AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF GLOBAL WATER RESOURCES - PART 1: INPUT METEOROLOGICAL FORCING AND NATURAL HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE MODULES

Abstract

An integrated global water resources model was developed consisting of six modules: land surface hydrology, river routing, crop growth, reservoir operation, environmental flow requirement estimation, and anthropogenic water withdrawal. It simulates both natural and anthropogenic water flow globally (excluding Antarctica) on a daily basis at a spatial resolution of 1°×1° (longitude and latitude). The simulation period is 10 years, from 1986 to 1995. This first part of the two-feature report describes the input meteorological forcing and natural hydrological cycle modules of the integrated model, namely the land surface hydrology module and the river routing module. The input meteorological forcing was provided by the second Global Soil Wetness Project (GSWP2), an international land surface modeling project. Several reported shortcomings of the forcing component were improved. The land surface hydrology module was developed based on a bucket type model that simulates energy and water balance on land surfaces. Simulated runoff was compared and validated with observation-based global runoff data sets and observed streamflow records at 32 major river gauging stations around the world.