mizuRoute version 1: a river network routing tool for a continental domain water resources applications
This paper describes the first version of a stand-alone runoff routing tool, mizuRoute. The mizuRoute tool post-processes runoff outputs from any distributed hydrologic model or land surface model to produce spatially distributed streamflow at various spatial scales from headwater basins to continen...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2016-06-01
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Series: | Geoscientific Model Development |
Online Access: | http://www.geosci-model-dev.net/9/2223/2016/gmd-9-2223-2016.pdf |
Summary: | This paper describes the first version of a stand-alone runoff routing tool,
mizuRoute. The mizuRoute tool post-processes runoff outputs from any
distributed hydrologic model or land surface model to produce spatially
distributed streamflow at various spatial scales from headwater basins to
continental-wide river systems. The tool can utilize both traditional
grid-based river network and vector-based river network data. Both types of
river network include river segment lines and the associated drainage basin
polygons, but the vector-based river network can represent finer-scale river
lines than the grid-based network. Streamflow estimates at any desired
location in the river network can be easily extracted from the output of
mizuRoute. The routing process is simulated as two separate steps. First,
hillslope routing is performed with a gamma-distribution-based
unit-hydrograph to transport runoff from a hillslope to a catchment outlet.
The second step is river channel routing, which is performed with one of two
routing scheme options: (1) a kinematic wave tracking (KWT) routing
procedure; and (2) an impulse response function – unit-hydrograph (IRF-UH)
routing procedure. The mizuRoute tool also includes scripts (python, NetCDF
operators) to pre-process spatial river network data. This paper
demonstrates mizuRoute's capabilities to produce spatially distributed
streamflow simulations based on river networks from the United States
Geological Survey (USGS) Geospatial Fabric (GF) data set in which over 54 000
river segments and their contributing areas are mapped across the contiguous
United States (CONUS). A brief analysis of model parameter sensitivity is
also provided. The mizuRoute tool can assist model-based water resources
assessments including studies of the impacts of climate change on
streamflow. |
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ISSN: | 1991-959X 1991-9603 |