Output Variables

Using options within the global parameter file, any combination of the variables listed below may be output by VIC.

Water Balance Terms (state variables)

Variable Description Units
OUT_ASAT Saturated Area Fraction (of exposed land, i.e. non-lake; the total fraction of the grid cell that is completely full of water would be OUT_ASAT plus OUT_LAKE_AREA_FRAC) fraction
OUT_LAKE_AREA_FRACT Lake surface area as fraction of grid cell area fraction
OUT_LAKE_DEPTH Lake depth (distance between surface and deepest point) m
OUT_LAKE_ICE Moisture stored as lake ice mm over lake ice area
OUT_LAKE_ICE_FRACT Fractional coverage of lake ice fraction
OUT_LAKE_ICE_HEIGHT Thickness of lake ice cm
OUT_LAKE_MOIST Liquid water and ice stored in lake mm over grid cell
OUT_LAKE_SURF_AREA Lake surface area m2
OUT_LAKE_SWE Liquid water equivalent of snow on top of lake ice m over lake ice area
OUT_LAKE_SWE_V Volumetric liquid water equivalent of snow on top of lake ice m3
OUT_LAKE_VOLUME Lake volume m3
OUT_ROOTMOIST Total soil moisture in layers that contain roots. mm
OUT_SMFROZFRAC Fraction of soil moisture (by mass) that is ice, for each soil layer fraction
OUT_SMLIQFRAC Fraction of soil moisture (by mass) that is liquid, for each soil layer fraction
OUT_SNOW_CANOPY Snow interception storage in canopy mm
OUT_SNOW_COVER Fractional area of snow cover fraction
OUT_SNOW_DEPTH Depth of snow pack cm
OUT_SOIL_ICE Soil ice content for each soil layer mm
OUT_SOIL_LIQ Soil liquid content for each soil layer mm
OUT_SOIL_ICE_FRAC Fractional soil ice content for each soil layer fraction
OUT_SOIL_LIQ_FRAC Fractional soil liquid content for each soil layer fraction
OUT_SOIL_MOIST Total soil moisture content for each soil layer mm
OUT_SOIL_WET Vertical average of (soil moisture - wilting point)/(maximum soil moisture - wilting point) mm/mm
OUT_SURFSTOR Storage of liquid water and ice (not snow) on surface (ponding) mm
OUT_SURF_FROST_FRAC Fraction of soil surface that is frozen fraction
OUT_SWE Snow water equivalent in snow pack (including vegetation-intercepted snow) mm
OUT_WDEW Total moisture interception storage in canopy mm
OUT_ZWT Water table position, using lowest unsaturated soil layer cm (positive upwards, i.e. negative values indicate below soil surface; 0 = at soil surface)
OUT_ZWT_LUMPED Water table position, lumping all layers' moistures together cm (positive upwards, i.e. negative values indicate below soil surface; 0 = at soil surface)

Water Balance Terms (fluxes)

