Hydrological Processes最新文献

{"title":"Sensitivity of Large-Scale Hydrological Predictions to Precipitation Phase Partitioning Methods Under a Changing Climate","authors":"Fuad Yassin,&nbsp;John W. Pomeroy,&nbsp;Alain Pietroniro,&nbsp;Bruce Davison,&nbsp;Mohamed Elshamy,&nbsp;Zelalem Tesemma","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70608","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Accurate partitioning of precipitation into rain and snow remains a major source of uncertainty in hydrological projections for cold regions. This study quantifies how four precipitation phase-partitioning formulations influence simulated precipitation phase, snow storage and streamflow response in the Saskatchewan River Basin under historical (1981–2010) and late-century (2071–2100) climate conditions. Simulations were conducted under naturalised conditions, with all reservoir regulation, irrigation and water-management abstractions deactivated to isolate the effect of phase-partitioning choice, using the MESH land-surface hydroloical model forced with CanRCM4 climate projections spanning 1950 to 2100. Three empirical temperature-based methods (single-threshold, linear-transition and polynomial) and one physically based psychrometric formulation were evaluated using diagnostic variables including total precipitation, snow and rain fractions, annual maximum snow water equivalent (SWE), runoff, peak discharge and streamflow timing metrics. Late-century projections showed increases in total precipitation of 19%–30% and declines in snowfall fraction of 25%–34% across landforms. Reductions in annual maximum SWE ranged from approximately 5%–13% in the cordillera and foothills to 13%–19% in the plains. Inter-method spreads in projected SWE were small in colder landforms (&lt; 4 percentage points) but reached 6–9 percentage points in the plains and lowlands, comparable in magnitude to the projected climate-change signal. Streamflow timing advanced consistently: spring pulse onset date advanced by a median of 27 days, centre-of-mass timing by 22 days and time to peak flow by 26 days. Peak discharge increased by a median of 12.6% and annual streamflow volume by 23.9%. Inter-method differences were smallest for spring onset and centre-of-mass timing (1–3 days) and largest for time to peak flow and peak discharge, with mean absolute deviations exceeding 10 days and 14 percentage points respectively under some empirical methods. Snowfall-fraction biases between empirical and physical methods were spatially structured, with time of emergence occurring as early as 1952 for the single-threshold and linear-transition methods and several decades later for the polynomial method. The physically based psychrometric formulation remained consistent across historical and future climates, whereas empirical temperature-threshold schemes exhibited systematic biases and increasing divergence under stronger warming. These findings highlight the importance of explicitly accounting for precipitation phase-partitioning uncertainty in climate-impact assessments for snow-dominated and mixed-regime river basins.</p>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hyp.70608","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148306039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Megadrought-Amplified River Geochemical Export in the Central Andes","authors":"José G. León,&nbsp;Karina L. Lecomte","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70594","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70594","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The ongoing megadrought in the Central Andes has amplified hydrological and hydrochemical responses in mountain rivers. Using a 30-year dataset (1995–2024) of suspended particulate matter (SPM), total dissolved solids (TDS), and major ions, together with streamflow and snow records, this study evaluates regime-dependent responses in a glacierised, evaporite-rich catchment (Tunuyán River, Argentina). Hydroclimatic analyses revealed a robust ~140-day lag between snow accumulation and runoff, and a multi–annual snow–discharge coherence that weakened after 2010, coincident with the onset of the megadrought. Marked contrasts among wet, mean and dry regimes emerged primarily in magnitude and variability. Median SPM increased by ~240% from wet to dry years (387 to 1322 mg L⁻¹), whereas TDS increased by ~31% (500–1300 mg L⁻¹), driven mainly by Na⁺ and Cl⁻ (+78% and +76%, respectively), reflecting a regime-dependent rebalancing of ionic composition under drought conditions. Despite higher solute concentrations, dry years exhibited stronger concentration–discharge coupling for specific solutes, with solute concentrations responding more strongly to discharge variability than under dilution-buffered conditions. SPM displayed pronounced non-linear intra-annual hysteresis, with counter-figure-of-eight loops dominating wet and dry years, while mean conditions were characterised mainly by clockwise behaviour. Export estimates showed strong regime dependence: annual SPM loads declined by ~45% and dissolved loads by 20%–60% from wet to dry years, consistent with reduced streamflow (−35%) and attenuated melt pulses. Nevertheless, the TDS–Q relationship remained remarkably stable over three decades (<i>b</i> ≈ −0.25), reflecting persistent deep, buffered flowpaths, whereas particulate export became increasingly event-driven. This study shows that sustained cryosphere loss and prolonged drought primarily amplify concentration levels and variability rather than reorganising export controls, increasing the vulnerability of Andean headwaters to water-quality deterioration, with implications for other semi-arid, glacierised Andean catchments.