Research
Our current research lines are:
- Use of satellite precipitation estimates and other hydrological variables for drought monitoring and as forcings for hydrological modeling.
- Assessment of global change impacts on the water resources of a basin.
- Analysis of extreme hydrometeorological events.
- Development of open-source tools for the management and analysis of hydrometeorological data.
- Landscape and water regulation: Adaptation measures to address climate change.
Between 2020 and 2024, our observatory will focus on achieving the objectives of the international Chile-China collaboration project NSFC190018, which aims to deliver territorial management proposals to reduce the negative impacts of global change on extreme hydrological events in four basins, each facing unique water resource challenges.
The four basins selected for this project are the Petorca Basin in Longotoma (Valparaíso Region), the Mapocho Basin in Los Almendros (Metropolitan Region), the Cauquenes Basin in Desembocadura (Maule Region), and the Trancura Basin before Llafenco (La Araucanía Region).
Research Projects
The research projects led by a member of Kimün-Ko are:
- 2022-2025: Fondecyt Postdoctorado 3220382. Landscape patterns and water Regulation: Adaptation measures to face the climate change. Funding agency: ANID, Chile.
- 2022-2025: ANID Doctorado Nacional 21221783. Unravelling the effect of native vegetation on catchment’s hydrological responses to extreme event. Funding agency: ANID, Chile.
- 2021-2024: Fondecyt Regular 1212071. The catchment’s memory: understanding how hydrological extremes are modulated by antecedent soil moisture conditions in a warmer climate. Funding agency: ANID, Chile.
- 2020-2023: PCI CONICYT Chile - NSFC China NSFC190018. Management of global change impacts on hydrological extremes by coupling remote sensing data and an interdisciplinary modelling approach. Funding agency: CONICYT-NSFC, Chile and China.
- 2016-2018: Fondecyt Iniciación 11150861. Understanding the relationship between the spatio-temporal characteristics of meteorological drought and the availability of water resources, by using satellite-based rainfall and snow-cover data. A case study in a data-scarce Andean Chilean catchment. Funding agency: CONICYT, Chile.
Other Research Projects
The research projects in which at least one member of Kimün-Ko is or has been involved are:
- 2023-2026: Fondecyt Regular 1230792. Triggers of Rainfall-Induced Landslides in volcanic soils EXperiment: towards a fully understating of the water role in slope instability in the Southern Andes (TRILEX). Funding agency: ANID, Chile.
- 2022-2023: ANID-Sequía FSEQ210001. Drought and water security platform for catchment planning: historical evolution and future trajectories under global change. Funding agency: ANID, Chile. Concurso Fondo de Investigación Estratégica en Sequía (Asignación Rápida) año 2021.
- 2021-2024: Fondecyt Regular 1210932. Improving forest water yield and productivity quantification at the catchment scale by mapping root depth and eco-physiological thresholds with remote sensing and water transfer modeling. Funding agency: ANID, Chile.
- 2021-2022: Regulación hídrica en cuencas pre-cordilleranas del centro sur de Chile ante escenarios futuros de uso/cobertura del suelo y cambio climático. FONDAP 15130015. **Funding agency: ANID, Chile.
- 2017-2020: Fondecyt Regular 1171560. Assessing spatio-temporal impacts of global change on water and biomass production processes at catchment scale: a synergistic approach based on remote sensing and coupled hydrological models to improve sustainable management of forest ecosystems. Funding agency: CONICYT, Chile.
- 2016-2018: Fondecyt Regular 1160656. Hillslope water storage and runoff processes: linking climate variability and interannual storage. Funding agency: CONICYT, Chile.
- 2016: 14ENI2-26866. Prototipo de una arquitectura de big data para encontrar asociaciones espacio-temporales entre las variables hidrometeorológicas de una cuenca del sur de Chile, Región de La Araucanía.. Funding agency: CORFO, Chile.
Publications
Articles (WoS)
In Review
- Baez-Villanueva, O.M.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Miralles, D.G.; Beck, H.E.; Siegmund, J.F.; Alvarez-Garreton, C.; Verbist, K.; Garreaud, R.; Boisier, J.P.; Galleguillos, M. (2023). On the time scale of meteorological, soil moisture, and snow drought indices to assess streamflow drought over catchments with different hydrological regime: a case study using a hundred Chilean catchments, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. [in review], doi:10.5194/egusphere-2023-1911.
