Research Highlight - Valeriy Ivanov

Tracking the Path of Water through High Performance Numerical Models

Prof. Ivanov and hydrology group simulate water and energy fluxes of large-scale basins

Understanding where and how runoff is generated in heterogeneous landscape is vital for flood-forecasting and land use planning.

Prof. Ivanov and his group are studying land-surface hydrology at the catchment scale. They are employing the physically-based spatially distributed TIN-based Real-Time Integrated Basin Simulator, tRIBS. The model stresses the role of topography on coupled heat-moisture dynamics within a watershed, resulting in a complex system of spatial interactions.

The employed multiple resolution approach makes the modeling system amenable to larger-scale applications such as flood-forecasting, studying implications of land-use change and land-atmosphere interactions.

This study was funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service, the Army Research Office, and the CNR (Italy)-MIT Cooperative Agreement.

This figure illustrates data sources and reproduced dynamic response of the Baron Fork basin (~800 km2) in Oklahoma.