Hirschi, Martin, Dr.

ETH Zürich Dr. Martin Hirschi Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science CHN N 17.2 Universitätstrasse 16 CH-8092 Zürich Phone: +41 44 632 91 58 E-Mail:

Research Field

• Climate change impacts
• Statistical downscaling
• Extreme events in Central and Eastern Europe: WP4 of CECILIA (Central and Eastern Europe Climate Change Impact and Vulnerability Assessment), part of the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Union
• Water cycle processes
• Large-scale terrestrial water storage: Basin-Scale Water-Balance data
• Climate model analyses

Publications

Journal Papers (peer-reviewed)

• Mueller, B., M. Hirschi, C. Jimenez, P. Ciais, P. A. Dirmeyer, A. J. Dolman, J. B. Fisher, M. Jung, F. Ludwig, F. Maignan, D. Miralles, M. F. McCabe, M. Reichstein, J. Sheffield, K. C. Wang, E. F. Wood, Y. Zhang and S. I. Seneviratne (2013). Benchmark products for land evapotranspiration: LandFlux-EVAL multi-dataset synthesis. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discuss., 10, 769-805, doi:10.5194/hessd-10-769-2013. [link]
• Quesada, B., R. Vautard, P. Yiou, M. Hirschi and S.I. Seneviratne (2012). Asymmetric European summer heat predictability from wet and dry Southern winter/springs. Nature Climate Change, 2(10), 736-741, doi:10.1038/nclimate1536. [link]
• Hirschi, M., C. Spirig, A. P. Weigel, P. Calanca, J. Samietz and M. W. Rotach (2012). Monthly weather forecasts in a pest forecasting context: Downscaling, recalibration and skill improvement. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 51(9):1633-1638, doi:10.1175/JAMC-D-12-082.1. [link]
• Stoeckli, S., M. Hirschi, C. Spirig, P. Calanca, M. W. Rotach and J. Samietz (2012). Impact of climate change on voltinism and prospective diapause induction of a global pest insect – Cydia pomonella (L.). PLoS ONE, 7, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035723. [link; Schweizer Zeitschrift für Obst- und Weinbau (in German)]]
• Hirschi, M., S. Stoeckli, M. Dubrovsky, C. Spirig, P. Calanca, M. W. Rotach, A. M. Fischer, B. Duffy and J. Samietz (2012). Downscaling climate change scenarios for apple pest and disease modeling in Switzerland. Earth Syst. Dynam., 3, 33–47, doi:10.5194/esd-3-33-2012. [link; Schweizer Bauer (in German)]; SNF Horizonte (in German)]
• Samietz, J., S. Stoeckli, M. Hirschi, C. Spirig, H. Höhn, P. Calanca and M. W. Rotach (2012). Modelling the impact of climate change on sustainable management of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella) as key pest in apple. Acta Hortic., accepted.
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne, V. Alexandrov, F. Boberg, C. Boroneant, O. B. Christensen, H. Formayer, B. Orlowsky and P. Stepanek (2011). Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in southeastern Europe. Nature Geoscience, 4, 17–21, doi:10.1038/ngeo1032. [link; pdf; Nature Geoscience, News and Views; ETHlife (in German); NZZ (in German)]
• Mueller, B., S. I. Seneviratne, C. Jimenez, T. Corti, M. Hirschi, G. Balsamo, P. Ciais, P. Dirmeyer, J. B. Fisher, Z. Guo, M. Jung, F. Maignan, M. F. McCabe, R. Reichle, M. Reichstein, M. Rodell, J. Sheffield, A. J. Teuling, K. Wang, E. F. Wood and Y. Zhang (2011). Evaluation of global observations-based evapotranspiration datasets and IPCC AR4 simulations. Geophysical Research Letters, 38, L06402, doi:10.1029/2010GL046230.
• Mueller, B., M. Hirschi and S. I. Seneviratne (2011). New diagnostic estimates of variations in terrestrial water storage based on ERA-Interim data. Hydrological Processes, 25, 996-1008, doi:10.1002/hyp.7652.
• Seneviratne, S. I., T. Corti, E. Davin, M. Hirschi, E. B. Jaeger, I. Lehner, B. Orlowsky and A. J. Teuling (2010). Soil moisture-climate interactions in a changing climate: A review. Earth Science Reviews, 9, 125-161, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.02.004.
• Hirschi, M. and S. I. Seneviratne (2010). Intra-annual link of spring and autumn precipitation over France. Climate Dynamics, 35, 1207–1218, doi:10.1007/s00382-009-0734-1. [pdf]
• Balsamo, G., P. Viterbo, A. Beljaars, B. van den Hurk, M. Hirschi, A. K. Betts and K. Scipal (2009). A revised hydrology for the ECMWF model: Verification from field site to terrestrial water storage and impact in the Integrated Forecast System. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 10, 623–643.
• Teuling, A. J., M. Hirschi, A. Ohmura, M. Wild, M. Reichstein, P. Ciais, N. Buchmann, C. Ammann, L. Montagnani, A. D. Richardson, G. Wohlfahrt and S. I. Seneviratne (2009). A regional perspective on trends in continental evaporation. Geophysical Research Letters, 36, L02404, doi:10.1029/2008GL036584.
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne, S. Hagemann and C. Schär (2007). Analysis of seasonal terrestrial water storage variations in regional climate simulations over Europe. Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, D22109, doi:10.1029/2006JD008338. [pdf]
• Troch, P. A., M. Durcik, S. I. Seneviratne, M. Hirschi, A. J. Teuling, R. Hurkmans and S. Hasan (2007). New datasets to estimate terrestrial water storage change. EOS T. Am. Geophys. Un., 88 (45), 469-470.
• Jacob, D., L. Bärring, O. B. Christensen, J. H. Christensen, M. de Castro, M. Déqué, F. Giorgi, S. Hagemann, M. Hirschi, R. Jones, E. Kjellström, G. Lenderink, B. Rockel, E. Sanchez, C. Schär, S. I. Seneviratne, S. Somot, A. van Ulden and B. van den Hurk (2007). An inter-comparison of regional climate models for Europe: model performance in present-day climate. Climatic Change, 81 (Supplement 1), 31-52.
• Hirschi, M., P. Viterbo and S. I. Seneviratne (2006). Basin-scale water-balance estimates of terrestrial water storage variations from ECMWF operational forecast analysis. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L21401, doi:10.1029/2006GL027659. [pdf]
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne and C. Schär (2006). Seasonal variations in terrestrial water storage for major midlatitude river basins. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 7, 39–60. [pdf]
• Van den Hurk, B., M. Hirschi, C. Schär, G. Lenderink, E. van Meijgaard, A. van Ulden, B. Rockel, S. Hagemann, P. Graham, E. Kjellström and R. Jones (2005). Soil control on runoff response to climate change in regional climate model simulations. Journal of Climate, 18, 3536–3551. [pdf]