- Díaz-Jara, A.; Manuschevich, D.; Grau, A.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2023). Land Management Drifted. Land use scenario modeling of Trancura River Basin, Araucanía, Chile. Land, 12, x. [accepted]. https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx.
- Tolorza, V.; Mohr, C.H.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Sotomayor, B.; Poblete-Caballero, D.; Carretier, S.; Galleguillos, M.; Seguel, O. (2023). Exotic tree plantations in the Chilean Coastal Range: Balancing effects of discrete disturbances, connectivity and a persistent drought on catchment erosion. Earth Surface Dynamics. [in review]. https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10512068.3
- Aguayo, R.; León-Muñoz; J.; Aguayo, M.; Baez-Villanueva, O.M.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Fernández, A.; Jacques-Coper, M. (2023). PatagoniaMet: A multi-institutional effort for an open hydrometeorological dataset in Western Patagonia. Scientific Data [in review].
- Alvarez-Garreton, C.; Boisier, J.P.; Garreaud, R.; González, J.; Rondanelli, R.; Gayó, E.; and Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2023). HESS Opinions: The unsustainable use of groundwater conceals a ‘Day Zero’, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. [in review], doi:10.5194/hess-2023-245.
2023
- Kreibich; H.; Schröter; K.; Di Baldassarre; G.; Van Loon; A. F.; Mazzoleni; M.; Abeshu; G. W.; Agafonova; S.; AghaKouchak; A.; Aksoy; H.; Alvarez-Garreton; C.; … ; Zambrano-Bigiarini; M.; and Ward; P. J. (2023) Panta Rhei benchmark dataset: socio-hydrological data of paired events of floods and droughts. Earth System Science Data. 15(5). 2009-2023; https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2009-2023
- Rodríguez-López, L.; Bustos Usta, D.; Bravo Alvarez, L.; Duran-Llacer, I.; Lami, A.; Martínez-Retureta, R.; Urrutia, R. (2023). Machine learning algorithms for the estimation of water quality parameters in lake Llanquihue in southern Chile. Water, 15(11), 1994. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15111994.
2022
- Kreibich, H.; Van Loon, A.F.; Schröter, K.; Ward, P.J.; Mazzoleni, M.; Sairam, N.; Abeshu, G.W.; Agafonova, S.; AghaKouchak, A.; Aksoy, H.; Alvarez-Garreton, C.; … ; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Blöschl, G.; Di Baldassarre, G. (2022). The challenge of unprecedented floods and droughts in risk management. Nature. 608(7921), 80-86 doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04917-5.
- Gimeno, F.; Galleguillos, M.; Manuschevich, D.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2022). A coupled modeling approach to assess the effect of forest policies in water provision: A biophysical evaluation of a drought-prone rural catchment in south-central Chile. Science of the Total Environment. 154608. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154608.
- Duran-Llacer, I.; Arumí, J. L.; Arriagada, L.; Aguayo, M.; Rojas, O.; González‐Rodríguez, L.; Rodríguez‐López, L.; Martínez-Retureta, R., Oyarzún, R.; Singh, S.K. (2022). A new method to map groundwater-dependent ecosystem zones in semi-arid environments: A case study in Chile. Science of the Total Environment, 816, 151528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151528.
- Martínez-Retureta, R.; Aguayo, M.; Abreu, N.; Urrutia, R.; Echeverría, C.; Lagos, O.; Rodríguez‐López, L.; Duran-Llacer, I.; Barra, R. (2022). Influence of Climate and Land Cover/USe Change on Water Balance: An approach to individual and combined effects. Water, 14(15), 2304. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152304
2021
- Baez-Villanueva, O.M.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Mendoza, P.A.; McNamara, I; Beck, H.E.; Thurner, J.; Nauditt, A.; Ribbe, L.; Thinh, N.X. (2021). On the selection of precipitation products for the regionalisation of hydrological model parameters, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 25, 5805-5837, doi:10.5194/hess-25-5805-2021.
- McNamara, I.; Baez-Villanueva, O.M.; Zomorodian, A.; Ayyad, S.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Zaroug, M. ; Mersha, A.; Nauditt, A.; Mbuliro, M.; Wamala, S.; Ribbe, L. (2021). How well do gridded precipitation and actual evapotranspiration products represent the key water balance components in the Nile Basin?, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. 37, 100884. doi:10.1016/j.ejrh.2021.100884.
