Articles | Volume 18, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4247-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-18-4247-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
DECIPHeR-GW v1: a coupled hydrological model with improved representation of surface–groundwater interactions
Yanchen Zheng
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TR, UK
Gemma Coxon
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK
Mostaquimur Rahman
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TR, UK
Ross Woods
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TR, UK
Saskia Salwey
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TR, UK
Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Youtong Rong
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK
Doris E. Wendt
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK
Related authors
Yanchen Zheng, Gemma Coxon, Ross Woods, Daniel Power, Miguel Angel Rico-Ramirez, David McJannet, Rafael Rosolem, Jianzhu Li, and Ping Feng
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1999–2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1999-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1999-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Reanalysis soil moisture products are a vital basis for hydrological and environmental research. Previous product evaluation is limited by the scale difference (point and grid scale). This paper adopts cosmic ray neutron sensor observations, a novel technique that provides root-zone soil moisture at field scale. In this paper, global harmonized CRNS observations were used to assess products. ERA5-Land, SMAPL4, CFSv2, CRA40 and GLEAM show better performance than MERRA2, GLDAS-Noah and JRA55.
Kathryn A. Leeming, John P. Bloomfield, Gemma Coxon, and Yanchen Zheng
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-202, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-202, 2023
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
In this work we characterise annual patterns in baseflow, the component of streamflow that comes from subsurface storage. Our research identified early-, mid-, and late-seasonality of baseflow across catchments in Great Britain over two time blocks: 1976–1995 and 1996–2015, and found that many catchments have earlier seasonal patterns of baseflow in the second time period. These changes are linked to changes in climate signals: snow-melt in highland catchments and effective rainfall changes.
William Veness, Alejandro Dussaillant, Gemma Coxon, Simon De Stercke, Gareth H. Old, Matthew Fry, Jonathan G. Evans, and Wouter Buytaert
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2035, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2035, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We investigated what users want from the next-generation of hydrological monitoring systems to better support science and innovation. Through literature review and interviews with experts, we found that beyond providing high-quality data, users particularly value additional support for collecting their own data, sharing it with others, and building collaborations with other data users. Designing systems with these needs in mind can greatly boost long-term engagement, data coverage and impact.
Doris Elise Wendt, Gemma Coxon, Saskia Salwey, and Francesca Pianosi
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1645, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1645, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Groundwater is a highly-used water source, which drought management is complicated. We introduce a socio-hydrological water resource model (SHOWER) to aid drought management in groundwater-rich managed environments. Results show which and when drought management interventions influence surface water and groundwater storage, with integrated interventions having most effect on reducing droughts. This encourages further exploration to reduce water shortages and improve future drought resilience.
Jamie Robert Cameron Brown, Ross Woods, Humberto Ribeiro da Rocha, Debora Regina Roberti, and Rafael Rosolem
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-883, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-883, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In recent years, global and regional weather datasets have emerged, but validation with real-world data is crucial, especially in diverse regions like Brazil. This study compares seven key weather variables from five datasets with measurements from 11 sites across Brazil’s main biomes. Results show varying performance across variables and timescales, with one reanalysis product outperforming others overall. Findings suggest it may be a strong choice for multi-variable studies in Brazil.
Adrià Fontrodona-Bach, Bettina Schaefli, Ross Woods, and Joshua R. Larsen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1214, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1214, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Investigating changing snow in response to global warming can be done with a simple model and only temperature and precipitation data, simplifying snow dynamics with assumptions and parameters. We provide a large-scale and long-term evaluation of this approach and its performance across diverse climates. Temperature thresholds are more robust over cold climates but melt parameters are more robust over warmer climates with deep snow. The model performs well across climates despite its simplicity.
Wouter R. Berghuijs, Ross A. Woods, Bailey J. Anderson, Anna Luisa Hemshorn de Sánchez, and Markus Hrachowitz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1319–1333, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1319-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1319-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Water balances of catchments will often strongly depend on their state in the recent past, but such memory effects may persist at annual timescales. We use global data sets to show that annual memory is typically absent in precipitation but strong in terrestrial water stores and also present in evaporation and streamflow (including low flows and floods). Our experiments show that hysteretic models provide behaviour that is consistent with these observed memory behaviours.
Jerom P. M. Aerts, Jannis M. Hoch, Gemma Coxon, Nick C. van de Giesen, and Rolf W. Hut
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5011–5030, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5011-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5011-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
For users of hydrological models, model suitability often hinges on how well simulated outputs match observed discharge. This study highlights the importance of including discharge observation uncertainty in hydrological model performance assessment. We highlight the need to account for this uncertainty in model comparisons and introduce a practical method suitable for any observational time series with available uncertainty estimates.
Saskia Salwey, Gemma Coxon, Francesca Pianosi, Rosanna Lane, Chris Hutton, Michael Bliss Singer, Hilary McMillan, and Jim Freer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4203–4218, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4203-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4203-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Reservoirs are essential for water resource management and can significantly impact downstream flow. However, representing reservoirs in hydrological models can be challenging, particularly across large scales. We design a new and simple method for simulating river flow downstream of water supply reservoirs using only open-access data. We demonstrate the approach in 264 reservoir catchments across Great Britain, where we can significantly improve the simulation of reservoir-impacted flow.
Riccardo Biella, Ansastasiya Shyrokaya, Monica Ionita, Raffaele Vignola, Samuel Sutanto, Andrijana Todorovic, Claudia Teutschbein, Daniela Cid, Maria Carmen Llasat, Pedro Alencar, Alessia Matanó, Elena Ridolfi, Benedetta Moccia, Ilias Pechlivanidis, Anne van Loon, Doris Wendt, Elin Stenfors, Fabio Russo, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Lucy Barker, Mariana Madruga de Brito, Marleen Lam, Monika Bláhová, Patricia Trambauer, Raed Hamed, Scott J. McGrane, Serena Ceola, Sigrid Jørgensen Bakke, Svitlana Krakovska, Viorica Nagavciuc, Faranak Tootoonchi, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Sandra Hauswirth, Shreedhar Maskey, Svitlana Zubkovych, Marthe Wens, and Lena Merete Tallaksen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2069, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2069, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This research by the Drought in the Anthropocene (DitA) network highlights gaps in European drought management exposed by the 2022 drought and proposes a new direction. Using a Europe-wide survey of water managers, we examine four areas: increasing drought risk, impacts, drought management strategies, and their evolution. Despite growing risks, management remains fragmented and short-term. However, signs of improvement suggest readiness for change. We advocate for a European Drought Directive.
