skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Evaluating Global Streamflow Simulations by a Physically-based Routing Model Coupled with the Community Land Model

Journal Article · · Journal of Hydrometeorology, 16(2):948-971

Accurately simulating hydrological processes such as streamflow is important in land surface modeling because they can influence other land surface processes, such as carbon cycle dynamics, through various interaction pathways. This study aims to evaluate the global application of a recently developed Model for Scale Adaptive River Transport (MOSART)coupled with theCommunity Land Model, version 4 (CLM4). To support the global implementation of MOSART, a comprehensive global hydrography dataset has been derived at multiple resolutions from different sources. The simulated runoff fields are first evaluated against the composite runoff map from theGlobal RunoffData Centre (GRDC). The simulated streamflow is then shown to reproduce reasonably well the observed daily andmonthly streamflow at over 1600 of the world’smajor river stations in terms of annual, seasonal, and daily flow statistics. The impacts of model structure complexity are evaluated, and results show that the spatial and temporal variability of river velocity simulated byMOSART is necessary for capturing streamflow seasonality and annual maximum flood. Other sources of the simulation bias include uncertainties in the atmospheric forcing, as revealed by simulations driven by four different climate datasets, and human influences, based on a classification framework that quantifies the impact levels of large dams on the streamflow worldwide.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1182898
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-101748; KP1703020
Journal Information:
Journal of Hydrometeorology, 16(2):948-971, Journal Name: Journal of Hydrometeorology, 16(2):948-971
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 68 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (39)

Continental runoff dynamics in the Community Climate System Model 2 (CCSM2) control simulation journal January 2003
Significant efflux of carbon dioxide from streams and rivers in the United States journal October 2011
The pathways and properties of the Amazon River Plume in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean: AMAZON RIVER PLUME journal December 2013
Global off-line evaluation of the ISBA-TRIP flood model journal April 2011
Simulation of runoff in West Africa: Is there a single data-model combination that produces the best simulation results? journal June 2008
Satellites measure recent rates of groundwater depletion in California's Central Valley: CENTRAL VALLEY GROUNDWATER DEPLETION journal February 2011
High-resolution fields of global runoff combining observed river discharge and simulated water balances: HIGH-RESOLUTION COMPOSITE RUNOFF FIELDS journal August 2002
The Hydrological Modeling and Analysis Platform (HyMAP): Evaluation in the Amazon Basin journal December 2012
Particle tracking and the diffusion-reaction equation: RAPID COMMUNICATION journal January 2013
Water Balance in the Amazon Basin from a Land Surface Model Ensemble journal December 2014
Human modification of global water vapor flows from the land surface journal May 2005
Discharge simulation in the sub-basins of the Amazon using ORCHIDEE forced by new datasets journal January 2012
ISLSCP Initiative II global data sets: Surface boundary conditions and atmospheric forcings for land-atmosphere studies journal January 2006
Sensitivity of surface flux simulations to hydrologic parameters based on an uncertainty quantification framework applied to the Community Land Model: UNCERTAINTY QUANTIFICATION FOR CLM4 journal August 2012
Uncertainty Analysis of Runoff Simulations and Parameter Identifiability in the Community Land Model: Evidence from MOPEX Basins journal December 2013
A catchment-based approach to modeling land surface processes in a general circulation model: 1. Model structure journal October 2000
Development and validation of a global database of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands journal August 2004
New Global Hydrography Derived From Spaceborne Elevation Data journal January 2008
Water from on high journal November 2006
Climate–soil–vegetation control on groundwater table dynamics and its feedbacks in a climate model journal January 2010
Evaluating runoff simulations from the Community Land Model 4.0 using observations from flux towers and a mountainous watershed: EVALUATING RUNOFF SIMULATIONS FROM CLM4 journal December 2011
A Physically Based Runoff Routing Model for Land Surface and Earth System Models journal June 2013
Fragmentation and Flow Regulation of the World's Large River Systems journal April 2005
Technical Description of version 4.0 of the Community Land Model (CLM) text January 2010
Global runoff routing with the hydrological component of the ECMWF NWP system: GLOBAL RUNOFF ROUTING WITH THE HYDROLOGICAL COMPONENT journal November 2009
Simulation of Global Land Surface Conditions from 1948 to 2004. Part I: Forcing Data and Evaluations journal October 2006
GPCC's new land surface precipitation climatology based on quality-controlled in situ data and its role in quantifying the global water cycle journal March 2013
Investigating soil moisture–climate interactions in a changing climate: A review journal May 2010
Development of a 50-Year High-Resolution Global Dataset of Meteorological Forcings for Land Surface Modeling journal July 2006
Improved simulation of the terrestrial hydrological cycle in permafrost regions by the Community Land Model: IMPROVED CLM COLD-REGION HYDROLOGY journal March 2012
Afternoon rain more likely over drier soils journal September 2012
On an improved sub-regional water resources management representation for integration into earth system models journal January 2013
One-way coupling of an integrated assessment model and a water resources model: evaluation and implications of future changes over the US Midwest journal January 2013
Global water-balance modelling with WASMOD-M: Parameter estimation and regionalisation journal June 2007
Automated upscaling of river networks for macroscale hydrological modeling: UPSCALING OF GLOBAL RIVER NETWORKS journal March 2011
A new global river network database for macroscale hydrologic modeling: DATA AND ANALYSIS NOTE journal September 2012
Real-time global flood estimation using satellite-based precipitation and a coupled land surface and routing model journal March 2014
A physically based description of floodplain inundation dynamics in a global river routing model: FLOODPLAIN INUNDATION DYNAMICS journal April 2011
Benchmarking global land surface models against the observed mean annual runoff from 150 large basins journal November 2012

Cited By (8)

A Global Hydrologic Framework to Accelerate Scientific Discovery journal January 2019
Assessing the Impact of CFSR and Local Climate Datasets on Hydrological Modeling Performance in the Mountainous Black Sea Catchment journal October 2019
Increased global nitrous oxide emissions from streams and rivers in the Anthropocene journal December 2019
The multiscale routing model mRM v1.0: simple river routing at resolutions from 1 to 50 km journal January 2019
Evaluation of the Runoff and River Routing Schemes in the Community Land Model of the Yellow River Basin: Evaluation of hydrology in Community Land Model journal December 2017
Trade‐off between cost and accuracy in large‐scale surface water dynamic modeling journal June 2017
Evolution of river-routing schemes in macro-scale models and their potential for watershed management journal May 2018
The multiscale Routing Model mRM v1.0: simple river routing at resolutions from 1 to 50 km journal February 2019

Similar Records

A Physically Based Runoff Routing Model for Land Surface and Earth System Models
Journal Article · Thu Jun 13 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Journal of Hydrometeorology, 14(3):808-828 · OSTI ID:1182898

A Subbasin-based framework to represent land surface processes in an Earth System Model
Journal Article · Tue May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Geoscientific Model Development, 7(3):947-963 · OSTI ID:1182898

Global Irrigation Characteristics and Effects Simulated by Fully Coupled Land Surface, River, and Water Management Models in E3SM
Journal Article · Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems · OSTI ID:1182898