A global-scale evaluation of extreme event uncertainty in the eartH2Observe project

Toby R. Marthews*, Eleanor M. Blyth, Alberto Martínez-De La Torre, Ted I.E. Veldkamp

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Knowledge of how uncertainty propagates through a hydrological land surface modelling sequence is of crucial importance in the identification and characterisation of system weaknesses in the prediction of droughts and floods at global scale. We evaluated the performance of five state-of-the-art global hydrological and land surface models in the context of modelling extreme conditions (drought and flood). Uncertainty was apportioned between the model used (model skill) and also the satellite-based precipitation products used to drive the simulations (forcing data variability) for extreme values of precipitation, surface runoff and evaporation. We found in general that model simulations acted to augment uncertainty rather than reduce it. In percentage terms, the increase in uncertainty was most often less than the magnitude of the input data uncertainty, but of comparable magnitude in many environments. Uncertainty in predictions of evapotranspiration lows (drought) in dry environments was especially high, indicating that these circumstances are a weak point in current modelling system approaches. We also found that high data and model uncertainty points for both ET lows and runoff lows were disproportionately concentrated in the equatorial and southern tropics. Our results are important for highlighting the relative robustness of satellite products in the context of land surface simulations of extreme events and identifying areas where improvements may be made in the consistency of simulation models.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)75-92
Number of pages18
JournalHydrology and Earth System Sciences
Volume24
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Jan 2020

Funding

Financial support. We gratefully acknowledge funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement no. 603608, and Global Earth Observation for integrated water resource assessment: eartH2Observe.

FundersFunder number
FP7/2007
Seventh Framework Programme603608
Seventh Framework Programme

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