- Galleguillos, M.; Gimeno, F.; Puelma, C.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Lara, A.; Rojas, M. (2021) Disentangling the effect of future land use strategies and climate change on streamflow in a Mediterranean catchment dominated by tree plantations. Journal of Hydrology 595, 126047. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126047
- Martínez-Retureta, R.; Aguayo, M.; Abreu, N.; Stehr, A.; Duran-Llacer, I.; Rodríguez‐López, L.; Sauvage, S.; Sánchez‐Pérez, J. (2021).Estimation of the climate change impact on the hydrological balance in basins of South-Central Chile. Water, 13(6), 794. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13060794
2020
- McNamara, I.; Nauditt, A.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Ribbe, L.; Hann, H. (2020). Modeling water resources for planning irrigation development in drought-prone Southern Chile, International Journal of Water Resources Development. 1-26. doi:10.1080/07900627.2020.1768828.
- Baez-Villanueva, O.M.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Beck, H.; McNamara, I.; Ribbe, L.; Nauditt, A.; Birkel, C.; Verbist, K.; Giraldo-Osorio, J.D.; Thinh, N.X. (2020). RF-MEP: a novel Random Forest method for merging gridded precipitation products and ground-based measurements, Remote Sensing of Environment, 239, 111610. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2019.111606.
- Martínez-Retureta, R., Aguayo, M., Stehr, A., Sauvage, S., Echeverría, C., & Sánchez‐Pérez, J. (2020). Effect of land use/cover change on the hydrological response of a southern center basin of Chile. Water, 12(1), 302. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12010302
- Rodríguez‐López, L., Duran-Llacer, I., González‐Rodríguez, L., Del Río, R. A., Cárdenas, R., Parra, Ó., Martínez-Retureta, R., & Urrutia, R. (2020). Spectral analysis using LANDSAT images to monitor the chlorophyll-a concentration in Lake Laja in Chile. Ecological Informatics, 60, 101183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2020.101183
2019
- Birkel, C.; Moore, G.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2019). Hydrological Processes Special Issue Hydrological processes across climatic and geomorphological gradients of Latin America, Hydrological Processes, doi:10.1002/hyp.13648.
- Beck, H.; Wood, E.F.; McVicar, T.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Alvarez Garretón, C.; Baez-Villanueva, O.M.; Sheffield, J.; Karger, D. (2019). Bias correction of global high-resolution precipitation climatologies using streamflow observations from 9372 catchments, Journal of Climate, 33(4), 1299-1315. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0332.1.
- Rivera, D.; Gutierrez, K.; Valdivia-Cea, W.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Godoy-Faúndez, A.; Álvez, A.; Farías, L. (2019). Validation of cryogenic vacuum extraction of pore water from volcanic soils for isotopic analysis, Water, 11(11), 2214. doi:10.3390/w11112214.
- Abdelaziz, R.; Merkel, B. J.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Nair, S. (2019). Particle Swarm Optimization for Surface complexation with the PHREEQC geochemical model, Geoscientific Model Development, 12, 167-177. doi:10.5194/gmd-12-167-2019.
- Beck, H.; Wood, E.F.; McVicar, T.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Alvarez Garretón, C.; Baez-Villanueva, O.M.; Sheffield, J.; Karger, D. (2019). Bias correction of global high-resolution precipitation climatologies using streamflow observations from 9372 catchments, Journal of Climate, 33(4), 1299-1315. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0332.1.
- Rivera, D.; Gutierrez, K.; Valdivia-Cea, W.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Godoy-Faúndez, A.; Álvez, A.; Farías, L. (2019). Validation of cryogenic vacuum extraction of pore water from volcanic soils for isotopic analysis, Water, 11(11), 2214. doi:10.3390/w11112214.
- Abdelaziz, R.; Merkel, B. J.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Nair, S. (2019). Particle Swarm Optimization for Surface complexation with the PHREEQC geochemical model, Geoscientific Model Development, 12, 167-177. doi:10.5194/gmd-12-167-2019.
2018
- Alvarez-Garreton, C.; Mendoza, P. A.; Boisier, J. P.; Addor, N., Galleguillos, M.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Lara, A.; Puelma, C.; Cortes, G.; Garreaud, R.; McPhee, J.; and Ayala, A. (2018). The CAMELS-CL dataset: catchment attributes and meteorology for large sample studies - Chile dataset, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22, 5817-5846. doi:10.5194/hess-22-5817-2018.