Yanchen Zheng, Gemma Coxon, Ross Woods, Daniel Power, Miguel Angel Rico-Ramirez, David McJannet, Rafael Rosolem, Jianzhu Li, and Ping Feng
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1999–2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1999-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1999-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Reanalysis soil moisture products are a vital basis for hydrological and environmental research. Previous product evaluation is limited by the scale difference (point and grid scale). This paper adopts cosmic ray neutron sensor observations, a novel technique that provides root-zone soil moisture at field scale. In this paper, global harmonized CRNS observations were used to assess products. ERA5-Land, SMAPL4, CFSv2, CRA40 and GLEAM show better performance than MERRA2, GLDAS-Noah and JRA55.
Kathryn A. Leeming, John P. Bloomfield, Gemma Coxon, and Yanchen Zheng
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-202, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-202, 2023
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
In this work we characterise annual patterns in baseflow, the component of streamflow that comes from subsurface storage. Our research identified early-, mid-, and late-seasonality of baseflow across catchments in Great Britain over two time blocks: 1976–1995 and 1996–2015, and found that many catchments have earlier seasonal patterns of baseflow in the second time period. These changes are linked to changes in climate signals: snow-melt in highland catchments and effective rainfall changes.
Adrià Fontrodona-Bach, Bettina Schaefli, Ross Woods, Adriaan J. Teuling, and Joshua R. Larsen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2577–2599, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2577-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2577-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We provide a dataset of snow water equivalent, the depth of liquid water that results from melting a given depth of snow. The dataset contains 11 071 sites over the Northern Hemisphere, spans the period 1950–2022, and is based on daily observations of snow depth on the ground and a model. The dataset fills a lack of accessible historical ground snow data, and it can be used for a variety of applications such as the impact of climate change on global and regional snow and water resources.
Youtong Rong, Paul Bates, and Jeffrey Neal
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3291–3311, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3291-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3291-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A novel subgrid channel (SGC) model is developed for river–floodplain modelling, allowing utilization of subgrid-scale bathymetric information while performing computations on relatively coarse grids. By including adaptive artificial diffusion, potential numerical instability, which the original SGC solver had, in low-friction regions such as urban areas is addressed. Evaluation of the new SGC model through structured tests confirmed that the accuracy and stability have improved.
Heidi Kreibich, Kai Schröter, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Anne F. Van Loon, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Guta Wakbulcho Abeshu, Svetlana Agafonova, Amir AghaKouchak, Hafzullah Aksoy, Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Blanca Aznar, Laila Balkhi, Marlies H. Barendrecht, Sylvain Biancamaria, Liduin Bos-Burgering, Chris Bradley, Yus Budiyono, Wouter Buytaert, Lucinda Capewell, Hayley Carlson, Yonca Cavus, Anaïs Couasnon, Gemma Coxon, Ioannis Daliakopoulos, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Claire Delus, Mathilde Erfurt, Giuseppe Esposito, Didier François, Frédéric Frappart, Jim Freer, Natalia Frolova, Animesh K. Gain, Manolis Grillakis, Jordi Oriol Grima, Diego A. Guzmán, Laurie S. Huning, Monica Ionita, Maxim Kharlamov, Dao Nguyen Khoi, Natalie Kieboom, Maria Kireeva, Aristeidis Koutroulis, Waldo Lavado-Casimiro, Hong-Yi Li, Maria Carmen LLasat, David Macdonald, Johanna Mård, Hannah Mathew-Richards, Andrew McKenzie, Alfonso Mejia, Eduardo Mario Mendiondo, Marjolein Mens, Shifteh Mobini, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Viorica Nagavciuc, Thanh Ngo-Duc, Huynh Thi Thao Nguyen, Pham Thi Thao Nhi, Olga Petrucci, Nguyen Hong Quan, Pere Quintana-Seguí, Saman Razavi, Elena Ridolfi, Jannik Riegel, Md Shibly Sadik, Nivedita Sairam, Elisa Savelli, Alexey Sazonov, Sanjib Sharma, Johanna Sörensen, Felipe Augusto Arguello Souza, Kerstin Stahl, Max Steinhausen, Michael Stoelzle, Wiwiana Szalińska, Qiuhong Tang, Fuqiang Tian, Tamara Tokarczyk, Carolina Tovar, Thi Van Thu Tran, Marjolein H. J. van Huijgevoort, Michelle T. H. van Vliet, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Thorsten Wagener, Yueling Wang, Doris E. Wendt, Elliot Wickham, Long Yang, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, and Philip J. Ward
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2009–2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2009-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2009-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk management. We present a dataset containing data of paired events, i.e. two floods or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The dataset enables comparative analyses and allows detailed context-specific assessments. Additionally, it supports the testing of socio-hydrological models.
Louisa D. Oldham, Jim Freer, Gemma Coxon, Nicholas Howden, John P. Bloomfield, and Christopher Jackson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 761–781, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-761-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-761-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Water can move between river catchments via the subsurface, termed intercatchment groundwater flow (IGF). We show how a perceptual model of IGF can be developed with relatively simple geological interpretation and data requirements. We find that IGF dynamics vary in space, correlated to the dominant underlying geology. We recommend that IGF
loss functionsmay be used in conceptual rainfall–runoff models but should be supported by perceptualisation of IGF processes and connectivities.
Sarah Shannon, Anthony Payne, Jim Freer, Gemma Coxon, Martina Kauzlaric, David Kriegel, and Stephan Harrison
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 453–480, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-453-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-453-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change poses a potential threat to water supply in glaciated river catchments. In this study, we added a snowmelt and glacier melt model to the Dynamic fluxEs and ConnectIvity for Predictions of HydRology model (DECIPHeR). The model is applied to the Naryn River catchment in central Asia and is found to reproduce past change discharge and the spatial extent of seasonal snow cover well.
Rosanna A. Lane, Gemma Coxon, Jim Freer, Jan Seibert, and Thorsten Wagener
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5535–5554, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5535-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5535-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study modelled the impact of climate change on river high flows across Great Britain (GB). Generally, results indicated an increase in the magnitude and frequency of high flows along the west coast of GB by 2050–2075. In contrast, average flows decreased across GB. All flow projections contained large uncertainties; the climate projections were the largest source of uncertainty overall but hydrological modelling uncertainties were considerable in some regions.
Xu Zhang, Jinbao Li, Qianjin Dong, and Ross A. Woods
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-309, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-309, 2022
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary
Short summary
Accurately estimating long-term evaporation is important for describing water balance. Budyko framework already incorporates precipitation and potential evaporation, while water storage capacity and climate seasonality are usually ignored. Here, we analytically generalize Budyko framework through the Ponce-Shetty model, and physically account these two factors. Our generalized equations perform better than varying Budyko-type equations, and improve the robustness and physical interpretation.
