smc in HYDRO_RST files

[zed li]

In the HYDRO_RST file, the soil moisture content variables such as smc1 and smc2 have grid values of 1.0, while in the RESTART file, the corresponding grid values are -999999994495727300000000000000000.0. What does this mean? Is this an error? Do I need to handle this phenomenon?

[aubrey]

Hi Zed:

I assume these cells are water cells? I believe the Noah-MP restart file will report null values for soil moisture (and many other variables) for water cells. Since these are ignored by the model, it should not have any impact on your simulations.

Thanks!

Aubrey