Usually, hydrological models are calibrated and validated to relative short-term datasets of years to several decades. For these relative short durations, model parameters appear to be stable for calibration and validation periods as long as watershed properties (e.g. landuse) and climatic conditions do not change. A few studies have shown that the assumption of temporal stability of watershed model parameters is violated in long-term modeling experiments with strong implications for climate impact analysis (e.g. Merz et al., 2011). However, rarely has the time stability been tested in long-term model applications. The question then arises if the resulting model uncertainty still allows the detection and attribution of observed long-term changes.

The project should test the assumption of temporal parameter stability of a hydrological model using long-term climate and discharge data in glacierized headwater catchments in Switzerland. The main objective will be to assess the effect (direction and magnitude of the impact) of potential parameter variability on long-term simulations and observed changes in discharge processes.

Zur Verfügung stehen Modell-Setup aller EZG aus dem ASG Rhein Projekt (Stahl et al. 2017) sowie einige mehr.

Arbeiten mit größeren Datensätzen, Modellierung, Programmierung der Analysen

Kerstin Stahl, Markus Weiler, Marit van Tiel

Arbeit ist in das Projekt ASG Rhein eingebunden zusammen mit der Uni Zürich und dem Ingenieurbüro Hydron

Merz, R., J. Parajka, and G. Blo ̈schl (2011), Time stability of catchment model parameters: Implications for climate impact analyses, Water Resour. Res., 47, W02531, doi:10.1029/2010WR009505.

Stahl, K., Weiler, M., Freudiger, D., Kohn, I., Seibert, J., Vis,M., Gerlinger,K., Böhm, M. The snow and glacier melt components of the streamflow of the River Rhine and its tributaries considering the influence of climate change. Final report to the International Commission for the Hydrology of the Rhine basin (CHR). English version, March 2017.

Van Tiel, M., Stahl, K, Freudiger, D., Seibert, J. (2020): Glacio-hydrological model calibration and evaluation, WIREs Water, volume: 7, issue: 6, page: e1483