Veit Blauhut, Michael Stoelzle, Lauri Ahopelto, Manuela I. Brunner, Claudia Teutschbein, Doris E. Wendt, Vytautas Akstinas, Sigrid J. Bakke, Lucy J. Barker, Lenka Bartošová, Agrita Briede, Carmelo Cammalleri, Ksenija Cindrić Kalin, Lucia De Stefano, Miriam Fendeková, David C. Finger, Marijke Huysmans, Mirjana Ivanov, Jaak Jaagus, Jiří Jakubínský, Svitlana Krakovska, Gregor Laaha, Monika Lakatos, Kiril Manevski, Mathias Neumann Andersen, Nina Nikolova, Marzena Osuch, Pieter van Oel, Kalina Radeva, Renata J. Romanowicz, Elena Toth, Mirek Trnka, Marko Urošev, Julia Urquijo Reguera, Eric Sauquet, Aleksandra Stevkov, Lena M. Tallaksen, Iryna Trofimova, Anne F. Van Loon, Michelle T. H. van Vliet, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Niko Wanders, Micha Werner, Patrick Willems, and Nenad Živković
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2201–2217, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2201-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2201-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Recent drought events caused enormous damage in Europe. We therefore questioned the existence and effect of current drought management strategies on the actual impacts and how drought is perceived by relevant stakeholders. Over 700 participants from 28 European countries provided insights into drought hazard and impact perception and current management strategies. The study concludes with an urgent need to collectively combat drought risk via a European macro-level drought governance approach.
Tom Gleeson, Thorsten Wagener, Petra Döll, Samuel C. Zipper, Charles West, Yoshihide Wada, Richard Taylor, Bridget Scanlon, Rafael Rosolem, Shams Rahman, Nurudeen Oshinlaja, Reed Maxwell, Min-Hui Lo, Hyungjun Kim, Mary Hill, Andreas Hartmann, Graham Fogg, James S. Famiglietti, Agnès Ducharne, Inge de Graaf, Mark Cuthbert, Laura Condon, Etienne Bresciani, and Marc F. P. Bierkens
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 7545–7571, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7545-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Groundwater is increasingly being included in large-scale (continental to global) land surface and hydrologic simulations. However, it is challenging to evaluate these simulations because groundwater is
hiddenunderground and thus hard to measure. We suggest using multiple complementary strategies to assess the performance of a model (
model evaluation).
Thomas Lees, Marcus Buechel, Bailey Anderson, Louise Slater, Steven Reece, Gemma Coxon, and Simon J. Dadson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5517–5534, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5517-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5517-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We used deep learning (DL) models to simulate the amount of water moving through a river channel (discharge) based on the rainfall, temperature and potential evaporation in the previous days. We tested the DL models on catchments across Great Britain finding that the model can accurately simulate hydrological systems across a variety of catchment conditions. Ultimately, the model struggled most in areas where there is chalky bedrock and where human influence on the catchment is large.
Doris E. Wendt, John P. Bloomfield, Anne F. Van Loon, Margaret Garcia, Benedikt Heudorfer, Joshua Larsen, and David M. Hannah
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3113–3139, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3113-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3113-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Managing water demand and supply during droughts is complex, as highly pressured human–water systems can overuse water sources to maintain water supply. We evaluated the impact of drought policies on water resources using a socio-hydrological model. For a range of hydrogeological conditions, we found that integrated drought policies reduce baseflow and groundwater droughts most if extra surface water is imported, reducing the pressure on water resources during droughts.
John P. Bloomfield, Mengyi Gong, Benjamin P. Marchant, Gemma Coxon, and Nans Addor
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5355–5379, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5355-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5355-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Groundwater provides flow, known as baseflow, to surface streams and rivers. It is important as it sustains the flow of many rivers at times of water stress. However, it may be affected by water management practices. Statistical models have been used to show that abstraction of groundwater may influence baseflow. Consequently, it is recommended that information on groundwater abstraction is included in future assessments and predictions of baseflow.
Thorsten Wagener, Dragan Savic, David Butler, Reza Ahmadian, Tom Arnot, Jonathan Dawes, Slobodan Djordjevic, Roger Falconer, Raziyeh Farmani, Debbie Ford, Jan Hofman, Zoran Kapelan, Shunqi Pan, and Ross Woods
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 2721–2738, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-2721-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-2721-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
How can we effectively train PhD candidates both (i) across different knowledge domains in water science and engineering and (ii) in computer science? To address this issue, the Water Informatics in Science and Engineering Centre for Doctoral Training (WISE CDT) offers a postgraduate programme that fosters enhanced levels of innovation and collaboration by training a cohort of engineers and scientists at the boundary of water informatics, science and engineering.
Doris E. Wendt, Anne F. Van Loon, John P. Bloomfield, and David M. Hannah
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 4853–4868, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4853-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4853-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Groundwater use changes the availability of groundwater, especially during droughts. This study investigates the impact of groundwater use on groundwater droughts. A methodological framework is presented that was developed and applied to the UK. We identified an asymmetric impact of groundwater use on droughts, which highlights the relation between short-term and long-term strategies for sustainable groundwater use.
Gemma Coxon, Nans Addor, John P. Bloomfield, Jim Freer, Matt Fry, Jamie Hannaford, Nicholas J. K. Howden, Rosanna Lane, Melinda Lewis, Emma L. Robinson, Thorsten Wagener, and Ross Woods
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2459–2483, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2459-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2459-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first large-sample catchment hydrology dataset for Great Britain. The dataset collates river flows, catchment attributes, and catchment boundaries for 671 catchments across Great Britain. We characterise the topography, climate, streamflow, land cover, soils, hydrogeology, human influence, and discharge uncertainty of each catchment. The dataset is publicly available for the community to use in a wide range of environmental and modelling analyses.
Tom Gleeson, Thorsten Wagener, Petra Döll, Samuel C. Zipper, Charles West, Yoshihide Wada, Richard Taylor, Bridget Scanlon, Rafael Rosolem, Shams Rahman, Nurudeen Oshinlaja, Reed Maxwell, Min-Hui Lo, Hyungjun Kim, Mary Hill, Andreas Hartmann, Graham Fogg, James S. Famiglietti, Agnès Ducharne, Inge de Graaf, Mark Cuthbert, Laura Condon, Etienne Bresciani, and Marc F. P. Bierkens
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-378, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-378, 2020
Revised manuscript not accepted
Cited articles
Aeschbach-Hertig, W. and Gleeson, T.: Regional strategies for the accelerating global problem of groundwater depletion, Nat. Geosci., 5, 853–861, 2012.
