework in the programming language Julia. Wflow_sbm has a fast runtime, making it suitable for large-scale modelling. Wflow_sbm models can be set a priori for any catchment with the Python tool HydroMT-Wflow based on globally available datasets, which results in satisfactory to good performance (without much tuning). We show this for a number of specific cases.
Sanchit Minocha, Faisal Hossain, Pritam Das, Sarath Suresh, Shahzaib Khan, George Darkwah, Hyongki Lee, Stefano Galelli, Konstantinos Andreadis, and Perry Oddo
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3137–3156, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3137-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3137-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Reservoir Assessment Tool (RAT) merges satellite data with hydrological models, enabling robust estimation of reservoir parameters like inflow, outflow, surface area, and storage changes around the world. Version 3.0 of RAT lowers the barrier of entry for new users and achieves scalability and computational efficiency. RAT 3.0 also facilitates open-source development of functions for continuous improvement to mobilize and empower the global water management community.
Heloisa Ehalt Macedo, Bernhard Lehner, Jim Nicell, and Günther Grill
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2877–2899, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2877-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2877-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Treated and untreated wastewaters are sources of contaminants of emerging concern. HydroFATE, a new global model, estimates their concentrations in surface waters, identifying streams that are most at risk and guiding monitoring/mitigation efforts to safeguard aquatic ecosystems and human health. Model predictions were validated against field measurements of the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole, with predicted concentrations exceeding ecological thresholds in more than 400 000 km of rivers worldwide.
Pedro Felipe Arboleda-Obando, Agnès Ducharne, Zun Yin, and Philippe Ciais
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 2141–2164, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2141-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2141-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We show a new irrigation scheme included in the ORCHIDEE land surface model. The new irrigation scheme restrains irrigation due to water shortage, includes water adduction, and represents environmental limits and facilities to access water, due to representing infrastructure in a simple way. Our results show that the new irrigation scheme helps simulate acceptable land surface conditions and fluxes in irrigated areas, even if there are difficulties due to shortcomings and limited information.
Guoqiang Tang, Andrew W. Wood, Andrew J. Newman, Martyn P. Clark, and Simon Michael Papalexiou
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1153–1173, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1153-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1153-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ensemble geophysical datasets are crucial for understanding uncertainties and supporting probabilistic estimation/prediction. However, open-access tools for creating these datasets are limited. We have developed the Python-based Geospatial Probabilistic Estimation Package (GPEP). Through several experiments, we demonstrate GPEP's ability to estimate precipitation, temperature, and snow water equivalent. GPEP will be a useful tool to support uncertainty analysis in Earth science applications.
Atabek Umirbekov, Richard Essery, and Daniel Müller
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 911–929, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-911-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-911-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a parsimonious snow model which simulates snow mass without the need for extensive calibration. The model is based on a machine learning algorithm that has been trained on diverse set of daily observations of snow accumulation or melt, along with corresponding climate and topography data. We validated the model using in situ data from numerous new locations. The model provides a promising solution for accurate snow mass estimation across regions where in situ data are limited.
Ciaran J. Harman and Esther Xu Fei
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 477–495, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-477-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-477-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Over the last 10 years, scientists have developed StorAge Selection: a new way of modeling how material is transported through complex systems. Here, we present some new, easy-to-use, flexible, and very accurate code for implementing this method. We show that, in cases where we know exactly what the answer should be, our code gets the right answer. We also show that our code is closer than some other codes to the right answer in an important way: it conserves mass.
Lele Shu, Paul Ullrich, Xianhong Meng, Christopher Duffy, Hao Chen, and Zhaoguo Li
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 497–527, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-497-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-497-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our team developed rSHUD v2.0, a toolkit that simplifies the use of the SHUD, a model simulating water movement in the environment. We demonstrated its effectiveness in two watersheds, one in the USA and one in China. The toolkit also facilitated the creation of the Global Hydrological Data Cloud, a platform for automatic data processing and model deployment, marking a significant advancement in hydrological research.
