Physically-based distributed rainfall-runoff models as the standard analysis tools for hydro-logical processes have been used to simulate the water system in detail, which includes spa-tial patterns and temporal dynamics of hydrological variables and processes (Davison et al., 2015; Ek and Holtslag, 2004). In general, catchment models are parameterized with spatial information on soil, vegetation and topography. However, traditional approaches for eval-uation of the hydrological model performance are usually motivated with respect to dis-charge data alone. This may thus cloud model realism and hamper understanding of the catchment behavior. It is necessary to evaluate the model performance with respect to in-ternal hydrological processes within the catchment area as well as other components of wa-ter balance rather than runoff discharge at the catchment outlet only. In particular, a consid-erable amount of dynamics in a catchment occurs in the processes related to interactions of the water, soil and vegetation. Evapotranspiration process, for instance, is one of those key interactive elements, and the parameterization of soil and vegetation in water balance mod-eling strongly influences the simulation of evapotranspiration. Specifically, to parameterize the water flow in unsaturated soil zone, the functional relationships that describe the soil water retention and hydraulic conductivity characteristics are important. To define these functional relationships, Pedo-Transfer Functions (PTFs) are common to use in hydrologi-cal modeling. Opting the appropriate PTFs for the region under investigation is a crucial task in estimating the soil hydraulic parameters, but this choice in a hydrological model is often made arbitrary and without evaluating the spatial and temporal patterns of evapotran-spiration, soil moisture, and distribution and intensity of runoff processes. This may ulti-mately lead to implausible modeling results and possibly to incorrect decisions in regional water management. Therefore, the use of reliable evaluation approaches is continually re-quired to analyze the dynamics of the current interactive hydrological processes and predict the future changes in the water cycle, which eventually contributes to sustainable environ-mental planning and decisions in water management. Remarkable endeavors have been made in development of modelling tools that provide insights into the current and future of hydrological patterns in different scales and their im-pacts on the water resources and climate changes (Doell et al., 2014; Wood et al., 2011). Although, there is a need to consider a proper balance between parameter identifiability and the model's ability to realistically represent the response of the natural system. Neverthe-less, tackling this issue entails investigation of additional information, which usually has to be elaborately assembled, for instance, by mapping the dominant runoff generation pro-cesses in the intended area, or retrieving the spatial patterns of soil moisture and evapotran-spiration by using remote sensing methods, and evaluation at a scale commensurate with hydrological model (Koch et al., 2022; Zink et al., 2018). The present work therefore aims to give insights into the modeling approaches to simulate water balance and to improve the soil and vegetation parameterization scheme in the hydrological model subject to producing more reliable spatial and temporal patterns of evapotranspiration and runoff processes in the catchment. An important contribution to the overall body of work is a book chapter included among publications. The book chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the topic and valua-ble insights into the understanding the water balance and its estimation methods. Moreover, the first paper aimed to evaluate the hydrological model behavior with re-spect to contribution of various sources of information. To do so, a multi-criteria evaluation metric including soft and hard data was used to define constraints on outputs of the 1-D hydrological model WaSiM-ETH. Applying this evaluation metric, we could identify the optimal soil and vegetation parameter sets that resulted in a “behavioral” forest stand water balance model. It was found out that even if simulations of transpiration and soil water con-tent are consistent with measured data, but still the dominant runoff generation processes or total water balance might be wrongly calculated. Therefore, only using an evaluation scheme which looks over different sources of data and embraces an understanding of the local controls of water loss through soil and plant, allowed us to exclude the unrealistic modeling outputs. The results suggested that we may need to question the generally accept-ed soil parameterization procedures that apply default parameter sets. The second paper attempts to tackle the pointed model evaluation hindrance by getting down to the small-scale catchment (in Bavaria). Here, a methodology was introduced to analyze the sensitivity of the catchment water balance model to the choice of the Pedo-Transfer Functions (PTF). By varying the underlying PTFs in a calibrated and validated model, we could determine the resulting effects on the spatial distribution of soil hydraulic properties, total water balance in catchment outlet, and the spatial and temporal variation of the runoff components. Results revealed