patch vs column level 365 day running precip

[nick]

Hi, I want to calculate and use 365 day running total precip. I can see in atm2lndType.F90 that this is already getting recorded at the column level (for a fire module it seems). If I'm needing this information for calculations for each PFT, do I need a new variable to record precip at the patch level? Or since all PFT's in a grid cell would experience the same rainfall would I just somehow assign the column value already being recorded in the above variable to all patches?

Thanks.

 

[oleson]

It looks like PREC365 (column level) is only used for cndv, which is deprecated. It seems like you could change this to patch-level, following the example of one of the other accumulated precip variables (PREC10, PREC60, etc.), which are patch-level.

 

[nick]

Thanks Keith, I was thinking of something like that. Is there any benefit to storing/calculating precip at the grid cell level? Or is it only correct to do this at the patch level? (or not much difference either way?)

 

[oleson]

One thing to be aware of is that the grid-scale precipitation coming from the atmosphere is downscaled to the column-level (see clm/src/main/atm2lndMod.F90). The column-level precipitation is what is used in most of the code (e.g., clm/src/biogeophys/CanopyHydrologyMod.F90).

 

[nick]

Thanks I didn't know that. I'll use column or patch level then.