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148174295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Effect of Rainfall Duration on Preferential Flow in Coal Mining Subsidence Areas of the Middle Reaches of the Yellow River Basin","authors":"Tong Zhang,&nbsp;Qiaoling Guo,&nbsp;Yunsong Yang,&nbsp;Minghan Yang,&nbsp;Shuming Quan","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70593","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70593","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Underground coal mining has resulted in a large number of collapse areas and ground cracks in the mining area. The cracks provided the preferred pathway for soil water infiltration. Preferential flow caused by cracks resulted in severe water content reduction in the surface soil layer, destructing vegetation and land. Three cracks of identical width (3 cm) were selected from the coal mining subsidence area of the Shenfu-Dongsheng Coalfield, located in the middle Yellow River basin. Dye-tracing experiments were conducted under a constant rainfall intensity of 125 mm/h, with varying durations of 10 min, 20 min, and 30 min, to analyse the preferential flow characteristics of cracks under different rainfall durations. The results indicated that: (1) for rainfall durations of 10, 20, and 30 min, the average maximum water infiltration depths were 21.32 cm, 40.50 cm, and 41.40 cm, respectively. As rainfall duration increased, the morphology of the soil dyed area ratio shifted from an ‘S’-shaped pattern to a uniformly descending trend, accompanied by an increase in the width and depth of the dyed pathways. (2) During a 10-min rainfall duration, soil water flow was primarily characterised by high interaction large pore flow, which constituted 54.29%. As the duration extended to 20 and 30 min, the dominant flow type shifted to homogeneous matrix flow, with proportions of 58.57% and 61.41%, respectively. Furthermore, extended rainfall duration facilitated the emergence of heterogeneous finger flow, complicating the hydrological transition from homogeneous matrix flow to large pore flow. (3) As rainfall duration increased, the average initiation depths of preferential flow zones were 6.62 cm, 16.08 cm, and 25.90 cm, indicating an increasing trend. In contrast, the average proportions of preferential flow zones were 41.68%, 40.06%, and 21.94%, which reflect a decreasing trend. This suggests that matrix flow expands more rapidly than preferential flow. (4) Deep cracks create preferential pathways that enhance water conductivity, promote preferential flow, and increase the penetration depth of dyed pathways. This study provides a scientific basis for land reclamation management in coal mining areas.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148173845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A New Class of Monthly Rainfall-Runoff Models for Ungauged Basins—Application to the Peruvian Coastal Basins","authors":"Saéz Marina,&nbsp;Mangiarotti Sylvain,&nbsp;Rau Pedro,&nbsp;Polanco-Martínez Josué,&nbsp;Lavado-Casimiro Waldo,&nbsp;Brodu Nicolas,&nbsp;Bourrel Luc","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70582","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70582","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Rainfall–runoff modelling in data-scarce regions remains a major challenge in climatology due to limited hydrometric records and the heterogeneity of watershed responses. To address this problem, we introduce a new class of parsimonious nonlinear rainfall–runoff models that rely solely on two geometric descriptors of the basin: surface area and elongation ratio. The models are derived using the global modelling technique, insensitive to the initial conditions. Models are built and validated across 49 basins distributed over ~223 000 km² in the Peruvian Pacific slope and coast. Two generalized formulations were obtained: Model <b>G</b>_<b>I</b>, based on the four northernmost basins, and Model <b>G</b>_<b>II</b>, derived from a larger set. Both reproduce key hydrological features, including annual maxima, minima, and the geometry of phase-space orbits. Model <b>G</b>_<b>II</b>, although less parsimonious, consistently outperforms <b>G</b>_<b>I</b> in terms of error metrics, while retaining physical interpretability. Simulations reveal that elongation exerts a stronger influence on runoff dynamics than area, particularly under extreme rainfall (e.g., El Niño events). Stability analysis further shows that basins with intermediate elongation (~0.45–0.60) are the most robust, whereas very rounded or highly elongated basins approach instability or divergence. Importantly, the proposed framework is transferable to ungauged basins, offering predictive capability with minimal parameterisation. These findings highlight the structural similarity of watershed responses across diverse climatic and geomorphic settings in coastal Peru, suggesting broader applicability to other semi-arid regions with episodic extreme events.