that the water distribution in the hydrologic system significantly differs amongst various PTFs. Moreover, the simulations of water balance components showed high sensitivity to the spatial distribution of soil hydraulic properties. Therefore, it was suggested that opting the PTFs in hydrological modeling should be care-fully tested by looking over the spatio-temporal distribution of simulated evapotranspira-tion and runoff generation processes, whether they are reasonably represented. To fulfill the previous studies’ suggestions, the third paper then aims to focus on evalu-ating the hydrological model through improving the spatial representation of dominant run-off processes. It was implemented in a mesoscale catchment in southwestern Germany us-ing the hydrological model WaSiM-ETH. Dealing with the issues of inadequate spatial ob-servations for rigorous spatial model evaluation, we made use of a reference soil hydrologic map available for the study area to discern the expected dominant runoff processes across a wide range of hydrological conditions. The model was parameterized by applying 11 PTFs and run by multiple synthetic rainfall events. To compare the simulated spatial patterns to the patterns derived by digital soil map, a multiple-component spatial performance metric (SPAEF) was applied. The simulated DRPs showed a large variability with regard to land use, topography, applied rainfall rates, and the different PTFs, which highly influence the rapid runoff generation under wet conditions. The three published manuscripts proceeded towards the model evaluation viewpoints that ultimately attain the behavioral model outputs. It was performed through obtaining information about internal hydrological processes that lead to certain model behaviors, and also about the function and sensitivity of some of the soil and vegetation parameters that may primarily influence those internal processes in a catchment. Accordingly, using this understanding on model reactions, and by setting multiple evaluation criteria, it was possi-ble to identify which parameterization could lead to behavioral model realization. This work, in fact, will contribute to solving some of the issues (e.g., spatial variability and modeling methods) identified as the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology in the 21st century (Blöschl et al., 2019). The results obtained in the present work encourage the further inves-tigations toward a comprehensive model calibration procedure considering multiple data sources simultaneously. This will enable developing the new perspectives to the current parameter estimation methods, which in essence, focus on reproducing the plausible dy-namics (spatio-temporal) of the other hydrological processes within the watershed.

Measurements of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) structure were performed for three years (October 2017–August 2020) at the Russian observatory “Ice Base Cape Baranova” (79.280° N, 101.620° E) using SODAR (Sound Detection And Ranging). These measurements were part of the YOPP (Year of Polar Prediction) project “Boundary layer measurements in the high Arctic” (CATS_BL) within the scope of a joint German–Russian project. In addition to SODAR-derived vertical profiles of wind speed and direction, a suite of complementary measurements at the observatory was available. ABL measurements were used for verification of the regional climate model COSMO-CLM (CCLM) with a 5 km resolution for 2017–2020. The CCLM was run with nesting in ERA5 data in a forecast mode for the measurement period. SODAR measurements were mostly limited to wind speeds <12 m/s since the signal was often lost for higher winds. The SODAR data showed a topographical channeling effect for the wind field in the lowest 100 m and some low-level jets (LLJs). The verification of the CCLM with near-surface data of the observatory showed good agreement for the wind and a negative bias for the 2 m temperature. The comparison with SODAR data showed a positive bias for the wind speed of about 1 m/s below 100 m, which increased to 1.5 m/s for higher levels. In contrast to the SODAR data, the CCLM data showed the frequent presence of LLJs associated with the topographic channeling in Shokalsky Strait. Although SODAR wind profiles are limited in range and have a lot of gaps, they represent a valuable data set for model verification. However, a full picture of the ABL structure and the climatology of channeling events could be obtained only with the model data. The climatological evaluation showed that the wind field at Cape Baranova was not only influenced by direct topographic channeling under conditions of southerly winds through the Shokalsky Strait but also by channeling through a mountain gap for westerly winds. LLJs were detected in 37% of all profiles and most LLJs were associated with channeling, particularly LLJs with a jet speed ≥ 15 m/s (which were 29% of all LLJs). The analysis of the simulated 10 m wind field showed that the 99%-tile of the wind speed reached 18 m/s and clearly showed a dipole structure of channeled wind at both exits of Shokalsky Strait. The climatology of channeling events showed that this dipole structure was caused by the frequent occurrence of channeling at both exits. Channeling events lasting at least 12 h occurred on about 62 days per year at both exits of Shokalsky Strait.