Jarno Verkaik, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Gualbert H. P. Oude Essink, Hai Xiang Lin, and Marc F. P. Bierkens
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 275–300, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-275-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-275-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents the parallel PCR-GLOBWB global-scale groundwater model at 30 arcsec resolution (~1 km at the Equator). Named GLOBGM v1.0, this model is a follow-up of the 5 arcmin (~10 km) model, aiming for a higher-resolution simulation of worldwide fresh groundwater reserves under climate change and excessive pumping. For a long transient simulation using a parallel prototype of MODFLOW 6, we show that our implementation is efficient for a relatively low number of processor cores.
Han Qiu, Gautam Bisht, Lingcheng Li, Dalei Hao, and Donghui Xu
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 143–167, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-143-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-143-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We developed and validated an inter-grid-cell lateral groundwater flow model for both saturated and unsaturated zone in the ELMv2.0 framework. The developed model was benchmarked against PFLOTRAN, a 3D subsurface flow and transport model and showed comparable performance with PFLOTRAN. The developed model was also applied to the Little Washita experimental watershed. The spatial pattern of simulated groundwater table depth agreed well with the global groundwater table benchmark dataset.
Daniel Boateng and Sebastian G. Mutz
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6479–6514, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6479-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6479-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present an open-source Python framework for performing empirical-statistical downscaling of climate information, such as precipitation. The user-friendly package comprises all the downscaling cycles including data preparation, model selection, training, and evaluation, designed in an efficient and flexible manner, allowing for quick and reproducible downscaling products. The framework would contribute to climate change impact assessments by generating accurate high-resolution climate data.
Masaya Yoshikai, Takashi Nakamura, Eugene C. Herrera, Rempei Suwa, Rene Rollon, Raghab Ray, Keita Furukawa, and Kazuo Nadaoka
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5847–5863, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5847-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5847-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Due to complex root system structures, representing the impacts of Rhizophora mangroves on flow in hydrodynamic models has been challenging. This study presents a new drag and turbulence model that leverages an empirical model for root systems. The model can be applied without rigorous measurements of root structures and showed high performance in flow simulations; this may provide a better understanding of hydrodynamics and related transport processes in Rhizophora mangrove forests.
Hao Chen, Tiejun Wang, Yonggen Zhang, Yun Bai, and Xi Chen
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5685–5701, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5685-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5685-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Effectively assembling multiple models for approaching a benchmark solution remains a long-standing issue for various geoscience domains. We here propose an automated machine learning-assisted ensemble framework (AutoML-Ens) that attempts to resolve this challenge. Results demonstrate the great potential of AutoML-Ens for improving estimations due to its two unique features, i.e., assigning dynamic weights for candidate models and taking full advantage of AutoML-assisted workflow.
Guta Wakbulcho Abeshu, Fuqiang Tian, Thomas Wild, Mengqi Zhao, Sean Turner, A. F. M. Kamal Chowdhury, Chris R. Vernon, Hongchang Hu, Yuan Zhuang, Mohamad Hejazi, and Hong-Yi Li
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5449–5472, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5449-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5449-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Most existing global hydrologic models do not explicitly represent hydropower reservoirs. We are introducing a new water management module to Xanthos that distinguishes between the operational characteristics of irrigation, hydropower, and flood control reservoirs. We show that this explicit representation of hydropower reservoirs can lead to a significantly more realistic simulation of reservoir storage and releases in over 44 % of the hydropower reservoirs included in this study.
Javier Diez-Sierra, Salvador Navas, and Manuel del Jesus
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5035–5048, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5035-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5035-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
NEOPRENE is an open-source, freely available library allowing scientists and practitioners to generate synthetic time series and maps of rainfall. These outputs will help to explore plausible events that were never observed in the past but may occur in the near future and to generate possible future events under climate change conditions. The paper shows how to use the library to downscale daily precipitation and how to use synthetic generation to improve our characterization of extreme events.
Adam Pasik, Alexander Gruber, Wolfgang Preimesberger, Domenico De Santis, and Wouter Dorigo
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4957–4976, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4957-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4957-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We apply the exponential filter (EF) method to satellite soil moisture retrievals to estimate the water content in the unobserved root zone globally from 2002–2020. Quality assessment against an independent dataset shows satisfactory results. Error characterization is carried out using the standard uncertainty propagation law and empirically estimated values of EF model structural uncertainty and parameter uncertainty. This is followed by analysis of temporal uncertainty variations.
