@article{22579,
  abstract     = {Decades of research on the Mekong River basin have vastly expanded our knowledge of key hydrological and
ecological processes, in part thanks to the development of modelling tools. However, few of these models are
openly available to the research community or adhere to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable)
principles, particularly in the domain of hydrology, in turn limiting transparency, reproducibility, and broader
scientific engagement. Here, we address this gap and introduce VIC-Res Mekong, an open-source hydrologicalwater management model for the Mekong River basin. The model is implemented over a spatial domain
of ∼630,000 km2 and has a resolution of 0.0625 degrees. Water and energy budgets are simulated with
the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, while streamflow routing is simulated with VIC-Res, which
explicitly accounts for the storage and release dynamics of reservoirs. This is of key importance for a basin
like the Mekong, where the active storage capacity of dams has increased from 20 km3 to nearly 80 km3 in the past fifteen years. To this purpose, VIC-Res Mekong integrates information from a database containing reservoir storage time series (inferred from satellite images) for 129 dams that accounts for more than 90% of total storage capacity. These data support both hindcast simulations and the derivation of reservoir operating rules, enabling a flexible and realistic representation of dam operations that allows to characterize in detail dam-induced hydrological alterations.},
  author       = {Eldardiry, Hisham and Mahto, Shanti Shwarup and Fatichi, Simone and Galelli, Stefano},
  issn         = {1873-6726},
  journal      = {Environmental Modelling & Software},
  keywords     = {VIC hydrologic model, Mekong river, Large-scale hydrology, Water resources management, Reservoir operations, Remote sensing},
  publisher    = {Elsevier},
  title        = {{VIC-Res Mekong: An open-source hydrological-water management model for the Mekong River basin}},
  doi          = {10.1016/j.envsoft.2025.106603},
  volume       = {193},
  year         = {2025},
}