Articles | Volume 20, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4837-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4837-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
09 Dec 2016
Research article |
| 09 Dec 2016
Evaluating the strength of the land–atmosphere moisture feedback in Earth system models using satellite observations
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
James T. Randerson
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
Sean C. Swenson
Climate and Global Dynamics Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
David M. Lawrence
Climate and Global Dynamics Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Related authors
Alexander J. Norton, A. Anthony Bloom, Nicholas C. Parazoo, Paul A. Levine, Shuang Ma, Renato K. Braghiere, and T. Luke Smallman
Biogeosciences, 20, 2455–2484, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2455-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2455-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores how the representation of leaf phenology affects our ability to predict changes to the carbon balance of land ecosystems. We calibrate a new leaf phenology model against a diverse range of observations at six forest sites, showing that it improves the predictive capability of the processes underlying the ecosystem carbon balance. We then show how changes in temperature and rainfall affect the ecosystem carbon balance with this new model.
Elias C. Massoud, A. Anthony Bloom, Marcos Longo, John T. Reager, Paul A. Levine, and John R. Worden
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1407–1423, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1407-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1407-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The water balance on river basin scales depends on a number of soil physical processes. Gaining information on these quantities using observations is a key step toward improving the skill of land surface hydrology models. In this study, we use data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (NASA-GRACE) to inform and constrain these hydrologic processes. We show that our model is able to simulate the land hydrologic cycle for a watershed in the Amazon from January 2003 to December 2012.
Yan Yang, A. Anthony Bloom, Shuang Ma, Paul Levine, Alexander Norton, Nicholas C. Parazoo, John T. Reager, John Worden, Gregory R. Quetin, T. Luke Smallman, Mathew Williams, Liang Xu, and Sassan Saatchi
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1789–1802, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1789-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1789-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Global carbon and water have large uncertainties that are hard to quantify in current regional and global models. Field observations provide opportunities for better calibration and validation of current modeling of carbon and water. With the unique structure of CARDAMOM, we have utilized the data assimilation capability and designed the benchmarking framework by using field observations in modeling. Results show that data assimilation improves model performance in different aspects.
Caroline A. Famiglietti, T. Luke Smallman, Paul A. Levine, Sophie Flack-Prain, Gregory R. Quetin, Victoria Meyer, Nicholas C. Parazoo, Stephanie G. Stettz, Yan Yang, Damien Bonal, A. Anthony Bloom, Mathew Williams, and Alexandra G. Konings
Biogeosciences, 18, 2727–2754, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2727-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2727-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Model uncertainty dominates the spread in terrestrial carbon cycle predictions. Efforts to reduce it typically involve adding processes, thereby increasing model complexity. However, if and how model performance scales with complexity is unclear. Using a suite of 16 structurally distinct carbon cycle models, we find that increased complexity only improves skill if parameters are adequately informed. Otherwise, it can degrade skill, and an intermediate-complexity model is optimal.
Corey R. Lawrence, Jeffrey Beem-Miller, Alison M. Hoyt, Grey Monroe, Carlos A. Sierra, Shane Stoner, Katherine Heckman, Joseph C. Blankinship, Susan E. Crow, Gavin McNicol, Susan Trumbore, Paul A. Levine, Olga Vindušková, Katherine Todd-Brown, Craig Rasmussen, Caitlin E. Hicks Pries, Christina Schädel, Karis McFarlane, Sebastian Doetterl, Christine Hatté, Yujie He, Claire Treat, Jennifer W. Harden, Margaret S. Torn, Cristian Estop-Aragonés, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Marco Keiluweit, Ágatha Della Rosa Kuhnen, Erika Marin-Spiotta, Alain F. Plante, Aaron Thompson, Zheng Shi, Joshua P. Schimel, Lydia J. S. Vaughn, Sophie F. von Fromm, and Rota Wagai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 61–76, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-61-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-61-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The International Soil Radiocarbon Database (ISRaD) is an an open-source archive of soil data focused on datasets including radiocarbon measurements. ISRaD includes data from bulk or
whole soils, distinct soil carbon pools isolated in the laboratory by a variety of soil fractionation methods, samples of soil gas or water collected interstitially from within an intact soil profile, CO2 gas isolated from laboratory soil incubations, and fluxes collected in situ from a soil surface.
