Marcos Julien Alexopoulos (Author), Hannes Müller-Thomy (Author), Patrick Nistahl (Author), Mojca Šraj (Author), Nejc Bezak (Author)

Abstract

Observational data scarcity often limits the potential of rainfall-runoff modelling around the globe. In ungauged catchments, earth observations or reanalysis products could be used to replace missing ground-based station data. However, performance of different datasets needs to be thoroughly tested, especially at finer temporal resolutions such as hourly time steps. This study evaluates the performance of ERA5-Land and COSMO-REA6 precipitation reanalysis products (PRPs) using 16 meso-scale catchments (41–460 km2) located in Slovenia, Europe. These two PRPs are firstly compared with a gridded precipitation dataset that was constructed based on ground observational data. Secondly, a comparison of the temperature data of these reanalysis products with station-based air temperature data is conducted. Thirdly, several data combinations are defined and used as input for the rainfall-runoff modelling using the GR4H model. A special focus is on the application of an additional snow module. Both tested PRPs underestimate, for at least 20 %, extreme rainfall events that are the driving force of natural hazards such as floods. In terms of air temperature, both tested reanalysis products show similar deviations from the observational dataset. Additionally, air temperature deviations are smaller in winter compared to summer. In terms of rainfall-runoff modelling, the ERA5-Land yields slightly better performance than COSMO-REA6. If a recalibration with PRP has been carried out, the performance is similar compared to the simulations where station-based data were used as input. Model recalibration proves to be essential in providing relatively sufficient rainfall-runoff modelling results. Hence, tested PRPs could be used as an alternative to the station-based data in case precipitation or air temperature data are lacking, but model calibration using discharge data would be needed to improve the performance.

Keywords

hydrology;precipitation;surface runoff;modelling;reanalysis;

Data

Language: English
Year of publishing:
Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization: UL FGG - Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering
UDC: 004.4:556.12(497.4)
COBISS: 159084291 Link will open in a new window
ISSN: 1607-7938
Views: 219
Downloads: 16
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Other data

Secondary language: Slovenian
Secondary keywords: hidrologija;padavine;površinski odtok;modeliranje;reanalize;
Type (COBISS): Article
Pages: str. 2559-2578
Volume: ǂLetn. ǂ27
Issue: ǂšt. ǂ13
Chronology: 2023
DOI: 10.5194/hess-27-2559-2023
ID: 19638949