Development of a high-resolution coupled SHiELD-MOM6-LM4 model – Part 2: Model overview, coupling technique, and evaluation of hydrological extremes during Hurricane Helene

Mouallem, Joseph; Malyshev, Sergey; Tan, Zhihong; Shevliakova, Elena; Gao, Kun; Harris, Lucas; Benson, Rusty; Cooke, William; Zadeh, Niki; Chilutti, Lauren

doi:10.5194/gmd-19-8427-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 17

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8427-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8427-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 17

Development and technical paper

|

10 Sep 2026

Development and technical paper |

| 10 Sep 2026

Development of a high-resolution coupled SHiELD-MOM6-LM4 model – Part 2: Model overview, coupling technique, and evaluation of hydrological extremes during Hurricane Helene

Joseph Mouallem, Sergey Malyshev, Zhihong Tan, Elena Shevliakova, Kun Gao, Lucas Harris, Rusty Benson, William Cooke, Niki Zadeh, and Lauren Chilutti

Data sets

Development of a high-resolution coupled SHiELD-MOM6-LM4 model – Part 2: Model overview, coupling technique, and evaluation of hydrological extremes during Hurricane Helene Joseph Mouallem https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21542868

NCEP/EMC 4KM Gridded Data (GRIB) Stage IV Data. Version 1.0 J. Du https://doi.org/10.5065/D6PG1QDD

Model code and software

Development of a high-resolution coupled SHiELD-MOM6-LM4 model – Part 2: Model overview, coupling technique, and evaluation of hydrological extremes during Hurricane Helene Joseph Mouallem https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21542868

Short summary

We integrate GFDL's (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) land model in the high resolution global atmospheric model SHiELD (System for High-resolution modeling for Earth-to-Local Domains), unlocking new capabilities in simulating new suite of land-atmosphere conditions and extreme hydrological processes such as flooding. A single global simulation captures Hurricane Helene's 2024 landfall, including soil saturation, runoff generation, and river flooding in Western North Carolina, while simultaneously capturing an independent extreme rainfall and flooding event in Nepal.