| Volumes and Issues Contents of Issue 2 |
www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/6/2733/2009/
doi:10.5194/hessd-6-2733-2009
© Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Assessment of soil moisture fields from imperfect climate models with uncertain satellite observations
1School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK
2Geological Sciences Division, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK
3Department of Hydrology and Geo-Environmental Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
4Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vienna University of Technology, 1040, Vienna, Austria
Abstract. We demonstrate that global satellite products can be used to evaluate climate model soil moisture predictions but conclusions should be drawn with care. The quality of a limited area climate model (LAM) was compared to a general circulation model (GCM) using soil moisture data from two different Earth observing satellites within a model validation scheme that copes with the presence of uncertain data. Results showed that in the face of imperfect models and data, it is difficult to investigate the quality of current land surface schemes in simulating hydrology accurately. Nevertheless, a LAM provides, in general, a better representation of spatial patterns and dynamics of soil moisture. However, in months when data uncertainty is higher, particularly in colder months and in periods when vegetation cover and soil moisture are out of phase (e.g. August in the case of Western Europe), it is not possible to draw firm conclusions about model acceptability. Our work indicates that a higher resolution LAM has more benefits to soil moisture prediction than are due to the resolution alone and can be attributed to an overall intensification of the hydrological cycle relative to the GCM.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 694 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 6 Comments) Final Revised Paper (HESS)
Citation: Schumann, G., Lunt, D. J., Valdes, P. J., de Jeu, R. A. M., Scipal, K., and Bates, P. D.: Assessment of soil moisture fields from imperfect climate models with uncertain satellite observations, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 6, 2733-2750, doi:10.5194/hessd-6-2733-2009, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
