PCR-GLOBWB 2: a 5 arcmin global hydrological and water resources model

Abstract. We present PCR-GLOBWB 2, a global hydrology and water resources model. Compared to previous versions of PCR-GLOBWB, this version fully integrates water use. Sector-specific water demand, groundwater and surface water withdrawal, water consumption and return flows are dynamically calculated at every time step and interact directly with the simulated hydrology. PCR-GLOBWB 2 has been fully rewritten in Python and PCRaster-Python and has a modular structure, allowing easier replacement, maintenance, and development of model components. PCR-GLOBWB 2 has been implemented at 5 arc-minute resolution, but a version parameterized at 30 arc-minute resolution is also available. Both versions are available as open source codes on https://github.com/UU-Hydro/PCR-GLOBWB_model. PCR-GLOBWB 2 has its own routines for groundwater dynamics and surface water routing. These relatively simple routines can alternatively be replaced by dynamically coupling PCR-GLOBWB 2 to a global two-layer groundwater model and 1D-2D-hydrodynamic models, respectively. Here, we describe the main components of the model, compare results of the 30 arcminute and the 5 arc-minute versions and evaluate their model performance using GRDC discharge data. Results show that model performance of the 5 arc-minute version is notably better than that of the 30 arc-minute version. Furthermore, we compare simulated time series of total water storage (TWS) of the 5 arc-minute model with those observed with GRACE, showing similar negative trends in areas of prevalent groundwater depletion. Also, we find that simulated water withdrawal, by source and sector, matches reasonably well with reported water withdrawal from AQUASTAT.