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Streamflow response to regional climate model output in the mountainous watershed: a case study from the Swiss Alps

Rahman, Kazi ; Etienne, Christophe ; Gago-Silva, Ana ; Maringanti, Chetan ; Beniston, Martin ; Lehmann, Anthony

In: Environmental Earth Sciences, 2014, vol. 72, no. 11, p. 4357-4369

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    Titre
    • Streamflow response to regional climate model output in the mountainous watershed: a case study from the Swiss Alps
    Auteur
    • Rahman, Kazi. Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Battelle, Building D, 7 route de Drize, 1227, Carouge, Switzerland
    • Etienne, Christophe. Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Battelle, Building D, 7 route de Drize, 1227, Carouge, Switzerland
    • Gago-Silva, Ana. Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Battelle, Building D, 7 route de Drize, 1227, Carouge, Switzerland
    • Maringanti, Chetan. Risk Modeling Unit, Zurich Financial Services Ltd., P.O. Box 8022, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Beniston, Martin. Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Battelle, Building D, 7 route de Drize, 1227, Carouge, Switzerland
    • Lehmann, Anthony. Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Battelle, Building D, 7 route de Drize, 1227, Carouge, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Environmental Earth Sciences, 2014, vol. 72, no. 11, p. 4357-4369. Springer Berlin Heidelberg
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:325770
    Summary
    Regional climate model (RCM) outputs are often used in hydrological modeling, in particular for streamflow forecasting. The heterogeneity of the meteorological variables such as precipitation, temperature, wind speed and solar radiation often limits the ability of the hydrological model performance. This paper assessed the sensitivity of RCM outputs from the PRUDENCE project and their performance in reproducing the streamflow. The soil and water assessment tool was used to simulate the streamflow of the Rhone River watershed located in the southwestern part of Switzerland, with the climate variables obtained from four RCMs. We analyzed the difference in magnitude of precipitation, maximum and minimum air temperature, and wind speed with respect to the observed values from the meteorological stations. In addition, we also focused on the impact of the grid resolution on model performance, by analyzing grids with resolutions of 50×50 and 25×25km2. The variability of the meteorological inputs from various RCMs is quite severe in the studied watershed. Among the four different RCMs, the Danish Meteorological Institute provided the best performance when simulating runoff. We found that temperature lapse rate is significantly important in the mountainous snow and glacier dominated watershed as compared to other variables like precipitation, and wind speed for hydrological performance. Therefore, emphasis should be given to minimum and maximum temperature in the bias correction studies for downscaling climatic data for impact modeling in the mountainous snow and glacier dominated complex watersheds.