Casado-Rodríguez et al. (2026) Benchmarking reservoir operation schemes for large-scale hydrological models

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Identification

• Journal: Hydrology and earth system sciences
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-22
• Authors: Jesús Casado-Rodríguez, Juliana Disperati, Stefania Grimaldi, Peter Salamon
• DOI: 10.5194/hess-30-4629-2026

Research Groups

• Department of Hydrology, University of Colorado Boulder
• Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)

Short Summary

This study evaluates the performance of four reservoir routines in Large-Scale Hydrological Models (LSHMs) using a dataset from 164 reservoirs in the United States. The results show that increased model complexity does not always yield superior results, and calibrating to reservoir storage is more informative than calibrating to outflow.

Objective

• Evaluate the performance of different reservoir routines in LSHMs and identify the most suitable approach for global applications

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Continental (United States) with implications for global applications
• Temporal Scale: Long-term (annual to decadal)

Methodology and Data

• Models used:
  • LISFLOOD
  • CaMa-Flood
  • mHM
  • STARFIT
• Data sources:
  • ResOpsUS dataset
  • Satellite-derived storage products

Main Results

• The mHM routine consistently achieves the highest performance, but its dependence on site-specific demand data limits its applicability at the global scale.
• The CaMa-Flood routine provides a robust compromise, significantly outperforming the linear logic of LISFLOOD and matching the performance of the more complex STARFIT routine.
• Calibrating to reservoir storage is more informative than calibrating to outflow.

Contributions

• This study contributes to the development of more accurate LSHMs by identifying the most suitable approach for representing reservoirs at the global scale.
• The findings pave the way for the use of satellite-derived storage products in the calibration of LSHMs.

Funding

• European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 776186)
• National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (award number: [insert award number])
• University of Colorado Boulder internal funding

Citation

@article{CasadoRodríguez2026Benchmarking,
  author = {Casado-Rodríguez, Jesús and Disperati, Juliana and Grimaldi, Stefania and Salamon, Peter},
  title = {Benchmarking reservoir operation schemes for large-scale hydrological models},
  journal = {Hydrology and earth system sciences},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5194/hess-30-4629-2026},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4629-2026}
}