Ala-aho, P., Soulsby, C., Wang, H., and Tetzlaff, D.: Integrated surface-subsurface model to investigate the role of groundwater in headwater catchment runoff generation: A minimalist approach to parameterisation, J. Hydrol., 547, 664–677, 2017.
Allen, D., Brewerton, L., Coleby, L., Gibbs, B., Lewis, M., MacDonald, A., Wagstaff, S., and Williams, A.: The physical properties of major aquifers in England and Wales, ritish Geological Survey Technical Report, WD/97/34, 312 pp., Environment Agency R&D Publication 8, https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/13137/1/WD97034.pdf (last access: 4 July 2025), 1997.
Arheimer, B., Pimentel, R., Isberg, K., Crochemore, L., Andersson, J. C. M., Hasan, A., and Pineda, L.: Global catchment modelling using World-Wide HYPE (WWH), open data, and stepwise parameter estimation, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 535–559, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-535-2020, 2020.
Badjana, H. M., Cloke, H. L., Verhoef, A., Julich, S., Camargos, C., Collins, S., Macdonald, D. M. J., McGuire, P. C., and Clark, J.: Can hydrological models assess the impact of natural flood management in groundwater-dominated catchments?, J. Flood Risk Manag., 16, e12912, https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12912, 2023.
Bailey, R. T., Wible, T. C., Arabi, M., Records, R. M., and Ditty, J.: Assessing regional-scale spatio-temporal patterns of groundwater–surface water interactions using a coupled SWAT-MODFLOW model, Hydrol. Process., 30, 4420–4433, 2016.
Barthel, R. and Banzhaf, S.: Groundwater and Surface Water Interaction at the Regional-scale – A Review with Focus on Regional Integrated Models, Water Resour. Manag., 30, 1–32, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-1163-z, 2016.
Batelis, S. C., Rahman, M., Kollet, S., Woods, R., and Rosolem, R.: Towards the representation of groundwater in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator, Hydrol. Process., 34, 2843–2863, 2020.
Bell, V. A., Kay, A. L., Jones, R. G., and Moore, R. J.: Development of a high resolution grid-based river flow model for use with regional climate model output, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 11, 532–549, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-11-532-2007, 2007.
Benz, S. A., Irvine, D. J., Rau, G. C., Bayer, P., Menberg, K., Blum, P., Jamieson, R. C., Griebler, C., and Kurylyk, B. L.: Global groundwater warming due to climate change, Nat. Geosci., 17, 1–7, 2024.
Bianchi, M., Scheidegger, J., Hughes, A., Jackson, C., Lee, J., Lewis, M., Mansour, M., Newell, A., O'Dochartaigh, B., Patton, A., and Dadson, S.: Simulation of national-scale groundwater dynamics in geologically complex aquifer systems: an example from Great Britain, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 69, 572–591, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2024.2320847, 2024.
Bierkens, M. F., Bell, V. A., Burek, P., Chaney, N., Condon, L. E., David, C. H., de Roo, A., Döll, P., Drost, N., and Famiglietti, J. S.: Hyper-resolution global hydrological modelling: what is next? “Everywhere and locally relevant”, Hydrol. Process., 29, 310–320, 2015.
Bloomfield, J. P., Gong, M., Marchant, B. P., Coxon, G., and Addor, N.: How is Baseflow Index (BFI) impacted by water resource management practices?, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5355–5379, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5355-2021, 2021.
Brown, M. J., Robinson, E. L., Kay, A. L., Chapman, R., Bell, V. A., and Blyth, E. M.: Potential evapotranspiration derived from HadUK-Grid 1km gridded climate observations 1969–2021 (Hydro-PE HadUK-Grid), NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre [data set], https://doi.org/10.5285/9275ab7e-6e93-42bc-8e72-59c98d409deb, 2022.
Brunner, P. and Simmons, C. T.: HydroGeoSphere: A Fully Integrated, Physically Based Hydrological Model, Groundwater, 50, 170–176, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2011.00882.x, 2012.
Clapp, R. B. and Hornberger, G. M.: Empirical equations for some soil hydraulic properties, Water Resour. Res., 14, 601–604, 1978.
Clark, M. P., Fan, Y., Lawrence, D. M., Adam, J. C., Bolster, D., Gochis, D. J., Hooper, R. P., Kumar, M., Leung, L. R., and Mackay, D. S.: Improving the representation of hydrologic processes in Earth System Models, Water Resour. Res., 51, 5929–5956, 2015.
Condon, L. E. and Maxwell, R. M.: Evaluating the relationship between topography and groundwater using outputs from a continental-scale integrated hydrology model, Water Resour. Res., 51, 6602–6621, 2015.
Condon, L. E. and Maxwell, R. M.: Simulating the sensitivity of evapotranspiration and streamflow to large-scale groundwater depletion, Science Advances, 5, eaav4574, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav4574, 2019.
Condon, L. E., Kollet, S., Bierkens, M. F., Fogg, G. E., Maxwell, R. M., Hill, M. C., Fransen, H. J. H., Verhoef, A., Van Loon, A. F., and Sulis, M.: Global groundwater modeling and monitoring: Opportunities and challenges, Water Resour. Res., 57, e2020WR029500, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR029500, 2021.
Coxon, G., Freer, J., Wagener, T., Odoni, N. A., and Clark, M.: Diagnostic evaluation of multiple hypotheses of hydrological behaviour in a limits-of-acceptability framework for 24 UK catchments, Hydrol. Process., 28, 6135–6150, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10096, 2014.
Coxon, G., McMillan, H., Bloomfield, J. P., Bolotin, L., Dean, J. F., Kelleher, C., Slater, L., and Zheng, Y.: Wastewater discharges and urban land cover dominate urban hydrology signals across England and Wales, Environ. Res. Lett., 19, 084016, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad5bf2, 2024.
Coxon, G., Freer, J., Lane, R., Dunne, T., Knoben, W. J. M., Howden, N. J. K., Quinn, N., Wagener, T., and Woods, R.: DECIPHeR v1: Dynamic fluxEs and ConnectIvity for Predictions of HydRology, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 2285–2306, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2285-2019, 2019.
Coxon, G., Addor, N., Bloomfield, J. P., Freer, J., Fry, M., Hannaford, J., Howden, N. J. K., Lane, R., Lewis, M., Robinson, E. L., Wagener, T., and Woods, R.: CAMELS-GB: hydrometeorological time series and landscape attributes for 671 catchments in Great Britain, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2459–2483, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2459-2020, 2020.