Po-Wei Huang, Bernd Flemisch, Chao-Zhong Qin, Martin O. Saar, and Anozie Ebigbo
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4767–4791, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4767-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4767-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Water in natural environments consists of many ions. Ions are electrically charged and exert electric forces on each other. We discuss whether the electric forces are relevant in describing mixing and reaction processes in natural environments. By comparing our computer simulations to lab experiments in literature, we show that the electric interactions between ions can play an essential role in mixing and reaction processes, in which case they should not be neglected in numerical modeling.
Edward R. Jones, Marc F. P. Bierkens, Niko Wanders, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Ludovicus P. H. van Beek, and Michelle T. H. van Vliet
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4481–4500, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4481-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4481-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
DynQual is a new high-resolution global water quality model for simulating total dissolved solids, biological oxygen demand and fecal coliform as indicators of salinity, organic pollution and pathogen pollution, respectively. Output data from DynQual can supplement the observational record of water quality data, which is highly fragmented across space and time, and has the potential to inform assessments in a broad range of fields including ecological, human health and water scarcity studies.
Hugo Delottier, John Doherty, and Philip Brunner
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4213–4231, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4213-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4213-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Long run times are usually a barrier to the quantification and reduction of predictive uncertainty with complex hydrological models. Data space inversion (DSI) provides an alternative and highly model-run-efficient method for uncertainty quantification. This paper demonstrates DSI's ability to robustly quantify predictive uncertainty and extend the methodology to provide practical metrics that can guide data acquisition and analysis to achieve goals of decision-support modelling.
Zhipin Ai and Naota Hanasaki
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3275–3290, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3275-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3275-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Simultaneously simulating food production and the requirements and availability of water resources in a spatially explicit manner within a single framework remains challenging on a global scale. Here, we successfully enhanced the global hydrological model H08 that considers human water use and management to simulate the yields of four major staple crops: maize, wheat, rice, and soybean. Our improved model will be beneficial for advancing global food–water nexus studies in the future.
Cited articles
Aboelyazeed, D., Xu, C., Hoffman, F. M., Jones, A. W., Rackauckas, C., Lawson, K. E., and Shen, C.: A differentiable ecosystem modeling framework for large-scale inverse problems: demonstration with photosynthesis simulations, Biogeosciences Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2022-211, in review, 2022.
Al Bitar, A., Mialon, A., Kerr, Y. H., Cabot, F., Richaume, P., Jacquette, E., Quesney, A., Mahmoodi, A., Tarot, S., Parrens, M., Al-Yaari, A., Pellarin, T., Rodriguez-Fernandez, N., and Wigneron, J.-P.: The global SMOS Level 3 daily soil moisture and brightness temperature maps, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 293–315, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-293-2017, 2017.
Albergel, C., Dutra, E., Munier, S., Calvet, J.-C., Munoz-Sabater, J., de Rosnay, P., and Balsamo, G.: ERA-5 and ERA-Interim driven ISBA land surface model simulations: which one performs better?, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3515–3532, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3515-2018, 2018.
Al-Yaari, A., Wigneron, J.-P., Kerr, Y., Rodriguez-Fernandez, N., O'Neill,
P. E., Jackson, T. J., De Lannoy, G. J. M., Al Bitar, A., Mialon, A.,
Richaume, P., Walker, J. P., Mahmoodi, A., and Yueh, S.: Evaluating soil
moisture retrievals from ESA's SMOS and NASA's SMAP brightness temperature
datasets, Remote Sens. Environ., 193, 257–273,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.03.010, 2017.
Amatulli, G., Domisch, S., Tuanmu, M.-N., Parmentier, B., Ranipeta, A.,
Malczyk, J., and Jetz, W.: A suite of global, cross-scale topographic
variables for environmental and biodiversity modeling, Sci. Data, 5, 180040,
https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.40, 2018.
Armesto, J. J. and Martnez, J. A.: Relations between vegetation structure
and slope aspect in the Mediterranean region of Chile, J. Ecol., 66,
881–889, https://doi.org/10.2307/2259301, 1978.