Tianjia Liu, James T. Randerson, Yang Chen, Douglas C. Morton, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Padhraic Smyth, Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, Roy Nadler, and Omer Nevo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1395–1424, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1395-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1395-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
To improve our understanding of extreme wildfire behavior, we use geostationary satellite data to develop the GOFER algorithm and track the hourly fire progression of large wildfires. GOFER fills a key temporal gap present in other fire tracking products that rely on low-Earth-orbit imagery and reveals considerable variability in fire spread rates on diurnal timescales. We create a product of hourly fire perimeters, active-fire lines, and fire spread rates for 28 fires in California.
Joanne V. Hall, Fernanda Argueta, Maria Zubkova, Yang Chen, James T. Randerson, and Louis Giglio
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 867–885, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-867-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-867-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Crop-residue burning is a widespread practice often occurring close to population centers. Its recurrent nature requires accurate mapping of the area burned – a key input into air quality models. Unlike larger fires, crop fires require a specific burned area (BA) methodology, which to date has been ignored in global BA datasets. Our global cropland-focused BA product found a significant increase in global cropland BA (81 Mha annual average) compared to the widely used MCD64A1 (32 Mha).
Yang Chen, Joanne Hall, Dave van Wees, Niels Andela, Stijn Hantson, Louis Giglio, Guido R. van der Werf, Douglas C. Morton, and James T. Randerson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5227–5259, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5227-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5227-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Using multiple sets of remotely sensed data, we created a dataset of monthly global burned area from 1997 to 2020. The estimated annual global burned area is 774 million hectares, significantly higher than previous estimates. Burned area declined by 1.21% per year due to extensive fire loss in savanna, grassland, and cropland ecosystems. This study enhances our understanding of the impact of fire on the carbon cycle and climate system, and may improve the predictions of future fire changes.
Stefano Potter, Sol Cooperdock, Sander Veraverbeke, Xanthe Walker, Michelle C. Mack, Scott J. Goetz, Jennifer Baltzer, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Arden Burrell, Catherine Dieleman, Nancy French, Stijn Hantson, Elizabeth E. Hoy, Liza Jenkins, Jill F. Johnstone, Evan S. Kane, Susan M. Natali, James T. Randerson, Merritt R. Turetsky, Ellen Whitman, Elizabeth Wiggins, and Brendan M. Rogers
Biogeosciences, 20, 2785–2804, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2785-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2785-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Here we developed a new burned-area detection algorithm between 2001–2019 across Alaska and Canada at 500 m resolution. We estimate 2.37 Mha burned annually between 2001–2019 over the domain, emitting 79.3 Tg C per year, with a mean combustion rate of 3.13 kg C m−2. We found larger-fire years were generally associated with greater mean combustion. The burned-area and combustion datasets described here can be used for local- to continental-scale applications of boreal fire science.
Alexander J. Norton, A. Anthony Bloom, Nicholas C. Parazoo, Paul A. Levine, Shuang Ma, Renato K. Braghiere, and T. Luke Smallman
Biogeosciences, 20, 2455–2484, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2455-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2455-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores how the representation of leaf phenology affects our ability to predict changes to the carbon balance of land ecosystems. We calibrate a new leaf phenology model against a diverse range of observations at six forest sites, showing that it improves the predictive capability of the processes underlying the ecosystem carbon balance. We then show how changes in temperature and rainfall affect the ecosystem carbon balance with this new model.
Fa Li, Qing Zhu, William J. Riley, Lei Zhao, Li Xu, Kunxiaojia Yuan, Min Chen, Huayi Wu, Zhipeng Gui, Jianya Gong, and James T. Randerson
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 869–884, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-869-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-869-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We developed an interpretable machine learning model to predict sub-seasonal and near-future wildfire-burned area over African and South American regions. We found strong time-lagged controls (up to 6–8 months) of local climate wetness on burned areas. A skillful use of such time-lagged controls in machine learning models results in highly accurate predictions of wildfire-burned areas; this will also help develop relevant early-warning and management systems for tropical wildfires.
