Journal of Hydrology最新文献

{"title":"A prototype hyper-resolution groundwater digital twin for the contiguous United States: integrating physics-based modeling, machine learning, and observations","authors":"Yueling Ma ,&nbsp;Danielle Tijerina-Kreuzer ,&nbsp;Amy Defnet ,&nbsp;Georgios Artavanis ,&nbsp;Laura E. Condon ,&nbsp;Reed M. Maxwell","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135189","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135189","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To advance large-scale hyper-resolution groundwater modeling, we leverage existing physically-based simulation results and water table depth (WTD) observations to develop a prototype groundwater digital twin for the contiguous United States (CONUS). This framework represents a continuously updatable virtual representation that integrates observations with physics-based predictions to support operational decision making. An adjusted random forest model is trained to downscale 1 km simulation results from the integrated physically-based hydrologic model ParFlow-CLM to 1 arcsec (∼30 m) and bias-correct to observations, producing daily 1 arcsec WTD and associated uncertainties across the CONUS. Trained on water year 2003 (WY2003), the model reliably estimates temporal variations in WTD at most previously unseen grid cells, achieving a median Spearman’s ρ of 0.66. Over half of the grid cells that contain continuous daily records in WY2003 exhibit good performance, with ρ ≥ 0.5. At the subbasin scale, the digital twin captures more detailed groundwater variability than ParFlow-CLM, especially in areas with strong surface–groundwater interactions. During the future time period (WY2024), the model consistently outperforms ParFlow-CLM, increasing the median ρ by 0.13. Enabled by multi-GPU computing, the digital twin generates each daily 1-arcsec resolution WTD map in approximately 35 min of GPU time, providing insights into groundwater systems across multiple scales. The success of the physics-guided machine learning (ML) digital twin highlights the advantage of combining ML and physically-based modeling in groundwater applications. This groundwater digital twin demonstrates a path toward operational capability, enabling near-real-time monitoring, scenario exploration, and decision support at unprecedented spatial resolution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135189"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147279112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transport and retention mechanisms of microplastics at confluence: Focus on the effect of confluence ratio","authors":"Xiaolong Li ,&nbsp;Yuhan Shen ,&nbsp;Huanjie Cai ,&nbsp;Dehong Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microplastic pollution has become a major human health threat. Influenced by complex three-dimensional hydrodynamics and discharge variations, river confluences are prone to microplastic accumulation and pollution hotspots. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the mechanisms by which the confluence ratio influences microplastic transport and retention at river confluences. A CFD–DEM approach was employed to develop a three-dimensional hydrodynamic–microplastic coupling transport model for the confluence zone. The study examined the effects of different confluence ratios on microplastic trajectory deflection, polluted area, and retention efficiency. The results indicate that the confluence ratio λ significantly affects microplastic transport and retention: in terms of transport, λ shows a power-law negative correlation with the dimensionless maximum curvature <em>k</em> and a linear positive correlation with the dimensionless polluted area <em>S</em>; regarding retention efficiency, the dimensionless retention efficiency <em>E</em> in the scour and recovery zones decreases with λ following a power-law trend, while in the separation zone it exhibits a quadratic pattern, first decreasing and then increasing. Moreover, different confluence ratios correspond to different dominant retention zones: when λ &lt; 0.65, retention is dominated by the stable flow field in the downstream recovery zone; when 0.65 &lt; λ &lt; 1.61, the scour zone becomes the primary accumulation area; and when λ &gt; 1.61, retention is dominated by the separation zone due to strong recirculation and low-velocity flow fields. This study provides scientific support for the regulation of microplastic pollution at river confluences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135243"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147359942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatial evolution and attribution of aquatic community dynamics to ecohydrological drivers in a semi-arid river basin based on a niche-based metacommunity dynamics model","authors":"Donghua Wang ,&nbsp;Limin Duan ,&nbsp;Siyi Chen ,&nbsp;Yuhao Qiu ,&nbsp;Canyang Guo ,&nbsp;Yanyun Luo ,&nbsp;Yibo Wang ,&nbsp;Pan Liu ,&nbsp;Ruizhong Gao ,&nbsp;Bing Sun ,&nbsp;Guoqiang Wang ,&nbsp;Tingxi Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135230","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135230","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ecohydrological processes are undergoing significant reorganization under environmental stress, complicating process-based attribution of biological responses to hydrological and water quality conditions. Focusing on the Dahei River (a semi-arid Yellow River tributary), this study investigates the coupled dynamics of hydrology, water