Variable Description Units
OUT_BASEFLOW Baseflow out of the bottom layer mm
OUT_DELINTERCEPT Change in canopy interception storage mm
OUT_DELSOILMOIST Change in soil water content mm
OUT_DELSURFSTOR Change in surface liquid water storage mm
OUT_DELSWE Change in snow water equivalent mm
OUT_EVAP Total net evaporation mm
OUT_EVAP_BARE Net evaporation from bare soil mm
OUT_EVAP_CANOP Net evaporation from canopy interception mm
OUT_INFLOW Moisture that reaches top of soil column mm
OUT_LAKE_BF_IN Incoming baseflow from lake catchment mm
OUT_LAKE_BF_IN_V Incoming volumetric baseflow from lake catchment m3
OUT_LAKE_BF_OUT Outgoing baseflow from lake to channel network mm
OUT_LAKE_BF_OUT_V Outgoing volumetric baseflow from lake to channel network m3
OUT_LAKE_CHANNEL_IN Channel inflow from upstream mm
OUT_LAKE_CHANNEL_IN_V Volumetric channel inflow from upstream m3
OUT_LAKE_CHANNEL_OUT Channel outflow from lake to channel network mm
OUT_LAKE_CHANNEL_OUT_V Volumetric channel outflow from lake to channel network m3
OUT_LAKE_DSTOR Change in lake moisture storage (liquid plus ice cover) mm
OUT_LAKE_DSTOR_V Volumetric change in lake moisture storage (liquid plus ice cover) m3
OUT_LAKE_DSWE Change in swe on top of lake ice mm
OUT_LAKE_DSWE_V Volumetric change in swe on top of lake ice m3
OUT_LAKE_EVAP Net evaporation from lake surface mm
OUT_LAKE_EVAP_V Net volumetric evaporation from lake surface m3
OUT_LAKE_PREC_V Volumetric precipitation over lake surface m3
OUT_LAKE_RCHRG Recharge from lake to surrounding wetland mm
OUT_LAKE_RCHRG_V Volumetric recharge from lake to surrounding wetland m3
OUT_LAKE_RO_IN Incoming runoff from lake catchment mm
OUT_LAKE_RO_IN_V Incoming volumetric runoff from lake catchment m3
OUT_LAKE_VAPFLX Outgoing sublimation from snow on top of lake ice mm
OUT_LAKE_VAPFLX_V Outgoing volumetric sublimation from snow on top of lake ice m3
OUT_PET Potential evapotranspiration (= area-weighted sum of potential transpiration and potential soil evaporation). Potential transpiration is computed using the Penman-Monteith eqn with architectural resistance and LAI of the current veg cover. mm
OUT_PREC Incoming precipitation mm
OUT_RAINF Rainfall mm
OUT_REFREEZE Refreezing of water in the snow mm
OUT_RUNOFF Surface runoff mm
OUT_SNOW_MELT Snow melt mm
OUT_SNOWF Snowfall mm
OUT_SUB_BLOWING Net sublimation of blowing snow mm
OUT_SUB_CANOP Net sublimation from snow stored in canopy mm
OUT_SUB_SNOW Total net sublimation from snow pack (surface and blowing) mm
OUT_SUB_SURFACE Net sublimation from snow pack surface mm
OUT_TRANSP_VEG Net transpiration from vegetation mm
OUT_WATER_ERROR Water budget error mm

Energy Balance Terms (state variables)

Variable Description Units
OUT_ALBEDO Average surface albedo fraction
OUT_BARESOILT Bare soil surface temperature C
OUT_FDEPTH Depth of freezing fronts for each freezing front cm
OUT_LAKE_ICE_TEMP Temperature of lake ice K
OUT_LAKE_SURF_TEMP Lake surface temperature K
OUT_RAD_TEMP Average radiative surface temperature K
OUT_SALBEDO Snow pack albedo fraction
OUT_SNOW_PACK_TEMP Snow pack temperature C
OUT_SNOW_SURF_TEMP Snow surface temperature C
OUT_SNOWT_FBFLAG Snow surface temperature fallback flag 0 or 1
OUT_SOIL_TEMP Soil temperature for each soil layer C
OUT_SOIL_TNODE Soil temperature for each soil thermal node C
OUT_SOIL_TNODE_WL Soil temperature for each soil thermal node in the wetland C
OUT_SOILT_FBFLAG Soil temperature flag for each soil thermal node 0 or 1
OUT_SURF_TEMP Average surface temperature C
OUT_SURFT_FBFLAG Surface temperature fallback flag 0 or 1
OUT_TCAN_FBFLAG Tcanopy fallback flag 0 or 1
OUT_TDEPTH Depth of thawing fronts for each thawing front cm
OUT_TFOL_FBFLAG Tfoliage fallback flag 0 or 1
OUT_VEGT Average vegetation canopy temperature C

Energy Balance Terms (fluxes)

Variable Description Units
OUT_ADV_SENS Net sensible flux advected to snow pack W/m2
OUT_ADVECTION Advected energy W/m2
OUT_DELTACC Rate of change in cold content in snow pack W/m2
OUT_DELTAH Rate of change in heat storage W/m2
OUT_ENERGY_ERROR Energy budget error W/m2
OUT_FUSION Net energy used to melt/freeze soil moisture W/m2
OUT_GRND_FLUX Net heat flux into ground W/m2
OUT_IN_LONG Incoming longwave at ground surface (under veg) W/m2
OUT_LATENT Net upward latent heat flux W/m2
OUT_LATENT_SUB Net upward latent heat flux from sublimation W/m2
OUT_MELT_ENERGY Energy of fusion (melting) in snowpack W/m2
OUT_LWNET Net downward longwave flux W/m2
OUT_SWNET Net downward shortwave flux W/m2
OUT_R_NET Net downward radiation flux W/m2
OUT_RFRZ_ENERGY Net energy used to refreeze liquid water in snowpack W/m2
OUT_SENSIBLE Net upward sensible heat flux W/m2
OUT_SNOW_FLUX Energy flux through snow pack W/m2

