Proxy SWOT Discharge Estimates derived from WRF-Hydro in Alaska for Parameter Estimation

Data accompanying publication.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Title of Dataset: Proxy SWOT Discharge Estimates derived from WRF-Hydro in Alaska for Parameter Estimation

2. Author Information:
   A. Nicholas Elmer
      Universities Space Research Association
      Huntsville, Alabama, USA
      nicholas.j.elmer@nasa.gov

   B. James McCreight
      National Center for Atmospheric Research
      Boulder, Colorado, USA

   C. Christopher Hain
      Earth Science Office
      NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
      Huntsville, Alabama, USA

3. Date of data collection:
   Susitna sub-basins: 2012-03-02 to 2012-09-15
   Tanana sub-basins: 2014-03-02 to 2014-11-02

4. Geographic location of data collection: Southcentral Alaska (USA)
   West longitude: 153.3 W
   East longitude: 142.0 W
   South latitude:  61.2 N
   North latitude:  65.3 N

5. Funding source: 
   Data collection was supported by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Postdoctoral Program 
   at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center administered by Universities Space Research Association.   

DATA & FILE OVERVIEW

1. File List:
   basins_SWOTcalib_wgs84* (.shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj)
   susitna_enset.nc
   susitna_truth.nc
   tanana_enset.nc
   tanana_truth.nc

2. Relationship between files:
   This dataset contains:
   1) Georeferenced (WGS 1984) polygon shapefiles of Alaskan sub-basins for which data is available.
   2) Truth streamflow derived from a calibrated, high-resolution WRF-Hydro simulation. Proxy SWOT discharge
      estimates were obtained from these files by:
       i) temporally sampling using the Aviso+ projected SWOT orbit 
          (https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/missions/future-missions/swot/orbit.html), then
       ii) applying Monte Carlo methods described in Elmer et al. (2021).
   3) Simulated streamflow obtained from various parameter sets using a lower-resolution WRF-Hydro simulation.

METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION.

1. Description of methods for collection:
   Model output was obtained from an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) using WRF-Hydro. A
   complete description of this OSSE is contained in Elmer et al. (2021)

2. Methods for processing the data:
   Model output was processed and organized into NetCDF files using the Python. These files form the basis of
   analysis in Elmer et al. (2021). Proxy SWOT data were calculated from tanana_truth.nc and susitna_truth.nc
   using the methods as described in Elmer et al. (2021).
   

DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION:

I. basins_SWOTcalib_wgs84.shp:

  1. Shapefile coordinate system: WGS 1984
  2. Number of Shapefiles: 1
  3. Number of Polygons per Shapefile: 10
  4. Number of Attributes per polygon: 1
  5. Attribute list:
     A. basin_id: sub-basin letter corresponding to Figure 2 (Elmer et al. 2021) 

II. tanana_truth.nc and susitna_truth.nc
  1. description:
       Files containing the "truth" streamflow for each basin obtained from a WRF-Hydro simulation
       calibrated against in situ gauges. 
  2. dimensions:
       time: hours since simulation start
       feature_id: WRF-Hydro channel reach unique identifier
  3. variables:
       streamflow [ <time> x <feature_id> ] : truth streamflow [m^3 s^-1]
       order [ <feature_id> ] : Strahler stream order
       longitude [ <feature_id> ] : longitude of channel reach [decimal degrees]
       latitude [ <feature_id> ] : latitude of channel reach [decimal degrees]

III. tanana_enset.nc and susitna_enset.nc
  1. description:
       Files containing simulated streamflow for each parameter set.
  2. dimensions:
       time: hours since simulation start
       feature_id: WRF-Hydro channel reach unique identifier
       member: parameter set number
  3. variables:
       streamflow [ <time> x <member> x <feature_id> ] : simulated streamflow [m^3 s^-1]
       order [ <feature_id> ] : Strahler stream order
       longitude [ <feature_id> ] : longitude of channel reach [decimal degrees]
       latitude [ <feature_id> ] : latitude of channel reach [decimal degrees]