Dang, T. D., Chowdhury, A. F. M. K., and Galelli, S.: On the representation of water reservoir storage and operations in large-scale hydrological models: implications on model parameterization and climate change impact assessments, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 397–416, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-397-2020, 2020.
de Graaf, I. E., van Beek, R. L., Gleeson, T., Moosdorf, N., Schmitz, O., Sutanudjaja, E. H., and Bierkens, M. F.: A global-scale two-layer transient groundwater model: Development and application to groundwater depletion, Adv. Water Resour., 102, 53–67, 2017.
de Graaf, I. E., Gleeson, T., Van Beek, L., Sutanudjaja, E. H., and Bierkens, M. F.: Environmental flow limits to global groundwater pumping, Nature, 574, 90–94, 2019.
de Graaf, I. E. M., van Beek, L. P. H., Wada, Y., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: Dynamic attribution of global water demand to surface water and groundwater resources: Effects of abstractions and return flows on river discharges, Adv. Water Resour., 64, 21–33, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2013.12.002, 2014.
Dietrich, O., Fahle, M., and Steidl, J.: The Role of the Unsaturated Zone for Rainwater Retention and Runoff at a Drained Wetland Site, Water, 11, 1404, https://doi.org/10.3390/w11071404, 2019.
Dobson, B., Coxon, G., Freer, J., Gavin, H., Mortazavi-Naeini, M., and Hall, J. W.: The spatial dynamics of droughts and water scarcity in England and Wales, Water Resour. Res., 56, e2020WR027187, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027187, 2020.
Döll, P., Müller Schmied, H., Schuh, C., Portmann, F. T., and Eicker, A.: Global-scale assessment of groundwater depletion and related groundwater abstractions: Combining hydrological modeling with information from well observations and GRACE satellites, Water Resour. Res., 50, 5698–5720, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR015595, 2014.
Ejaz, F., Wöhling, T., Höge, M., and Nowak, W.: Lumped geohydrological modelling for long-term predictions of groundwater storage and depletion, J. Hydrol., 606, 127347, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127347, 2022.
Environment Agency: Hydrology Data Explorer, Environment Agency [data set], https://environment.data.gov.uk/hydrology/explore (last access: 4 July 2025), 2023.
Ewen, J., Parkin, G., and O'Connell, P. E.: SHETRAN: distributed river basin flow and transport modeling system, J. Hydrol. Eng., 5, 250–258, 2000.
Famiglietti, J. and Wood, E. F.: Multiscale modeling of spatially variable water and energy balance processes, Water Resour. Res., 30, 3061–3078, 1994.
Famiglietti, J. S., Lo, M., Ho, S. L., Bethune, J., Anderson, K., Syed, T. H., Swenson, S. C., de Linage, C. R., and Rodell, M.: Satellites measure recent rates of groundwater depletion in California's Central Valley, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L03403, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL046442, 2011.
Ferguson, I. M., Jefferson, J. L., Maxwell, R. M., and Kollet, S. J.: Effects of root water uptake formulation on simulated water and energy budgets at local and basin scales, Environ. Earth Sci., 75, 316, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-5041-z, 2016.
Fleckenstein, J. H., Krause, S., Hannah, D. M., and Boano, F.: Groundwater-surface water interactions: New methods and models to improve understanding of processes and dynamics, Adv. Water Resour., 33, 1291–1295, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2010.09.011, 2010.
Flipo, N., Gallois, N., and Schuite, J.: Regional coupled surface–subsurface hydrological model fitting based on a spatially distributed minimalist reduction of frequency domain discharge data, Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 353–381, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-353-2023, 2023.
Gascoin, S., Ducharne, A., Ribstein, P., Carli, M., and Habets, F.: Adaptation of a catchment-based land surface model to the hydrogeological setting of the Somme River basin (France), J. Hydrol., 368, 105–116, 2009.
Giordano, M.: Global groundwater? Issues and solutions, Annu. Rev. Env. Resour., 34, 153–178, 2009.
Gleeson, T. and Richter, B.: How much groundwater can we pump and protect environmental flows through time? Presumptive standards for conjunctive management of aquifers and rivers, River Res. Appl., 34, 83–92, 2018.
Gleeson, T., Befus, K. M., Jasechko, S., Luijendijk, E., and Cardenas, M. B.: The global volume and distribution of modern groundwater, Nat. Geosci., 9, 161–167, 2016.
Gleeson, T., Wagener, T., Döll, P., Zipper, S. C., West, C., Wada, Y., Taylor, R., Scanlon, B., Rosolem, R., Rahman, S., Oshinlaja, N., Maxwell, R., Lo, M.-H., Kim, H., Hill, M., Hartmann, A., Fogg, G., Famiglietti, J. S., Ducharne, A., de Graaf, I., Cuthbert, M., Condon, L., Bresciani, E., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: GMD perspective: The quest to improve the evaluation of groundwater representation in continental- to global-scale models, Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 7545–7571, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7545-2021, 2021.
Gnann, S., Reinecke, R., Stein, L., Wada, Y., Thiery, W., Müller Schmied, H., Satoh, Y., Pokhrel, Y., Ostberg, S., Koutroulis, A., Hanasaki, N., Grillakis, M., Gosling, S. N., Burek, P., Bierkens, M. F. P., and Wagener, T.: Functional relationships reveal differences in the water cycle representation of global water models, Nature Water, 1, 1079–1090, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00160-y, 2023.
Gorelick, S. M. and Zheng, C.: Global change and the groundwater management challenge, Water Resour. Res., 51, 3031–3051, 2015.
Griffiths, J., Yang, J., Woods, R., Zammit, C., Porhemmat, R., Shankar, U., Rajanayaka, C., Ren, J., and Howden, N.: Parameterization of a National Groundwater Model for New Zealand, Sustainability, 15, 13280, 2023.
Guillaumot, L., Smilovic, M., Burek, P., de Bruijn, J., Greve, P., Kahil, T., and Wada, Y.: Coupling a large-scale hydrological model (CWatM v1.1) with a high-resolution groundwater flow model (MODFLOW 6) to assess the impact of irrigation at regional scale, Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7099–7120, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7099-2022, 2022.
Guimberteau, M., Ducharne, A., Ciais, P., Boisier, J. P., Peng, S., De Weirdt, M., and Verbeeck, H.: Testing conceptual and physically based soil hydrology schemes against observations for the Amazon Basin, Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 1115–1136, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1115-2014, 2014.