Baraniuk, C.: Locust Swarms Are Getting So Big That We Need Radar to Track
Them, Medium, https://onezero.medium.com/locust-swarms-are-getting-so-big-that-we-need-radar-to-track-them-dc79c06496a0 (last access: 1 August 2022), 2020.
Beaudoing, H. and Rodell, M.: GLDAS Noah Land Surface Model
L4 3 hourly 0.25 x 0.25 degree V2.0 (GLDAS_NOAH025_3H 2.0), Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/342OHQM9AK6Q, 2019.
Beck, H. E., Wood, E. F., Pan, M., Fisher, C. K., Miralles, D. G., Dijk, A.
I. J. M. van, McVicar, T. R., and Adler, R. F.: MSWEP V2 Global 3-Hourly
0.1∘ Precipitation: Methodology and Quantitative Assessment, B.
Am. Meteorol. Soc., 100, 473–500, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0138.1,
2019.
Beck, H. E., Pan, M., Miralles, D. G., Reichle, R. H., Dorigo, W. A., Hahn, S., Sheffield, J., Karthikeyan, L., Balsamo, G., Parinussa, R. M., van Dijk, A. I. J. M., Du, J., Kimball, J. S., Vergopolan, N., and Wood, E. F.: Evaluation of 18 satellite- and model-based soil moisture products using in situ measurements from 826 sensors, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 17–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-17-2021, 2021.
Bennie, J., Hill, M. O., Baxter, R., and Huntley, B.: Influence of slope and
aspect on long-term vegetation change in British chalk grasslands, J. Ecol.,
94, 355–368, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01104.x, 2006.
Bentley, A. R., Donovan, J., Sonder, K., Baudron, F., Lewis, J. M., Voss,
R., Rutsaert, P., Poole, N., Kamoun, S., Saunders, D. G. O., Hodson, D.,
Hughes, D. P., Negra, C., Ibba, M. I., Snapp, S., Sida, T. S., Jaleta, M.,
Tesfaye, K., Becker-Reshef, I., and Govaerts, B.: Near- to long-term
measures to stabilize global wheat supplies and food security, Nat. Food, 3,
483–486, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00559-y, 2022.
Bindas, T., Tsai, W.-P., Liu, J., Rahmani, F., Feng, D., Bian, Y., Lawson,
K., and Shen, C.: Improving large-basin streamflow simulation using a
modular, differentiable, learnable graph model for routing, ESS Open Archive [preprint],
https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10512512.1, 2022.
de Jeu, R. and Owe, M.: AMSR2/GCOM-W1 surface soil moisture (LPRM)
L3 1 day 10 km x 10 km ascending V001, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) (Bill Teng), Greenbelt, MD, USA, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/B0GHODHJLDA8,
2013.
Didan, K.: MOD13C2: MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 0.05Deg
CMG version 6, NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13C2.006, 2015.
Dorigo, W. A., Wagner, W., Hohensinn, R., Hahn, S., Paulik, C., Xaver, A., Gruber, A., Drusch, M., Mecklenburg, S., van Oevelen, P., Robock, A., and Jackson, T.: The International Soil Moisture Network: a data hosting facility for global in situ soil moisture measurements, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 1675–1698, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-1675-2011, 2011.
Dorigo, W. A., Xaver, A., Vreugdenhil, M., Gruber, A., Hegyiová, A.,
Sanchis-Dufau, A. D., Zamojski, D., Cordes, C., Wagner, W., and Drusch, M.:
Global automated quality control of in situ soil moisture data from the
international soil moisture network, Vadose Zone J., 12, vzj2012.0097,
https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2012.0097, 2013.
Ellenburg, W. L., Mishra, V., Roberts, J. B., Limaye, A. S., Case, J. L.,
Blankenship, C. B., and Cressman, K.: Detecting desert locust breeding
grounds: A satellite-assisted modeling approach, Remote Sens., 13, 1276,
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13071276, 2021.
Entekhabi, D.: The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, P. IEEE,
98, 704–716, https://doi.org/10/bz3xhb, 2010.
ESA: Land Cover CCI Product User Guide Version 2, http://maps.elie.ucl.ac.be/CCI/viewer/download/ESACCI-LC-Ph2-PUGv2_2.0.pdf (last access: 1 August 2022), 2017.
