1:3.5.3 Adjustment for Clear/Overcast Conditions

To incorporate the effect of clear and overcast weather on generated values of relative humidity, monthly average relative humidity values can be adjusted for wet or dry conditions.

The continuity equation relates average relative humidity adjusted for wet or dry conditions to the average relative humidity for the month:

Rhmondaystot=RhWmondayswet+RhDmondaysdryR_{hmon}*days_{tot}=R_{hWmon}*days_{wet}+R_{hDmon}*days_{dry} 1:3.5.8

where RhmonR_{hmon} is the average relative humidity for the month, daystotdays_{tot} are the total number of days in the month, RhWmonR_{hWmon} is the average relative humidity for the month on wet days, dayswetdays_{wet} are the number of wet days in the month, RhDmonR_{hDmon} is the average relative humidity of the month on dry days, and daysdrydays_{dry} are the number of dry days in the month.

The wet day average relative humidity is assumed to be greater than the dry day average relative humidity by some fraction:

RhWmon=RhDmon+bH(1RhDmon)R_{hWmon}=R_{hDmon}+b_H*(1-R_{hDmon}) 1:3.5.9

where RhWmonR_{hWmon} is the average relative humidity of the month on wet days, RhDmonR_{hDmon} is the average relative humidity of the month on dry days, and bHb_H is a scaling factor that controls the degree of deviation in relative humidity caused by the presence or absence of precipitation. The scaling factor, bHb_H, is set to 0.9 in SWAT+.

To calculate the dry day relative humidity, equations 1:3.5.8 and 1:3.5.9 are combined and solved for RhDmonR_{hDmon}:

RhDmon=(RhmonbHdayswetdaystot)(1.0bHdayswetdaystot)1R_{hDmon}=(R_{hmon}-b_H*\frac{days_{wet}}{days_{tot}})*(1.0-b_H*\frac{days_{wet}}{days_{tot}})^{-1} 1:3.5.10

To reflect the impact of wet or dry conditions, SWAT+ will replace RhmonR_{hmon} with RhWmonR_{hWmon} on wet days or RhDmonR_{hDmon} on dry days in equations 1:3.5.4 through 1:3.5.7.

Table 1:3-5: SWAT+ input variables that pertain to generation of relative humidity.

DefinitionSource NameInput NameInput File

Relative humidity input: 'sim' for simulated or gage name

hgage

hmd

μmnmon\mu mn_{mon}: average minimum air temperature for month (°C)

tmpmn

tmp_min_ave

μmxmon\mu mx_{mon}: average maximum air temperature for month (°C)

tmpmx

tmp_max_ave

μdewmon\mu dew_{mon}: average dew point temperature for month (°C)

dewpt

dew_ave

dayswetdays_{wet}: average number of days of precipitation in month

pcpd

pcp_days

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