READ_ME_Overview.txt

The Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) is a spatially distributed physical-based model that uses terrain (i.e., elevation and slope), vegetation/land use, and meteorological data to simulate hydrological processes of a watershed, such as surface and groundwater flow, evapotranspiration, soil moisture dynamics, and streamflow. Inputs for PRMS include precipitation in the form of rain and snow, minimum and maximum temperature, and short-wave solar radiation. A watershed model domain in PRMS is represented by a grid that consists of square shaped cells that are more technically known as hydrologic response units (HRUs). An HRU is designated as either land, lake, swale, or inactive. Each HRU holds hydrologic and physical inputs, such as surface elevation, slope, and aspect; vegetation type and cover; land use; distribution of precipitation, temperature, and solar radiation; soil morphology and geology; and flow direction. The Redwood Creek PRMS Model was developed with a 300m x 300m (HRU size) model grid resolution and was calibrated to provide unimpaired modeled flow estimates. The model has a total of eight subbasins and a model start and end time from 10/1/1981 to 02/23/23, respectively. The GIS subfolder of this GitHub repository has a geopackage with boundary conditions and model feature class layers. The following is a reference guide for the feature class layers within the geopackage. 

Redwood_Creek_pour_points
	Points at the outlets of modeled subbasins 

Redwood_Creek_gages
	Gages identified in the watershed

Redwood_Creek_model_grid
	300m x 300m model grid that holds all Hydrologic Response Units (HRUs). Attributes include:
		-HRU_TYPE – This is the model active/inactive attribute. 0 means inactive. 1 means active. Query the model grid in GIS to only show the active HRUs.
		-SUB_BASIN – Subbasin_ID. Associated with the model output csv discussed in the section below.
		-SUB_DOWN – Immediate downstream subbasin 

Redwood_Creek_model_subbasins
	Model grid dissolved into subbasins. Attributes include:
		-SUB_BASIN – This is the subbasin ID. Associated with the model output csv produced by the model runs discussed below.
		-SUB_DOWN – Immediate downstream subbasin

Redwood_Creek_watershed_boundary
	Watershed boundary shapefile 

The coordinate system is projected coordinate system 


The Redwood Creek PRMS Model was optimized in two parts, one for the spring recession/dry season period from May to September, and the other for the wet season period from October to April. Flows for each optimized season should be examined separately based on the directions in each subfolder in this GitHub repository, as discussed below:

PRMS_Optimization1_May_to_Sep subfolder
-Navigate to this subfolder and follow the directions outlined in READ_ME_1.txt to execute the model and get daily optimized unimpaired modeled flows by subbasin for the spring recession and dry season period from May 1 to September 30. Results from an executed model run are already included in this subfolder.

PRMS_Optimization2_Oct_to_Apr subfolder
-Navigate to this subfolder and follow the directions outlined in READ_ME_2.txt to execute the model and get daily optimized unimpaired modeled flows by subbasin for the wet season period from October 1 to April 30. Results from an executed model run are already included in this subfolder.