Knowledge of the wintertime sea-ice production in Arctic polynyas is an important requirement for estimations of the dense water formation, which drives vertical mixing in the upper ocean. Satellite-based techniques incorporating relatively high resolution thermal-infrared data from MODIS in combination with atmospheric reanalysis data have proven to be a strong tool to monitor large and regularly forming polynyas and to resolve narrow thin-ice areas (i.e., leads) along the shelf-breaks and across the entire Arctic Ocean. However, the selection of the atmospheric data sets has a large influence on derived polynya characteristics due to their impact on the calculation of the heat loss to the atmosphere, which is determined by the local thin-ice thickness. In order to overcome this methodical ambiguity, we present a MODIS-assisted temperature adjustment (MATA) algorithm that yields corrections of the 2 m air temperature and hence decreases differences between the atmospheric input data sets. The adjustment algorithm is based on atmospheric model simulations. We focus on the Laptev Sea region for detailed case studies on the developed algorithm and present time series of polynya characteristics in the winter season 2019/2020. It shows that the application of the empirically derived correction decreases the difference between different utilized atmospheric products significantly from 49% to 23%. Additional filter strategies are applied that aim at increasing the capability to include leads in the quasi-daily and persistence-filtered thin-ice thickness composites. More generally, the winter of 2019/2020 features high polynya activity in the eastern Arctic and less activity in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, presumably as a result of the particularly strong polar vortex in early 2020.

The state-of-the-art finite element software Plaxis 3D was applied in a real-world study site of the Turaida castle mound to investigate the slope stability of the mound and understand the mechanisms triggering landslides there. During the simulation, the stability of the castle mound was analysed and the most landslide-susceptible zones of hillslopes were determined. The 3D finite-element stability analysis has significant advantages over conventional 2D limit-equilibrium methods where locations of 2D stability sections are arbitrarily selected. Two modelling scenarios of the slope stability were elaborated considering deep-seated slides in bedrock and shallow landslides in the colluvial material of slopes. The model shows that shallow slides in colluvium are more probable. In the finite-element model, slope failure occurs along the weakest zone in colluvium, similarly to the situation observed in previous landslides in the study site. The physical basis of the model allows results to be obtained very close to natural conditions and delivers valuable insight in triggering mechanisms of landslides.

The parameterization of ocean/sea-ice/atmosphere interaction processes is a challenge for regional climate models (RCMs) of the Arctic, particularly for wintertime conditions, when small fractions of thin ice or open water cause strong modifications of the boundary layer. Thus, the treatment of sea ice and sub-grid flux parameterizations in RCMs is of crucial importance. However, verification data sets over sea ice for wintertime conditions are rare. In the present paper, data of the ship-based experiment Transarktika 2019 during the end of the Arctic winter for thick one-year ice conditions are presented. The data are used for the verification of the regional climate model COSMO-CLM (CCLM). In addition, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data are used for the comparison of ice surface temperature (IST) simulations of the CCLM sea ice model. CCLM is used in a forecast mode (nested in ERA5) for the Norwegian and Barents Seas with 5 km resolution and is run with different configurations of the sea ice model and sub-grid flux parameterizations. The use of a new set of parameterizations yields improved results for the comparisons with in-situ data. Comparisons with MODIS IST allow for a verification over large areas and show also a good performance of CCLM. The comparison with twice-daily radiosonde ascents during Transarktika 2019, hourly microwave water vapor measurements of first 5 km in the atmosphere and hourly temperature profiler data show a very good representation of the temperature, humidity and wind structure of the whole troposphere for CCLM.

Evapotranspiration is often estimated by numerical simulation. However, to produce accurate simulations, these models usually require on-site measurements for parameterization or calibration. We have to make sure that the model realistically reproduces both, the temporal patterns of soil moisture and evapotranspiration. In this study, we combine three sources of information: (i) measurements of sap velocities; (ii) soil moisture; and (iii) expert knowledge on local runoff generation and water balance to define constraints for a “behavioral” forest stand water balance model. Aiming for a behavioral model, we adjusted soil moisture at saturation, bulk resistance parameters and the parameters of the water retention curve (WRC). We found that the shape of the WRC influences substantially the behavior of the simulation model. Here, only one model realization could be referred to as “behavioral”. All other realizations failed for a least one of our evaluation criteria: Not only transpiration and soil moisture are simulated consistently with our observations, but also total water balance and runoff generation processes. The introduction of a multi-criteria evaluation scheme for the detection of unrealistic outputs made it possible to identify a well performing parameter set. Our findings indicate that measurement of different fluxes and state variables instead of just one and expert knowledge concerning runoff generation facilitate the parameterization of a hydrological model.