quality, and aquatic communities along the longitudinal gradient. The MDM was applied to partition the explanatory power of hydrological, water quality, and biotic variables, while characterizing longitudinal connectivity using Cumulative Dispersal Volume (CDV) and Relative Dispersal Potential (RDPI). Quantile regression estimated key niche parameters, including environmental optima, niche breadths, and interspecific interaction coefficients. Results indicate that planktonic communities exhibit broader niche breadths and higher adaptability than zoobenthos, which show greater sensitivity to environmental disturbances. Model performance was higher for plankton than zoobenthos, reflecting their contrasting associations with hydrological variability. A longitudinal “upstream output–downstream input” pattern was captured, with zooplankton demonstrating the highest spatial exchange potential. Attribution analysis indicates that biotic interactions account for substantial explanatory power, while associations with hydrological and water quality variables vary among groups: planktonic communities show higher sensitivity to water quality, whereas zoobenthos respond more strongly to hydrological alterations. Hydrological influence intensifies downstream, while water quality effects are more pronounced midstream, reflecting heterogeneous ecohydrological patterns. These findings deepen the understanding of multi-dimensional coupling among hydrology, water quality, and aquatic communities, demonstrate the robustness of the MDM framework in process-based attribution, and offer a process-oriented perspective for resolving ecohydrological complexity in water-stressed river systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135230"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147359948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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 impact of a mega-flood event on the water quality of the southern Murray-Darling Basin, Australia","authors":"Dilanka Athukoralalage ,&nbsp;Justin D. Brookes ,&nbsp;Richard W. McDowell ,&nbsp;Luke M. Mosley","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135236","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135236","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Extreme floods, driven by climate change, are becoming more frequent and severe across many regions, but the impacts on water quality are uncertain. The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), in Australia, is a large arid to semi-arid river system, that has experienced major drought and flood events over recent decades. In this study, we investigated the dynamics of Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorus, and Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in six major flow events from 2011 to 2023, including a 2022–2023 ‘mega-flood’ the largest since 1956. We applied statistical and hysteresis analysis from 3 study sites, spanning the upper to lower regions in the southern MDB. The mega-flood event accounted for over 30% of the total flow and ∼18% of the TN and ∼20% of the TP yield within the entire study period, with higher nutrient peaks and concentrations in downstream sites. This was likely due to a combination of overbank flows, extensive floodplain inundation, and increased nutrient transport from adjacent agricultural catchments. Nutrient concentrations during the mega-flood exhibited distinct counter-clockwise hysteresis, with higher concentrations on the falling limb of the hydrograph, indicating delayed release from floodplains. This contrasts with the upstream headwater site, which showed weak clockwise hysteresis, reflecting rapid hillslope-driven mobilisation. Our findings demonstrate that more frequent climate-driven mega-floods may lead to proportionally larger nutrient loads and prolonged water-quality degradation. However, the magnitude of nutrient export ultimately depends on antecedent catchment conditions and the availability of transport-ready nutrient stores, which can vary substantially between flood events.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135236"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147360419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Preferential flow reduces overland flow on slopes: insights from a field experiment on the Chinese Loess Plateau","authors":"Yongfu Wen ,&nbsp;Chaojun Gu ,&nbsp;Peng Gao ,&nbsp;Jiahui Zhou ,&nbsp;Xiaoxue Guo ,&nbsp;Xingmin Mu ,&nbsp;Xucheng Ai ,&nbsp;Ruidun Zhang ,&nbsp;Siyu Ren","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135241","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135241","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Preferential flow, a critical component of soil infiltration processes, plays a pivotal role in eco-hydrological dynamics. Large-scale vegetation restoration on the Chinese Loess Plateau has altered the underlying surface conditions, which in turn influences the preferential flow. However, the influence of preferential flow on slope runoff, under different vegetation restoration types and ages, remains unclear. In this study, artificial rainfall experiments, high-frequency soil moisture monitoring, and the surface covering method were used to investigate the occurrence, contribution, and influencing factors of different preferential flow patterns (non-sequential response type and high wetting-front velocity type) under varying vegetation restoration conditions. Furthermore, it elucidates the underlying mechanisms by which