Summary
This paper presents a novel parallelisation strategy for routing streamflow through vector-based river networks in Earth System Models, using hierarchical decomposition into hydrologically independent tributary domains. Global experiments with multiple network scales revealed that discharge simulation fidelity is more sensitive to the quality of meteorological forcing and land surface model outputs than to vector-network resolution itself. The findings indicate that vector-network design must balance computational efficiency with the need to resolve local hydrological features such as lakes.
UK applicability
The methodology could improve river discharge and flood forecasting in UK Earth System Model applications, though the study's primary focus is on global-scale computational efficiency rather than UK-specific hydrological validation. UK applications would benefit from calibration against observed discharge data from British river catchments.
Key measures
Computational scaling efficiency; discharge simulation accuracy at various temporal scales; impact of vector-river network resolution on hydrological outputs
Outcomes reported
The study developed and tested a hierarchical decomposition method for parallelising river network routing computations across independent tributary domains. Global routing simulations demonstrated that vector-river network scale has less impact on discharge simulations than the quality of runoff inputs from land surface models and meteorological forcing.
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