This thesis considers the general task of computing a partition of a set of given objects such that each set of the partition has a cardinality of at least a fixed number k. Among such kinds of partitions, which we call k-clusters, the objective is to find the k-cluster which minimises a certain cost derived from a given pairwise difference between objects which end up the same set. As a first step, this thesis introduces a general problem, denoted by (||.||,f)-k-cluster, which models the task to find a k-cluster of minimum cost given by an objective function computed with respect to specific choices for the cost functions f and ||.||. In particular this thesis considers three different choices for f and also three different choices for ||.|| which results in a total of nine different variants of the general problem. Especially with the idea to use the concept of parameterised approximation, we first investigate the role of the lower bound on the cluster cardinalities and find that k is not a suitable parameter, due to remaining NP-hardness even for the restriction to the constant 3. The reductions presented to show this hardness yield the even stronger result which states that polynomial time approximations with some constant performance ratio for any of the nine variants of (||.||,f)-k-cluster require a restriction to instances for which the pairwise distance on the objects satisfies the triangle inequality. For this restriction to what we informally refer to as metric instances, constant-factor approximation algorithms for eight of the nine variants of (||.||,f)-k-cluster are presented. While two of these algorithms yield the provably best approximation ratio (assuming P!=NP), others can only guarantee a performance which depends on the lower bound k. With the positive effect of the triangle inequality and applications to facility location in mind, we discuss the further restriction to the setting where the given objects are points in the Euclidean metric space. Considering the effect of computational hardness caused by high dimensionality of the input for other related problems (curse of dimensionality) we check if this is also the source of intractability for (||.||,f)-k-cluster. Remaining NP-hardness for restriction to small constant dimensionality however disproves this theory. We then use parameterisation to develop approximation algorithms for (||.||,f)-k-cluster without restriction to metric instances. In particular, we discuss structural parameters which reflect how much the given input differs from a metric. This idea results in parameterised approximation algorithms with parameters such as the number of conflicts (our name for pairs of objects for which the triangle inequality is violated) or the number of conflict vertices (objects involved in a conflict). The performance ratios of these parameterised approximations are in most cases identical to those of the approximations for metric instances. This shows that for most variants of (||.||,f)-k-cluster efficient and reasonable solutions are also possible for non-metric instances.

High-resolution projections of the future climate are required to assess climate change realistically at a regional scale. This is in particular important for climate change impact studies since global projections are much too coarse to represent local conditions adequately. A major concern is thereby the change of extreme values in a warming climate due to their severe impact on the natural environment, socio-economical systems and the human health. Regional climate models (RCMs) are, however, able to reproduce much of those local features. Current horizontal resolutions are about 18-25km, which is still too coarse to directly resolve small-scale processes such as deep-convection. For this reason, projections of a possible future climate were simulated in this study with the regional climate model COSMO-CLM at horizontal resolutions of 4.5km and 1.3km for the region of Saarland-Lorraine-Luxemburg and Rhineland-Palatinate for the first time. At a horizontal scale of about 1km deep-convection is treated explicitly, which is expected to improve particularly the simulation of convective summer precipitation and a better resolved orography is expected to improve near surface fields such as 2m temperature. These simulations were performed as 10-year long time-slice experiments for the present climate (1991"2000), the near future (2041"2050) and the end of the century (2091"2100). The climate change signals of the annual and seasonal means and the change of extremes are analysed with respect to precipitation and 2m temperature and a possible added value due to the increased resolution is investigated. To assess changes in extremes, extreme indices have been applied and 10- and 20-year return levels were estimated by "peak-over-threshold" models. Since it is generally known that model output of RCMs should not directly be used for climate change impact studies, the precipitation and temperature fields were bias-corrected with several quantile-matching methods. Among them is a new developed parametric method which includes an extension for extreme values and is hence expected to improve the correction. In addition, the impact of the bias-correction on the climate change signals and on the extreme value statistics was investigated. The results reveal a significant warming of the annual mean by about +1.7 -°C until 2041"2050 and +3.7 -°C until 2091"2100, but considerably stronger signals of up to +5 -°C in summer in the Rhine Valley. Furthermore, the daily variability increases by about +0.8 -°C in summer but decreases by about -0.8 -°C in winter. Consequently, hot extremes increase moderately until the mid of the century but strongly thereafter, in particular in the Rhine Valley. Cold extremes warm continuously in the complete domain in the next 100 years but strongest in mountainous areas. The change signals with regard to annual precipitation are of the order -±10% but not significant. Significant, however, are a predicted increase of +32% of the seasonal precipitation in autumn until 2041"2050 and a decrease of -28% in summer until 2091-2100. No significant changes were found for days with intensities > 20 mm/day, but the results indicate that extremes with return periods ≤2 years increase as well as the frequency and duration of dry periods. The bias-corrections amplified positive signals but dampened negative signals and considerably reduced the power of detection. Moreover, absolute values and frequencies of extremes were altered by the correction but change signals remained approximately constant. The new method outperformed other parametric methods, in particular with regard to extreme value correction and related extreme indices and return levels. Although the bias correction removed systematic errors, it should be treated as an additional layer of uncertainty in climate change studies. Finally, the increased resolution of 1.3km improved predominantly the representation of temperature fields and extremes in terms of spatial heterogeneity. The benefits for summer precipitation were not as clear due to a severe dry-bias in summer, but it could be shown that in principle the onset and intensity of convection improves. This work demonstrates that climate change will have severe impacts in this investigation area and that in particular extremes may change considerably. An increased resolution provides thereby an added value to the results. These findings encourage further investigations, for other variables as for example near-surface wind, which will be more feasible with growing computing resources. These analyses should, however, be repeated with longer time series, different RCMs and anthropogenic scenarios to determine the robustness and uncertainty of these results more extensively.

