Earth System Models (ESMs) are essential tools for simulating global water and energy cycles and supporting water resource assessments. However, the accuracy of their hydrologic simulations is often limited by parametric uncertainties and process simplifications. In this presentation, I will present my research efforts to enhance the representation of hydrologic and hydrodynamic processes in a fully coupled ESM. Those include a differentiable river component to enable efficient spatial optimization and representation of pluvial inundation process to capture surface water dynamics. However, its coarse resolution (e.g., 50 km – 100 km) further limits their ability to simulate flooding dynamics at the scale relevant to human activities and infrastructure. To address this challenge, I contributed to the development of a new river dynamics core (RDycore) that solves two-dimensional shallow water equations, enabling efficient high-fidelity hydrodynamic simulations (e.g., 30m) at large scales. I will demonstrate this new capability using a case study of compound flooding driven by Hurricane Irene. By coupling with a regionally refined atmospheric model, a two-dimensional barotropic ocean model, and a high-resolution land surface model within an ESM, the multi-scale modeling framework captures unprecedented details of compound flooding processes in complex coastal urban environments.

*Refreshments: 12-12:30 PM, ES&T Atrium