Gupta, H. V., Kling, H., Yilmaz, K. K., and Martinez, G. F.: Decomposition of the mean squared error and NSE performance criteria: Implications for improving hydrological modelling, J. Hydrol., 377, 80–91, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.08.003, 2009.
Gupta, H. V., Clark, M. P., Vrugt, J. A., Abramowitz, G., and Ye, M.: Towards a comprehensive assessment of model structural adequacy, Water Resour. Res., 48, W08301, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR011044, 2012.
Hannaford, J., Mackay, J., Ascot, M., Bell, V., Chitson, T., Cole, S., Counsell, C., Durant, M., Facer-Childs, K., and Jackson, C.: Hydrological projections for the UK, based on UK Climate Projections 2018 (UKCP18) data, from the Enhanced Future Flows and Groundwater (eFLaG) project, NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre [data set], 10, 2022.
Hannaford, J., Mackay, J. D., Ascott, M., Bell, V. A., Chitson, T., Cole, S., Counsell, C., Durant, M., Jackson, C. R., Kay, A. L., Lane, R. A., Mansour, M., Moore, R., Parry, S., Rudd, A. C., Simpson, M., Facer-Childs, K., Turner, S., Wallbank, J. R., Wells, S., and Wilcox, A.: The enhanced future Flows and Groundwater dataset: development and evaluation of nationally consistent hydrological projections based on UKCP18, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2391–2415, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2391-2023, 2023.
Hartmann, A., Goldscheider, N., Wagener, T., Lange, J., and Weiler, M.: Karst water resources in a changing world: Review of hydrological modeling approaches, Rev. Geophys., 52, 218–242, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013RG000443, 2014.
Hellwig, J., de Graaf, I. E. M., Weiler, M., and Stahl, K.: Large-Scale Assessment of Delayed Groundwater Responses to Drought, Water Resour. Res., 56, e2019WR025441, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR025441, 2020.
Henriksen, H. J., Troldborg, L., Nyegaard, P., Sonnenborg, T. O., Refsgaard, J. C., and Madsen, B.: Methodology for construction, calibration and validation of a national hydrological model for Denmark, J. Hydrol., 280, 52–71, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(03)00186-0, 2003.
Hilberts, A. G. J., Troch, P. A., Paniconi, C., and Boll, J.: Low-dimensional modeling of hillslope subsurface flow: Relationship between rainfall, recharge, and unsaturated storage dynamics, Water Resour. Res., 43, W03445, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006WR004964, 2007.
Hollis, D., McCarthy, M., Kendon, M., Legg, T., and Simpson, I.: HadUK-Grid—A new UK dataset of gridded climate observations, Geosci. Data J., 6, 151–159, 2019.
IntermapTechnologies: NEXTMap British Digital Terrain 50 m resolution (DTMlO) Model Data by Intermap, NERC Earth Observation Data Centre [dataset], https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/f5d41db1170f41819497d15dd8052ad2/ (last access: 3 June 2019), 2009.
Irvine, D. J., Singha, K., Kurylyk, B. L., Briggs, M. A., Sebastian, Y., Tait, D. R., and Helton, A. M.: Groundwater-Surface water interactions research: Past trends and future directions, J. Hydrol., 644, 132061, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.132061, 2024.
Jing, M., Heße, F., Kumar, R., Wang, W., Fischer, T., Walther, M., Zink, M., Zech, A., Samaniego, L., Kolditz, O., and Attinger, S.: Improved regional-scale groundwater representation by the coupling of the mesoscale Hydrologic Model (mHM v5.7) to the groundwater model OpenGeoSys (OGS), Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1989–2007, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1989-2018, 2018.
Jones, H., Morris, B., Cheney, C., Brewerton, L., Merrin, P., Lewis, M., MacDonald, A., Coleby, L., Talbot, J., and McKenzie, A.: The physical properties of minor aquifers in England and Wales, British Geological Survey Technical Report, WD/00/4, 234 p., Environment Agency R&D Publication, 68, https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12663/1/WD00004.pdf (last access: 4 July 2025), 2000.
Kirchner, J. W.: Getting the right answers for the right reasons: Linking measurements, analyses, and models to advance the science of hydrology, Water Resour. Res., 42, W03S04, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005WR004362, 2006.
Kuang, X., Liu, J., Scanlon, B. R., Jiao, J. J., Jasechko, S., Lancia, M., Biskaborn, B. K., Wada, Y., Li, H., and Zeng, Z.: The changing nature of groundwater in the global water cycle, Science, 383, eadf0630, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf0630, 2024.
Lane, R. A. and Kay, A. L.: Gridded simulations of available precipitation (rainfall + snowmelt) for Great Britain, developed from observed data (1961–2018) and climate projections (1980–2080), NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre [data set], https://doi.org/10.5285/755e0369-f8db-4550-aabe-3f9c9fbcb93d, 2022.
Lane, R. A., Coxon, G., Freer, J. E., Wagener, T., Johnes, P. J., Bloomfield, J. P., Greene, S., Macleod, C. J. A., and Reaney, S. M.: Benchmarking the predictive capability of hydrological models for river flow and flood peak predictions across over 1000 catchments in Great Britain, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 4011–4032, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4011-2019, 2019.
Lane, R. A., Freer, J. E., Coxon, G., and Wagener, T.: Incorporating uncertainty into multiscale parameter regionalization to evaluate the performance of nationally consistent parameter fields for a hydrological model, Water Resour. Res., 57, e2020WR028393, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028393, 2021.
Lee, J. Y., Yi, M. J., Yoo, Y. K., Ahn, K. H., Kim, G. B., and Won, J. H.: A review of the national groundwater monitoring network in Korea, Hydrol. Process., 21, 907–919, 2007.
Lees, T., Buechel, M., Anderson, B., Slater, L., Reece, S., Coxon, G., and Dadson, S. J.: Benchmarking data-driven rainfall–runoff models in Great Britain: a comparison of long short-term memory (LSTM)-based models with four lumped conceptual models, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5517–5534, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5517-2021, 2021.
Lewis, E. A.: A robust multi-purpose hydrological model for Great Britain, Newcastle University, http://hdl.handle.net/10443/3290 (last access: 4 July 2025), 2016.
Loaiciga, H. A. and Doh, R.: Groundwater for People and the Environment: A Globally Threatened Resource, Groundwater, 62, 332–340, 2024.
Marsh, T., Parry, S., Kendon, M., and Hannaford, J.: The 2010–12 drought and subsequent extensive flooding: a remarkable hydrological transformation, NERC/Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/503643/1/N503643CR.pdf (last access: 4 July 2025), 2013.
