Summary
This perspective paper addresses the challenge of evaluating groundwater representation in large-scale continental and global hydrologic models. Rather than expecting such models to reproduce fine-scale regional detail, the authors argue that evaluation should assess whether models adequately serve their specific large-scale science and sustainability purposes, and propose three complementary evaluation strategies (observation-based, model-based, and behavioural) to improve practice.
UK applicability
The recommendations for groundwater model evaluation are applicable to UK hydrological research and policy contexts, particularly for integrated water resource assessment and climate change impact studies. UK hydrological and environmental agencies employing large-scale groundwater models could benefit from adopting these purpose-driven evaluation frameworks.
Key measures
Groundwater level observations, groundwater state and flux variables, model performance metrics, model intercomparison approaches
Outcomes reported
The paper reviews current evaluation practices for groundwater representations in continental- to global-scale hydrologic and land surface models, and proposes recommendations for improving such evaluations. It discusses three evaluation strategies: observation-based, model-based, and behavioural comparisons.
Topic tags
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