Accelerating community research applications of the NextGen water modeling framework through CUAHSI HydroShare linked with CIROH-2i2c JupyterHub

Ayman M M Nassar , David G. Tarboton, Furqan Baig, Josh Cunningham, Arpita Patel, James Halgren, Benjamin Lee, Homa Salehabadi, Anthony M. Castronova, Irene Garousi-Nejad

This research integrates existing cyberinfrastructure tools and modeling workflows to support application of the Next Generation Water Resources Modeling Framework (NextGen) for research-scale subdomains across the U.S. We linked the CUAHSI HydroShare data and model repository to the CIROH 2i2c-JupyterHub cloud computing platform to establish a flexible, scalable collaborative environment for research applications of NextGen. This approach allows a user to specify the subset domain and time period over which they want to run a research instance of NextGen, generate model input files, execute the model, and analyze the results. Comparison of outputs to retrospective National Water Model (NWM) results and ground-based observations using TEEHR (Tools for Exploratory Evaluation in Hydrologic Research) serve as a starting point for research to improve NextGen. The cyberinfrastructure and workflows developed lowers barriers for hydrologic researchers to engage with NextGen, facilitating broader community participation in research targeting improvement of the NWM.