GLUE: 20 years on

Abstract This paper reviews the use of the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology in the 20 years since the paper by Beven and Binley in Hydrological Processes in (1992), which is now one of the most highly cited papers in hydrology. The original conception, the on‐going controversy it has generated, the nature of different sources of uncertainty and the meaning of the GLUE prediction uncertainty bounds are discussed. The hydrological, rather than statistical, arguments about the nature of model and data errors and uncertainties that are the basis for GLUE are emphasized. The application of the Institute of Hydrology distributed model to the Gwy catchment at Plynlimon presented in the original paper is revisited, using a larger sample of models, a wider range of likelihood evaluations and new visualization techniques. It is concluded that there are good reasons to reject this model for that data set. This is a positive result in a research environment in that it requires improved models or data to be made available. In practice, there may be ethical issues of using outputs from models for which there is evidence for model rejection in decision making. Finally, some suggestions for what is needed in the next 20 years are provided. © 2013 The Authors. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.