the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The use of GRDC gauging stations for calibrating large-scale hydrological models
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
Abstract. The Global Runoff Data Centre provides time series of observed discharges that are valuable for calibrating and validating the results of hydrological models. We address a common issue in large-scale hydrology that has not been satisfactorily solved, though investigated several times. To compare simulated and observed discharge, grid-based hydrological models must fit reported station locations to the resolution-dependent gridded river network. We introduce an Intersection over Union ratio approach to selected station locations on a coarser grid-scale, reducing the errors in assigning stations to the correct upstream basin. We update the 10-year-old database of watershed boundaries with additional stations based on a high-resolution (3 arc seconds) river network and provide source codes and high- and low-resolution watershed boundaries. The dataset is stored on Zenodo with the associated DOI https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6906577.
Peter Burek and Mikhail Smilovic
Status: open (until 09 Jan 2023)
-
RC1: 'Comment on essd-2022-231', Anonymous Referee #1, 05 Oct 2022
reply
General comments
This manuscript describes the new location data of GRDC stations for calibrating large-scale hydrological models. The calibration of these models relies on the accuracy of stations allocated on the gridded river network of different spatial resolutions. The data is developed based on the idea of the ‘intersection over union ratio approach’, which quantifies the similarity of the watershed shapes between low- and high-resolution gridded watersheds. The new dataset's accuracy was reasonably good compared to the previous versions; thus, the dataset attracts interest in hydrological communities and is worth publishing. Although the estimated precision is promising, however, I think the manuscript does not contain an adequate description as a data paper. Given the location of GRDC stations is a widely used essential information in hydrology and earth system science studies, I think the manuscript is worth publishing on ESSD, after corrections on a few ambiguous parts.
Specific comments:
(1) L 89. Is “Upstream area error” used in the subsequent manuscript?
(2) L93-94. The unit of the distance was not described here. The values of OC calculated with the described equation differed depending on the unit of the distance used. Because the values of (1-'area accordance') are always less than one, the OC values are predominantly determined by the distance if the unit is in kilometers or meters (usually larger than 1). At least, the second term of the equation should be normalized to the range from zero to one. Also, the authors should explain how the weighting of the second term, 2, was determined.
(3) L 141=143: The choice of the weighting factor for calculating ED should be explained.
(4) L 144: Figures 1 (and Figure 2 as well) are not appropriate for the examples describing the automatic upscaling process based on the similarity of shape, because it seems that only the 'area accordance' suffice for the selection of station 7. I would suggest the authors select a more appropriate example. I think Figure 7 worth explains the problem of mismatch in the upscaled stations and how they are solved with the proposed procedures. Upon revising, please consider the necessity of Figure 2 as it was not referred to in the manuscript.
Technical corrections:
(1) L18-21: I think this part is not relevant to the main context. Suggest deleting.
(2) L 92: Delete “)”.
(3) L 133: The number of cells for each resolution does not consistent with those described in line 303. I think this line should be corrected.
(4) Figure 3 was not referred to in the manuscript.
Peter Burek and Mikhail Smilovic
Data sets
The use of GRDC gauging stations for calibrating large-scale hydrological models Peter Burek, Mikhail Smilovic https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6906577
Model code and software
The use of GRDC gauging stations for calibrating large-scale hydrological models Peter Burek, Mikhail Smilovic https://github.com/iiasa/CWATM_grdc_calibration_stations
Peter Burek and Mikhail Smilovic
Viewed
| HTML | XML | Total | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 251 | 79 | 11 | 341 | 8 | 7 |
- HTML: 251
- PDF: 79
- XML: 11
- Total: 341
- BibTeX: 8
- EndNote: 7
Viewed (geographical distribution)
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1