European EOBS-based high-resolution river runoff (Version 1)

doi:10.26050/WDCC/EU-EOBS_v1

Hagemann, Stefan

ExperimentDOI
DischargeHD modelHydroPyriver runoffSubsurface runoffSurface runoff
Summary
1 Dataset description
This experiment comprises data that have been used in Hagemann et al. (in preparation). It comprises monthly evapotranspiration time series as well as daily data of surface runoff and subsurface runoff from the global hydrology model HydroPy and simulated daily discharges (river runoff) of the HD model, which are based on EOBS31 data (see below). On the one hand, the discharge data close the water cycle at the land-ocean interface so that the discharges can be used as lateral freshwater input for ocean models applied in the European region. On the other hand, they can be used to investigate climate induced trends in discharge without considering direct human impact on the river runoff, e.g. by regulation or water abstractions. Please note that a predecessor version of this dataset based on EOBS22 data was published as Hagemann and Stacke (2021) and discussed by Hagemann and Stacke (2023).

1.1 EOBS data
The E-OBS dataset (Cornes et al., 2018) comprises several daily gridded surface variables at 0.1° and 0.25° resolution over Europe covering the area 25°N-71.5°N x 25°W-45°E. The dataset has been derived from station data collated by the ECA&D (European Climate Assessment & Dataset) initiative (Klein Tank et al., 2002; Klok and Klein Tank, 2009). To simulate river runoff of the current dataset version 1, we use the best-guess fields of precipitation and 2m temperature of E-OBS vs. 31 (EOBS31) at 0.1° resolution for the years 1950-2024.

1.2 The HD model
The HD model (Hagemann et al., 2020) is a river-routing model that is well-established and implemented in a range of global and regional model systems. The HD model can be forced by daily or sub-daily time series of surface and subsurface runoff from the driving climate, land surface or hydrology model. In the present study, we applied the HD model v5.2.4 (Hagemann et al., 2025) over its European domain (land areas between 11°W to 69°E and 27°N to 72°N) at 1/12° spatial resolution.

1.3 European EOBS-based high-resolution river runoff
Analogous to Hagemann and Stacke (2022), the global hydrology model HydroPy (Stacke and Hagemann, 2021) and the HD model were used to simulate daily discharge time series over the European domain at 1/12° horizontal resolution. HydroPy was driven by daily EOBS31 data of temperature and precipitation at 0.1° resolution from 1950-2024. The potential evapotranspiration (PET) was calculated following the approach proposed by Thornthwaite (1948) including an average day length at a given location. We conducted a 50-years spin-up simulation by repeatedly using forcing of the year 1950 before the actual simulation was started. Noticeable differences to the EOBS22-based simulation considered by Hagemann and Stacke (2022) occur over Spain and Turkey. Over Turkey, this can be considered as an improvement as the data gaps of EOBS v. 22 over Turkey, which were identified by Hagemann and Stacke (2022), are not present in EOBS31. The daily time series of surface and sub-surface runoff generated by HydroPy were interpolated to the European HD model domain and then used to simulate daily discharges with the HD model. The resulting daily time series of river runoff (HD5-EOBS31) covers the full EOBS31 period 1950-2024.

Acknowledgments
This dataset was generated while receiving basic funding in the POF IV program “Changing Earth – Sustaining our Future” of the Helmholtz Association (HGF), Germany.
Project
coastDat-Land-Ocean-Fluxes (coastDat - Regional Water and Matter Fluxes at the Land-Ocean Interface)
Contact
Dr. Stefan Hagemann (
 stefan.hagemann@nullhereon.de
 0000-0001-5444-2945)
Spatial Coverage
Longitude -11 to 69 Latitude 27 to 72
Temporal Coverage
1950-01-01 to 2024-12-31 (calendrical)
Use constraints
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Data Catalog
World Data Center for Climate
Size
46.79 GiB (50245346477 Byte)
Format
NetCDF
Status
completely archived
Creation Date
Review Date
2026-02-19
Find data Export dataset acronyms
Cite as
Hagemann, Stefan (2026). European EOBS-based high-resolution river runoff (Version 1). World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) at DKRZ. https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/EU-EOBS_v1