Die in einem Einzugsgebiet herrschende räumliche Inhomogenität wird im Wasserhaushaltsmodell LARSIM (Large Area Runoff Simulation Modell) in den einzelnen Modellkomponenten unterschiedlich stark berücksichtigt. Insbesondere die räumliche Verteilung der Abflussprozesse wurde bisher nicht berücksichtigt, weil keine flächenhaft verfügbare Information über eben diese Verteilung vorlag. Für das Einzugsgebiet der Nahe liegt nun seit dem Jahr 2007 eine Bodenhydrologische Karte vor, die flächenhaft den bei ausreichenden Niederschlägen zu erwartenden Abflussprozess ausweist. In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird die Nutzung dieser Prozessinformation bei der Parametrisierung des Bodenmoduls von LARSIM beschrieben: Für drei Prozessgruppen " gesättigter Oberflächenabfluss, Abfluss im Boden, Tiefenversickerung " werden mittels zweier neuer Parameter P_Bilanz und P_Dämpfung inhomogene Parametersätze aus empirisch ermittelten Kennfeldern gewählt, um die Prozessinformation bei der Abflussbildung im Modell zu berücksichtigen. Für die Abbildung der Prozessintensitäten in den Gebietsspeichern werden zwei unterschiedliche Ansätze vorgestellt, die sich in ihrer Komplexität unterscheiden. In der ersten Variante werden fünf Oberflächenabflussspeicher für unterschiedlich schnell reagierende Prozessgruppen eingeführt, in der zweiten Variante wird der erste Ansatz mit dem ursprünglichen Schwellenwert zur Aufteilung in schnelle und langsame Oberflächenabflusskomponenten kombiniert. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Parametrisierung mit den beiden neuen Parametern P_Bilanz und P_Dämpfung einfacher, effektiver und effizienter ist, da beide Parameter minimale Interaktionen aufweisen und in ihrer Wirkungsweise leicht verständlich sind, was auf die ursprünglichen Bodenparameter nicht zutrifft. Es wird ein Arbeitsfluss vorgestellt, in dem die neuen Parameter in Kombination mit Signature Measures und unterschiedlichen Darstellungen der Abflussdauerlinie gemeinsam genutzt werden können, um in wenigen Arbeitsschritten eine Anpassung des Modells in neuen Einzugsgebieten vorzunehmen. Die Methode wurde durch Anwendung in drei Gebieten validiert. In den drei Gebieten konnte in wenigen Kalibrierungsschritten die Simulationsgüte der ursprünglichen Version erreicht und " je nach Zielsetzung " übertroffen werden. Hinsichtlich der Gütemaße zeigte sich bei der Variante, in der die Gebietsspeicher nicht modifiziert wurden, aber kein eindeutiges Bild, ob die ursprüngliche Parametrisierung oder die neue grundsätzlich überlegen ist. Neben der Auswertung der Validierungszeiträume wurden dabei auch die simulierten Ganglinien in geschachtelten Gebieten betrachtet. Die Version, in der die Gebietsspeicher modifiziert wurden, zeigt hingegen vor allem im Validierungszeitraum tendenziell bessere Simulationsergebnisse. Hinsichtlich der Abbildung der Abflussprozesse ist das neue Verfahren dem alten deutlich überlegen: Es resultiert in plausiblen Anteilen von Abflusskomponenten, deren Verteilung und Abhängigkeit von Speicherkapazitäten, Landnutzungen und Eingangsdaten systematisch ausgewertet wurden. Es zeigte sich, dass vor allem die Speicherkapazität des Bodens einen signifikanten Einfluss hat, der aber im hydrologischen Sinn richtig und hinsichtlich der Modellannahmen plausibel ist. Es wird deutlich gemacht, dass die Einschränkungen, die sich ergeben haben, aufgrund der Modellannahmen zustande kommen, und dass ohne die Änderung dieser Annahmen keine bessere Abbildung möglich ist. Für die Zukunft werden Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, wie die Annahmen modifiziert werden können, um eine bessere Abbildung zu erzielen, indem der bereits bestehende Infiltrationsansatz in die Methode integriert wird.