Miscellaneous Terms

OUT_AERO_COND Scene aerodynamic conductance (tiles with overstory contribute overstory conductance; others contribute surface conductance) m/s
OUT_AERO_COND "scene" aerodynamic conductance (tiles with overstory contribute overstory conductance; others contribute surface conductance) m/s
OUT_AERO_COND1 Surface aerodynamic conductance m/s
OUT_AERO_COND2 Overstory aerodynamic conductance m/s
OUT_AERO_RESIST Scenecanopy aerodynamic resistance (tiles with overstory contribute over story resistance; others contribute surface resistance) s/m
OUT_AERO_RESIST1 Surface aerodynamic resistance s/m
OUT_AERO_RESIST2 Overstory aerodynamic resistance s/m
OUT_AIR_TEMP Air temperature C
OUT_CATM atmospheric CO2 concentrtaion ppm
OUT_DENSITY Near-surface atmospheric density kg/m3
OUT_FCANOPY Vegetation canopy cover fraction fraction
OUT_FDIR fraction of incoming shortwave that is direct fraction
OUT_LAI Leaf Area Index fraction
OUT_LWDOWN Incoming longwave W/m2
OUT_PAR Incoming photosynthetically active radiation W/m2
OUT_PRESSURE Near surface atmospheric pressure kPa
OUT_QAIR Specific humidity kg/kg
OUT_REL_HUMID Relative humidity fraction
OUT_SWDOWN Incoming shortwave W/m2
OUT_SURF_COND Surface conductance m/s
OUT_VP Near surface vapor pressure kPa
OUT_VPD Near surface vapor pressure deficit kPa
OUT_WIND Near surface wind speed m/s

Band-specific quantities

Variable Description Units
OUT_ADV_SENS_BAND Net sensible heat flux advected to snow pack W/m2
OUT_ADVECTION_BAND Advected energy W/m2
OUT_ALBEDO_BAND Average surface albedo fraction
OUT_DELTACC_BAND Change in cold content in snow pack W/m2
OUT_GRND_FLUX_BAND Net heat flux into ground W/m2
OUT_IN_LONG_BAND Incoming longwave at ground surface (under veg) W/m2
OUT_LATENT_BAND Net upward latent heat flux W/m2
OUT_LATENT_SUB_BAND Net upward latent heat flux due to sublimation W/m2
OUT_MELT_ENERGY_BAND Energy of fusion (melting) in snowpack W/m2
OUT_LWNET_BAND Net downward longwave flux W/m2
OUT_SWNET_BAND Net downward shortwave flux W/m2
OUT_RFRZ_ENERGY_BAND Net energy used to refreeze liquid water in snowpack W/m2
OUT_SENSIBLE_BAND Net upward sensible heat flux W/m2
OUT_SNOW_CANOPY_BAND Snow interception storage in canopy mm
OUT_SNOW_COVER_BAND Fractional area of snow cover fraction
OUT_SNOW_DEPTH_BAND Depth of snow pack cm
OUT_SNOW_FLUX_BAND Energy flux through snow pack W/m2
OUT_SNOW_MELT_BAND Snow melt mm
OUT_SNOW_PACKT_BAND Snow pack temperature C
OUT_SNOW_SURFT_BAND Snow surface temperature C
OUT_SWE_BAND Snow water equivalent in snow pack mm

Carbon Cycle Terms

Variable Description Units
OUT_APAR absorbed PAR W/m2
OUT_GPP gross primary productivity g C/m2d
OUT_RAUT autotrophic respiration g C/m2d
OUT_NPP net primary productivity g C/m2d
OUT_LITTERFALL flux of carbon from living biomass into soil g C/m2d
OUT_RHET soil (heterotrophic) respiration g C/m2d
OUT_NEE net ecosystem exchange (=NPP-RHET) g C/m2d
OUT_CLITTER carbon density in litter pool g C/m2
OUT_CINTER carbon density in intermediate pool g C/m2
OUT_CSLOW carbon density in slow pool g C/m2

Profiling/Timing Terms

Variable Description Units
OUT_TIME_VICRUN_WALL Wall time spent inside vic_run seconds
OUT_TIME_VICRUN_CPU CPU time spent inside vic_run seconds