Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) Model Version 4.2.b

The Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) macroscale hydrological model (MHM) has been developed over the last two decades at the University of Washington and Princeton University in collaboration with a large number of other researchers around the globe. A skeletal first version of the VIC model was introduced to the community by Wood et al. [1992] and a greatly expanded version, from which current variations evolved, is described by Liang et al. [1994]. As compared to other MHMs, VIC’s distinguishing hydrological features are its representation of subgrid variability in soil storage capacity as a spatial probability distribution to which surface runoff is related, and its parameterization of base flow, which occurs from a lower soil moisture zone as a nonlinear recession. Movement of moisture between the soil layers is modeled as gravity drainage, with the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity a function of the degree of saturation of the soil. Spatial variability in soil properties, at scales smaller than the grid scale, is represented statistically, without assigning infiltration parameters to specific subgrid locations. Over time, many additional features and representations of physical processes have been added to the model. VIC has been used in a large number of regional and continental scale (even global) hydrological studies. A selection of VIC applications by the University of Washington Land Surface Hydrology Group can be found on the VIC references page and the publications page.