supplemental precipitation file

[Dani]

Dear all,

I'm trying to create supplemental precipitation files for my forcing. However, I am unsure if it's possible to use a gridded higher resolution satellite-based precipitation data to be regridded in the format specified for the supplemental precipitation files.

From what I understood, it is possible to use higher time-resolution forcing data for precipitation. Of which will be regridded via the sample MRMS regridding script into netCDF files containing the single gridded field for precipitation with the appropriate variable description and units. and with the forcing type that I've selected, the model would look for these supplemental files based on the user-specified FORCING_TIMESTEP that I will set, which in this case would be hourly given the satellite-based precipitation data that I plan to use.

Thank you!

[Katelyn]

Hi Dani - 

You can absolutely use higher spatial resolution forcing data, but (regardless of the source resolution of the source data) it needs to be regridded to the WRF-Hydro land surface model grid as defined in the geogrid file.  To do this you'll need to adapt one of the sets of NCL scripts we provide in order for it to work with your dataset of choice or create your own regridding tools.  You might also want to use a conservative regridding method for upscaling your precipitation data.  

The group that supports NCL has some useful documentation regarding their implementation of the ESMF regridding utilities here: https://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Applications/ESMF.shtml

Hope this helps!

- Katelyn

[Dani]

Hi Katelyn,

Thank you for the clarifications and added information regarding the NCL scripts. I did try some of the scripts provided in the website, especially the MRMS script for modifications, but unfortunately I had some difficulty understanding the NCL script so I was unable to modify it to fit with my input precipitation. It's a lot different than the language that I'm used to, specifically the functions involved.

I'll be sure to read on the NCL documentations with regards to the ESMF regridding utilities.

Once again, Thank you!

- Dani

[Katelyn]

No problem.  

If you're more familiar with Python, you might also take a look at ESMPy and / or xESMF.

Folks might have suggestions for other utilities / packages as well (feel free to chime in!).  There are a number of regridding tools out there.