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Forcing Data Description Features Workflow
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
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
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
© 2026 - WaterNet Version 2026-07-24
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T-2020-05-09-M1egn4mxzM30mmE1uM3eTd2Dw Forcing Data Descriptor Template for Hydrological Models 1.0