VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity)

Related Information

Forcing Data Description Features Workflow

Section 1: Forcing Data Description

Hydrological Model

VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity)

Required Data

1. precipitation rate [kg m-2 s-1]
2. incoming shortwave radiation [W m-2]
3. incoming longwave radiation [W m-2]
4. air temperature [K]
5. wind speed [m s-1]
6. air pressure [Pa]
7. specific humidity [g g-1]
or using METSIM or VIC-4
1. precipitation
2. wind
3. maximum daily temperature
4. minimum daily temperature

Data Sources

WFDEI, ERA-5, WRF CONUS

Spatial Resolution

Flexible

Temporal Resolution

Can run on daily (water balance) or sub-daily

File Format

Inputs are ASCII and binary. Inputs for VIC-v5-I, are .nc

Section 2: Features

Strengths and Limitations

Can produce 7 forcing files at sub-daily scale from widely available 4 forcing variables (P, wind, Tmin and Tmax) at daily scale.
Can run on station data.

External and Internal Tools

● Python CANDEX package to convert forcing to the required spatial domain (e.g. spatial interpolation
● Python METSIM package for temporal disaggregation, estimating missing forcing variables (not used).

Source Code Availability

● Candex available on github with examples.

TBD_STEPHEN Best link possible into github

Section 3: Workflow

Model Workflow

1. Download raw forcing data
2. Mapping regular/rotated/ irregular lat-lon data to regular or irregular polygons (girds, HRUs or GRUs)
3. METSIM can construct the 7 variables for VIC version five if station data or data set only allows (4 daily variables (precip, Tmin, Tmax, wind)

Notes

Thanks to Prabin for synthesis of this data!
Regards,
Stephen

T-2020-05-09-M1egn4mxzM30mmE1uM3eTd2Dw Forcing Data Descriptor Template for Hydrological Models 1.0