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148173876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Non-Linear and Scale-Dependent Hydrological Transmission of Basin Climate Forcing to Lake Level Dynamics in Sarez Lake","authors":"Lingxin Kong,&nbsp;Majid Gulayozov,&nbsp;Jingjing Zhang,&nbsp;Long Ma,&nbsp;Yaoming Li","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70591","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70591","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In the context of ongoing climate warming, understanding how alpine lake-basin systems respond to climate variability is crucial for ensuring regional water security and assessing hazard risks. However, lake water level (LWL) dynamics often exhibit pronounced non-stationarity and scale-dependent characteristics, and the driving mechanisms constrained by basin hydrological processes remain insufficiently understood. This study used Sarez Lake in the Pamir Plateau as a case study and developed a multiscale attribution framework that combined time-series decomposition, wavelet coherence analysis, and explainable machine learning based on continuous daily LWL observations from 2005 to 2023. The framework was used to characterise the frequency-dependent responses of lake levels to climatic forcing and their non-linear driving mechanisms. The results showed that the LWL in Sarez Lake exhibited pronounced regime shifts and multiscale oscillations. Significant coupling between LWL and climatic factors was primarily concentrated within the range of 294–417 day periods, indicating clear scale-dependent relationships. Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) evaluation further indicated that runoff and soil moisture were the predominant drivers, with LWL exhibiting non-linear responses to these variables and robust interactions with snowmelt-related processes. Overall, the LWL dynamics in Sarez Lake are not controlled by a single hydrological variable but emerge from scale-dependent non-linear responses governed jointly by basin water supply and thermal conditions. These findings offer novel insights into the hydrological responses of alpine lake-basin systems to climate change, thereby contributing to an enhanced understanding of water resource management and hazard assessment in high-mountain regions.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148173781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hydrological Evolution of a Small Watershed Over Nearly a Century of Pumping","authors":"Oluwapelumi D. Shotayo,&nbsp;Diana M. Allen,&nbsp;W. Jesse Hahm","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70587","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70587","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding how watersheds evolve and change hydrologically under decades of pumping can help inform sustainable watershed management. This study involved simulating the hydrological evolution of Bertrand Creek Watershed (BCW) in the Lower Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada, over nearly a century of groundwater pumping to assess the long-term impacts of steadily increasing pumping on subsurface storage, aquifer-river exchanges and streamflow. A non-pumping simulation was used to isolate pumping effects from natural climate variability. The results reveal that changes in subsurface storage in BCW were driven primarily by climate (water availability), with pumping exerting a secondary but detectable influence. Droughts and high pumping rates interacted, producing storage losses up to 670% more than under normal conditions, while storage gains were rare, occurring only in very wet years and reaching up to 270% more than normal. Across the entire watershed, groundwater discharge and overland flow to the river declined by an average of 6% and 8%, respectively, under pumping conditions. These reductions caused simulated streamflow at two stream gauge locations to decrease by about 11% and 4% per year, respectively, consistent with observed streamflow depletion. River to groundwater exchange is low and remained the same in both simulations. A critical shift in the hydrological regime occurred in the 1970s, when multiple large-capacity municipal wells became operational. In recent years, these wells diverted nearly 4700 m³/day of water that otherwise would have discharged to the stream and accounted for 6%–7% of the simulated streamflow depletion.