BibTeX RIS
Funding
Helmholtz Association
Grant/Award No: PoF IV - Changing Earth - Sustaining our Future
Description
Summary:
Findable: 6 of 7 level;
Accessible: 3 of 7 level;
Interoperable: 6 of 6 level;
Reusable: 5 of 6 level
Method
F-UJI WDCC service v3.5.0 metrics_v0.8
Method Description
Checks performed by WDCC. Metrics documentation: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15045911 Metric Version: metrics_v0.8
Method Url
https://www.f-uji.net
Result Date
2026-02-19
Result Date
2026-02-17
Description
1. Number of data sets is correct and > 0: passed;
2. Size of every data set is > 0: passed;
3. The data sets and corresponding metadata are accessible: passed;
4. The data sizes are controlled and correct: passed;
5. The spatial-temporal coverage description (metadata) is consistent to the data: passed;
6. The format is correct: passed;
7. Variable description and data are consistent: passed
Method
WDCC-TQA checklist
Method Description
Checks performed by WDCC. The list of TQA metrics are documented in the 'WDCC User Guide for Data Publication' Chapter 8.1.1
Method Url
https://www.wdc-climate.de/docs/WDCC_User_Guide_Data_v1.pdf
Result Date
2026-02-17
Contact typePersonORCIDOrganization
Contact
Dr. Stefan Hagemann
0000-0001-5444-2945
Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon
Author
Dr. Stefan Hagemann
0000-0001-5444-2945
Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon
Investigator
Dr. Stefan Hagemann
0000-0001-5444-2945
Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon
Funder
-
-
Helmholtz Association

Is documented by

[1] DOI Cornes, Richard C.; van der Schrier, Gerard; van den Besselaar, Else J. M.; Jones, Philip D. (2018). An Ensemble Version of the E-OBS Temperature and Precipitation Data Sets. doi:10.1029/2017jd028200
[2] DOI Klein Tank, A. M. G.; Wijngaard, J. B.; Können, G. P.; Böhm, R.; Demarée, G.; Gocheva, A.; Mileta, M.; Pashiardis, S.; Hejkrlik, L.; Kern-Hansen, C.; Heino, R.; Bessemoulin, P.; Müller-Westermeier, G.; Tzanakou, M.; Szalai, S.; Pálsdóttir, T.; Fitzgerald, D.; Rubin, S.; Capaldo, M.; Maugeri, M.; Leitass, A.; Bukantis, A.; Aberfeld, R.; van Engelen, A. F. V.; Forland, E.; Mietus, M.; Coelho, F.; Mares, C.; Razuvaev, V.; Nieplova, E.; Cegnar, T.; Antonio López, J.; Dahlström, B.; Moberg, A.; Kirchhofer, W.; Ceylan, A.; Pachaliuk, O.; Alexander, L. V.; Petrovic, P. (2002). Daily dataset of 20th-century surface air temperature and precipitation series for the European Climate Assessment. doi:10.1002/joc.773
[3] DOI Klok, E. J.; Klein Tank, A. M. G. (2009). Updated and extended European dataset of daily climate observations. doi:10.1002/joc.1779
[4] DOI Hagemann, Stefan; Stacke, Tobias. (2023). Complementing ERA5 and E-OBS with high-resolution river discharge over Europe. doi:10.1016/j.oceano.2022.07.003

Is related to

[1] DOI Hagemann, Stefan; Stacke, Tobias. (2021). Forcing for HD Model from HydroPy and subsequent HD Model river runoff over Europe based on EOBS22 and ERA5 data. doi:10.26050/WDCC/EOBS_ERA5-River_Runoff

Is compiled by

[1] DOI Hagemann, Stefan; Stacke, Tobias; Ho-Hagemann, Ha T. M. (2020). High Resolution Discharge Simulations Over Europe and the Baltic Sea Catchment. doi:10.3389/feart.2020.00012
[2] DOI Stacke, Tobias; Hagemann, Stefan. (2021). HydroPy (v1.0): A new global hydrology model written in Python. doi:10.5194/gmd-2021-53
[3] Hagemann, Stefan; Ho-Hagemann, Ha T. M.; Hanke, Moritz. (2025). The Hydrological Discharge Model - a river runoff component for offline and coupled model applications (5.2.4). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15004456

Attached Datasets ( 3 )

Details for selected entry

Parent project(s)

coastDat - Regional Water and Matter Fluxes at the Land-Ocean Interface

[Entry acronym: EU-EOBS_v1] [Entry id: 5369784]