Esch et al. (2025) Modelling runoff in a glacierized catchment: the role of forcing product and spatial model resolution

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Identification

• Journal: Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich)
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-28
• Authors: Alexandra von der Esch, Matthias Huss, Marit Van Tiel, Justine Berg, Daniel Farinotti
• DOI: 10.3929/ethz-c-000789139

Research Groups

Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Short Summary

This study evaluates the reliability of glacio-hydrological simulations in a Swiss glacierized catchment using the GERM model, investigating the impact of meteorological forcing products and spatial model resolution. It finds that precipitation forcing significantly affects results, coarser resolutions (above 1000 m) compromise accuracy, and calibration strategies present trade-offs between annual and seasonal accuracy.

Objective

• To assess the reliability of glacio-hydrological simulations in a glacierized catchment in Switzerland using the Glacier Evolution Runoff Model (GERM).
• To investigate how simulated glacier mass balance and runoff are affected by (1) varying meteorological forcing products and (2) spatial model resolution.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: A glacierized catchment of 39.4 km² in Switzerland. Model resolutions tested from 25 m to 3000 m.
• Temporal Scale: Daily.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Glacier Evolution Runoff Model (GERM).
• Data sources: Meteorological forcing products (from point data to coarse grids), geodetic glacier ice volume change, runoff observations.

Main Results

• Forcing from different precipitation data sets has the largest effect on model results.
• Model resolutions coarser than 1000 m fail to capture essential glaciological and topographic details, affecting the accuracy of small and medium-sized glaciers.
• Single-data calibration on geodetic glacier ice volume change can accurately reproduce annual glacier mass balance but leads to seasonal biases, driven by underestimating winter precipitation and compensatory parameter adjustments.
• Calibrating the model on multi-data (geodetic glacier ice volume change and runoff) improves seasonal accuracy but is limited by temporally constant precipitation adjustments that cannot account for temporal forcing biases.

Contributions

• Highlights the critical trade-offs between computational efficiency and model reliability in glacio-hydrological simulations.
• Emphasizes the need for high-resolution forcing data, particularly for precipitation amount and seasonal variability.
• Stresses the importance of careful calibration strategies to accurately capture glacio-hydrological processes, especially under data-scarce conditions.

Funding

Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Esch2025Modelling,
  author = {Esch, Alexandra von der and Huss, Matthias and Tiel, Marit Van and Berg, Justine and Farinotti, Daniel},
  title = {Modelling runoff in a glacierized catchment: the role of forcing product and spatial model resolution},
  journal = {Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich)},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.3929/ethz-c-000789139},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000789139}
}