Advancing land surface model development with satellite-based Earth observations
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Date
2016-12-14Type
- Working Paper
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Abstract
The land surface forms an essential part of the climatesystem. It interacts with the atmosphere through the exchangeof water and energy and hence influences weather andclimate, as well as their predictability. Correspondingly, theland surface model (LSM) is an essential part of any weatherforecasting system. LSMs rely on partly poorly constrainedparameters, due to sparse land surface observations.With theuse of newly available land surface temperature observations,we show in this study that novel satellite-derived datasetshelp improve LSM configuration, and hence can contributeto improved weather predictability.We use the Hydrology Tiled ECMWF Scheme of SurfaceExchanges over Land (HTESSEL) and validate it comprehensivelyagainst an array of Earth observation referencedatasets, including the new land surface temperature product.This reveals satisfactory model performance in terms of hydrologybut poor performance in terms of land surface temperature.This is due to inconsistencies of process representationsin the model as identified from an analysis of perturbedparameter simulations.We show that HTESSEL can be morerobustly calibrated with multiple instead of single referencedatasets as this mitigates the impact of the structural inconsistencies.Finally, performing coupled global weather forecasts,we find that a more robust calibration of HTESSELalso contributes to improved weather forecast skills.In summary, new satellite-based Earth observations areshown to enhance the multi-dataset calibration of LSMs,thereby improving the representation of insufficiently capturedprocesses, advancing weather predictability, and understandingof climate system feedbacks. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000125293Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences DiscussionsPublisher
CopernicusOrganisational unit
03778 - Seneviratne, Sonia / Seneviratne, Sonia
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Is previous version of: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000191537
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