Hydrologic implications of different large-scale meteorological model forcing datasets in mountainous regions

Observations of precipitation and temperature are more common than other variables; consequently, radiation, humidity, pressure, and wind speed often must be either estimated using empirical relationships with precipitation and temperature or obtained from numerical weather prediction models.

This study examines two climate forcing datasets using different methods to estimate radiative energy fluxes and humidity and investigates the effects of the choice of forcing data on hydrologic simulations over the mountainous upper Colorado River basin (293 472 km¹). Comparisons of model simulations forced by two climate datasets illustrate that the methods used to estimate shortwave radiation impact hydrologic states and fluxes, particularly at high elevation (e.g., ~20% difference in runoff above 3000-m elevation), substantially altering the timing of snowmelt and runoff (~20 days difference) and the partitioning of precipitation between evapotranspiration and runoff.