Impact of Geology on Seasonal Hydrological Predictability in Alpine Regions by a Sensitivity Analysis Framework

Abstract

Catchment geology has a major influence on the relative impact of the main seasonal hydrological predictability sources (initial conditions (IC), climate forcing (CF)) on the forecast skill as it defines the system’s persistence. A quantification of its effect, though, on the contribution of the predictability sources to the forecast skill has not been previously investigated. In this work we apply the End Point Blending (EPB) framework to assess the contribution of IC and CF to the seasonal streamflow forecast skill over two catchments that represent the end members of a set of catchments of contrasting geology, hence contrasting hydrological response: a highly-permeable, hence slow-responding catchment and a fast-responding catchment of low permeability. Our results show that the contribution of IC in the slow-responding catchment is higher by up to 44% for forecasts initialized in winter and spring and by up to 21% for forecasts initialized in summer. IC are important for up to 4 months of lead in the slow-responding catchment and 2 months of lead in the flashier catchment. Our analysis highlights the added value of the EPB in comparison to the traditional ESP/revESP approach for identifying the sources of seasonal hydrological predictability, on the basis of catchment geology.