Create outputs for individual GRUs and Subbasins in MESH

[fuadyassin]

I have a question about extracting baseflow and discharge information for individual GRUs and sub-basins. In my current setup, I need to analyze the hydrological behavior of GRUs within specific sub-basins, particularly in terms of baseflow. The goal is to compare baseflow between GRUs within the same sub-basin and across different sub-basins to evaluate how baseflow and storage change.

I came across the CLASS outputs (e.g., CLASSOF1, CLASSOF2, etc.), which seem to be GRU-based. However, I don’t have access to these outputs. Could you confirm if the CLASS output is still available in MESH, and if so, where I can find it or how to enable it?

[fuadyassin]

OUTFILESFLAG can be used to configure outputs for both subbasin and GRU-based outputs in NetCDF format. You can check the details on this page: OUTFILESFLAG Documentation

Here is the list of variables supported with OUTFILESFLAG.

To help you with your analysis, you can filter outputs based on specific GRUs within sub-basins using this flag, and it can also enable baseflow, discharge, and other hydrological variables. Here’s a brief overview of how to set it up.

Activate OUTFILESFLAG by enabling the flag in MESH_input_run_options.ini

##### Control Flags #####
----#
    1 # Number of control flags
OUTFILESFLAG             on

Configure outputs_balance.txt

This file defines the variables to output (e.g., baseflow, discharge) and their formats (NetCDF, CSV, etc.). Each output field is listed a new line in the file.

Examples

For output for the full domain, you can set it up like this:

RFF nc D M

This will output runoff (RFF) in NetCDF format, both daily (D) and monthly (M).

To output accumulated runoff for the basin, you can set it up like this:

RFF nc D M basin_acc

This will output the accumulation of runoff by the drainage network.

For component of runoff coming from a specific GRU (e.g., GRU 1), you can filter the output like this:

DRAINSOL nc D M gru 1

This will give you the DRAINSOL amount contributing to each grid-cell or subbasin coming only from the specific GRU (e.g., GRU 1).

Important

Only variables calculated at the 'tile' level, such as the water contributing to lower zone storage from the vertical column (DRAINSOL) can be filtered by GRU. Variables that are only grid-based, such as discharge (QO) cannot be filtered by GRU.

To output values of specific tiles instead of filtering by GRU, using the tsk option may be a better choice. For example:

DRAINSOL nc D M tsk 10 25

This will output the time series for tiles 10 and 25, and it's more flexible than the CLASS output files since there’s no limitation on how many tiles you can request.

Important

As above, only variables calculated at the 'tile' level can be output using the tsk option. Similarly, grid-based variables could be output using the tsi option. GRU filtering can be used with the tsi option (grid-based) but not with the tsk option (tile-based).

Note

CLASS output files are specified by GRU and grid ID. The mapping of tile ID to GRU and grid ID can be printed to MESH_output_echo_print.txt by enabling DIAGNOSEMODE on in MESH_input_run_options.ini.