Fang, K. and Shen, C.: Near-real-time forecast of satellite-based soil
moisture using long short-term memory with an adaptive data integration
kernel, J. Hydrometeorol., 21, 399–413,
https://doi.org/10.1175/jhm-d-19-0169.1, 2020.
Fang, K., Shen, C., Kifer, D., and Yang, X.: Prolongation of SMAP to
spatiotemporally seamless coverage of continental U.S. using a deep learning
neural network, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 11030–11039,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gl075619, 2017.
Fang, K., Pan, M., and Shen, C.: The value of SMAP for long-term soil
moisture estimation with the help of deep learning, IEEE T. Geosci.
Remote, 57, 2221–2233, https://doi.org/10/gghp3v, 2019.
Fang, K., Kifer, D., Lawson, K., Feng, D., and Shen, C.: The data synergy
effects of time-series deep learning models in hydrology, Water Resour.
Res., 58, e2021WR029583, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR029583, 2022.
FAO, IIASA, ISRIC, ISSCAS, and JRC: Harmonized World Soil Database (version
1.2), FAO IIASA, ISRIC, ISSCAS, and JRC [data set], http://www.fao.org/soils-portal/data-hub/soil-maps-and-databases/harmonized-world-soil-database-v12/en/ (last access: 1 August 2022), 2012.
Feng, D., Fang, K., and Shen, C.: Enhancing streamflow forecast and
extracting insights using long-short term memory networks with data
integration at continental scales, Water Resour. Res., 56, e2019WR026793,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR026793, 2020.
Feng, D., Lawson, K., and Shen, C.: Mitigating prediction error of deep
learning streamflow models in large data-sparse regions with ensemble
modeling and soft data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2021GL092999,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL092999, 2021.
Feng, D., Liu, J., Lawson, K., and Shen, C.: Differentiable, learnable,
regionalized process-based models with multiphysical outputs can approach
state-of-the-art hydrologic prediction accuracy, Water Resour. Res., 58,
e2022WR032404, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR032404, 2022.
Fischer, G., Nachtergaele, F., Prieler, S., van Velthuizen, H. T., Verelst,
L., and Wiberg, D.: Global Agro-Ecological Zones Assessment for Agriculture
(GAEZ 2008), IIASA Laxenburg, Austria and FAO, Rome, Italy, 2008.
Friedman, J. H.: Greedy Function Approximation: A Gradient Boosting Machine,
Ann. Stat., 29, 1189–1232, 2001.
Gauch, M., Mai, J., and Lin, J.: The Proper Care and Feeding of CAMELS: How
Limited Training Data Affects Streamflow Prediction, Environ. Modell. Softw., 135, 104926, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104926, 2021.
Hochreiter, S. and Schmidhuber, J.: Long Short-Term Memory, Neural. Comput.,
9, 1735–1780, https://doi.org/10.1162/neco.1997.9.8.1735, 1997.
Hrachowitz, M., Savenije, H. H. G., Blöschl, G., McDonnell, J. J.,
Sivapalan, M., Pomeroy, J. W., Arheimer, B., Blume, T., Clark, M. P., Ehret,
U., Fenicia, F., Freer, J. E., Gelfan, A., Gupta, H. V., Hughes, D. A., Hut,
R. W., Montanari, A., Pande, S., Tetzlaff, D., Troch, P. A., Uhlenbrook, S.,
Wagener, T., Winsemius, H. C., Woods, R. A., Zehe, E., and Cudennec, C.: A
decade of Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB)–a review, Hydrol. Sci. J.,
58, 1198–1255, https://doi.org/10/gfsq5q, 2013.
Huffman, G. J., Stocker, E. F., Bolvin, D. T., Nelkin, E. J., and Tan, J.:
GPM IMERG Final Precipitation L3 1 day 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree V06
(GPM_3IMERGDF 06), edited by: Andrey Savtchenko, Greenbelt, MD, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) [data set],
https://doi.org/10.5067/GPM/IMERGDF/DAY/06, 2019.
Hunter-Jones, P.: Egg development in the Desert Locust (Schistocerca
gregaria Forsk.) in relation to the availability of water, Proc. R. Entomol.