- Baez-Villanueva, O. M.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Ribbe, L.; Nauditt, A.; Giraldo-Osorio, J.D.; Thinh, N.X. (2018). Temporal and spatial evaluation of satellite rainfall estimates over different regions in Latin-America, Atmospheric Research. 213, 34-50. doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2018.05.011.
2017
- Garreaud, R. D.; Alvarez-Garreton, C.; Barichivich, J.; Boisier, J. P.; Christie, D.; Galleguillos, M.; LeQuesne, C.; McPhee, J.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2017). The 2010-2015 megadrought in central Chile: impacts on regional hydroclimate and vegetation, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21, 6307-6327, doi:10.5194/hess-21-6307-2017.
- Zambrano-Bigiarini, M., Nauditt, A., Birkel, C., Verbist, K., and Ribbe, L. (2017). Temporal and spatial evaluation of satellite-based rainfall estimates across the complex topographical and climatic gradients of Chile, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21, 1295-1320, doi:10.5194/hess-21-1295-2017.
2016 - 2012
- Bisselink B.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Burek, P.; De Roo, A. (2016). Assessing the role of uncertain precipitation estimates on the robustness of hydrological model parameters under highly variable climate conditions. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. 8, 112-129. doi:10.1016/j.ejrh.2016.09.003.
- Toledo C.; Muñoz E; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2015). Comparison of stationary and dynamic conceptual models in a mountainous and data-sparse catchment in the south-central Chilean Andes. Advances in Meteorology, Article ID 526158. doi:10.1155/2015/526158.
- Abdelaziz R.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2014). Particle Swarm Optimization for inverse modeling of solute transport in fractured gneiss aquifer. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology. 164, 285-298. doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2014.06.003.
- Thiemig V.; Rojas R.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; De Roo, A. (2013). Hydrological Evaluation of Satellite-Based Rainfall Estimates over the Volta and Baro-Akobo Basin. Journal of Hydrology. 499, 324-338. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.07.012.
- Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Rojas, R. (2013). A model-independent particle swarm optimization software for model calibration. Environmental Modelling & Software, 43, 5-25. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2013.01.004.
- Thiemig, V.; Rojas, R.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Levizzani, V.; De Roo, A. (2012). Validation of satellite-based precipitation products over sparsely-gauged African river basins. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 13, 1760-1783. doi:10.1175/JHM-D- 12-032.1.
Articles (Scopus)
- Marinao-Rivas, R.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2021), Towards best default configuration settings for NMPSO in multi-objective optimization. In 2021 IEEE Latin American Conference on Computational Intelligence (LA-CCI) (pp. 1-6). (2-4 Nov. 2021), Temuco, Chile. IEEE. doi:10.1109/LA-CCI48322.2021.9769844
- Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; (2018). Temporal and spatial evaluation of long-term satellite-based precipitation products across the complex topographical and climatic gradients of Chile. Proc. SPIE 10782, Remote Sensing and Modeling of the Atmosphere, Oceans, and Interactions VII, 1078202 (23 October 2018), Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. doi:10.1117/12.2513645.
- Krstić G.; Krstić N. S.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M. (2016). The br2 - weighting Method for Estimating the Effects of Air Pollution on Population Health. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods. 15(2), 42. doi:10.22237/jmasm/1478004000.
- Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Clerc, M.; Rojas, R. (2013). Standard Particle Swarm Optimisation 2011 at CEC-2013: A baseline for future PSO improvements. IEEE Xplore: Evolutionary Computation (CEC), 2013 IEEE Congress on, pp.2337,2344, 20-23 June 2013. doi:10.1109/CEC.2013.6557848.
