FUSE semi-distributed #2
Description
FUSE was initially designed to model lumped catchments. In 2017, N. Addor proposed a gridded version of FUSE, based on the input data grid cells. To achieve this, the model uses the latitude and longitude dimensions to locate each cell (by modeling all combinations of coordinates).
An intermediate approach between lumped and gridded is semi-distributed modeling, where the catchment is divided into sub-catchments represented by irregular polygons. Currently, this can be implemented by “tricking” the model — fixing one of the two dimensions (latitude or longitude) and using the other as an identifier.
While this workaround is functional, it prevents future use of latitude/longitude values in further model development, and it lacks clarity and intuitiveness.
Two improvements could be considered:
- Make the model flexible regarding input dimensions, allowing both 3D (time, lat, lon) and 2D (time, id) inputs, and automatically detect the mode.
OR - Rename the dimensions latitude and longitude to dim_x and dim_y for clarity, and store the actual latitude longitude values as separate variables.