Mouallem et al. (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

Identification

• Journal: Geoscientific model development
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-10
• Authors: Joseph Mouallem, Sergey L. Malyshev, Zhihong Tan, Elena Shevliakova, Kun Gao, Lucas Harris, Rusty Benson, William F. Cooke, Niki Zadeh, Lauren Chilutti
• DOI: 10.5194/gmd-19-8427-2026

Research Groups

• Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
• Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/NOAA, Princeton, NJ, USA

Short Summary

This paper describes the development of a high-resolution coupled SHiELD-MOM6-LM4 model, which integrates the land model LM4 with the atmospheric model SHiELD. The new system is evaluated through a global simulation of Hurricane Helene's landfall in 2024.

Objective

• To develop a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean-land model capable of simulating high-resolution Earth system processes.
• To evaluate the performance of the new system using a realistic test case, such as Hurricane Helene's landfall.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global (kilometer-scale)
• Temporal Scale: High-resolution (subseasonal to seasonal)

Methodology and Data

• Models used:
  • SHiELD (System for High-resolution modeling for Earth-to-Local Domains) atmospheric model
  • MOM6 (Modular Ocean Model version 6) ocean model
  • LM4 (GFDL's Land Model version 4) land model
• Data sources: Satellite, observation, reanalysis

Main Results

• The coupled system realistically captures rapid soil saturation, localized runoff generation concentrated in the southern Appalachians, and multi-day river flooding during Hurricane Helene's landfall.
• The new system demonstrates improved performance compared to previous configurations.

Contributions

• This work advances the SHiELD software architecture through a flexible and modular design that supports multiple coupled configurations from a single source code and executable without recompilation.
• The development of a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean-land model provides a foundation for high-resolution Earth system forecasting and prediction.

Funding

• This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant number [insert grant number].
• The work was also funded by the Princeton University Research Council.

Citation

@article{Mouallem2026Development,
  author = {Mouallem, Joseph and Malyshev, Sergey L. and Tan, Zhihong and Shevliakova, Elena and Gao, Kun and Harris, Lucas and Benson, Rusty and Cooke, William F. and Zadeh, Niki and Chilutti, Lauren},
  title = {Development of a high-resolution coupled SHiELD-MOM6-LM4 model – Part 2: Model overview, coupling technique, and evaluation of hydrological extremes during Hurricane Helene},
  journal = {Geoscientific model development},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5194/gmd-19-8427-2026},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8427-2026}
}