Other publications

• Seneviratne, S. I., C. Jimenez, C. Kummerow, M. McCabe, W. B. Rossow, E. F. Wood, M. Hirschi, B. Mueller and A. J. Teuling. GEWEX-iLEAPS LandFlux/LandFlux-EVAL Workshop. iLEAPS Newsletter, 11, pages 48–50, September 2011.
• Seneviratne, S. I., C. Jimenez, C. Kummerow, M. McCabe, W. B. Rossow, E. F. Wood, M. Hirschi, B. Mueller and A. J. Teuling. LandFlux-EVAL Workshop. GEWEX Newsletter, 2, pages 18–19, May 2011.

Conference and Workshop Contributions

Talks

• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne, V. Alexandrov, F. Boberg, C. Boroneant, O. B. Christensen, H. Formayer, B. Orlowsky and P. Stepanek. Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in Southeastern Europe. 3rd iLEAPS Science Conference, 18–23 September 2011, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
• Hirschi, M., S. Stoeckli, M. Dubrovsky, C. Spirig, M. W. Rotach, P. Calanca and J. Samietz. Agricultural pests under future climate conditions in Switzerland. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2011, Vienna, Austria. EGU2011-6063. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M., S. Stoeckli, M. Dubrovsky, C. Spirig, M. W. Rotach, P. Calanca and J. Samietz. Agricultural pests under future climate conditions: downscaling of regional climate scenarios with a stochastic weather generator. European Conference on Applied Climatology (ECAC), 13–17 September 2010, Zürich, Switzerland. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M. and S. I. Seneviratne. Co-variability of spring and autumn precipitation over France: Evidence of missing processes in current climate models? General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2009, Vienna, Austria. EGU2009-6827. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M., P. Stepanek, S. I. Seneviratne, O. B. Christensen, E. Jäger and CECILIA WP4 members. Extremes indices in the EU-FP6 project Cecilia. ETCCDI/ENSEMBLES joint workshop on "Extremes in a Changing Climate", 13–16 May 2008, KNMI, De Bilt, The Netherlands.
• Hirschi, M., P. Stepanek, S. I. Seneviratne, O. B. Christensen and CECILIA WP4 members. CECILIA climate indices: Analysis of temperature extremes in Central and Eastern Europe. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2008, Vienna, Austria. EGU2008-A-09640. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne and C. Schär. Evaluation of terrestrial water storage variations in regional climate simulations over Europe using basin-scale combined water-balance data. 86th AMS Annual Meeting, 29 January–2 February 2006, Atlanta, USA. [extended abstract]
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne and C. Schär. Evaluation of PRUDENCE regional climate simulations over Europe using basin-scale combined water-balance data. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2005, Vienna, Austria. EGU05-A-03532. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne and C. Schär. Wasserbilanzen grosser Einzugsgebiete in den mittleren Breiten: Methodik und Resultate ("Water balances of major river basins in the mid-latitudes: Methodology and results"). Seminar für Hydrologie, ETH Zürich, 28 November 2003, Zürich, Switzerland.

