HESS cover
Executive editors : Theresa Blume, Alberto Guadagnini, and Thom Bogaard & Hilary McMillan
eISSN: HESS 1607-7938, HESSD 1812-2116

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

02 Apr 2025 New co-review option in HESS

HESS now offers a co-review option for referees. Please read more.

02 Apr 2025 New co-review option in HESS

HESS now offers a co-review option for referees. Please read more.

02 Apr 2025 Get involved, become a referee, and help shape the HESS community publication output

We are pleased to announce that a new referee application form is now available. This means that if you are interested in contributing to the peer-review process and supporting high-quality scientific publishing in your community then you can apply today to become a referee. Your expertise can make a difference. Visit the online form here to learn more and join our reviewer community.

02 Apr 2025 Get involved, become a referee, and help shape the HESS community publication output

We are pleased to announce that a new referee application form is now available. This means that if you are interested in contributing to the peer-review process and supporting high-quality scientific publishing in your community then you can apply today to become a referee. Your expertise can make a difference. Visit the online form here to learn more and join our reviewer community.

13 Mar 2025 New agreement between California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications

We are delighted to announce a new agreement between the California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications. The University of California will cover 50% of article processing charges (APCs) for manuscripts affiliated with any of their research units. Read more.

13 Mar 2025 New agreement between California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications

We are delighted to announce a new agreement between the California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications. The University of California will cover 50% of article processing charges (APCs) for manuscripts affiliated with any of their research units. Read more.

Recent papers

20 Nov 2025
Enhancing physically based and distributed hydrological model calibration through internal state variable constraints
Frédéric Talbot, Jean-Daniel Sylvain, Guillaume Drolet, Annie Poulin, and Richard Arsenault
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 6549–6576, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6549-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6549-2025, 2025
Short summary
19 Nov 2025
Data derived reservoir operations simulated in a global hydrologic model
Jennie C. Steyaert, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Marc Bierkens, and Niko Wanders
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 6499–6527, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6499-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6499-2025, 2025
Short summary
19 Nov 2025
Quantifying controls on rapid and delayed runoff response in double-peak hydrographs using ensemble rainfall-runoff analysis (ERRA)
Huibin Gao, Laurent Pfister, and James W. Kirchner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 6529–6547, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6529-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6529-2025, 2025
Short summary
19 Nov 2025
The influence of a rock glacier on the riverbed hydrological system
Bastien Charonnat, Michel Baraer, Eole Valence, Janie Masse-Dufresne, Chloé Monty, Kaiyuan Wang, Elise Devoie, and Jeffrey M. McKenzie
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 6479–6498, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6479-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6479-2025, 2025
Short summary
19 Nov 2025
Technical note: A low-cost approach to monitoring relative streamflow dynamics in small headwater streams using time lapse imagery and a deep learning model
Phillip J. Goodling, Jennifer H. Fair, Amrita Gupta, Jeffrey D. Walker, Todd Dubreuil, Michael Hayden, and Benjamin H. Letcher
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 6445–6460, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6445-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6445-2025, 2025
Short summary

Highlight articles

23 Sep 2025
Assessment of source regions of the Zambezi River: implications for regional water security
Mauro Lourenco, Rutledge S. Boyes, Fenton P. D. Cotterill, Tyrel Flügel, Frank C. Nyoni, Goabaone J. Ramatlapeng, and Rainer von Brandis
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 4557–4583, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4557-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4557-2025, 2025
Short summary Executive editor
07 Aug 2025
Consequences of the Aral Sea restoration for its present physical state: temperature, mixing, and oxygen regime
Georgiy B. Kirillin, Tom Shatwell, and Alexander S. Izhitskiy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 3569–3588, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3569-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3569-2025, 2025
Short summary Executive editor
18 Jul 2025
The value of hydroclimatic teleconnections for snow-based seasonal streamflow forecasting in central Asia
Atabek Umirbekov, Mayra Daniela Peña-Guerrero, Iulii Didovets, Heiko Apel, Abror Gafurov, and Daniel Müller
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 3055–3071, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3055-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-3055-2025, 2025
Short summary Executive editor
03 Jul 2025
Is drought protection possible without compromising flood protection? Estimating the potential dual-use benefit of small flood reservoirs in southern Germany
Sarah Quỳnh-Giang Ho and Uwe Ehret
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2785–2810, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2785-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2785-2025, 2025
Short summary Executive editor
17 Mar 2025
Meteorological ingredients of heavy precipitation and subsequent lake-filling episodes in the northwestern Sahara
Joëlle C. Rieder, Franziska Aemisegger, Elad Dente, and Moshe Armon
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1395–1427, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1395-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1395-2025, 2025
Short summary Executive editor

Notice on the current situation in Ukraine

To show our support for Ukraine, all fees for papers from authors (first or corresponding authors) affiliated to Ukrainian institutions are automatically waived, regardless if these papers are co-authored by scientists affiliated to Russian and/or Belarusian institutions. The only exception will be if the corresponding author or first contact (contractual partner of Copernicus) are from a Russian and/or Belarusian institution, in that case the APCs are not waived.

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.