Sponsor
This research was supported by a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction program (NNH19ZDA001N-MAP). Computing was supported by the resources at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation. We sincerely thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive and valuable feedback.
Published In
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2025
Subjects
Hydrologic models -- land surfaces
Abstract
Understanding the interactions between the atmosphere, the land, and the subsurface is fundamental to hydrology and is critical for a better assessment of the impacts of climate change and human management on hydrological systems. However, many land surface models simplify the subsurface hydrology and thereby these interactions. In this study, we couple the land surface model Noah‐MP included in the NASA Land Information System (LIS) with the integrated hydrologic model ParFlow (ParFlow‐LIS) using the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) and the National United Operational Prediction Capability (NUOPC). This coupling improves the simulation of water and energy cycle processes by adding the three‐dimensional variably saturated and heterogeneous flow in the subsurface using sophisticated and nonlinear physics‐based equations as well as the advances in satellite remote sensing‐based data assimilation of the land surface, thereby benefiting the integrated hydrologic modeling and data assimilation community. We use the High Plains aquifer, located in the central United States, as a testbed to evaluate the coupled ParFlow‐LIS system. The new ParFlow‐LIS system accounts for the effects of topographically driven flows on the land surface, producing more fine‐scale patterns of land surface states and fluxes than standalone LIS. In addition, ParFlow‐LIS enables the consideration of the effect of subsurface water storage on evapotranspiration. This is particularly important in areas and times with dry soils, such as during drought conditions or in the presence of a cone of depression due to pumping.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2025 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1029/2024MS004415
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43491
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation Details
Maina, F. Z., Rosen, D., Abbaszadeh, P., Yang, C., Kumar, S. V., Rodell, M., & Maxwell, R. (2025). Integrating the Interconnections Between Groundwater and Land Surface Processes Through the Coupled NASA Land Information System and ParFlow Environment. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 17(2). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024ms004415