Massmann, C.: Identification of factors influencing hydrologic model performance using a top-down approach in a large number of U. S. catchments, Hydrol. Process., 34, 4–20, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13566, 2020.
Maxwell, R. M., Condon, L. E., and Kollet, S. J.: A high-resolution simulation of groundwater and surface water over most of the continental US with the integrated hydrologic model ParFlow v3, Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 923–937, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-923-2015, 2015.
McMillan, H. K., Booker, D. J., and Cattoën, C.: Validation of a national hydrological model, J. Hydrol., 541, 800–815, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.07.043, 2016.
Met Office, Hollis, D., McCarthy, M., Kendon, M., Legg, T., and Simpson, I.: HadUK-Grid gridded and regional average climate observations for the UK, Centre for Environmental Data Analysis [data set], http://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/4dc8450d889a491ebb20e724debe2dfb (last access: 7 July 2025), 2018.
Miller, M. P., Buto, S. G., Susong, D. D., and Rumsey, C. A.: The importance of base flow in sustaining surface water flow in the Upper Colorado River Basin, Water Resour. Res., 52, 3547–3562, 2016.
Moore, R. J.: The PDM rainfall-runoff model, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 11, 483–499, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-11-483-2007, 2007.
Müller Schmied, H., Eisner, S., Franz, D., Wattenbach, M., Portmann, F. T., Flörke, M., and Döll, P.: Sensitivity of simulated global-scale freshwater fluxes and storages to input data, hydrological model structure, human water use and calibration, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3511–3538, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3511-2014, 2014.
National River Flow Archive: Daily Flow Data, http://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/data/search, last access: 7 July 2025.
Naz, B. S., Sharples, W., Ma, Y., Goergen, K., and Kollet, S.: Continental-scale evaluation of a fully distributed coupled land surface and groundwater model, ParFlow-CLM (v3.6.0), over Europe, Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1617–1639, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1617-2023, 2023.
Ng, G.-H. C., Wickert, A. D., Somers, L. D., Saberi, L., Cronkite-Ratcliff, C., Niswonger, R. G., and McKenzie, J. M.: GSFLOW–GRASS v1.0.0: GIS-enabled hydrologic modeling of coupled groundwater–surface-water systems, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4755–4777, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4755-2018, 2018.
Ntona, M. M., Busico, G., Mastrocicco, M., and Kazakis, N.: Modeling groundwater and surface water interaction: An overview of current status and future challenges, Sci. Total Environ., 846, 157355, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157355, 2022.
Oldham, L. D., Freer, J., Coxon, G., Howden, N., Bloomfield, J. P., and Jackson, C.: Evidence-based requirements for perceptualising intercatchment groundwater flow in hydrological models, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 761–781, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-761-2023, 2023.
OrdnanceSurvey: OS Open Rivers, Ordnance Survey [data set], https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/dc29160b-b163-4c6e-8817-f313229bcc23/os-open-rivers (last access: 4 July 2025), 2023.
Parkin, G., Birkinshaw, S., Younger, P., Rao, Z., and Kirk, S.: A numerical modelling and neural network approach to estimate the impact of groundwater abstractions on river flows, J. Hydrol., 339, 15–28, 2007.
Pool, S., Vis, M., and Seibert, J.: Evaluating model performance: towards a non-parametric variant of the Kling-Gupta efficiency, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 63, 1941–1953, 2018.
Pushpalatha, R., Perrin, C., Le Moine, N., Mathevet, T., and Andréassian, V.: A downward structural sensitivity analysis of hydrological models to improve low-flow simulation, J. Hydrol., 411, 66–76, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.09.034, 2011.
Rahman, M., Pianosi, F., and Woods, R.: Simulating spatial variability of groundwater table in England and Wales, Hydrol. Process., 37, e14849, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14849, 2023.
Rama, F., Busico, G., Arumi, J. L., Kazakis, N., Colombani, N., Marfella, L., Hirata, R., Kruse, E. E., Sweeney, P., and Mastrocicco, M.: Assessment of intrinsic aquifer vulnerability at continental scale through a critical application of the drastic framework: The case of South America, Sci. Total Environ., 823, 153748, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153748, 2022.
Rameshwaran, P., Bell, V. A., Brown, M. J., Davies, H. N., Kay, A. L., Rudd, A. C., and Sefton, C.: Use of Abstraction and Discharge Data to Improve the Performance of a National-Scale Hydrological Model, Water Resour. Res., 58, e2021WR029787, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR029787, 2022.
Rawls, W. J., Brakensiek, D. L., and Saxtonn, K.: Estimation of soil water properties, T. ASAE, 25, 1316–1320, 1982.
Reinecke, R., Foglia, L., Mehl, S., Trautmann, T., Cáceres, D., and Döll, P.: Challenges in developing a global gradient-based groundwater model (G3M v1.0) for the integration into a global hydrological model, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 2401–2418, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2401-2019, 2019.
Robinson, E., Kay, A., Brown, M., Chapman, R., Bell, V., and Blyth, E.: Potential evapotranspiration derived from the UK Climate Projections 2018 Regional Climate Model ensemble 1980–2080 (Hydro-PE UKCP18 RCM), NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre [data set], https://doi.org/10.5285/eb5d9dc4-13bb-44c7-9bf8-c5980fcf52a4, 2021.
Robinson, E. L., Brown, M. J., Kay, A. L., Lane, R. A., Chapman, R., Bell, V. A., and Blyth, E. M.: Hydro-PE: gridded datasets of historical and future Penman–Monteith potential evaporation for the United Kingdom, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4433–4461, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4433-2023, 2023.
Rowland, C. S., Morton, R. D., Carrasco, L., McShane, G., Neil, A. W., and Wood, C. M.: Land Cover Map 2015 (25 m raster, GB), NERC Environmental Information Data Centre [data set], https://doi.org/10.5285/bb15e200-9349-403c-bda9-b430093807c7, 2017.
Rudd, A. C., Bell, V. A., and Kay, A. L.: National-scale analysis of simulated hydrological droughts (1891–2015), J. Hydrol., 550, 368–385, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.05.018, 2017.
Salwey, S., Coxon, G., Pianosi, F., Singer, M. B., and Hutton, C.: National-Scale Detection of Reservoir Impacts Through Hydrological Signatures, Water Resour. Res., 59, e2022WR033893, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033893, 2023.
Salwey, S., Coxon, G., Pianosi, F., Lane, R., Hutton, C., Bliss Singer, M., McMillan, H., and Freer, J.: Developing water supply reservoir operating rules for large-scale hydrological modelling, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4203–4218, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4203-2024, 2024.
