WRF-Hydro® Community Spotlight | Dr. Giuseppe Mascaro

Assistant Professor Dr. Giuseppe Mascaro from Arizona State University is  currently using WRF-Hydro along with Abdinur Hussein, a Master’s student in his research group, within a project funded by the Salt River Project, the largest water and energy utility company in Arizona. The project has the goal of calibrating the model in the Salt River basin, which is the primary source of water for the Phoenix metropolitan area. The calibrated parameters will be eventually incorporated in the National Water Model to support operational management of water resources.

Given the large size of the Salt River basin (approximately 35,000 km2), they have started their calibration effort in an unregulated sub-catchment, the Oak Creek basin (920 km2), located in a mountainous region. After identifying the optimal parameters controlling baseflow and runoff generation due to rainfall events, they are now improving the model performance during the snow melting season. In particular, they are currently developing strategies to bias correct precipitation inputs accounting for orographic effects suggested by the analysis of ground observations. In addition to this on-going project, they plan to use long-term simulations of WRF-Hydro to investigate scaling properties of hydrologic variables. For inquiries regarding Giuseppe's research activities contact gmascaro@asu.edu. 

*To nominate a person or a project to be showcased on the WRF-Hydro Community Spotlight please email mollymca@ucar.edu.*