preferential flow influences slope runoff. The results indicate that vegetation restoration significantly increased preferential flow occurrence, which was positively correlated with revegetation age. The occurrence of preferential flow ranged from 18.9% to 40.0%, contributing 59.6% to 78.7% of the total infiltration. In revegetated land, the cumulative infiltration, initial infiltration rate, and stable infiltration rate of both matrix flow and preferential flow were significantly higher than those in cropland (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). Soil structure and root characteristics were identified as the primary factors influencing preferential flow occurrence. Vegetation restoration increased preferential flow occurrence, shortened the response time between soil layers, and increased infiltration rates, reducing slope runoff. These findings provide important insights into the soil hydrological processes associated with vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau and in other arid and semi-arid regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135241"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147388356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Groundwater drought in the United States: spatial and temporal variability","authors":"Glenn A. Hodgkins ,&nbsp;Caelan E. Simeone ,&nbsp;Melissa A. Lombard ,&nbsp;Todd G. Caldwell ,&nbsp;John C. Hammond ,&nbsp;Michael E. Wieczorek ,&nbsp;Robert W. Dudley","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135180","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135180","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many communities and ecosystems in the United States that are dependent on groundwater are potentially adversely affected by groundwater drought. We computed yearly groundwater-drought metrics and mean groundwater levels at well locations across the conterminous United States (CONUS), using data from wells and remotely sensed and modeled Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Drought Monitor Data Assimilation (GRACE-DADM). We also modeled the probability of low or high human impact at each well location. The spatial distribution of groundwater-drought duration and severity from 2001 to 2020 for 1,510 wells shows longer maximum duration and higher maximum severity events in drier regions like the Southwest than in wetter regions like the Northeast. Based on 613 wells in CONUS from 1981 to 2020, there are many significant decreases in drought duration and severity in the Northeast and many significant increases in annual-mean groundwater levels. In contrast, there are many significant increases in drought metrics and decreases in mean water levels in parts of the Southeast. There are major differences in trends from 2001 to 2020 between well-based and GRACE-DADM-based groundwater metrics in some CONUS regions and a very low correlation between trends at individual locations across CONUS. A potential reason for this disparity is the low GRACE-DADM resolution (∼12 km) and the potential for a large amount of groundwater variation at the local scale. Also, GRACE-DADM represents shallow, unconfined aquifers which may not match the screened interval of the monitoring wells we evaluated. Large spatial gaps in long-term, high frequency, and quality-assured groundwater-well monitoring data present a challenge for understanding groundwater-drought variability across CONUS. Remote sensing tools such as GRACE can help but cannot fully replace well monitoring, as highlighted by our study results. Substantially more long-term monitoring wells would more accurately represent groundwater-drought trends and spatial variability across CONUS, particularly in western regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135180"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147279114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Revisiting spatiotemporal dynamics of river fragmentation in complex estuarine systems","authors":"Weiming Huang ,&nbsp;Jiahao Wang ,&nbsp;Bing Yuan ,&nbsp;Min Chen ,&nbsp;Tongbi Tu","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135253","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135253","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Extensive human activities, including dam construction and water diversion, have profoundly disrupted natural river connectivity, leading to widespread river fragmentation that threatens the functioning and conservation of riverine ecosystems. However, conventional fragmentation assessments often fail to capture these dynamics in tidal river networks due to the complex interactions between fluvial and coastal processes. Using the Pearl River Delta as a case study, this study integrates a hydrodynamic model to reconstruct long-term, reach-scale natural and historical flows and applies multiple flow alteration metrics to evaluate the temporal evolution of river fragmentation. Results reveal pronounced seasonal and spatial variability: the main tributaries in the Delta, the North and East Rivers, experience severe fragmentation (degree of fragmentation DOF ≈ 100) during dry months, while the West River remains largely unaffected (DOF ≈ 14.5). A modified fragmentation index further shows that, beyond large-scale dams, small barriers—frequently overlooked—can significantly affect localized connectivity. Long-term analysis from 1970 to 2022 indicates increasing flow deviations after 2000, with historical flows exceeding natural flows by up to 500% in the lower North