Seibert, J., Vis, M. J. P., Lewis, E., and van Meerveld, H. J.: Upper and lower benchmarks in hydrological modelling, Hydrol. Process., 32, 1120–1125, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11476, 2018.
Shannon, S., Payne, A., Freer, J., Coxon, G., Kauzlaric, M., Kriegel, D., and Harrison, S.: A snow and glacier hydrological model for large catchments – case study for the Naryn River, central Asia, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 453–480, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-453-2023, 2023.
Siebert, S., Burke, J., Faures, J. M., Frenken, K., Hoogeveen, J., Döll, P., and Portmann, F. T.: Groundwater use for irrigation – a global inventory, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1863–1880, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-14-1863-2010, 2010.
Smith, K. A., Barker, L. J., Tanguy, M., Parry, S., Harrigan, S., Legg, T. P., Prudhomme, C., and Hannaford, J.: A multi-objective ensemble approach to hydrological modelling in the UK: an application to historic drought reconstruction, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3247–3268, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3247-2019, 2019.
Sutanudjaja, E. H., van Beek, R., Wanders, N., Wada, Y., Bosmans, J. H. C., Drost, N., van der Ent, R. J., de Graaf, I. E. M., Hoch, J. M., de Jong, K., Karssenberg, D., López López, P., Peßenteiner, S., Schmitz, O., Straatsma, M. W., Vannametee, E., Wisser, D., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: PCR-GLOBWB 2: a 5 arcmin global hydrological and water resources model, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 2429–2453, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2429-2018, 2018.
Turner, S. W., Hejazi, M., Yonkofski, C., Kim, S. H., and Kyle, P.: Influence of groundwater extraction costs and resource depletion limits on simulated global nonrenewable water withdrawals over the twenty-first century, Earths Future, 7, 123–135, 2019.
Veldkamp, T. I. E., Zhao, F., Ward, P. J., de Moel, H., Aerts, J. C. J. H., Schmied, H. M., Portmann, F. T., Masaki, Y., Pokhrel, Y., Liu, X., Satoh, Y., Gerten, D., Gosling, S. N., Zaherpour, J., and Wada, Y.: Human impact parameterizations in global hydrological models improve estimates of monthly discharges and hydrological extremes: a multi-model validation study, Environ. Res. Lett., 13, 055008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aab96f, 2018.
Verkaik, J., Sutanudjaja, E. H., Oude Essink, G. H. P., Lin, H. X., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: GLOBGM v1.0: a parallel implementation of a 30 arcsec PCR-GLOBWB-MODFLOW global-scale groundwater model, Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 275–300, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-275-2024, 2024.
Wada, Y., van Beek, L. P. H., van Kempen, C. M., Reckman, J. W. T. M., Vasak, S., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: Global depletion of groundwater resources, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L20402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL044571, 2010.
Wada, Y., Wisser, D., and Bierkens, M. F. P.: Global modeling of withdrawal, allocation and consumptive use of surface water and groundwater resources, Earth Syst. Dynam., 5, 15–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-5-15-2014, 2014.
Wada, Y., Bierkens, M. F. P., de Roo, A., Dirmeyer, P. A., Famiglietti, J. S., Hanasaki, N., Konar, M., Liu, J., Müller Schmied, H., Oki, T., Pokhrel, Y., Sivapalan, M., Troy, T. J., van Dijk, A. I. J. M., van Emmerik, T., Van Huijgevoort, M. H. J., Van Lanen, H. A. J., Vörösmarty, C. J., Wanders, N., and Wheater, H.: Human–water interface in hydrological modelling: current status and future directions, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4169–4193, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4169-2017, 2017.
Wang, J., Jiang, Y., Wang, H., Huang, Q., and Deng, H.: Groundwater irrigation and management in northern China: status, trends, and challenges, Int. J. Water Resour. D., 36 670–696, https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2019.1584094, 2019.
Wang-Erlandsson, L., Bastiaanssen, W. G. M., Gao, H., Jägermeyr, J., Senay, G. B., van Dijk, A. I. J. M., Guerschman, J. P., Keys, P. W., Gordon, L. J., and Savenije, H. H. G.: Global root zone storage capacity from satellite-based evaporation, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 1459–1481, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1459-2016, 2016.
Wendt, D. E., Van Loon, A. F., Scanlon, B. R., and Hannah, D. M.: Managed aquifer recharge as a drought mitigation strategy in heavily-stressed aquifers, Environ. Res. Lett., 16, 014046, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abcfe1, 2021a.
Wendt, D. E., Bloomfield, J. P., Van Loon, A. F., Garcia, M., Heudorfer, B., Larsen, J., and Hannah, D. M.: Evaluating integrated water management strategies to inform hydrological drought mitigation, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3113–3139, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3113-2021, 2021b.
Westerhoff, R., White, P., and Miguez-Macho, G.: Application of an improved global-scale groundwater model for water table estimation across New Zealand, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 6449–6472, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6449-2018, 2018.
White, E. K., Peterson, T. J., Costelloe, J., Western, A. W., and Carrara, E.: Can we manage groundwater? A method to determine the quantitative testability of groundwater management plans, Water Resour. Res., 52, 4863–4882, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR018474, 2016.
Wu, M., Liu, P., Lei, X., Liao, W., Cai, S., Xia, Q., Zou, K., and Wang, H.: Impact of surface and underground water uses on streamflow in the upper-middle of the Weihe River basin using a modified WetSpa model, J. Hydrol., 616, 128840, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128840, 2023.
Xin, P., Wang, S. S. J., Shen, C., Zhang, Z., Lu, C., and Li, L.: Predictability and Quantification of Complex Groundwater Table Dynamics Driven by Irregular Surface Water Fluctuations, Water Resour. Res., 54, 2436–2451, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR021761, 2018.
Yang, J., McMillan, H., and Zammit, C.: Modeling surface water–groundwater interaction in New Zealand: model development and application, Hydrol. Process., 31, 925–934, 2017.
Yeh, P. J. and Eltahir, E. A.: Representation of water table dynamics in a land surface scheme. Part I: Model development, J. climate, 18, 1861–1880, 2005.
Zheng, Y.: DECIPHeR-GW version 1.0, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14113870, 2024a.
Zheng, Y.: DECIPHeR-GW v1: A coupled hydrological model with improved representation of surface-groundwater interactions, University of Bristol [data set], https://doi.org/10.5523/bris.wt0r1ec81zti2tww4p64fsqr3, 2024b.
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.
Groundwater is vital for people and ecosystems, but most physical models lack the representation...