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is known to have various detrimental effects on plants, such as visible leaf injury, reduced growth and premature senescence. Flux models offer the determination of the harmful ozone dose entering the plant through the stomata. This dose can then be related to phytotoxic effects mentioned above to obtain dose-response relationships, which are a helpful tool for the formulation of abatement strategies of ozone precursors. rnOzone flux models are dependant on the correct estimation of stomatal conductance (gs). Based on measurements of gs, an ozone flux model for two white clover clones (Trifolium repens L. cv Regal; NC-S (ozone-sensitive) and NC-R (ozone-resistant)) differing in their sensitivity to ozone was developed with the help of artificial neural networks (ANNs). White clover is an important species of various European grassland communities. The clover plants were exposed to ambient air at three sites in the Trier region (West Germany) during five consecutive growing seasons (1997 to 2001). The response parameters visible leaf injury and biomass ratio of NC-S/NC-R clone were regularly assessed. gs-measurements of both clones functioned as output of the ANN-based gs model, while corresponding climate parameters (i.e. temperature, vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and photosynthetic active radiation (PAR)) and various ozone concentration indices were inputs. The development of the model was documented in detail and various model evaluation techniques (e.g. sensitivity analysis) were applied. The resulting gs model was used as a basis for ozone flux calculations, which were related to above mentioned response parameters. rnThe results showed that the ANNs were capable of revealing and learning the complex relationship between gs and key meteorological parameters and ozone concentration indices. The dose-response relationships between ozone fluxes and visible leaf injury were reasonably strong, while those between ozone fluxes and NC-S/NC-R biomass ratio were fairly weak. The results were discussed in detail with respect to the suitability of the chosen experimental methods and model type.

The reduction of information contained in model time series through the use of aggregating statistical performance measures is very high compared to the amount of information that one would like to draw from it for model identification and calibration purposes. It is readily known that this loss imposes important limitations on model identification and -diagnostics and thus constitutes an element of the overall model uncertainty as essentially different model realizations with almost identical performance measures (e.g. r-² or RMSE) can be generated. In three consecutive studies the present work proposes an alternative approach towards hydrological model evaluation based on the application of Self-Organizing Maps (SOM; Kohonen, 2001). The Self-Organizing Map is a type of artificial neural network and unsupervised learning algorithm that is used for clustering, visualization and abstraction of multidimensional data. It maps vectorial input data items with similar patterns onto contiguous locations of a discrete low-dimensional grid of neurons. The iterative training of the SOM causes the neurons to form a discrete, data-compressed representation of the high-dimensional input data. Using appropriate visualization techniques, information on distributions, patterns and relationships in complex data sets can be extracted. Irrespective of their potential, SOM applications have earned very little attention in hydrological modelling compared to other artificial neural network techniques. Therefore, the aim of the present work is to demonstrate that the application of Self-Organizing Maps has very high potential to address fundamental issues of model evaluation: It is shown that the clustering and classification of model time series by means of SOM can provide useful insights into model behaviour. In combination with the diagnostic properties of Signature Indices (Gupta et al., 2008; Yilmaz et al., 2008) SOM provides a novel tool for interpreting the model parameters in the hydrological context and identifying parameter sets that simultaneously meet multiple objectives, even if the corresponding model realizations belong to different models. Moreover, the presented studies and reviews also encourage further studies on the application of SOM in hydrological modelling.