River. Compared with conventional hydrological model-based evaluations, this study demonstrates that large-scale datasets tend to underestimate fragmentation in estuarine systems. The findings highlight substantial alterations in flow regimes driven by both large- and small-scale infrastructure and underscore the need for high-resolution, dynamic modeling approaches. This study provides critical insights for sustainable river system management, emphasizing the importance of incorporating estuarine hydrodynamics and detailed barrier inventories into future assessments of river fragmentation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135253"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147359937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characteristics and influencing factors of soil moisture memory across mainland China","authors":"Xu Hong ,&nbsp;Shaofeng Jia ,&nbsp;Wenbin Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135281","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135281","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Soil moisture memory (SMM), which is defined as the time required to “forget” a perturbation and reflects the strength of land–atmosphere coupling, plays a crucial role in understanding hydrological and eco-meteorological processes. However, large-scale estimates of SMM based on in situ observations remain scarce, and recently proposed SMM metrics have not yet been comprehensively evaluated using extensive ground measurements. In this study, a total of 2,218 available daily in situ soil moisture observations were collected across mainland China. An exponential drydown model was constructed based on these data to simulate the soil moisture drydown process and to estimate three key parameters including the e-folding time scale (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;τ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;), the estimated lower bound of soil moisture (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mover&gt;&lt;mi&gt;θ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;^&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;/mover&gt;&lt;mi&gt;w&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;) and magnitude of the drydown event (&lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;Δ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;θ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt;). Independent site-specific wilting point observations are employed to evaluate the model performance, showing good agreement with fitted &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mover&gt;&lt;mi&gt;θ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;^&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;/mover&gt;&lt;mi&gt;w&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt; values (adjusted R&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.58), which indicates that the model reliably captures variations in soil moisture status. Then we investigate the spatial characteristics of SMM, and explored the effects of soil depth, texture, and climatic conditions. Results show that all fitted parameters exhibit pronounced spatial heterogeneity across mainland China, especially between North and South China and between coastal and inland areas. As soil depth increases, &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;Δ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mi&gt;θ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt; decreases, &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mover&gt;&lt;mi&gt;θ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;^&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;/mover&gt;&lt;mi&gt;w&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt; increases, and &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;τ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt; shows a non-monotonic pattern, first increases and then decreases. Among the controlling factors, &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;msub&gt;&lt;mover&gt;&lt;mi&gt;θ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mo&gt;^&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;/mover&gt;&lt;mi&gt;w&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/msub&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt; primarily governed by soil texture, especially clay content, whereas τ is more sensitive to meteorological factors, particularly evapotranspiration. Furthermore, we compared &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;τ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt; derived from in situ observations with that from multiple satellite and reanalysis soil moisture products. Most products systematically underestimate &lt;span&gt;&lt;math&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi&gt;τ&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/span&gt; and show spatially inconsistent patterns, reflecting limitations in current land surface models in capturing soil drying processes. This study provides the first comprehensive assessment of SMM over mainland China based on a large amount of in situ soil moisture observations, revealing its spatial and depth-dependent characteristics and key controlling factors. The results offer new insights into the mechan","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135281"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147388304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"DeepDiscover: towards autonomous discovery of bucket-type