The legacy of STAHY: Milestones, achievements, challenges, and open problems in statistical hydrology

Abstract

Statistical tools are crucial for a variety of hydrological applications, whether to model processes and enhance understanding and knowledge or to design infrastructure systems. Given the rapid evolution of statistical methods and the need for a solid theoretical foundation for their correct application, a multidisciplinary community (STAHY-WG) aggregated under the IAHS umbrella to contribute to this research field. Now, after more than fifteen years since its inception, this paper summarizes the main achievements of this productive community collaboration in four (of many) branches of statistical hydrology: extreme value analysis, multivariate analysis, time series analysis, and regionalization. The aim is to provide an overview of recent developments, offer practical suggestions (e.g. software packages), and outline future challenges to support scientists and practitioners in their endeavors within the realm of statistical hydrology studies.

Keywords:

• ICSH
• STAHY
• extreme value analysis
• GEV
• metastatistical distributions
• copula function
• time series analysis
• FARMA model
• changing point analysis
• rainfall simulations
• regionalization

Disclaimer

As a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of an accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proofs will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to these versions also.

Acknowledgments

We thank the editor, Stacey Archfield, and two reviewers, Richard Vogel and Alberto Viglione, for their thoughtful comments, which helped to significantly improve the original version of the manuscript. The authors also thank the ICSH-STAHY members, who contributed to the discussions during the STAHY workshops and the IUGG and IAHS General Assemblies.