Hydrological Modeling of Glacier-fed Issyk-Kul Lake Basin

<p>The impact of climate change in Central Asia is most evident in the mountainous regions, where the area covered by glaciers has significantly decreased over the past 100 years. Naturally, glaciers and snow melting is the primary source of water in the downstream arid lands of Central Asia. Assessment of the future climate change to the glaciers and snow conditions is thus essential in understanding environment impact and adaptation measures. Unfortunately, these areas are scarce for observation due to extreme conditions and access. Water balance modeling and assessment are connected to the quality of the available data products and their ability to represent the climatology of the region. In this study, various reanalysis datasets were applied to model and assess water balance in snow-glacier catchments of the region. In this research, the high mountainous Issyk-Kul endorheic lake basin in Kyrgyzstan was chosen to assess the water balance of the basin and understand the hydrological and climatic processes in the mountainous regions of Central Asia. The water balance of the Issyk-Kul Lake basin is assessed using a land surface model (SiBUC) and river routing model (RRI). Results of modeled lake water levels are evaluated using satellite altimetry data. The primary focus is to analyze forcing data, especially precipitation reanalysis data JRA55, APHRODITE, GSMaP, ERA5, and GPCC to define spatiotemporal variability of the data.</p>