MPI-BGC Colloquium

Abstract:

Since the landmark paper of Eagleson (1986), announcing the emergence of global hydrology, the field of global hydrology and water resources has developed tremendously. Hydrological submodels of varying complexity are now part of global climate models, of models calculating global terrestrial carbon sequestration, of earth system models, and even of integrated assessment models. This colloquium reviews the current state of global hydrological and water resources modeling, discusses past and recent developments, and extrapolates these to future challenges and directions. It start with describing the history of global hydrological model development in three established domains: atmospheric modelling, global water resources assessment and dynamic vegetation modelling. Next, a genealogy of global hydrological models is given. Thereafter, recent efforts to connect model components from different domains are reviewed with special reference to multi-sectoral inter-comparison projects. Also, new domains of application are identified where global hydrology is now starting to become an integral part of the analyses. Inspired by these new domains of application, persistent and emerging challenges are identified as well as the directions global hydrology and water resources is likely to take in the coming decade and beyond.