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Incorporating dynamic root growth enhances the performance of Noah‐MP at two contrasting winter wheat field sites
Author(s) -
Gayler Sebastian,
Wöhling Thomas,
Grzeschik Matthias,
Ingwersen Joachim,
Wizemann HansDieter,
WarrachSagi Kirsten,
Högy Petra,
Attinger Sabine,
Streck Thilo,
Wulfmeyer Volker
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1002/2013wr014634
Subject(s) - environmental science , atmosphere (unit) , latent heat , sensible heat , subsoil , leaf area index , vegetation (pathology) , water content , planetary boundary layer , weather research and forecasting model , atmospheric sciences , multiphysics , soil science , soil water , meteorology , geology , geography , agronomy , medicine , turbulence , physics , geotechnical engineering , pathology , finite element method , biology , thermodynamics
Interactions between the soil, the vegetation, and the atmospheric boundary layer require close attention when predicting water fluxes in the hydrogeosystem, agricultural systems, weather, and climate. However, land‐surface schemes used in large‐scale models continue to show deficiencies in consistently simulating fluxes of water and energy from the subsurface through vegetation layers to the atmosphere. In this study, the multiphysics version of the Noah land‐surface model (Noah‐MP) was used to identify the processes, which are most crucial for a simultaneous simulation of water and heat fluxes between land surface and the lower atmosphere. Comprehensive field data sets of latent and sensible heat fluxes, ground heat flux, soil moisture, and leaf area index from two contrasting field sites in South‐West Germany are used to assess the accuracy of simulations. It is shown that an adequate representation of vegetation‐related processes is the most important control for a consistent simulation of energy and water fluxes in the soil‐plant‐atmosphere system. In particular, using a newly implemented submodule to simulate root growth dynamics has enhanced the performance of Noah‐MP. We conclude that further advances in the representation of leaf area dynamics and root/soil moisture interactions are the most promising starting points for improving the simulation of feedbacks between the subsoil, land surface and atmosphere in fully coupled hydrological and atmospheric models.