The future for global water assessment

Harding, Richard J.; Weedon, Graham P.; van Lanen, Henny A.J.; Clark, Douglas B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1348-7922. 2014 The future for global water assessment. Journal of Hydrology, 518 (B). 186-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.05.014

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.05.014

Abstract/Summary

The global water cycle is a fundamental component of our climate and Earth system. Many, if not the majority, of the impacts of climate change are water related. We have an imperfect description and understanding of components of the water cycle. This arises from an incomplete observation of some of the stores and fluxes in the water cycle (in particular: precipitation, evaporation, soil moisture and groundwater), problems with the simulation of precipitation by global climate models and the wide diversity of global hydrological models currently in use. This paper discusses these sources of errors and, in particular, explores the errors and advantages of bias correcting climate model outputs for hydrological models using a single large catchment as an example (the Rhine). One conclusion from this analysis is that bias correction is necessary and has an impact on the mean flows and their seasonal cycle. However choice of hydrological model has an equal, if not larger effect on the quality of the simulation. The paper highlights the importance of improving hydrological models, which run at a continental and global scale, and the importance of quantifying uncertainties in impact studies.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.05.014
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Reynard UKCEH Fellows
ISSN:	0022-1694
Additional Keywords:	water cycle, global, evaporation, river discharge, climate change, climate models
NORA Subject Terms:	Hydrology
Date made live:	05 Nov 2014 11:13 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/508745

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.05.014

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Reynard
UKCEH Fellows

ISSN:

0022-1694

Additional Keywords:

water cycle, global, evaporation, river discharge, climate change, climate models

NORA Subject Terms:

Hydrology