Babalola, T.E.Oguntunde, Phillip G.Ajayi, A.E.Akinluyi, F.O.Sutanudjaja, E.H.2026-04-142026-04-142021-11Babalola, T. E., Oguntunde, P. G., Ajayi, A. E., Akinluyi, F. O., & Sutanudjaja, E. H. (2021). Evaluating a finer resolution global hydrological model’s simulation of discharge in four West-African river basins. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 7, 2167–2178. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-020-00948https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-020-00948https://repository.elizadeuniversity.edu.ng/handle/123456789/1559Article full textPerformance evaluation of hydrological models enables their consolidation, thereby allowing for the evaluation of water resource conservation approaches. This research aims to evaluate the performance of a finer resolution version (5 arcmin) of the PCRaster Global Water Balance (PCR-GLOBWB) for discharge estimation, in four basins in data-scarce West Africa; the Niger, Komadugu-Yobe, Jama’are, and Ogun. At the Ogun, discharge simulation was validated in a proxy basin, Ouémé, which is hydrologically comparable. The model performance was evaluated using Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), coefficient of determination (r 2 ), Kling–Gupta efficiency (KGE), RMSE—observations standard deviation ratio (RSR), percent bias (PBIAS) and visual plots. PCR-GLOBWB was found to be suitable in all four basins but yielded better performance at three of the basins; the Niger, Jama’are, and Komadugu-Yobe (NSE, KGE, and r 2 above 0.7) compared to the Ogun basin where a proxy validation approach was followed. Results at the Ogun underlined the importance of measured data in hydrological studies. Still, model performance was satisfactory in the Ogun. PCR-GLOBWB performances across the four basins, in the area, validate its reliability as a tool applicable for water resources management strategies and further investigation of impacts of climate variations on river dynamicsenArticle