Variables

The list of available variable attributes organized by type of variable.

Atmospheric

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
north_windspeed	Meridional windspeed	hourly, daily	m/s	mean	CW3E, NLDAS2, NLDAS2_85
air_temp	Air temperature	daily, hourly, monthly, annual_clim, monthly_clim	K, c	mean, min, max	CW3E, NLDAS2, snotel, noaa, scan, ameriflux, NLDAS2_85
downward_shortwave	Downward shortwave radiation	hourly, daily	w/m2	mean	CW3E, NLDAS2, ameriflux, NLDAS2_85
downward_longwave	Downward longwave radiation	hourly, daily	w/m2	mean	CW3E, ameriflux, NLDAS2, NLDAS2_85
specific_humidity	Specific humidity	hourly, daily	kg/kg	mean	CW3E, NLDAS2, NLDAS2_85
east_windspeed	Zonal windspeed	hourly, daily	m/s	mean	CW3E, NLDAS2, NLDAS2_85
precipitation	Precipitation	daily, hourly, monthly, annual_clim, monthly_clim	mm	sum, sum_snow_adjusted, accumulated	snotel, scan, noaa, CW3E, NLDAS2, NLDAS2_85
atmospheric_pressure	Atmospheric pressure	daily, hourly	pa	mean	CW3E, NLDAS2, NLDAS2_85
vapor_pressure_deficit	Vapor pressure deficit	hourly	hpa	mean	ameriflux
wind_speed	Wind speed	hourly	m/s	mean	ameriflux

Climate

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
aridity_index	Aridity index precipitation/ (precipitaiton -evaporaiton)	static	static		conus1_domain
pme	Recharge forcing used for parflow spinups	static	m/h		conus2_domain, conus1_domain

Hydrogeology

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
mean_sand	Mean sand content in soil	static	g/kg		poggio_2021
mean_clay	Mean clay content in soil	static	g/kg		poggio_2021
pf_indicator	Indicator file for subsufrace units in parflow	static	static		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
van_genuchten_alpha	Alpha parameter for van genucten curve	static	static		conus1_domain
porosity	Porosity	static	static		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
permeability	Permeability	static	m/h		conus1_domain
van_genuchten_n	N parameter for van genuchten curve	static	static		conus1_domain
ln_k	Natural log of hydraulic conductivity (lnk), where k is the average over the ten subsurface layers of parflow	static	m/h		conus2_domain
pf_flowbarrier	File defining the depth to flow barier	static	static		conus2_domain
vg_n	N parameter for the van genuchten curves related to the pore-size distribution	static	static		conus2_domain
vg_alpha	Alpha parameter for the van genuchten curves related to the air entry suction	static	1/m		conus2_domain
specific_storage	Compressible storage of the porous media	static	1/m		conus2_domain
sres	Lower limit of water saturation for the van genuchten curves (often varies by soil type)	static	static		conus2_domain
ssat	Upper limit of water saturation for the van genuchten curves (usually set to 1)	static	static		conus2_domain
top_patch	Index numbers for different land surface boundaries applied to the top surface of a parflow model (for the conus2 domain: -1=cells outside the active domain, 2=regular land cells on the top boundary where we apply overlandkinematic boundary condition, 3=lake cells where we apply seepage face boundary condition, 4=sinks where we apply seepage face boundary condition)	static	static		conus2_domain
permeability_x	Permeability in the x direction	static	m/h		conus2_domain
permeability_y	Permeability in the y direction	static	m/h		conus2_domain
permeability_z	Permeability in the z direction	static	m/h		conus2_domain

Land Surface

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
latent_heat	Latent heat flux from canopy height to atmosphere	hourly	w/m2	sum	ameriflux, conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
outward_longwave_radiation	Outgoing long-wave radiation from ground+canopy	hourly	w/m2		conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
sensible_heat	Sensible heat from canopy height to atmosphere	hourly	w/m2	sum	ameriflux, conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
ground_heat	Ground heat flux	hourly	w/m2		conus1_baseline_mod, conus1_baseline_85
evapotranspiration	Evapotranspiration	hourly, daily	mm/s, mm/d	sum	conus1_baseline_mod, conus1_baseline_85
ground_evap	Ground surface evaporation rate	hourly	mm/s		conus1_baseline_mod, conus1_baseline_85
ground_evap_heat	Evaporation heat flux from ground	hourly	mm/s		conus1_baseline_mod, conus1_baseline_85
transpiration_leaves	Evaporation+transpiration from leaves	hourly	mm/s		conus1_baseline_mod, conus1_baseline_85
transpiration	Transpiration rate	hourly	mm/s		conus1_baseline_mod, conus1_baseline_85
veg_type_IGBP	Vegetation type using igbp classifications	static	static		conus2_domain, conus1_domain
streamflow_anomaly	Streamflow percentile rank	weekly, monthly, daily	static	mean	usgs_nwis

