Hydrological modeling of continental-scale basins

Recent increased interest in the role of the land surface in weather and climate, including impacts due to climate change, has resulted in land surface hydrologic models that incorporate processes which describe the exchange of water and energy at the Earth's surface. The development of a grid-based hydrological model with a full soil-vegetation-atmospheric-transfer (SVAT) land surface parameterization is summarized. The model is suitable both for simulating continental-scale river basins at high temporal and spatial resolutions and as the land surface parameterization in atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). Results for the Missouri River basin show the model can successfully simulate hydrological fluxes (e.g. streamflows and evaporation) for large catchments.