Evaluate the significance of different spatial resolution rainfall forecast on the streamflow estimation with GSSHA

The hypothesis is that the high spatial resolution precipitation forecasts provide better estimations of precipitation with respect to the observation data in areas of complex terrain. West-WRF is an ongoing effort at the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) to develop a regional weather prediction system tailored to western U.S. weather and hydrological extremes, including heavy rainfall and extended dry periods. In this study, we would like to quantify the potential improvement in precipitation, streamflow, and soil moisture estimation using West-WRF precipitation forecasts with 9km, 3km, 1km spatial resolution. GSSHA hydrologic model is employed to examine West-WRF precipitation forecast with different spatial resolution. GSSHA is a physically-based gridded surface subsurface hydrologic model with distributed-parameter that simulates the hydrologic response of a watershed subject to given forcing data. The study area is the Russian River watershed in north California, and the analysis is conducted on the several major events during last three winter year (2016-2018) near real time West-WRF precipitation forecast.