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

27 Oct 2025
Reducing hydrological uncertainty in large mountainous basins: the role of isotope, snow cover, and glacier dynamics in capturing streamflow seasonality
Diego Avesani, Yi Nan, and Fuqiang Tian
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 5755–5775, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5755-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5755-2025, 2025
Short summary
24 Oct 2025
Synergistic identification of hydrogeological parameters and pollution source information for groundwater point and areal source contamination based on machine learning surrogate–artificial hummingbird algorithm
Chengming Luo, Xihua Wang, Y. Jun Xu, Shunqing Jia, Zejun Liu, Boyang Mao, Qinya Lv, Xuming Ji, Yanxin Rong, and Yan Dai
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 5719–5736, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5719-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5719-2025, 2025
Short summary
24 Oct 2025
Interdecadal rainfall cycles in spatially coherent global regions and their relationship to the climate modes
Tobias F. Selkirk, Andrew W. Western, and J. Angus Webb
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 5737–5754, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5737-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5737-2025, 2025
Short summary
24 Oct 2025
Proposing Sources for Discrete Groundwater Discharges to Patterned Pools in Three Regional Raised Northern Peat Bogs
Henry Emerson Moore, Xavier Comas, Martin A. Briggs, Andrew S. Reeve, Khondaker Md. Nur Alam, and Lee D. Slater
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4567,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4567, 2025
Preprint under review for HESS (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
24 Oct 2025
When does nitrate peak in rivers and why? Catchment traits and climate drive synchrony with discharge
Lu Yang, Kieran Khamis, Julia L. A. Knapp, and Joshua R. Larsen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5130,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5130, 2025
Preprint under review for HESS (discussion: open, 0 comments)
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.