Learning From Hydrological Models’ Challenges: A Case Study from the Nelson Basin Model Intercomparison Project

Ahmed, Mohamed Ismaiel

https://ror.org/03yjb2x39

University of Calgary

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3423-7041

Stadnyk, Tricia

https://ror.org/03yjb2x39

University of Calgary

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2145-4963

Pietroniro, Alain

https://ror.org/03yjb2x39

University of Calgary

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5792-9177

Awoye, Hervé

https://ror.org/03yjb2x39

University of Calgary

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9890-1912

Bajracharya, Ajay

https://ror.org/03yjb2x39

University of Calgary

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5090-2211

Mai, Juliane

https://ror.org/01aff2v68

University of Waterloo

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1132-2342

Tolson, Bryan A.

https://ror.org/01aff2v68

University of Waterloo

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3092-5536

Shen, Hongren

https://ror.org/01aff2v68

University of Waterloo

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5979-2159

Craig, James R.

https://ror.org/01aff2v68

University of Waterloo

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2715-7166

Gervais, Mark

https://ror.org/03y90jx90

Manitoba Hydro

Sagan, Kevin

https://ror.org/03y90jx90

Manitoba Hydro

Wruth, Shane

https://ror.org/03y90jx90

Manitoba Hydro

Koenig, Kristina

https://ror.org/03y90jx90

Manitoba Hydro

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1570-3820

Lilhare, Rajtantra

https://ror.org/025wzwv46

University of Northern British Columbia

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6913-6024

Déry, Stephen J.

https://ror.org/025wzwv46

University of Northern British Columbia

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3553-8949

Pokorny, Scott

Strategic Systems Engineering

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6665-5622

Venema, Hank

Strategic Systems Engineering

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4909-969X

Muhammad, Ameer

Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3689-5577

Taheri, Mahkameh

https://ror.org/01aff2v68

University of Waterloo

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0604-5982

2000-01-01/2017-12-31

2023-04-19T14:36:45Z

2023-04-19T14:36:45Z

2023-04-19

https://www.frdr-dfdr.ca/repo/dataset/c03c1d03-68d4-40ab-b20b-6b7b1001b528

https://doi.org/10.20383/102.0705

Abstract:
Intercomparison studies play an important, but limited role in understanding the usefulness and limitations of currently available hydrological models. Comparison studies are often limited to well-behaved hydrological regimes, where rainfall-runoff processes dominate the hydrological response. These efforts have not covered western Canada due to the difficulty in simulating that region’s complex cold region hydrology with varying spatiotemporal contributing areas. This intercomparison study is the first of a series of studies under the intercomparison project of the international and interprovincial transboundary Nelson-Churchill River Basin (NCRB) in North America (Nelson-MIP), which encompasses different ecozones with major areas of the non-contributing Prairie potholes, forests, glaciers, mountains, and permafrost. The performance of eight hydrological and land surface models is compared at different unregulated watersheds within the NCRB. This is done to assess the models’ streamflow performance and overall fidelity without and with calibration, to capture the underlying physics of the region and to better understand why models struggle to accurately simulate its hydrology. Results show that some of the participating models have difficulties in simulating streamflow and/or internal hydrological variables (e.g., evapotranspiration) over Prairie watersheds but most models performed well elsewhere. This stems from model structural deficiencies, despite the various models being well calibrated to observed streamflow. Some model structural changes are identified for the participating models for future improvement. The outcomes of this study offer guidance for practitioners for the accurate prediction of NCRB streamflow, and for increasing confidence in future projections of water resource supply and management.

Federated Research Data Repository / dépôt fédéré de données de recherche

This dataset is made available under a custom license. Some of the files are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, while others are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (CC BY-NC 4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Please see the provided LICENSE.txt file for the full terms of use.

hydrological model intercomparison

Prairie pothole

streamflow

snow water equivalent

actual evapotranspiration

Learning From Hydrological Models’ Challenges: A Case Study from the Nelson Basin Model Intercomparison Project

f163c1b3-9c88-42f6-a7bb-5839ed6c4063

/1/published/publication_700/

AIP generation and transfer successful

2024-08-09

2023

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129820

https://doi.org/10.20383/103.0913

45.4695833330000809 -117.4199999999999307 59.5354166670000211 -89.8599999999999426

Nelson-Churchill River Basin;-;-;Canada

Global Water Futures

RDF1050702

Earth and related environmental sciences

Hydrology

Physical and catchment hydrology

Sciences de la Terre et sciences de l'environnement connexes

Hydrologie

Hydrologie physique et de captage

Detailed information about the different files or datasets is available in the README file.
This dataset is made available under a custom license. Please refer to the LICENSE.txt file for the full terms of use.