A meta-analysis based review of quantifying the contributions of runoff components to streamflow in glacierized basins

Abstract Quantifying the contributions of runoff components (CRCs) to streamflow is of significant importance for understanding the dynamics of water resources under changing climate in glacierized basins. This article presents a meta-analysis on different approaches for quantifying runoff components in glacierized basins, including the tracer-based end-member mixing method and the hydrological modeling approach. We collected estimated CRCs from 312 glacierized basin cases, as well as values of five characteristics in these basins including mean basin elevation (MBE), mean annual air temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP), winter precipitation fraction (WPF) and glacierized area ratio (GAR). Relations between CRCs and the basin characteristics were assessed using a random forest (RF) algorithm. The review showed that CRCs were most often quantified by the hydrological modeling approach (73% of the basin cases). Compared to hydrological modeling, the tracer-based approach (applied in 19% of the basin cases) was more likely to be used in smaller basins