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The Art of Good Hydrological Modelling with Hubert Savenije

Prof Hubert Savenije, Emeritus Professor of Hydrology at TU Delft, speaks about hydrological modelling.

Jan 20, 2026

In this episode of the Water Data Podcast, Veena Srinivasan speaks with Prof. Hubert Savenije, Emeritus Professor of Hydrology at TU Delft and one of the most influential thinkers in modern hydrological science.

They discuss Hubert’s early journey in hydrology and how intuition shaped his scientific thinking, the importance of embracing uncertainty in water science, and why catchments behave like complex adaptive systems. They explore emergent hydrological behaviour, the limits of top-down and bottom-up modelling approaches, the role of vegetation and root systems in storing water and shaping landscape memory, and the difference between evaporation and transpiration in driving water loss.

 



This episode offers a rare philosophical and practical perspective on hydrology- bridging theory, observation, and imagination.

Suggested Readings:

  1. Hubert Savenije: Google Scholar, LinkedIn, University website
  2. Gao, H., Hrachowitz, M., Schymanski, S. J., Fenicia, F., Sriwongsitanon, N., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2014). Climate controls how ecosystems size the root zone storage capacity at catchment scale. Geophysical Research Letters, 41(22), 7916–7924. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL061668
  3. Gao, H., Hrachowitz, M., Wang-Erlandsson, L., Fenicia, F., Xi, Q., Xia, J., Shao, W., Sun, G., and Savenije, H. H. G.: Root zone in the Earth system, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4477–4499, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4477-2024
  4. Gao, H., Birkel, C., Hrachowitz, M., Tetzlaff, D., Soulsby, C., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2019). A simple topography-driven and calibration-free runoff generation module. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 23(2), 787–809. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-787-2019
  5. Gharari, S., Hrachowitz, M., Fenicia, F., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2011). Hydrological landscape classification: Investigating the performance of HAND based landscape classifications in a central European meso-scale catchment. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 15(11), 3275–3291. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-3275-2011
  6. Wang-Erlandsson, L., van der Ent, R. J., Gordon, L. J., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2014). Contrasting roles of interception and transpiration in the hydrological cycle – Part 1: Temporal characteristics over land. Earth System Dynamics, 5(2), 441–469. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-5-441-2014
  7. Nijzink, R., Hutton, C., Pechlivanidis, I., Capell, R., Arheimer, B., Freer, J., Han, D., Wagener, T., McGuire, K., Savenije, H. H. G., & Hrachowitz, M. (2016). The evolution of root-zone moisture capacities after deforestation: A step towards hydrological predictions under change? Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 20(12), 4775–4799. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4775-2016
  8. Hulsman, P., Hrachowitz, M., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2021). Improving the representation of long-term storage variations with conceptual hydrological models in data-scarce regions. Water Resources Research, 57(3), e2020WR028837. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028837
  9. Gao, H., Hrachowitz, M., Sriwongsitanon, N., Fenicia, F., Gharari, S., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2016). Accounting for the influence of vegetation and landscape improves model transferability in a tropical savannah region. Water Resources Research, 52(10), 7999–8022. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR019574
  10. Gao, H., Han, C., Chen, R., Feng, Z., Wang, K., Fenicia, F., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2022). Frozen soil hydrological modeling for a mountainous catchment northeast of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 26(7), 1779–1798. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-98
  11. Savenije, H. H. G. (2018). HESS Opinions: Linking Darcy’s equation to the linear reservoir. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22(12), 6187–6198. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1911-2018
  12. Savenije, H. H. G. (2024). The hydrological system as a living organism. Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, 384, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-385-1-2024
  13. Gao, H., Hrachowitz, M., Fenicia, F., Gharari, S., & Savenije, H. H. G. (2014). Testing the realism of a topography-driven model (FLEX-Topo) in the nested catchments of the Upper Heihe, China. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 18(5), 1895–1915. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1895-2014

The Water Data Podcast is a talk show on the science, systems, and stories of water hosted by Veena Srinivasan.

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Recording by Vraj Acharya and Nabina Chakraborty

Video editing by Vraj Acharya

Graphics and artwork by Kanishka Goyal and Aparna Nambiar

Audio mixing and mastering by Vijay Doiphode

Podcast production and management by Nabina Chakraborty and Pavan Srinath

 

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