Large-sample evaluation of the water balance for the Spanish catchments using multiple hydroclimatic datasets

Large-sample hydrology aims to identify common patterns in the hydrologic behaviour of numerous catchments at the regional, continental and global scales. Large-sample datasets play a fundamental role in the context of large-sample hydrology as they collect data from multiple catchments and hydroclimatic variables.

This study focuses on the characterization of the water balance for 189 Spanish headwater catchments. The different ratios derived from the water balance equation will be calculated using multiple hydroclimatic datasets available for the Spanish domain for two consecutive and equally long periods: 1990-2005 and 2006-2020. Precipitation data will be extracted from a gridded dataset at 0.05º resolution from the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET). Streamflow time series will be provided by the Spanish Center for Public Work and Experimentation (CEDEX). Evaporation data will be gathered from the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) versions 3.7a and 3.7b.

The results of this work will highlight the potential of using large-sample datasets to characterize the water balance for the Spanish catchments and will reveal key changes in their hydrologic behaviour during the last three decades.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This study has been funded by a Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.