</p>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hyp.70587","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148173928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An Evaluation of New Snow Interception and Ablation Parameterisations in Continental, Subarctic and Maritime Needleleaf Forests","authors":"Alex C. Cebulski,&nbsp;John W. Pomeroy,&nbsp;William C. Floyd","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70573","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Snow interception by forest canopies occurs over 23% of the global land surface, influencing both subcanopy snow accumulation and land-surface energy exchanges. The processes governing snow interception are strongly influenced by both meteorological conditions and canopy density, resulting in differing process emergence in distinctive climates, seasons and forest types. Recent studies have revealed new relationships to represent snow interception and canopy snow ablation processes with potential applicability across a broader range of canopy structures and climatic conditions. To assess the effectiveness of these new parameterisations, they were implemented in the Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling platform as a new module called CanSnow, and evaluated against observations of snow water equivalent within and beneath the canopy at four sites in western and northern Canada: two continental climate sites (Marmot Creek and Fortress Mountain, Alberta), one subarctic site (Wolf Creek, Yukon Territory), and one temperate-maritime site (Russell Creek, British Columbia). The observed fraction of seasonal snowfall stored in the subcanopy snowpack at peak snow water equivalent (SWE) varied from 0.3 at Russell Creek, 0.4 at Marmot and Wolf Creek and 0.6 at Fortress Mountain. Uncalibrated simulation of canopy intercepted snow duration at Marmot Creek improved with the new CanSnow module, where the percent differences from observations decreased from −40.1% to 14%. CanSnow improved simulation of subcanopy snow accumulation at the temperate-maritime site, whereas improvements were smaller at the cold-continental and subarctic sites. Despite relatively smaller improvements in accuracy at cold-climate sites, the new model is based on an improved physical representation of initial interception and subsequent ablation of intercepted snow, increasing confidence in process diagnosis. An existing approach lacked a comprehensive representation of snow interception processes, resulting in generally larger errors in simulated SWE within and beneath the canopy. Based on diagnosis by CanSnow, at cold, low-wind sites, about half of annual snowfall was lost via sublimation of intercepted snow, whereas greater unloading at a cold, wind-exposed site reduced sublimation losses. At the high-snowfall temperate-maritime site, canopy snowmelt, meltwater drip and melt-induced unloading dominated, delivering the largest fraction of snowfall to the forest floor despite high initial interception efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hyp.70573","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148167135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Convection-Permitting Regional Climate Simulations Reveal Stronger Drying and Snow Loss in Semi-Arid Mountainous Basins of Morocco","authors":"Ouiaam Lahnik,&nbsp;Yves Tramblay,&nbsp;Redouane Lguensat,&nbsp;Sophie Bastin,&nbsp;Yoann Robin,&nbsp;Jafet C. M. Andersson,&nbsp;Lahoucine Hanich","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70590","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70590","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mountainous basins in semi-arid regions are among the most climate-sensitive environments, yet their hydro-climatic processes remain poorly represented by regional climate models. This study provides the first hydrological evaluation of a convection-permitting regional climate model (WRF3) with a spatial resolution of 3 km in mountainous basins of Morocco in North Africa, using a multi-model hydrological framework (HYPE and GR4J-CemaNeige). Results show that hydrological simulations forced by the convection-permitting WRF3 model provide a better agreement with observed streamflow and a set of different hydrological signatures than those forced by the coarser, convection-parameterized WRF20 model (20 km). Under the SSP5–8.5 scenario, the projections indicate precipitation decreases of 31%–62%, increases in potential evapotranspiration of 16%–27%, and streamflow reductions ranging from 64%–87%, depending on the climate forcing (WRF3 versus WRF20). There is a systematically stronger reduction in water resources in WRF3 projections than in WRF20 that is consistent across different basins. Snow contributions decline more strongly in simulations forced by the convection-permitting regional climate model (WFR3), leading to a shift from a snow-dominated to a predominantly rain-dominated hydrological regime. These results highlight the added value of high-resolution climate modelling in capturing fine-scale mountain processes, strengthening the confidence in climate-impact assessments, and also reveal the severe vulnerability of semi-arid mountainous water resources to future warming. The more pessimistic scenarios obtained with the convection-permitting regional climate model call for a reassessment of currently available scenarios for future water resources in semi-arid mountainous regions obtained with coarse resolution climate models.