Evaluating the Impact of Soil Texture Parameter Estimation on National Water Water Model Soil Moisture Simulations

The a priori soil moisture parameter choices used in hydrological models depend on the accuracy of soil survey databases. Currently the NOAA National Weather Service Office of Water Prediction National Water Model (NOAA/NWS/OWP/NWM) utilizes the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) database. The finer spatial resolution Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database is not complete for all counties in the CONUS. We will evaluate soil moisture simulations carried out using the NWM with both STATGO and SSURGO derived a priori soil parameters during Atmospheric River precipitation events observed over Northern California with soil moisture observations from the NOAA Physical Sciences Division (PSD) Russian River Basin soil moisture network.