Land Cover Change and Hydroclimatic Deviation: A Detailed Examination within the Budyko Framework

Predicting streamflow in a changing climate poses significant challenges for traditional hydrological models. Static parameter sets result from model calibrations over historical data that increasingly encounter the non-stationary impacts on the hydrological system. Endeavouring toward non-stationary model parameters by incorporating time...

Climate-analogy mapping as a tool to develop a temporally-adaptive hydrological model of the Meuse basin for more reliable predictions under change

The future hydrological response of a river system is often predicted using hydrological models that are calibrated on past observations. By using static model parameters it is assumed that hydrological systems do not change in time. For long-term predictions, this is in clear contrast with the notion that vegetation actively adapts its root...

The effects of future climate-induced adaptation of root zone storage capacity on modelled streamflow dynamics

Hydrological models are often used to evaluate future changes in streamflow. Despite the strong aware- ness of non-stationarity in hydrological system characteristics, model parameters are often assumed stationary and obtained through calibration on past conditions. The representation of system change in hydrological models is challenging, as a...

Internal processes in hydrological models: A glance at the Meuse basin from space

Contemplating the Meuse or any other river of the world, one may wonder about the journey of rain in becoming river. This fascinates hydrologists, as they develop theories to understand movement, storage and release of water through the landscape across climates. These theories are translated to hydrological models, which describe the complex...

The aftermath of multiyear droughts: A case study in Australia

In this report the hydrological response to multiyear droughts has been researched. Long-term droughts have resulted in an increase in tree die-off in affected areas. As the hydrological response is related to the vegetation in a catchment, it is of interest to find out whether catchment response regarding rainfall-runoff is different after a...

Descriptor variables of the root zone storage capacity in Canada

The root zone storage capacity is a critical determinant in hydrology, playing a major role in the partitioning of precipitation into evaporation and runoff. Besides, it is an important parameter in climatological and hydrological models. Understanding of the root zone storage capacity and its major determining processes is therefore fundamental...

Influence of Climate and Vegetation on Root Zone Storage Capacity: A case study in Australia

Root zone storage capacity Sr is a significant variable for hydrology and climate studies, as it strongly influences the hydrological behaviour of a catchment. A climate-derived method (water-balance between precipitation and transpiration) was applied for estimating Sr values for 113 catchments in Australia. Various climate, hydrological and...

Added value of distribution in rainfall-runoff models for the Meuse basin

Why do equal precipitation events not lead to equal discharge events across space and time? The easy answer would be because catchments are different, which then leads to the second question: Why do hydrologists often use the same rainfall-runoff model for different catchments? Probably because specifying and distributing hydrological processes...

Landscape-based hydrological modelling: Understanding the influence of climate, topography, and vegetation on catchment hydrology

In this thesis, a novel landscape-based hydrological model is presented that was developed and tested in numerous catchments around the world with various landscapes and climate conditions. A landscape is considered to consist of a topography and an ecosystem living on it. Firstly, the influence of climate on hydrological process was studied. It...