Nguyen et al. (2025) Four-decades assessment of hydrological drought using streamflow reconstruction in poorly-gauged basins in Vietnam

Identification

• Journal: Advances in Space Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-12
• Authors: Binh Quang Nguyen, Hung T. Pham, Lê Hoàng Tú, Manh‐Hung Le, Hung Nguyen, Hong Xuan
• DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2025.12.030

Research Groups

• Faculty of Water Resources Engineering, The University of Danang – University of Science and Technology, Viet Nam.
• Research Center for Climate Change, Nong Lam University – Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
• Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA.
• Science Applications International Corporation, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
• Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA.
• Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Nong Lam University, Viet Nam.

Short Summary

This study evaluates the effectiveness of MSWEP and CHIRPS precipitation products for reconstructing streamflow and assessing hydrological drought in three poorly-gauged basins in Vietnam. The results demonstrate that these global datasets, combined with the SWAT model, accurately replicate historical drought events and monthly streamflow patterns over a 30-year period.

Objective

• To assess the reliability of global precipitation products (MSWEP and CHIRPS) in reconstructing long-term streamflow and identifying hydrological drought events using the Standardized Runoff Index (SRI) in data-scarce regions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Three river basins in Vietnam with individual areas ranging from 2090 $km^2$ to 4024 $km^2$.
• Temporal Scale: 1990–2019 (30 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) for hydrological modeling; Standardized Runoff Index (SRI) for drought characterization.
• Data sources: MSWEP (Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation) and CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data) for precipitation; local rain gauge measurements for error quantification; log-normal distribution for generating perturbed precipitation samples to represent uncertainty.

Main Results

• Streamflow reconstructions using MSWEP and CHIRPS closely aligned with observed values, particularly during the 2010–2019 validation period.
• Monthly streamflow simulations showed strong correlations with observations across all three basins.
• Both precipitation products effectively captured and reproduced historical hydrological drought events.
• The study successfully quantified precipitation errors by comparing sub-basin product values against ground-based rain gauge measurements.

Contributions

• Establishes a practical methodology for evaluating global datasets and hydrological models in assessing extremes within ungauged or poorly-gauged basins.
• Provides a validated approach for long-term streamflow reconstruction in Vietnam, addressing the challenge of sparse observational networks.
• Demonstrates the utility of the Standardized Runoff Index (SRI) derived from reconstructed data for historical drought analysis.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Nguyen2025Fourdecades,
  author = {Nguyen, Binh Quang and Pham, Hung T. and Tú, Lê Hoàng and Le, Manh‐Hung and Nguyen, Hung and Xuan, Hong},
  title = {Four-decades assessment of hydrological drought using streamflow reconstruction in poorly-gauged basins in Vietnam},
  journal = {Advances in Space Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.asr.2025.12.030},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2025.12.030}
}

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