Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model
The benefits
In short- Solves equations
- Vegetation and elevation variability
- Evapotranspiration modeling
- Runoff routing
- Flexible configuration
VIC is a grid-based macro-scale hydrological model that solves both the surface energy and the water balance, representing sub-grid variability in vegetation and elevation for large-scale hydrological studies
The Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model (Liang et al., 1994) is a grid-based macro-scale hydrological model that solves both the surface energy balance and water balance equations. Each grid cell is partitioned into multiple land cover and elevation classes, with the soil column commonly divided into three soil layers. Evapotranspiration is calculated based on the Penman-Monteith equation (Monteith, 1965; Penman, 1948). Surface runoff in the upper soil layer is based on the variable infiltration curve (Zhao et al., 1980), and baseflow release from the lowest soil layer follows the non-linear Arno recession curve (Todini, 1996). Runoff and baseflow are routed along stream networks with an offline routing model using the unit hydrograph principle and linearized St. Venant’s equations (Lohmann et al., 1998). Within the Water Systems and Global Change group, VIC has been applied in global (Haddeland et al., 2014; van Vliet et al., 2013, 2016), European (Greuell et al., 2015), and seasonal forecasting studies (Greuell et al., 2016).
Figure: Concept of VIC macro-scale hydrological model (source: VIC-website University of Washington)
VIC is flexible in use of meteorological forcing variables, spatial resolution and temporal time steps and which the model can be applied. In the Water Systems and Global Change (WSG) group VIC has been widely used for change impact and scenario studies at global (e.g. Haddeland et al., 2014; van Vliet et al., 2013; van Vliet et al., 2016), European (e.g. Greuell et al., 2015) or large-river basin levels, as well as for seasonal forecasting work (e.g. Greuell et al., 2016). The WSG-group also previously contributed with VIC to global hydrological model intercomparison studies (Haddeland, 2011; Prudhomme et al., 2014) of WaterMIP and ISIMIP.
VIC model development is led by the Computational Hydrology group in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington. In collaboration with this group at University of Washington, the WSG-group of Wageningen University contributes to the development of VIC5.1.
At present, the hydrological output data of VIC is directly used into the RBM stream temperature model, salinity and oxygen models and GloWPa water quality models. Current efforts at the Water Systems and Global Change group focus on using this data for other large-scale water quality models as well.
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Selection of main publications
- Evaluation of five hydrological models across Europe and their suitability for making projections under climate change
Greuell, J.W. , Andersson, J. , Donnelly, C. , Feyen, L. , Gerten, D. , Ludwig, F. , Pisacane, G. , Roudier, P. , Schaphoff, S. (2015) European Geosciences Union (Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions ) - p. 10289-10330. - Multimodel estimate of the global terrestrial water balance: Setup and first results
Haddeland, I. , Clark, D. , Franssen, W.H.P. , Ludwig, F. , Voss, F. , Arnell, N.W. , Bertrand, N. , Best, M. , Folwell, S. , Gerten, D. , Gomes, S. , Gosling, S. , Hagemann, S. , Hanasaki, N. , Harding, R. , Heinke, J. , Kabat, P. , Koirala, S. , Oki, T. , Polcher, J. , Stacke, T. , Viterbo, P. , Weedon, G.P. , Yeh, P. (2011) Journal of Hydrometeorology (2011), Volume: 12, Issue: 5 - ISSN 1525-755X - p. 869-884. - Global water resources affected by human interventionss and climate change
Haddeland, I. , Heinke, J. , Biemans, H. , Eisner, S. , Florke, M.F. , Hanasaki, N. , Konzmann, M. , Ludwig, F. (2014) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2014), Volume: 111, Issue: 9 - ISSN 0027-8424 - p. 3251-3256. - Hydrological droughts in the 21st century, hotspots and uncertainties from a global multimodel ensemble experiment
Prudhomme, C. , Giuntoli, L. , Robinson, E.L. , Clark, D.B. , Arnell, N.W. , Dankers, R. , Fekete, B.M. , Franssen, W.H.P. (2014) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2014), Volume: 111, Issue: 9 - ISSN 0027-8424 - p. 3262-3267. - Multi-model assessment of global hydropower and cooling water discharge potential under climate change
van Vliet, M.T.H. , van Beek, L.P.H. , Eisner, S. , Flörke, M. , Wada, Y. , Bierkens, M.F.P. (2016) Global environmental change : human and policy dimensions (2016), Volume: 40 - ISSN 0959-3780 - p. 156-170.