</p>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hyp.70590","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148167136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Simulation of Soil Water Content in Clayey Soils Where Dissolution and Precipitation of Pedogenic Carbonates Impact the Accuracy of Sensors Measuring Soil Water Content","authors":"Katarina Matan,&nbsp;Kristina Krklec,&nbsp;Aleksandra Bensa,&nbsp;David Domínguez-Villar","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70585","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Soils are an important storage of water and an efficient filter that enables a certain percentage of precipitation to reach groundwater, contributing to hydrological resources. In this paper, soil water content (SWC) was monitored during 2 years to characterize the hydrological dynamics and quantify water resources. The studied soil is developed over a carbonate bedrock in the Mediterranean region of Croatia. The site has a classical red Mediterranean soil with high clay content and pedogenic carbonates. The hydrological monitoring along the soil profile was conducted using sensors based on frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) technology. However, soil characteristics resulted in factors other than SWC affecting the recorded signal. The measured SWC signals record short-term variability in response to precipitation events, although their absolute values and their long-term variability are unreliable. To better understand local hydrological dynamics, a 1D hydrological model was implemented. Basic corrections were applied to raw SWC signals to use measured data to calibrate the model. In average, the simulation explains 72% of the corrected SWC variability and properly reproduces the short-term variability measured by sensors, improving the original and corrected SWC signals. This research shows that even if FDR sensors provide unreliable data in problematic soils, the measured signals can still be used to calibrate hydrological models and to produce realistic simulated data. The methodology followed in this research can inspire similar observation-simulation studies and be used as a guide to improve the understanding of hydrological dynamics in any type of soil with technical difficulties to acquire quality observational SWC data.</p>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hyp.70585","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148167134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of Soil and Land-Use/Land-Cover Data Quality on SWAT Parameter Transferability in Small Subtropical Agricultural Watersheds","authors":"Elzon C. Rippel,&nbsp;Daniel G. A. Piccilli,&nbsp;Latif Kalin,&nbsp;Rutinéia Tassi,&nbsp;Cristiano Gabriel Persch,&nbsp;Lueni Gonçalves Terra,&nbsp;André Pellegrini,&nbsp;Danilo Rheinheimer dos Santos","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70570","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70570","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Regionalisation of hydrological model parameters is a cornerstone of Prediction in Ungauged Basins (PUB), yet the level of input-data detail required for reliable parameter transfer remains unclear, particularly in intensively managed agricultural landscapes with intra-annual land-use/land-cover (LULC) dynamics associated with multi-cropping systems. While recent studies have primarily focused on refining transfer techniques—such as proximity, similarity, regression, fuzzy clustering, or machine learning—the role of watershed descriptor quality has rarely been explored. Here, we evaluated how soil and LULC data quality control the transferability of SWAT parameters through a factorial proxy-basin experiment in two small subtropical agricultural watersheds in southern Brazil (WS80: 0.80 km², WS140: 1.39 km²). Four scenarios crossed two levels of soil data quality (global HWSD at 1:5000000 vs. locally sampled at approximately 1:50000) with two levels of LULC representation (static default management vs. dynamic, EVI2-derived crop–livestock rotations). Calibration performance improved in WS80 from NSE = 0.16 under coarse soil and static LULC to NSE = 0.75 when dynamic LULC was included. Under direct parameter transfer, the combined fine-soil and dynamic-LULC scenario achieved satisfactory NSE in both target directions (0.56 and 0.55), compared with NSE = 0.06–0.25 under the baseline global-soil/static-LULC scenario. Post-transfer PBIAS ranged from −67.2% to +48.8% across coarse-soil scenarios, whereas the fine-soil/dynamic-LULC scenario reduced PBIAS to −39.9% and + 28.7%. Our findings show that, in small managed agricultural watersheds, improving the physical realism of watershed descriptors can substantially increase SWAT parameter transferability, and that both soil and dynamic LULC upgrades are needed to achieve satisfactory model performance with transferred parameters.</p>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hyp.70570","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148166971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}