Soc. A, 39, 25–33,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3032.1964.tb00781.x, 1964.
Kerr, Y. H., Waldteufel, P., Wigneron, J.-P., Delwart, S., Cabot, F.,
Boutin, J., Escorihuela, M.-J., Font, J., Reul, N., Gruhier, C., Juglea, S.
E., Drinkwater, M. R., Hahne, A., Martín-Neira, M., and Mecklenburg,
S.: The SMOS mission: New tool for monitoring key elements of the global
water cycle, P. IEEE, 98, 666–687, https://doi.org/10/b9szx6, 2010.
Kratzert, F., Klotz, D., Shalev, G., Klambauer, G., Hochreiter, S., and Nearing, G.: Towards learning universal, regional, and local hydrological behaviors via machine learning applied to large-sample datasets, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 5089–5110, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-5089-2019, 2019.
Liu, J., Rahmani, F., Lawson, K., and Shen, C.: A multiscale deep learning
model for soil moisture integrating satellite and in situ data, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 49, e2021GL096847, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096847, 2022a.
Liu, J., Hughes, D., Rahmani, F., Lawson, K., and Shen, C.: Global Soil Moisture Dataset From a Multitask Model (GSM3), Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7344484, 2022b.
Meyal, A. Y., Versteeg, R., Alper, E., Johnson, D., Rodzianko, A., Franklin,
M., and Wainwright, H.: Automated cloud based long short-term memory neural
network based SWE prediction, Front. Water, 2, 1–12,
https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2020.574917, 2020.
Muñoz Sabater, J.: ERA5-Land hourly data from 1950 to present, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS) [data set], https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.e2161bac, 2019.
Narasimhan, B. and Srinivasan, R.: Development and evaluation of Soil
Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI) and Evapotranspiration Deficit Index (ETDI)
for agricultural drought monitoring, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 133, 69–88,
https://doi.org/10/fq9wdv, 2005.
Natural Earth: Free vector and raster map data, Natural Earth [data set], https://www.naturalearthdata.com/, last access: 1 August 2022.
Norbiato, D., Borga, M., Degli Esposti, S., Gaume, E., and Anquetin, S.:
Flash flood warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture
conditions: An assessment for gauged and ungauged basins, J. Hydrol., 362,
274–290, https://doi.org/10/dtw4hm, 2008.
Nuwer, R.: As Locusts Swarmed East Africa, This Tech Helped Squash Them, N.
Y. Times, 8th April, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/science/locust-swarms-africa.html (last access: 1 August 2022), 2021.
O, S. and Orth, R.: Global soil moisture data derived through machine
learning trained with in-situ measurements, Sci. Data, 8, 170,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00964-1, 2021.
O'Neill, P. E., Chan, S., Njoku, E. G., Jackson, T., Bindlish, R., Chaubell,
J., and Colliander, A.: SMAP Enhanced L3 Radiometer Global and Polar Grid
Daily 9 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture, Version 5 (SPL3SMP_E), Boulder, Colorado USA, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center [data set],
https://doi.org/10.5067/4DQ54OUIJ9DL, 2021.
Owe, M., de Jeu, R., and Holmes, T.: Multisensor historical climatology of
satellite-derived global land surface moisture, J. Geophys. Res., 113,
1–17, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JF000769, 2008.
Pedregosa, F., Varoquaux, G., Gramfort, A., Michel, V., Thirion, B., Grisel,
O., Blondel, M., Prettenhofer, P., Weiss, R., and Dubourg, V.: Scikit-learn:
Machine learning in Python, J. Mach. Learn. Res., 12, 2825–2830, 2011.
Rahmani, F., Shen, C., Oliver, S., Lawson, K., and Appling, A.: Deep
learning approaches for improving prediction of daily stream temperature in
data-scarce, unmonitored, and dammed basins, Hydrol. Process., 35, e14400,
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14400, 2021a.
Rahmani, F., Lawson, K., Ouyang, W., Appling, A., Oliver, S., and Shen, C.:
Exploring the exceptional performance of a deep learning stream temperature
model and the value of streamflow data, Environ. Res. Lett., 16, 024025,
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd501, 2021b.
