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NOAA's National Water Model: Advancing operational hydrology through continental-scale modeling

  • Brian Cosgrove
  • , David Gochis
  • , Trey Flowers
  • , Aubrey Dugger
  • , Fred Ogden
  • , Tom Graziano
  • , Ed Clark
  • , Ryan Cabell
  • , Nick Casiday
  • , Zhengtao Cui
  • , Kelley Eicher
  • , Greg Fall
  • , Xia Feng
  • , Katelyn Fitzgerald
  • , Nels Frazier
  • , Camaron George
  • , Rich Gibbs
  • , Liliana Hernandez
  • , Donald Johnson
  • , Ryan Jones
  • Logan Karsten, Henok Kefelegn, David Kitzmiller, Haksu Lee, Yuqiong Liu, Hassan Mashriqui, David Mattern, Alyssa McCluskey, James L. McCreight, Rachel McDaniel, Alemayehu Midekisa, Andy Newman, Linlin Pan, Cham Pham, Arezoo RafieeiNasab, Roy Rasmussen, Laura Read, Mehdi Rezaeianzadeh, Fernando Salas, Dina Sang, Kevin Sampson, Tim Schneider, Qi Shi, Gautam Sood, Andy Wood, Wanru Wu, David Yates, Wei Yu, Yongxin Zhang
    • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
    • Inc.
    • Office of Water Prediction
    • National Center for Atmospheric Research
    • Lynker Technologies
    • University of Minnesota Twin Cities
    • National Weather Service
    • Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology
    • Lynker Technologies
    • University Corporation For Atmospheric Res

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    128 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    The National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Water Prediction (OWP), in conjunction with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the NWS National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) implemented version 2.1 of the National Water Model (NWM) into operations in April of 2021. As with the initial version implemented in 2016, NWM v2.1 is an hourly cycling analysis and forecast system that provides streamflow guidance for millions of river reaches and other hydrologic information on high-resolution grids. The NWM provides complementary hydrologic guidance at current NWS river forecast locations and significantly expands guidance coverage and water budget information in underserved locations. It produces a full range of hydrologic fields, which can be leveraged by a broad cross section of stakeholders ranging from the emergency responder and water resource communities, to transportation, energy, recreation and agriculture interests, to other water-oriented applications in the government, academic and private sectors. Version 2.1 of the NWM represents the fifth major version upgrade and more than doubles simulation skill with respect to hourly streamflow correlation, Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency, and bias reduction, over its original inception in 2016. This paper will discuss the driving factors underpinning the creation of the NWM, provide a brief overview of the model configuration and performance, and discuss future efforts to improve NWM components and services.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)247-272
    Number of pages26
    JournalJournal of the American Water Resources Association
    Volume60
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Apr 2024

    Keywords

    • decision support systems
    • flooding
    • hydrologic cycle
    • hydrologic modeling
    • land surface modeling
    • operational modeling
    • rivers/streams
    • surface water hydrology

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