HESS cover
Executive editors : Theresa Blume, Alberto Guadagnini, and Thom Bogaard & Hilary McMillan
eISSN: 1607-7938

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS) is a not-for-profit international two-stage open-access journal for the publication of original research in hydrology. HESS encourages and supports fundamental and applied research that advances the understanding of hydrological systems, their role in providing water for ecosystems and society, and the role of the water cycle in the functioning of the Earth system. A multi-disciplinary approach is encouraged that broadens the hydrological perspective and the advancement of hydrological science through integration with other cognate sciences and cross-fertilization across disciplinary boundaries.

Journal metrics

HESS is indexed in the Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, etc. We refrain from displaying the journal metrics prominently on the landing page since citation metrics used in isolation do not describe importance, impact, or quality of a journal. However, these metrics can be found on the journal metrics page.

News

11 Nov 2026 Getting too many editor calls?

You can now customize how you receive editor calls. Head over to "My settings" to choose between instant notifications for each manuscript or a single weekly summary of unassigned papers in your field. You can also log any upcoming absences there; if an executive editor tries to assign you a manuscript while you are away, they will automatically see that you are out.

11 Nov 2026 Getting too many editor calls?

You can now customize how you receive editor calls. Head over to "My settings" to choose between instant notifications for each manuscript or a single weekly summary of unassigned papers in your field. You can also log any upcoming absences there; if an executive editor tries to assign you a manuscript while you are away, they will automatically see that you are out.

30 Jun 2026 The Norwegian University of Science and Technology partners with Copernicus Publications to support open-access publishing

Copernicus Publications has signed a new institutional agreement with Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Please read more.

30 Jun 2026 The Norwegian University of Science and Technology partners with Copernicus Publications to support open-access publishing

Copernicus Publications has signed a new institutional agreement with Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Please read more.

13 Feb 2026 University of Western Ontario partners with Copernicus Publications to support open-access publishing

Copernicus Publications has signed a new agreement with Western Libraries at the University of Western Ontario, providing a 50% APC reduction for eligible corresponding authors submitting from 1 January 2026. Please read more.

13 Feb 2026 University of Western Ontario partners with Copernicus Publications to support open-access publishing

Copernicus Publications has signed a new agreement with Western Libraries at the University of Western Ontario, providing a 50% APC reduction for eligible corresponding authors submitting from 1 January 2026. Please read more.

Recent papers

11 Nov 2026
Extreme glacier melt on the Central Tibetan Plateau during the summer of 2022: detection and mechanisms
Fei Zhu, Meilin Zhu, and Lu An
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 6983–7005, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-6983-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-6983-2026, 2026
Short summary
11 Nov 2026
Long-term hydroclimatic and anthropogenic drivers of Tashk-Bakhtegan endorheic lake decline
Mehraneh Seyedan, Milad Aminzadeh, Matin Mir, Kaveh Madani, and Nima Shokri
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-6728,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-6728, 2026
Preprint under review for HESS (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
11 Nov 2026
Hysteresis metrics reveal land-use-dependent stormflow constituent dynamics in tropical Afromontane catchments
Zadoki Tabo, Suzanne R. Jacobs, and Lutz Breuer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-6000,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-6000, 2026
Preprint under review for HESS (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
11 Nov 2026
Geophysically-informed modelling and interpretation of cosmic-ray neutron sensing response to soil moisture spatiotemporal dynamics
Luca Peruzzo, Viola Cioffi, Mirko Pavoni, Markus Köhli, Jannis Weimar, Matteo Censini, Daniele Penna, Francesca Manca di Villahermosa, Paolo Benettin, and Giorgio Cassiani
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5633,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5633, 2026
Preprint under review for HESS (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
11 Nov 2026
Integrating Sentinel-1 Radar Soil Moisture and Explainable Machine Learning to Quantify Irrigation-Induced Groundwater Fluxes in the Hajdúság Region, Eastern Hungary
Gift Siphiwe Nxumalo, Tondani Sanah Ramabulana, Dávid Pásztor, and Attila Nagy
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5601,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5601, 2026
Preprint under review for HESS (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary

Highlight articles

27 Oct 2026
Technical note: Machine learning metamodelling for global sensitivity analysis
Patricio Yeste, Lieke A. Melsen, João Paulo L. F. Brêda, Nicolás Tacoronte, Andrea Saltelli, Giulia Vannucci, Roberta Siciliano, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 6579–6597, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-6579-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-6579-2026, 2026
Short summary Editorial statement
25 Aug 2026
Learning evaporative fraction with memory
Wenli Zhao, Alexander J. Winkler, Markus Reichstein, Rene Orth, and Pierre Gentine
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 5373–5394, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-5373-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-5373-2026, 2026
Short summary Editorial statement
15 Jul 2026
Wildfire-induced disruptions to evapotranspiration, runoff, and water-balance closure across California's water supply watersheds
Ziying Han, Han Guo, Michael L. Goulden, and Roger C. Bales
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 4367–4382, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4367-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4367-2026, 2026
Short summary Editorial statement
29 Jun 2026
Understanding changes in Iceland's streamflow dynamics in response to climate change
Hordur Bragi Helgason, Andri Gunnarsson, Óli G. B. Sveinsson, and Bart Nijssen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 3979–3999, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3979-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3979-2026, 2026
Short summary Editorial statement
27 May 2026
A novel classifier-guided ensemble framework for global terrestrial evapotranspiration estimates
Le Ni, Weiguang Wang, Jianyu Fu, and Mingzhu Cao
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 3283–3312, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3283-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3283-2026, 2026
Short summary Editorial statement

Notice on APC invoices

In accordance with current European restrictions, Copernicus Publications does not step into business relations with and issue APC invoices (articles processing charges) to Russian and Belarusian institutions. The peer-review process and scientific exchange of our journals including preprint posting is not affected. However, these restrictions require that the first contact (contractual partner of Copernicus) has an affiliation and invoice address outside Russia or Belarus.