A Model for Predicting Continental-Scale Vegetation Distribution and Water Balance

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 362-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald P. Neilson
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Vegetation Distribution ◽  
Continental Scale

scholarly journals Assessment of the ParFlow–CLM CONUS 1.0 integrated hydrologic model: evaluation of hyper-resolution water balance components across the contiguous United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 7223-7254
Author(s):  
Mary M. F. O'Neill ◽  
Danielle T. Tijerina ◽  
Laura E. Condon ◽  
Reed M. Maxwell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
System Modeling ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Continental Scale

Abstract. Recent advancements in computational efficiency and Earth system modeling have awarded hydrologists with increasingly high-resolution models of terrestrial hydrology, which are paramount to understanding and predicting complex fluxes of moisture and energy. Continental-scale hydrologic simulations are, in particular, of interest to the hydrologic community for numerous societal, scientific, and operational benefits. The coupled hydrology–land surface model ParFlow–CLM configured over the continental United States (PFCONUS) has been employed in previous literature to study scale-dependent connections between water table depth, topography, recharge, and evapotranspiration, as well as to explore impacts of anthropogenic aquifer depletion to the water and energy balance. These studies have allowed for an unprecedented process-based understanding of the continental water cycle at high resolution. Here, we provide the most comprehensive evaluation of PFCONUS version 1.0 (PFCONUSv1) performance to date by comparing numerous modeled water balance components with thousands of in situ observations and several remote sensing products and using a range of statistical performance metrics for evaluation. PFCONUSv1 comparisons with these datasets are a promising indicator of model fidelity and ability to reproduce the continental-scale water balance at high resolution. Areas for improvement are identified, such as a positive streamflow bias at gauges in the eastern Great Plains, a shallow water table bias over many areas of the model domain, and low bias in seasonal total water storage amplitude, especially for the Ohio, Missouri, and Arkansas River basins. We discuss several potential sources for model bias and suggest that minimizing error in topographic processing and meteorological forcing would considerably improve model performance. Results here provide a benchmark and guidance for further PFCONUS model development, and they highlight the importance of concurrently evaluating all hydrologic components and fluxes to provide a multivariate, holistic validation of the complete modeled water balance.

scholarly journals Climate change impacts on South American water balance from a continental-scale hydrological model driven by CMIP5 projections

2020 ◽  
Vol 159 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Paulo Lyra Fialho Brêda ◽  
Rodrigo Cauduro Dias de Paiva ◽  
Walter Collischon ◽  
Juan Martín Bravo ◽  
Vinicius Alencar Siqueira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Hydrological Model ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
South American ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Continental Scale

scholarly journals Assessment of the ParFlow-CLM CONUS 1.0 integrated hydrologic model: Evaluation of hyper-resolution water balance components across the contiguous United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary M. F. O'Neill ◽  
Danielle T. Tijerina ◽  
Laura E. Condon ◽  
Reed M. Maxwell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
System Modeling ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Continental Scale

Abstract. Recent advancements in computational efficiency and earth system modeling have awarded hydrologists with increasingly high-resolution models of terrestrial hydrology, which are paramount to understanding and predicting complex fluxes of moisture and energy. Continental-scale hydrologic simulations are, in particular, of interest to the hydrologic community for numerous societal, scientific and operational benefits. The coupled hydrology-land surface model ParFlow-CLM configured over the continental United States (PFCONUS) has been employed in previous literature to study scale-dependent connections between water table depth, topography, recharge, and evapotranspiration, as well as to explore impacts of anthropogenic aquifer depletion to the water and energy balance. These studies have allowed for an unprecedented, process-based understanding of the continental water cycle at high resolution. Here, we provide the most comprehensive evaluation of PFCONUS version 1.0 (PFCONUSv1) performance to date, comparing numerous modeled water balance components with thousands of in situ observations and several remote sensing products, and using a range of statistical performance metrics for evaluation. PFCONUSv1 comparisons with these datasets are a promising indicator of model fidelity and ability to appropriately reproduce the continental-scale water balance at high resolution. Areas for improvement are identified, such as a positive streamflow bias at gauges in the eastern Great Plains, a shallow water table bias over many areas of the model domain, and low bias in seasonal total water storage amplitude especially for the Ohio, Missouri and Arkansas river basins. We discuss several potential sources for model bias and suggest that minimizing error in topographic processing and meteorological forcing would considerably improve model performance. Results here provide a benchmark and guidance for further PFCONUS model development, and they highlight the importance of concurrently evaluating all hydrologic components and fluxes to provide a multivariate, holistic validation of the complete modeled water balance.

