More than 40 years ago, the Russian scientist Budyko proposed a framework that allows estimation of actual evapotranspiration based on the balance between the supply of water and energy (they are usually represented by precipitation and potential evaporation). It is a steady state model and has been widely used to examine the terrestrial water budget at decadal and catchment scales. For its simplicity, the model is extremely powerful with model performance similar to that of complex hydrological models (when applied at the appropriate scales).
However, the wider application of the Budyko framework is hindered by two key issues. The first is its inability to deal with transient conditions – both short term variability and long-term change. This is due, at least in part, to the assumption of minimal water storage changes. The second is that, despite knowledge that localized conditions influence the accuracy of the model, little progress has been made in developing a comprehensive, process-based understanding of the location of observational data within the Budyko space. Advances in both issues would greatly enhance this modelling framework – but only if such advances maintain the great simplicity and power of the Budyko framework.
This session seeks contributions that give new insights that extend the usefulness of the Budyko framework and related approaches. A wide range in topics are welcome but we particularly encourage a focus on, for example:
- overcoming steady state limitations to capture, amongst other things, the role of dynamics and trends in the energy and water balances
- new insights into process-based understanding of the role local conditions play in modifying the energy and water balances
- the advances that new technologies, such as proximal or remote sensing, might provide in understanding Budyko-like frameworks