Articles (Scielo and others)
- Martínez, R., Abreu, N., Lagos, L. O. & Barra, R. (2022). Modelación hidrológica para enfrentar los cambios globales. Serie comunicacional CRHIAM. ISSN 0718-6460 (print). ISSN 0719-3009 (online). https://www.crhiam.cl/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/N%C2%BA43_Serie-Comunicacional-CRHIAM-Modelaci%C3%B3n-hidrol%C3%B3gica-para-enfrentar-los-cambios-globales.pdf
- Hann, H.; Nauditt, A.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Thurner, J.; McNamara, I.; Ribbe, L. (2021). Combining satellite-based rainfall data with rainfall-runoff modelling to simulate low flows in a Southern Andean catchment. Journal of Natural Resources and Development. 11, 1-19. doi:10.18716/ojs/jnrd/2021.11.02
- Torres-Salinas, R.; Azócar, G.; Carrasco, N.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Costa, T.; Bolin, B. (2016). Forestry development, water scarcity, and the Mapuche protest for environmental justice in Chile. Ambiente & Sociedade. 19, 121-146. doi:10.1590/1809-4422ASOC150134R1V1912016.
Books
- Ntegeka, V.; Salamon, P.; Gomes, G.; Sint, H.; Lorini, V.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Thielen, J. (2013). EFAS-Meteo a European daily high-resolution gridded meteorological data set for 1990-2011. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. doi: 10.2788/51262. ISBN 978-92-79-35006-1 (pdf). ISSN: 1831-9424 (online).
- De Roo, A.; Bouraoui, F.; Burek, P.; Bisselink, B.; Vandecasteele, I.; Mubareka, S.; Salomon, P.; Pastori, M.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Thiemig, V.; Bianchi, A.; Lavalle, C. (2012). Current Water Resources in Europe and Africa - Matching water supply and water demand. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. doi: 10.2788/16108 (print), 10.2788/16165 (PDF). ISBN 978-92-79-23341-8 (PDF). ISBN 978-92-79-2 (print). ISSN 1018-5593 (print). ISSN 1831-9424 (online).
Books chapters
- Martínez-Retureta, R.; Aguayo, M.; Rodríguez-López, L.; Durán-Llacer, I.; Abreu, N. (2022). Diagnosis of the land cover/use effect on nutrient discharge from three Biobio river sub-basins. In Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences (pp. 53-68). Springer Link. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88919-7_5
- Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Baez-Villanueva, O. M. (2019), Characterizing meteorological droughts in data scare regions using remote sensing estimates of precipitation, in Extreme Hydroclimatic Events and Multivariate Hazards in a Changing Environment - A remote sensing approach, edited by V. Maggioni and C. Massari, pp. 221-246, Elsevier. ISBN: 9780128148990.
- López, L.R.; Cárdenas, R.; Parra, O.; Urrutia, R.; González, L.; Martínez, R. (2019). On the subaquatic light fields in lakes of southern Chile and their photosynthetic potential. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on BioGeoSciences. (pp. 95-110). Springer eBooks. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-04233-2
- Little, C.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Benítez, S.; Rivera, A. (2016), Aguas Continentales, in Informe País: Estado del medio ambiente en Chile. Comparación 1999-2015, edited by Centro de Análisis de Políticas Públicas, Instituto de Asuntos Públicos, Universidad de Chile, pp. 115-165, Santiago, Chile. ISBN: 978-956-19-0994-6.
- Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Majone, B.; Bellin, A.; Bovolo, C. I.; Blenkinsop, S.; Fowler, H. J. (2011), Hydrological impacts of climate change on the Ebro River Basin, in The Ebro River Basin, The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol. 13, edited by D. Barceló and M. Petrovic, pp. 47-75, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. DOI:10.1007/698_2010_85.
- Bovolo, C. I.; Blenkinsop, S.; Majone, B.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Fowler, H. J.; Bellin, A.; Burton, A.; Barceló, D.; Grathwohl, P.; Barth, J. A. C. (2011), Climate change, water resources and pollution in the Ebro Basin: Towards an integrated approach, in The Ebro River Basin, The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol. 13, Barceló and M. Petrovic (Eds.), pp. 295-329, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, DOI:10.1007/698_2010_86.
- Bellin, A.; Majone, B.; Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.; Bertuzzo, E.; Botter, G.; Bürger, C.; Gutierrez, A.; Kolditz, O.; Marani M.; Perez-Garcia, A.; Rinaldo, A. ; Vogel T. (2010), Compute - Modelling methods and strategies, Advanced Tools and Models to Improve River Basin Managemet in Europe in the Context of Global Change: Aquaterra. Finkel, M.; Barth, J. A.; & Grathwohl, P. (Eds.), pp. 63-78. IWA Publishing (London, New York). ISBN13: 9781843393726. eISBN:9781780401577.