VIC-WUR

VIC-WUR: Wageningen’s Hydrological Modelling Framework 

Introduction 

At the Water Systems and Global Change group of Wageningen University & Research (WUR), we use our own version of the Variable Infiltration Capacity model: VIC-WUR. We aim to better understand interactions between the land surface, water systems, and atmospheric processes. This VIC-WUR modelling framework supports research on global water resources, climate change impacts, drought risk, and sustainable agricultural production, contributing to better science and decision-making on water and food security. 

VIC-WUR combines high-resolution hydrology with representations of human and agricultural water use, enabling research on scenarios under both natural and human-impacted conditions. Beyond research, VIC-WUR also plays an important role in our education. In our courses and Thesis work we teach MSc students to work with large datasets, supercomputing environments, and programming tools. 

Background 

The VIC-WUR modelling framework is based on the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model (Liang et al., 1994; Hamman et al.,2018), a grid-based macro-scale hydrological model that solves both the surface energy balance and water balance equations. VIC can be used at various spatial and temporal resolutions, making it useful for a wide range of applications from local to global scale.  

Our VIC-WUR development team contributes to the ongoing development of VIC5.1 led by the VIC development team of the Computational Hydrology group at the University of Washington. Currently, we focus on integrating new modules that explicitly represent human impacts on water resources in current and future climates. 

VIC-WUR core development 

WUR has developed several additional modules for VIC, including: 

• Integrated river routing 

• Dam and Reservoir operations 

• Anthropogenic water use  

• Environmental flow requirements  

Additionally, VIC-WUR can be dynamically coupled, at various spatial scales, to: 

• A crop growth and production model, WOFOST  

• A groundwater flow model, based on MODFLOW6 

The combination of these couplings has resulted in four distinct frameworks: 

• VIC-WUR 

• VIC-WUR WOFOST 

• VIC-WUR MODFLOW 

• VIC-WUR MODFLOW WOFOST (in development) 

VIC-WUR 

The core VIC-WUR framework incorporates any or all of the above modules and is used to study atmosphere–land surface–water interactions under both natural and human-impacted conditions at seasonal to multi-decadal timescales. 

Within the Watar Systems and Global Change group, VIC-WUR has been widely applied in global change impact and scenario studies (Haddeland et al., 2014; van Vliet et al., 2013; van Vliet et al., 2016), and contributes to international model intercomparison projects such as WaterMIP and ISIMIP (Haddeland, 2011; Prudhomme et al., 2014). 

VIC-WUR is also part of hydrological model ensembles for the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), where it produces key datasets such as: 

• Hydrology-related climate impact indicators based on EURO-CORDEX projections 

• A 7-month operational seasonal forecast system using SEAS5 meteorological forcing, including skill assessments 

These forecast ensembles provide skillful predictions of river discharge anomalies up to three to four months ahead, offering insights into the likelihood of below-normal, normal, or above-normal flow conditions. Studies have shown that the initial soil moisture conditions are the dominant source of forecast skill year-round, with snow conditions playing a major role in spring and early summer (Greuell et al., 2018; 2019).

VIC-WUR WOFOST 

Coupling VIC-WUR with the C version of the WOFOST (WOFOST-C) crop model creates the VIC-WUR WOFOST framework. This model simulates the biophysical processes governing water availability and crop growth under varying water and nutrient limitations, across spatial scales from global to regional (Droppers et al., 2021). 

Applications include assessing climate change mitigation scenarios and agricultural adaptation strategies, helping to quantify sustainable irrigation practices and crop productivity (Droppers et al., 2022). Ongoing research extends this work to evaluate water–food–climate interactions in emerging economies. 

VIC-WUR MODFLOW 

Current research focuses on the two-way coupling of VIC-WUR with MODFLOW6-based groundwater models, aiming to improve understanding of groundwater–surface water interactions and the trade-offs between groundwater pumping, crop production, and environmental sustainability. 

This development, largely supported by the ERC Starting Grant project GROW, enables VIC-WUR to simulate groundwater dynamics at global, continental, and basin scales and in combination with crop models like WOFOST-C. 

Current Activities 

Ongoing efforts at WUR include: 

• Further improving two-way VIC–MODFLOW coupling (GROW project) 

• Using VIC-WUR hydrological outputs to drive water quality models (e.g. MARINA, GloWPa) 

• Expanding the multi-model seasonal forecast ensembles within C3S 

• Developing more efficient code and couplings (e.g. a Julia-based version) 

• Enhancing model calibration through multiscale parameter regionalization (MPR) 

For more information, please contact the VIC-WUR team 

Inge de Graaf (inge.degraaf@wur.nl) (PI modelling team)

Lisanne Nauta (lisanne.nauta@wur.nl) (programmer) (developer VIC-WUR)

Karun Datadien (karun.datadien@wur.nl) (programmer, software engineer, developer VIC-WUR WOFOST-C and VIC-WUR Julia) 

Sida Liu (sida.liu@wur.nl) (hydrologist, programmer, developer VIC-WUR MODFLOW)

References 

Liang, X., Lettenmaier, D. P., Wood, E. F., & Burges, S. J. (1994). A simple hydrologically based model of land surface water and energy fluxes for general circulation models. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 99(D7), 14415-14428. https://doi.org/10.1029/94jd00483  

Hamman, J. J., Nijssen, B., Bohn, T. J., Gergel, D. R., & Mao, Y. (2018). The Variable Infiltration Capacity model version 5 (VIC-5): infrastructure improvements for new applications and reproducibility. Geosci. Model Dev., 11(8), 3481-3496. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3481-2018  

Droppers, B., Franssen, W. H. P., van Vliet, M. T. H., Nijssen, B., & Ludwig, F. (2019). Simulating human impacts on global water resources using VIC-5. Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., 2019, 1-40. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2019-251  

Cherkauer, K. A., & Lettenmaier, D. P. (1999). Hydrologic effects of frozen soils in the upper Mississippi River basin. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 104(D16), 19599-19610. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD900337  

Bohn, T. J., & Vivoni, E. R. (2016). Process-based characterization of evapotranspiration sources over the North American monsoon region. Water Resources Research, 52(1), 358-384. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR017934  

Nijssen, B., O'Donnell, G. M., Lettenmaier, D. P., Lohmann, D., & Wood, E. F. (2001). Predicting the Discharge of Global Rivers. Journal of Climate, 14(15), 3307-3323. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2001)014<3307:Ptdogr>2.0.Co;2  

Andreadis, K. M., Storck, P., & Lettenmaier, D. P. (2009). Modeling snow accumulation and ablation processes in forested environments. Water Resources Research, 45(5). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR007042  

Bowling, L. C., Pomeroy, J. W., & Lettenmaier, D. P. (2004). Parameterization of Blowing-Snow Sublimation in a Macroscale Hydrology Model. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 5(5), 745-762. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1175/1525-7541(2004)005<0745:POBSIA>2.0.CO;2