Die Arbeit befasst sich mit der quantifizierenden Wirkungsabschätzung folgender Hochwasserschutzmaßnahmen: Auwaldaufforstung, Kleinrückhalte, Tieflockerung und Wegebaumaßnahmen. Neben der Betrachtung der hochwassermindernden Wirkung der einzelnen Maßnahmen werden auch die Grenzen der eingesetzten Simulationsmodelle aufgezeigt, diskutiert und Impulse für die Weiterentwicklung der Modellsysteme geben. Für die Auwaldaufforstung wurde ein zweidimensional instationäres Strömungsmodell auf der Basis des Rauhigkeitsansatzes nach Manning-Strickler auf einen rund 7,0 km langen Abschnitt eines Auetalgewässers angewendet. Bezüglich der hochwassermindernden Wirkung der Maßnahme Auwaldaufforstung konnte festgestellt werden, dass sich die Wirkung nahe der modelltechnischen Nachweisbarkeitsgrenze bewegt. Als Referenzereignisse dienten ein ca. 5-10 jährliches sowie ein ca. 50-80 jährliches Hochwasserereignis. In allen untersuchten Fällen blieb die relative Scheitelabminderung deutlich unter 1 %. Der Maßnahmentyp Kleinrückhalte wurde zunächst anhand von zwei Einzugsgebieten der Mesoskale (Obere Blies, AE ca. 8,5 km-² und Thalfanger Bach, AE ca.17 km-²) sowie anhand von mehreren hieraus abgeleiteten Fiktivsystemen mit Hilfe eines konzeptionellen Flussgebietsmodells untersucht. Die Untersuchung von Fiktivsystemen diente der Identifikation derjenigen Modellparameter, die den Effekt " also die hochwassermindernde Wirkung der Maßnahme " im Wesentlichen bewirken. Anschließend erfolgte eine Betrachtung des Maßnahmentyps Kleinrückhalte in den Flussgebieten von Prims (AE ca. 730 km-²) und Blies (AE ca. 1.890 km-²). Die Simulationsergebnisse zeigen, dass die Retentionswirkung von Kleinrückhalten entscheidend vom Volumen der jeweiligen Standorte und vom Volumen des betrachteten Hochwassers abhängt. In Abhängigkeit des Volumens wurden Scheitelabminderungen " je nach Ereignis " von < 1 % bis über 60 % simuliert. Entscheidend ist die Summe des Volumens der Einzelstandorte. Liegt das Gesamtvolumen unter einem Wert von 2,0 mm Gebietsrückhalt, so kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass die Maßnahmen nicht signifikant zur Hochwasserminderung beitragen können. Das Retentionspotenzial der Kleinrückhalte kann entscheidend gesteigert werden, wenn die Drosselöffnungen der Kleinrückhalte entsprechend optimiert werden. Die Arbeit stellt ein einfach handhabbares Regionalisierungsverfahren zur Abschätzung des Retentionspotenzials in mesoskaligen Einzugsgebieten (bis 20 km-²) vor. In den Einzugsgebieten von Blies und Prims würden jeweils 104 bzw. 79 Standorte mit einem Gesamtvolumen von 1,9 bzw. 2,5 mm zu Scheitelabminderungen am Gebietsauslass von 2-4 % bzw. 3-5 % bei interessanten, schadbringenden Hochwasserereignissen führen. Die Maßnahmentypen Tieflockerung und Wegebaumaßnahmen wurden mit Hilfe eines Wasserhaushaltsmodells im Einzugsgebiet der Oberen Blies untersucht. Für dieses Gebiet liegen die simulierten Scheitelabminderungen bezogen auf das zugrunde liegende Hochwasserereignis vom Dezember 1993 (ca. HQ10) bei jeweils < 5 % für die beiden untersuchten Maßnahmentypen Tieflockerung und Wegebaumaßnahmen. Generell sind die Möglichkeiten der Tieflockerung und der wegebaulichen Maßnahmen als Hochwasserschutzmaßnahmen begrenzt auf kleinere, 1-5 jährliche Ereignisse. Große, schadbringende Ereignisse können nicht signifikant abgemindert werden.

In past years, desertification and land degradation have been acknowledged as a major threat to human welfare world-wide, and their environmental and societal implications have sparked the formulation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Any measure taken against desertification, or the design of dedicated early warning systems, must take into account both the spatial and temporal dimensions of process driving factors. Equally important, past and present reactions of ecosystems to physical and socio-economical disturbances or management interventions need to be understood. In this context, remote sensing and geoinformation processing support the required assessment, monitoring and modelling approaches, and hence provide an essential contribution to the scientific component of the struggle against desertification. Supported by DG Research of the European Commission, the Remote Sensing Department of the University of Trier convened RGLDD to promote scientific exchange between specialists working on the interface of remote sensing, geoinformation processing, desertification/land degradation research and its socio-economic implications. Although targeted at the scientific community, contributions with application perspectives were of crucial importance and both an overview of the current state of the art as well as operational opportunities were presented. Hosted at the Robert-Schuman Haus in Trier, the conference gained widespread attention and attracted an international audience from all parts of the world, which underlines the global dimension of land degradation and desertification processes. Based on a rigorous review of submitted abstracts, more than 100 contributions were accepted for oral and poster presentation, which are found in these proceedings edition in full paper form. Please note: This document is optimised for screen resolution, to receive a high-resolution version please contact the editors.

