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Journal Article

Functional relationships reveal differences in the water cycle representation of global water models

Authors

Gnann,  Sebastian
External Organizations;

Reinecke,  Robert
External Organizations;

Stein,  Lina
External Organizations;

Wada,  Yoshihide
External Organizations;

Thiery,  Wim
External Organizations;

Müller Schmied,  Hannes
External Organizations;

Satoh,  Yusuke
External Organizations;

Pokhrel,  Yadu
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/sebastian.ostberg

Ostberg,  Sebastian
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Koutroulis,  Aristeidis
External Organizations;

Hanasaki,  Naota
External Organizations;

Grillakis,  Manolis
External Organizations;

Gosling,  Simon N.
External Organizations;

Burek,  Peter
External Organizations;

Bierkens,  Marc F. P.
External Organizations;

Wagener,  Thorsten
External Organizations;

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Fulltext (public)

29082oa.pdf
(Publisher version), 4MB

Supplementary Material (public)
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Citation

Gnann, S., Reinecke, R., Stein, L., Wada, Y., Thiery, W., Müller Schmied, H., Satoh, Y., Pokhrel, Y., Ostberg, S., Koutroulis, A., Hanasaki, N., Grillakis, M., Gosling, S. N., Burek, P., Bierkens, M. F. P., Wagener, T. (2023): Functional relationships reveal differences in the water cycle representation of global water models. - Nature Water, 1, 1079-1090.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00160-y


Cite as: https://publications.pik-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_29082
Abstract
Global water models are increasingly used to understand past, present and future water cycles, but disagreements between simulated variables make model-based inferences uncertain. Although there is empirical evidence of different large-scale relationships in hydrology, these relationships are rarely considered in model evaluation. Here we evaluate global water models using functional relationships that capture the spatial co-variability of forcing variables (precipitation, net radiation) and key response variables (actual evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, total runoff). Results show strong disagreement in both shape and strength of model-based functional relationships, especially for groundwater recharge. Empirical and theory-derived functional relationships show varying agreements with models, indicating that our process understanding is particularly uncertain for energy balance processes, groundwater recharge processes and in dry and/or cold regions. Functional relationships offer great potential for model evaluation and an opportunity for fundamental advances in global hydrology and Earth system research in general.