Rodell, M., Houser, P. R., Jambor, U., Gottschalck, J., Mitchell, K., Meng,
C.-J., Arsenault, K., Cosgrove, B., Radakovich, J., Bosilovich, M., Entin,
J. K., Walker, J. P., Lohmann, D., and Toll, D.: The Global Land Data
Assimilation System, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 85, 381–394,
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-85-3-381, 2004.
Schaaf, C. and Wang, Z.: MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Daily L3
Global – 500m V061, NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43A3.061, 2021.
Sheffield, J. and Wood, E. F.: Global trends and variability in soil
moisture and drought characteristics, 1950–2000, from observation-driven
simulations of the terrestrial hydrologic cycle, J. Climate, 21, 432–458,
https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI1822.1, 2008.
Shen, C.: A transdisciplinary review of deep learning research and its
relevance for water resources scientists, Water Resour. Res., 54,
8558–8593, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018wr022643, 2018.
Shen, C., Appling, A. P., Gentine, P., Bandai, T., Gupta, H., Tartakovsky,
A., Baity-Jesi, M., Fenicia, F., Kifer, D., Li, L., Liu, X., Ren, W., Zheng,
Y., Harman, C. J., Clark, M., Farthing, M., Feng, D., Kumar, P.,
Aboelyazeed, D., Rahmani, F., Beck, H. E., Bindas, T., Dwivedi, D., Fang,
K., Höge, M., Rackauckas, C., Roy, T., Xu, C., and Lawson, K.:
Differentiable modeling to unify machine learning and physical models and
advance Geosciences, arXiv [preprint], https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2301.04027, 10 January
2023.
Support CATDS: CATDS-PDC L3SM Simple UDP – 1 day soil moisture Simple User
Data Product from SMOS satellite, CATDS (CNES, IFREMER, CESBIO) [data set]
https://doi.org/10.12770/8db7102b-1b22-4db3-949d-e51269417aae, 2022.
Tsai, W.-P., Feng, D., Pan, M., Beck, H., Lawson, K., Yang, Y., Liu, J., and
Shen, C.: From calibration to parameter learning: Harnessing the scaling
effects of big data in geoscientific modeling, Nat. Commun., 12, 5988,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26107-z, 2021.
UN WFP: Stop locusts in East Africa now or pay much more to help people
later, U. N. UN World Food Programme WFP, 14th February, https://www.wfp.org/news/stop-locusts-east-africa-now-or-pay-much-more-help-people-later-wfp (last access: 1 August 2022), 2020.
Wan, Z., Hook, S., and Hulley, G.: MODIS/Aqua Land Surface
Temperature/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V061, NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC [data set],
https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD11A1.061, 2021.
Xue, R., Yang, Q., Miao, F., Wang, X., Shen, Y., Xue, R., Yang, Q., Miao,
F., Wang, X., and Shen, Y.: Slope aspect influences plant biomass, soil
properties and microbial composition in alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan
plateau, J. Soil Sci. Plant Nut., 18, 1–12,
https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-95162018005000101, 2018.
Yang, Z.-L., Niu, G.-Y., Mitchell, K. E., Chen, F., Ek, M. B., Barlage, M.,
Longuevergne, L., Manning, K., Niyogi, D., Tewari, M., and Xia, Y.: The
community Noah land surface model with multiparameterization options
(Noah-MP): 2. Evaluation over global river basins, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 116, D12110, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD015140, 2011.
Zhi, W., Feng, D., Tsai, W.-P., Sterle, G., Harpold, A., Shen, C., and Li,
L.: From hydrometeorology to river water quality: Can a deep learning model
predict dissolved oxygen at the continental scale?, Environ. Sci. Technol.,
55, 2357–2368, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c06783, 2021.
Short summary
Under-monitored regions like Africa need high-quality soil moisture predictions to help with food production, but it is not clear if soil moisture processes are similar enough around the world for data-driven models to maintain accuracy. We present a deep-learning-based soil moisture model that learns from both in situ data and satellite data and performs better than satellite products at the global scale. These results help us apply our model globally while better understanding its limitations.
Under-monitored regions like Africa need high-quality soil moisture predictions to help with...