Poster Presentations

• Hirschi, M., B. Mueller, W. Dorigo and S. I. Seneviratne. Soil moisture-temperature coupling: revisited using remote sensing soil moisture. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2013, Vienna, Austria. EGU2013-9657. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M., M. Dubrovsky, C. Spirig, J. Samietz, P. Calanca, A. P. Weigel, A. M. Fischer and M. W. Rotach. Monthly forecasting of agricultural pests in Switzerland. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2012, Vienna, Austria. EGU2012-2892. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M., S. Stoeckli, M. Dubrovsky, C. Spirig, P. Calanca, M. W. Rotach, A. M. Fischer and J. Samietz. High-resolution climate change scenarios for impact studies: Pests in a future climate as an example. 13th Swiss Global Change Day, 4 April 2012, Berne, Switzerland. (Awarded with the IGBP poster award.)
• Hirschi, M., M. Dubrovsky, C. Spirig, J. Samietz, P. Calanca and M. W. Rotach. Sub-seasonal forecasting of agricultural pests in Switzerland. European Conference on Applications of Meteorology (ECAM), 12–16 September 2011, Berlin, Germany. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne, V. Alexandrov, F. Boberg, C. Boroneant, O. B. Christensen, H. Formayer, B. Orlowsky and P. Stepanek. Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in Southeastern Europe. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2011, Vienna, Austria. EGU2011-6227.
• Dubrovsky, M., M. Hirschi and C. Spirig. HOWGH: an hourly weather generator for pests modeling in present and future climates. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2011, Vienna, Austria. EGU2011-9536. [abstract (pdf)]
• Stoeckli, S., M. Hirschi, M. Dubrovsky, C. Spirig, P. Calanca, B. Duffy, M. Rotach and J. Samietz. Agricultural pest and disease forecasting under future climate conditions. 11th Swiss Global Change Day, 25 May 2010, Berne, Switzerland. (Awarded with the IGBP poster award.)
• Mueller, B. et al. First results from the LandFlux-EVAL intercomparison project: Analysis of multi-annual evapotranspiration datasets. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), May 2010, Vienna, Austria.
• Mueller, B., M. Hirschi and S. I. Seneviratne. Terrestrial water storage estimates from water balance diagnostics and satellite retrievals. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), May 2010, Vienna, Austria.
• Hirschi, M., F. Boberg, O. B. Christensen, S. I. Seneviratne, P. Stepanek and CECILIA WP4 members. Analyses of climate and extreme indices in Central and Eastern Europe within the CECILIA project. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2009, Vienna, Austria. EGU2009-10112. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M., P. Stepanek, F. Boberg, S. I. Seneviratne, O. B. Christensen and CECILIA WP4 members. Analysis of measures of extreme weather events in Central and Eastern Europe. 7th International NCCR Climate Summer School, 31 August–5 September 2008, Monte Verità, Switzerland.
• Hirschi, M. and S. I. Seneviratne. Terrestrial water storage from basin-scale water-balance diagnostics and GRACE: an updated comparison. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2008, Vienna, Austria. EGU2008-A-09726. [abstract (pdf)]
• Hirschi, M. and S. I. Seneviratne. Recent variations in terrestrial water storage: Comparison of GRACE against basin-scale water-balance diagnostics. KHR-Workshop on "Low flows and droughts", 25–26 September 2007, Würzburg, Germany.
• Hirschi, M. and S. I. Seneviratne. Climate and extremes in Central and Eastern Europe: the CECILIA project. 6th International NCCR Climate Summer School, 26–31 August 2007, Grindelwald, Switzerland.
• Hirschi, M., P. Viterbo and S. I. Seneviratne. Comparison of GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage against basin-scale water-balance diagnostics. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), April 2007, Vienna, Austria. EGU2007-A-07606.
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne and C. Schär. Terrestrial water storage variations in regional climate models. 4th International NCCR Climate Summer School, 27 August–2 September 2005, Grindelwald, Switzerland.
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne, P. Viterbo and C. Schär. Water balance estimates of seasonal changes in terrestrial water storage for major river basins of the northern mid-latitudes, in Proceedings of the 2nd International CAHMDA Workshop on: The Terrestrial Water Cycle: Modelling and Data Assimilation Across Catchment Scales, edited by A. J. Teuling, H. Leijnse, P. A. Troch, J. Sheffield and E. F. Wood, pp. 13-15. Princeton, NJ, USA, 25–27 October 2004.
• Seneviratne, S. I., R. Reichle, R. D. Koster, S. P. P. Mahanama, M. Hirschi and C. Schär. Basin-scale water-balance estimates of terrestrial water-storage variations: Potential for data assimilation, in Proceedings of the 2nd International CAHMDA Workshop on: The Terrestrial Water Cycle: Modelling and Data Assimilation Across Catchment Scales, edited by A. J. Teuling, H. Leijnse, P. A. Troch, J. Sheffield and E. F. Wood, pp. 17-20. Princeton, NJ, USA, 25–27 October 2004.
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne, P. Viterbo and C. Schär. Water balance computations of seasonal changes in terrestrial water storage for major river basins of the northern mid-latitudes. 3rd International NCCR Climate Summer School, 29 August–3 September 2004, Monte Verità, Switzerland
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne and C. Schär. Water balance estimates of seasonal changes in terrestrial water storage for major river basins of the northern mid-latitudes. First General Assembly of the European Geophysical Union, April 2004, Nice, France. EGU04-A-03679. [abstract (pdf)]
• Van den Hurk, B. J. J. M., G. Lenderink and M. Hirschi. Control of soil-atmosphere feedback on precipitation changes under changing climate conditions. First General Assembly of the European Geophysical Union (EGU), April 2004, Nice, France. EGU04-A-02778. [abstract (pdf)]
• Seneviratne, S. I., M. Hirschi, P. Viterbo, D. Lüthi and C. Schär. Water-balance estimates of changes in terrestrial water storage using ERA-40 reanalysis data: Validation and potential applications. Joint Assembly of the EGS/AGU/EUG, April 2003, Nice, France.
• Hirschi, M., S. I. Seneviratne, P. Viterbo, D. Lüthi and C. Schär. Water balance computations of seasonal changes in terrestrial water storage for major Eurasian river basins. AMS Annual Meeting, February 2003, Long Beach, California, USA.