Niederschlagswasserbewirtschaftung dient der Wiederherstellung der natürlichen Abflussprozesse. Da die negativen Auswirkungen des anthropogenen Eingriffs durch Kanalisierung, Versiegelung, Bodenverdichtung u.a. erkannt sind, sind Maßnahmen zum Erhalt des natürlichen Wasserkreislaufs bei Neubaumaßnahmen obligatorisch. Ziel ist es, durch Speicherung, Versickerung und gedrosselte Ableitung den dämpfenden Einfluss des Bodens auf die Wasserstandsganglinie von Gewässern zu nutzen, bzw. zu näherungsweise zu imitieren. Zur Optimierung der zur Regenwasserbewirtschaftung dienenden Verfahren wurden Vorschriften, Richtwerte und Bauanleitungen durch Gesetzgebung und Wissenschaft geschaffen. Diese sollen Anleitung zum bestmöglichen Einsatz der bestehenden Retentionsmöglichkeiten geben. Für ein Neubaugebiet in Rodt in der Eifel scheinen jedoch die Vorraussetzungen zum Einsatz der standardisierten Verfahren nicht gegeben. Die notwendigen Wasser-Durchlässigkeiten wurden bestimmt und als außerhalb der vorgeschlagenen Grenzwerte liegend erkannt. Somit stellt sich die Frage nach Alternativen, die durch das Erstellen einer Modellsimulation in ihrer Wirksamkeit überprüft werden sollten. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden sechs an die Gegebenheiten im Baugebiet angepasste Konzepte erstellt, die sich aus den möglichen Regenwasser- Retentionsmaßanlagen Retentionsteich, Kunststoffrigole, Tieflockerungsrigole und Brauchwassernutzung zusammensetzen. Die Konzepte werden mit dem Simulationsprogramm STELLA- Research 7.01 in Modelle umgesetzt und vorhandene die örtlichen Gegebenheiten kennzeichnende Daten als Grundlage der Simulation aufgenommen. Mit dem Ziel der Minimierung und Optimierung des Restüberlaufs aus dem Baugebiet in den Vorfluter werden die Simulationen auf grundlegende Schalter untersucht und diese in ihrer Wirkung beschrieben. Aus den Ergebnissen werden die optimierten Verfahren auf ihre Abwendbarkeit im Baugebiet in den Punkten Niederschlagswasser- Retention, Anpassung an natürliche Gegebenheiten und Kostenminderung überprüft und Vorschläge zur Durchführung der Arbeiten abgeleitet.

Considering actual climatic and land use changes the problem of available water resources or the estimation of potential flood risks gain eco-political and economical relevance. Adequate assessments, thus, require precise process-based hydrological knowledge. Spatially distributed hydrological modelling enables a both abstractive and realistic description of hydrological processes, and therefore contributes to the understanding of the hydrological system- responses. Referring to the example of the mesoscale Ruwer basin (a tributary to the Mosel river), a modified version of the distributive modelling system PRMS/MMS (Precipitation Runoff Modeling System/Modular Modeling System) is applied to calculate spatially and temporally explicit water budgets. To achieve modelling results as precise as possible, integration of detailed land use information (spatial distribution of the existing land use classes, crop- and site-specific growth patterns) is necessary. This information is derived here by analysis of multitemporal, geometrically and radiometrically pre-processed Landsat TM-data. This enables separation of different land use classes and differentiated quantification of the leaf area index (LAI). The LAI is estimated by a spectral unmixing approach using statistically optimized endmember sets, referring to the example of winter grain and grassland plots. As a result, numerical inputs (coefficients for calculating evapotranspiration, interception storages) and extracted non-numerical (classified) information can be provided for hydrological modelling. The version of PRMS applied in this study allows important land use terms to be parameterized in high temporal resolution. Using model input derived from the available satellite data, simulation results are obtained that prove to be realistic compared to gauge data and with respect to their spatial differentiation. Results differ significantly from those obtained by using parameters from literature or by experience without distinguishing specific and site-dependent growth patterns. It can be concluded that the quality of modelling results notably improves by integration and quantitative analysis of remote sensing data; thus, these methods are a significant contribution to physically-based hydrological modelling.