Quoted from: http://www.umr-cnrm.fr/spip.php?article424 

The Safran-ISBA-Modcou suite has been developed through a cooperation between the CNRM-GAME and the Center of Geosciences ParisTech.
It simulates the flow of water and energy at the surface, and the evolution of the river flows and the major aquifers. This model has been brought in 2003 in the operational environment of Meteo-France and continues to be used in many research activities.

  Description

The suite is composed of three models:

• SAFRAN / France is a mesoscale analysis system that provides atmospheric variables near the surface. It uses surface observations, combined with analysis of meteorological models to produce the meteorological input data of the ISBA land surface model. These parameters (temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation solids and liquids, sunlight and infrared incident), are analyzed every 300m above sea level. They are then interpolated on a regular grid (8 x 8 km).

• ISBA (Interaction Soil-Biosphere-Atmosphere) simulates the exchange of water and energy between the soil and the atmosphere. The version used in the chain SIM simulates 3 layers of soil (surface, root zone, deep zone) and two temperatures (global surface temperature of vegetation and soil-temperature deep). ISBA simulates the flows of water with the atmosphere (interception, evaporation, transpiration) and soil (rainfall runoff and drainage in the soil). Its time step is 5 minutes.

• MODCOU is a distributed hydrological model. It uses as input the ISBA runoff and drainage to calculate the evolution of groundwater (currently only the aquifers of the Seine and the Rhone are simulated) and river discharge (900 points currently simulated). Its mesh calculation varies from 64 to 1 km depending on the limits of watersheds and river network. Its time step is three hours.

References

Durand Y., Brun E., Mérindol L., Guyomarc’h G., Lesaffre B., Martin E. (1993) : "A meteorological estimation of relevant parameters for snow models", Annals of Glaciol., Vol 18, 65-71.

Habets F., A. Boone, J.L Champeaux, P. Etchevers, L. Franchistéguy, E.Leblois, E. Ledoux, P. Le Moigne, E. Martin, S. Morel, J. Noilhan, P.Quintana Segui F. Rousset-Regimbeau, P. Viennot (2008)) : The SAFRAN-ISBA-MODCOU hydrometeorol-ogical model applied over France, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres 113, D06113 (2008) 18

Quintana-Seguí, P., P. Le Moigne, Y. Durand, E. Martin, F. Habets, M. Baillon, C. Canellas, L. Franchisteguy, and S. Morel, 2008: Analysis of Near-Surface Atmospheric Variables: Validation of the SAFRAN Analysis over France. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 47, 92-107.

Vidal, J.-P., Martin, E., Franchistéguy, L., Baillon, M. and Soubeyroux, J.-M. (2010), A 50-year high-resolution atmospheric reanalysis over France with the Safran system. International Journal of Climatology, 30: 1627–1644. doi: 10.1002/joc.2003

  Research and operational uses

The main uses of the chain SIM are:

• The surface hydrological budget

Habets F., A. Boone, J.L Champeaux, P. Etchevers, L. Franchistéguy, E.Leblois, E. Ledoux, P. Le Moigne, E. Martin, S. Morel, J. Noilhan, P.Quintana Segui F. Rousset-Regimbeau, P. Viennot (2008)) : The SAFRAN-ISBA-MODCOU hydrometeorol-ogical model applied over France, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres 113, D06113 (2008) 18

Quintana Seguí, P., Martin, E., Habets, F., and Noilhan, J.: Improvement, calibration and validation of a distributed hydrological model over France, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 13, 163–181, 2009

Vidal, J.-P., Martin, E., Franchistéguy, L., Habets, F., Soubeyroux, J.-M., Blanchard, M., and Baillon, M.: Multilevel and multiscale drought reanalysis over France with the Safran-Isba-Modcou hydrometeorological suite, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 459-478, 2010

• The impact of climate change on the river flows and the aquifers

Boé, J., Terray L., Martin E., Habets F. (2009) : Projected changes in components of the hydrological cycle in French river basins during the 21st century. Water Resour. Res., 45, W08426, doi:10.1029/2008WR007437

Quintana Seguí P. , A. Ribes, E. Martin, F. Habets, J. Boe, Comparison of three downscaling methods in simulating the impact of climate change on the hydrology of Mediterranean basins, Journal of Hydrology, 383, 111,124.

• The ensemble prediction of river flows and the assimilation of past discharges to improve the initial state

Thirel G., F. Regimbeau, E. Martin, J. Noilhan and F. Habets (2010) : Short- and medium-range hydrological ensemble forecasts over FranceAtmos. Sci. Let., DOI: 10.1002/asl.254

Thirel, G., Martin, E., Mahfouf, J.-F., Massart, S., Ricci, S., and Habets, F.: A past discharges assimilation system for ensemble streamflow forecasts over France – Part 1: Description and validation of the assimilation system, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1623-1637, doi:10.5194/hess-14-1623-2010, 2010

Thirel, G., Martin, E., Mahfouf, J.-F., Massart, S., Ricci, S., Regimbeau, F., and Habets, F.: A past discharge assimilation system for ensemble streamflow forecasts over France – Part 2: Impact on the ensemble streamflow forecasts, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1639-1653, doi:10.5194/hess-14-1639-2010, 2010

• The seasonal prediction of hydrological resources

Céron J.-P., G. Tanguy, L. Franchistéguy, E. Martin, F. Regimbeau, J.-P. Vidal (2010) Hydrological seasonal forecast over France: feasibility and prospects Atmos. Sci. Let. 11: 78-82 DOI: 10.1002/asl.256.

• The operational monitoring of the surface water balance

Soubeyroux J.-M., Martin E., Franchistéguy L., Habets F., Noilhan J., Baillon M., Regimbeau F., Vidal J.-Ph., Le Moigne P., Morel S. (2008) L’application Safran - Isba - Modcou (SIM), un outil pour la production opérationnelle et les études hydrométéorologiques, La Météorologie, 8, 63, Novembre 2008, 40-45.