conceptual models – a proof of concept applied to hydrology","authors":"Adoubi Vincent De Paul Adombi","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135249","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135249","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Conceptual hydrological models are widely used to represent rainfall-runoff dynamics at the catchment scale. However, their structure and governing equations are traditionally defined a priori by a human expert. This reliance on expert-defined formulations limits scalability, constrains structural diversity, and hampers the systematic exploration of alternative process representations. In this study, we introduce DeepDiscover, a framework designed to autonomously infer bucket-type conceptual hydrological models from data within a physics-embedded machine learning (PeML) setting. The approach relies on a modular neural architecture composed of elementary units intended to represent reservoirs within bucket-type conceptual models. In this architecture, hydrological processes are not explicitly prescribed but are learned implicitly under explicit physical constraints. DeepDiscover is evaluated on the CAMELS-US dataset in a streamflow prediction task through three complementary experiments. In the first experiment, predictive performance is assessed against several benchmark models: EXP-HYDRO (conceptual model), EXP-PeML, a 1D-CNN, and an LSTM, all trained under identical sequence-to-sequence conditions. The DeepDiscover-based model (DD-PeML) outperforms all benchmarks, achieving median NSE and KGE values of 0.68 and 0.70, respectively, on the test set. The second experiment investigates whether DeepDiscover can recover hydrologically meaningful internal dynamics when trained to mirror EXP-HYDRO. The inferred process and state variables closely match those of EXP-HYDRO, with median <span><math><msup><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup></math></span> of approximately 70 % for processes and 80 % for states. An additional exploratory analysis increases the number of candidate processes, showing that the learned fluxes can still be consistently associated with known hydrological process types, supporting the framework’s capacity for data-driven process discovery. Finally, perturbation experiments demonstrate physically coherent responses to changes in precipitation and temperature, confirming that the learned dynamics remain consistent with fundamental hydrological behavior. Overall, this work demonstrates that autonomous inference of bucket-type conceptual hydrological models from data is feasible within a physically constrained learning framework, and represents a step toward reducing dependence on expert-defined model formulations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135249"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147360410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"WetFramework: A deep learning framework for coastal wetland boundary extraction and inundation frequency estimation","authors":"Jintao Liang ,&nbsp;Yong Zhang ,&nbsp;Yi Wang ,&nbsp;Chao Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135273","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135273","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Coastal wetlands, characterized by their geomorphological sensitivity and tidal dependence, exhibit pronounced vulnerability under global warming. While the persistent threat of sea-level rise to coastal wetlands has been extensively documented at the macroscale, there remains a lack of systematic quantitative frameworks for mapping these trends to the microscale dynamics of wetland evolution. To address this gap, this paper proposes WetFramework, a novel approach for joint modeling of spatial structure and temporal variation in wetlands. (1) In the encoder, Transformer and Mamba modules are integrated to enhance multiscale feature representation through the synergy of global attention and implicit sequence modeling, with a Token-Driven Attention Mechanism (TDAM) designed to facilitate deep interactions between features. (2) In the decoder, a Wavelet-Enhanced Reconstruction Module (WERM) is introduced to improve spatial structure modeling via wavelet transforms, thereby optimizing boundary delineation and fine detail representation for precise mapping of coastal wetland extents. (3) To capture periodic inundation characteristics, a Fourier-Based Inundation Estimation Module (FBIEM) is further proposed, incorporating tidal-height observations to enable unsupervised modeling of pixel-level hydrological responses and quantitative expression of inundation rhythms. Extensive experiments conducted in four representative coastal regions—Yancheng and Dongying (China), Mont-Saint-Michel Bay (France), and San Francisco Bay (USA)—demonstrate that the proposed framework outperforms state-of-the-art models across multiple evaluation metrics and exhibits robust cross-regional generalization and dynamic modeling capabilities. This study provides an effective paradigm for intelligent remote sensing-based wetland identification and long-term hydrological modeling, and offers key hydrological information to support inundation-dynamics monitoring and management decision-making.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":362,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology","volume":"671 ","pages":"Article 135273"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147387989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}