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<article language="en">
	<journal>
		<journal_title>Hydrology and Earth System Sciences</journal_title>
		<journal_url>www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net</journal_url>
		<issn>1027-5606</issn>
		<eissn>1607-7938</eissn>
		<volume_number>12</volume_number>
		<issue_number>3</issue_number>
		<publication_year>2008</publication_year>
	</journal>
	<doi>10.5194/hess-12-943-2008</doi>
	<article_url>http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/943/2008/</article_url>
	<abstract_html>http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/943/2008/hess-12-943-2008.html</abstract_html>
	<fulltext_pdf>http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/943/2008/hess-12-943-2008.pdf</fulltext_pdf>
	<start_page>943</start_page>
	<end_page>957</end_page>
	<publication_date>2008-06-25</publication_date>
	<article_title content_type="html">Comparing model performance of two rainfall-runoff models in the Rhine basin using different atmospheric forcing data sets</article_title>
	<authors>
		<author numeration="1" affiliations="1,2">
			<name>A. H. te Linde</name>
			<email>aline.te.linde@ivm.vu.nl</email>
		</author>
		<author numeration="2" affiliations="1">
			<name>J. C. J. H. Aerts</name>
		</author>
		<author numeration="3" affiliations="3">
			<name>R. T. W. L. Hurkmans</name>
		</author>
		<author numeration="4" affiliations="4">
			<name>M. Eberle</name>
		</author>
	</authors>
	<affiliations>
		<affiliation numeration="1" content_type="html">Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands</affiliation>
		<affiliation numeration="2" content_type="html">Deltares, Rotterdamseweg 185, 2629 HD Delft, The Netherlands</affiliation>
		<affiliation numeration="3" content_type="html">Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands</affiliation>
		<affiliation numeration="4" content_type="html">Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Am Mainzer Tor 1, D-56068 Koblenz, Germany</affiliation>
	</affiliations>
	<abstract content_type="html">Due to the growing wish and necessity to simulate the possible effects of
climate change on the discharge regime on large rivers such as the Rhine in
Europe, there is a need for well performing hydrological models that can be
applied in climate change scenario studies. There exists large variety in
available models and there is an ongoing debate in research on
rainfall-runoff modelling on whether or not physically based distributed
models better represent observed discharges than conceptual lumped model
approaches do. In addition, it is argued that Land Surface Models (LSMs) carry the potential
to accurately estimate hydrological partitioning, because they solve the coupled
water and energy balance. In this paper, the hydrological models HBV and VIC were
compared for the Rhine basin by testing their performance in simulating
discharge. Overall, the semi-distributed conceptual HBV model performed much
better than the distributed land surface model VIC (&lt;i&gt;E&lt;/i&gt;=0.62, &lt;i&gt;r&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;=0.65 vs. &lt;i&gt;E&lt;/i&gt;=0.31,
&lt;i&gt;r&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;=0.54 at Lobith). It is argued here that even for a well-documented river basin such as the Rhine, more complex modelling does
not automatically lead to better results. Moreover, it is concluded that
meteorological forcing data has a considerable influence on model
performance, irrespectively to the type of model structure and the need for
ground-based meteorological measurements is emphasized.</abstract>
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</article>

