CESM1.1: River Transport Model (RTM)
General Overview
The RTM was developed to route total runoff
from the land surface model to either the
active ocean or marginal seas which enables
the hydrologic cycle to be closed (Branstetter
2001, Branstetter and Famiglietti 1999). This
is needed to model ocean convection and
circulation, which is affected by freshwater
input. It also provides another method of
diagnosing the performance of the land model
because the river flow can be directly
compared to gauging station data (e.g., Dai
and Trenberth 2002).