Current Model Versions
Contents:
Current Version of VIC Model
Current Version: 4.1.1
The current version of VIC is 4.1.1. Here we provide a brief description of the features of 4.1.1 and differences between 4.1.1 and previous versions.
Contents:
- Summary of New Features
- Known Issues in Current Release
- How to Obtain the Code
- Detailed Differences with Releases 4.1.0 and 4.0.6
- Backwards-Compatibility with Releases 4.1.0 and 4.0.6
- Earlier Versions
- How to Check Which Version You're Running
Summary of new features
VIC release 4.1.1 is the successor to both VIC 4.1.0 and VIC 4.0.6, which contained mutually-exclusive features. Aside from the new optional features, VIC 4.1.1 will produce slightly different results from either 4.1.0 or 4.0.6. In particular, 4.1.1 will have somewhat different canopy snow storage and fluxes, due to differences in canopy temperature, aerodynamic resistance and LAI_WATER_FACTOR (which can be controlled in user_def.h); and slightly different soil T profiles due to differences in ground heat flux calculations and in the interpolation of temperature between soil thermal nodes.
Features new since 4.1.0:
- Correctly-functioning 24-hour water balance mode
- COMPUTE_TREELINE option (ported from 4.0.6)
- 6 kinds of potential evapotranspiration
- Improved lake/wetland model (lake parameters have changed)
- Option to use previous time step's temperature when energy balance iteration fails to converge
- O-area snow/elevation bands are no longer omitted from state files
- Internally-computed air pressure now is lapsed from sea level to grid cell average elevation
- LAI_WATER_FACTOR default value changed from 0.1 (4.1.0 value) to 0.2 (4.0.6 value)
- Default reporting of albedo and aerodynamic resistance is now "scene" value, i.e. overstory values are used when present
- The average of the snow/elevation band elevations overrides the grid-cell-average elevation supplied in the soil param file
- Fix for aerodynamic resistance in snow-filled canopy
- Fix for neglect of attenuation of radiation through canopy in computing ground surface DeltaH and Fusion
- Fix for incorrect interpolation between soil temperature nodes
- Fix for incorrect snow albedo aging
- Options for backwards-compatibility with 4.1.0 and 4.0.6
Features shared with 4.1.0, new since 4.0.6:
- Canopy temperature no longer assumed to equal air temperature; temperature of canopy snow found by iterating to close the canopy energy balance.
- Optional iteration between the canopy energy solution and the surface energy solution. This behavior is controlled by the CLOSE_ENERGY parameter.
- Parameterization of spatial variability of snow cover and frozen soil
- Simulation of effects of snowmelt for partial snow cover
- Modeling of lakes and wetlands
- Modeling of blowing snow sublimation
- Modeling of permafrost
- OUT_LONGWAVE output variable now always contains net longwave
Known Issues in Current Release
For a list of known issues and their fixes, visit the Ongoing Development page.
How to Obtain the Code
VIC 4.1.1 is now available on the download page.
Differences between 4.1.1 and previous versions (4.1.0 and 4.0.6)
For more information about VIC 4.1.1 features and the differences VIC 4.1.1 has with earlier versions, click here.
Backwards-compatibility
By default, VIC 4.1.1 will produce results that differ somewhat from the results of previous versions. However, we have included some options in the global parameter file to allow you to reproduce the results of previous versions. For information about these backwards-compatibility options, click here.
Earlier Versions
For information on archival versions of VIC, click here.
Version Check
To check which release of VIC you are running:
- Type "vicNl -v"
Current Version of Routing Model
Current Version: 1.0
This is the routing model of Lohmann, et al. (1996), as implemented at UW, as of 2001.
How to Obtain the Code
For information on obtaining the routing model source code, click here.
VIC Administrator Last modified: Tue Sep 1 13:07:26 PDT 2009