Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth SystemsÂ
Benchmarking, or comparing models against each other using observational data to identify which performs better under specific conditions (and potentially why), is essential for advancing climate prediction. However, the hydrological community has lacked a global benchmarking framework, largely due to the complexity of allocating gauge data to model grids (see figure above).
Zhou et al. [2025] address this challenge by introducing an automated gauge allocation method that is applicable across various hydrological models. Through a test application using the global river model CaMa-Flood (Catchment-based Macro-scale Floodplain) with runoff inputs, they demonstrate that incorporating bias-corrected runoff data significantly improves model performance across a range of observational variables and performance metrics. This advancement paves the way for more rigorous intercomparisons of global hydrological models and facilitates the inclusion of hydrological components in broader model intercomparison initiatives, such as the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP7).
Citation: Zhou, X., Yamazaki, D., Revel, M., Zhao, G., & Modi, P. (2025). Benchmark framework for global river models. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 17, e2024MS004379. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024MS004379
—Kei Yoshimura, Associate Editor, JAMES
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