State-of-the-art hydrological datasets exhibit low water balance consistency globally

Huang, Hao; Liu, Junguo; Chen, Aifang; Ruiz-Vásquez, Melissa; Orth, René

doi:10.5194/essd-18-3109-2026

Articles | Volume 18, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-3109-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-3109-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 5

Data review article

|

11 May 2026

Data review article |

| 11 May 2026

State-of-the-art hydrological datasets exhibit low water balance consistency globally

Hao Huang, Junguo Liu, Aifang Chen, Melissa Ruiz-Vásquez, and René Orth

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-3109-2026-supplement

Data sets

EM-Earth: The Ensemble Meteorological Dataset for Planet Earth G. Tang et al. https://doi.org/10.20383/102.0547

Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Climate Data Record (CDR), Version 1.3 R. Adler et al. https://doi.org/10.5065/ZGJD-9B02

GPM IMERG Final Precipitation L3 1 day 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree V07 G. J. Huffman et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/GPM/IMERGDF/DAY/07

JRA-55: Japanese 55-year Reanalysis, Daily 3-Hourly and 6-Hourly Data Japan Meteorological Agency https://doi.org/10.5065/D6HH6H41

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

FLUXCOM-X-BASE J. A. Nelson et al. https://doi.org/10.18160/5NZG-JMJE

MODIS/Terra Net Evapotranspiration Gap-Filled 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 S. Running et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD16A2GF.061

PML_V2.1.8 global evapotranspiration and gross primary production (2000.02-2023.12) Y. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10647618

ERA5-Land hourly data from 1950 to present J. Muñoz Sabater https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.e2161bac

G-RUN: Global Runoff Reconstruction Gionata Ghiggi et al. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9228176.v2

SMAP L4 Global 3-hourly 9 km EASE-Grid Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Geophysical Data. (SPL4SMGP, Version 7) R. Reichle et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/EVKPQZ4AFC4D

Model code and software

HowHuang/WaterBalanceConsistency: v1.0 (v1.0) H. Huang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19468433

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Short summary

Hydrological research benefits from a growing number and diversity of datasets. However, the consistency across the increasing suite of datasets is unclear, limiting the comparability of findings derived from different datasets and variables. We find overall low consistency of numerous state-of-the-art precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, and soil moisture datasets in terms of the water balance. Meanwhile, the water balance consistency varies across space, sources, variables, and time.