scholarly journals Ecohydrological Optimality in Northeast China Transect

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhentao Cong ◽  
Qinshu Li ◽  
Kangle Mo ◽  
Lexin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Leaf Angle ◽  
Vegetation Distribution

Abstract. Northeast China Transect (NECT) is one of International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) terrestrial transects., where there is a significant precipitation gradient from east to west, as well as a vegetation transition of forest-grasslands-dessert. It is interesting to understand vegetation distribution and dynamics under water limitation in this transect. We take canopy cover (M), derived from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), as an index to describe the properties of vegetation distribution and dynamics in NECT. In Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality theory, the optimal canopy cover (M*) is determined by the trade-off of water supply depending on water balance and water demand depending on canopy transpiration. We apply Eagleson’s ecohydrological optimality method in NECT based on data from 2000 to 2013 to get M*, then compare with M from NDVI, furthermore to discuss the sensitivity of M* to vegetation properties and climate factors. The result indicates that the average M* fits the actual M well (for forest, M* = 0.822 while M = 0.826 for grassland, M* = 0.353 while M = 0.352; the correlation coefficient between M and M* is 0.81). The result of water balance also matches the field-measured data in references. The sensitivity analyses show that M* decreases with the increase of LAI, stem fraction, temperature, while increases with the increase of leaf angle and precipitation amount. The Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality method offers a quantitative way to understand the impacts of climate change to canopy cover quantitatively, and provides guidelines for eco-restoration projects.

scholarly journals Ecohydrological optimality in the Northeast China Transect

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 2449-2462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhentao Cong ◽  
Qinshu Li ◽  
Kangle Mo ◽  
Lexin Zhang ◽  
Hong Shen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Leaf Angle ◽  
Vegetation Distribution ◽  
Area Index

Abstract. The Northeast China Transect (NECT) is one of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) terrestrial transects, where there is a significant precipitation gradient from east to west, as well as a vegetation transition of forest–grassland–desert. It is remarkable to understand vegetation distribution and dynamics under climate change in this transect. We take canopy cover (M), derived from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), as an index to describe the properties of vegetation distribution and dynamics in the NECT. In Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality theory, the optimal canopy cover (M*) is determined by the trade-off between water supply depending on water balance and water demand depending on canopy transpiration. We apply Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality method in the NECT based on data from 2000 to 2013 to get M*, which is compared with M from NDVI to further discuss the sensitivity of M* to vegetation properties and climate factors. The result indicates that the average M* fits the actual M well (for forest, M*  =  0.822 while M  =  0.826; for grassland, M*  =  0.353 while M  =  0.352; the correlation coefficient between M and M* is 0.81). Results of water balance also match the field-measured data in the references. The sensitivity analyses show that M* decreases with the increase of leaf area index (LAI), stem fraction and temperature, while it increases with the increase of leaf angle and precipitation amount. Eagleson's ecohydrological optimality method offers a quantitative way to understand the impacts of climate change on canopy cover and provides guidelines for ecorestoration projects.

Continental scale models of water balance and fluvial transport: An application to South America

1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles J. Vörösmarty ◽  
Berrien Moore ◽  
Annette L. Grace ◽  
M. Patricia Gildea ◽  
Jerry M. Melillo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Fluvial Transport ◽  
Scale Models
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