Theses and Internal Reports

• Hirschi, M. (2006). Seasonal Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage: Diagnosis and Climate Model Analyses. PhD Thesis, Diss. ETH No. 16902. Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Switzerland. [pdf]
• Hirschi, M. (2002). Abschätzung der terrestrischen Wasserspeicheränderung mit Wasserbilanzen und ERA-40 Reanalysedaten in Einzugsgebieten von Flüssen in Asien und Europa ("Estimation of changes in terrestrial water storage in river basins of Asia and Europe using water balances and ERA-40 reanalysis data"). Diploma thesis. Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
• Frey M. and M. Hirschi (2002). Ökobilanz von Bleiakkumulatoren ("Life cycle assessment of lead accumulators"). Semester thesis. ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
• Hirschi, M. (2001). Simulation der Aufsättigung eines Endlagers im Opalinuston ("Simulation of the saturation of a repository in opalinus clay"). Internal Report. NAGRA, Wettingen, Switzerland.

Public Presentations

• Hirschi, M, B. Orlowsky and S. I. Seneviratne. Herausforderung Klimawandel - Prognosen mit Unsicherheiten. PEAK-Fachtagung "Herausforderungen einer nachhaltigen Wasserwirtschaft", Eawag, 14 September 2012, Dübendorf.
• Hirschi, M. Klimawandel und Waldwirtschaft, Szenarien und Schnittpunkte. BLDZ-Anlass „Papier und Umwelt“, Kanton Thurgau, 19 November 2008, Frauenfeld.
• Hirschi, M. Klima und Papier. Kick-off meeting, Sihl + Eika Papier AG, 20 August 2008, Thalwil.

Curriculum Vitae

Internship and work experience