Location

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
latitude	Map grid points to latitude	static	degrees_north		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
longitude	Map grid points to longitude	static	degrees_east		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
lat_lon	Latitude/longitude in z dimension	static	static		conus2_domain

Run File

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
clm_run	No description	static	static		conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod, conus2_domain
parflow_run	Run scripts and other model configuration files	static	static		conus1_baseline_mod, conus1_baseline_85
pf_solid	File to define a domain shape for parflow	static	static		conus2_domain

Stream Network

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
distance_stream_horizontal	Shortest horizontal distance to streams	static	m		belitz_2019
distance_stream_vertical	Shortest vertical distance to streams	static	m		belitz_2019
stream_order	Strahler stream order	static	static		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
flow_direction	D4 flow direcitons with the following numbering: 1=down, 2=left, 3=up, 4=right	static	static		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
flow_direction_grass	D4 flow directions with grass numbering (2=up, 4=left, 6=down, 8=right)	static	static		conus1_domain
stream_segments	Stream segment id numbers (0 values outside of stream)	static	static		conus2_domain, conus1_domain
distance_stream_lin	Shortest linear distance to streams	static	km		conus2_domain

Subsurface

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
wtd_uncertainty	Uncertainty in water table depth estimation from a random forest model	static	m, static		ma_2025_cog, ma_2023, ma_2025
water_table_depth	Water table depth	long_term, static, yearly, instantaneous, daily, monthly, weekly, hourly	m	mean, median	fan_2013, ma_2023, ma_2025_cog, jasechko_2024, ma_2025, usgs_nwis, conus1_baseline_mod
infiltration	Infiltration	hourly	mm/s		conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
ground_temp	Ground temperature	hourly	K		conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
soil_temp	Soil temperature	hourly	K		conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
pressure_head	Map 3d grid point to pressure head	daily, hourly	m	mean	conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
saturation	Map 3d grid point to saturation value	hourly	static		conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
soil_moisture	Soil moisture	daily	cm3/cm3, mm, kg/m2	mean, sod	conus2_current_conditions, snotel, scan, conus1_baseline_mod
ss_pressure_head	Presssure head at the end of spinup	static	m		conus2_domain, conus1_domain
ss_water_table_depth	Water table depth at the end of spinup	static	static		conus2_domain
wtd_anomaly	Water table depth percentile rank	weekly, monthly, daily	static	mean	usgs_nwis

Surface Water

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
swe	Snow water equivalent	weekly, daily, hourly, monthly	mm	mean, sod, eod	snotel, conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
irrigation	Irrigation applied at surface	hourly	mm/s		conus1_baseline_85, conus1_baseline_mod
mannings	Mannings roughness coefficient	static	static		conus2_domain
swe_anomaly	Snow water equivalent percentile rank	monthly, daily, weekly	static	mean, sod	snotel
streamflow	Streamflow	weekly, monthly, daily, hourly	m3/s	mean	usgs_nwis

Topography

variable	description	temporal_resolutions	units	aggregations	datasets
huc_map	Map of points to huc id	static	static		huc_mapping
elevation	Digital elevation model (dem)	static	m		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
slope_x	Slope in the x direciton (grid centered)	static	static		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
slope_y	Slope in the y direction (grid centered)	static	static		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
drainage_area	Drainage area	static	km2		conus1_domain, conus2_domain
topographic_index	Topographic index	static	static		conus1_domain
border_type	0=interior,1=ocean border,2=land border	static	static		conus2_domain
mask_back	Mask int values defining patch types for points on grid.	static	static		conus2_domain
mask_top	Mask int values defining patch types for points on grid.	static	static		conus2_domain
mask_bottom	Mask int values defining patch types for points on grid.	static	static		conus2_domain
mask_left	Mask int values defining patch types for points on grid.	static	static		conus2_domain
mask_right	Mask int values defining patch types for points on grid.	static	static		conus2_domain
mask_front	Mask int values defining patch types for points on grid.	static	static		conus2_domain
river_mask	Mask values 1 or 0 for points on grid that are part of a river network.	static	static		conus2_domain
mask	Mask showing active domain	static	static		conus2_domain