| Session Details | |
| Section | HS - Hydrological Sciences |
| Session Title | Challenges in Hydrologic Modeling and Forecasting |
| Main Convener | Dr. Bellie Sivakumar (The University of New South Wales, Australia) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Sri Srikanthan (Bureau of Meteorology, Australia) Prof. Vinayakam Jothiprakash (Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, India) Dr. Ji Chen (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong) |
| Session Description | There has been an enormous growth in hydrology during the past half a century or so, largely facilitated by our technological and methodological advances. Notwithstanding this growth, there remain numerous challenges in conducting hydrologic teaching, research, and practice. Among the issues dominating discussions are: (1) most current hydrologic models are highly complex, but they do not perform sufficiently well for the same situations they are developed; (2) there are far too many models and comparisons for very small-scale problems, but not enough research on large-scale hydrologic problems; (3) hydrologic modeling and forecasting are impeded by the lack of a generalization framework; (4) our knowledge about the role of global climate change on hydrology and water resources is largely inadequate; and (5) there continue to be significant gaps between hydrologic models and real catchments. These issues are being addressed in many different forms in the hydrologic literature: parameter estimation and uncertainty, model simplification and dominant processes concept, model integration, catchment classification framework, scaling and downscaling, remote sensing and geographic information system for data measurements, and predictions in ungaged basins. Although there is noticeable progress in each of these areas, cohesive efforts to bring these mostly disparate forms together towards finding common grounds in hydrologic teaching and research are largely lacking. This session is intended to create a collective perspective on these issues. Abstracts that address the supplementary and complementary role of each of these issues with respect to the others and their integration are especially encouraged. |