Dave van Wees, Guido R. van der Werf, James T. Randerson, Brendan M. Rogers, Yang Chen, Sander Veraverbeke, Louis Giglio, and Douglas C. Morton
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 8411–8437, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8411-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8411-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a global fire emission model based on the GFED model framework with a spatial resolution of 500 m. The higher resolution allowed for a more detailed representation of spatial heterogeneity in fuels and emissions. Specific modules were developed to model, for example, emissions from fire-related forest loss and belowground burning. Results from the 500 m model were compared to GFED4s, showing that global emissions were relatively similar but that spatial differences were substantial.
Inne Vanderkelen, Shervan Gharari, Naoki Mizukami, Martyn P. Clark, David M. Lawrence, Sean Swenson, Yadu Pokhrel, Naota Hanasaki, Ann van Griensven, and Wim Thiery
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4163–4192, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4163-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4163-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Human-controlled reservoirs have a large influence on the global water cycle. However, dam operations are rarely represented in Earth system models. We implement and evaluate a widely used reservoir parametrization in a global river-routing model. Using observations of individual reservoirs, the reservoir scheme outperforms the natural lake scheme. However, both schemes show a similar performance due to biases in runoff timing and magnitude when using simulated runoff.
Elias C. Massoud, A. Anthony Bloom, Marcos Longo, John T. Reager, Paul A. Levine, and John R. Worden
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1407–1423, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1407-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1407-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The water balance on river basin scales depends on a number of soil physical processes. Gaining information on these quantities using observations is a key step toward improving the skill of land surface hydrology models. In this study, we use data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (NASA-GRACE) to inform and constrain these hydrologic processes. We show that our model is able to simulate the land hydrologic cycle for a watershed in the Amazon from January 2003 to December 2012.
Qing Zhu, Fa Li, William J. Riley, Li Xu, Lei Zhao, Kunxiaojia Yuan, Huayi Wu, Jianya Gong, and James Randerson
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1899–1911, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1899-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1899-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Wildfire is a devastating Earth system process that burns about 500 million hectares of land each year. It wipes out vegetation including trees, shrubs, and grasses and causes large losses of economic assets. However, modeling the spatial distribution and temporal changes of wildfire activities at a global scale is challenging. This study built a machine-learning-based wildfire surrogate model within an existing Earth system model and achieved high accuracy.
Yan Yang, A. Anthony Bloom, Shuang Ma, Paul Levine, Alexander Norton, Nicholas C. Parazoo, John T. Reager, John Worden, Gregory R. Quetin, T. Luke Smallman, Mathew Williams, Liang Xu, and Sassan Saatchi
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1789–1802, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1789-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1789-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Global carbon and water have large uncertainties that are hard to quantify in current regional and global models. Field observations provide opportunities for better calibration and validation of current modeling of carbon and water. With the unique structure of CARDAMOM, we have utilized the data assimilation capability and designed the benchmarking framework by using field observations in modeling. Results show that data assimilation improves model performance in different aspects.
Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Arlyn Andrews, Colm Sweeney, John B. Miller, Charles E. Miller, Sander Veraverbeke, Roisin Commane, Steven Wofsy, John M. Henderson, and James T. Randerson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8557–8574, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8557-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8557-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We analyzed high-resolution trace gas measurements collected from a tower in Alaska during a very active fire season to improve our understanding of trace gas emissions from boreal forest fires. Our results suggest previous studies may have underestimated emissions from smoldering combustion in boreal forest fires.
Caroline A. Famiglietti, T. Luke Smallman, Paul A. Levine, Sophie Flack-Prain, Gregory R. Quetin, Victoria Meyer, Nicholas C. Parazoo, Stephanie G. Stettz, Yan Yang, Damien Bonal, A. Anthony Bloom, Mathew Williams, and Alexandra G. Konings
Biogeosciences, 18, 2727–2754, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2727-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2727-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Model uncertainty dominates the spread in terrestrial carbon cycle predictions. Efforts to reduce it typically involve adding processes, thereby increasing model complexity. However, if and how model performance scales with complexity is unclear. Using a suite of 16 structurally distinct carbon cycle models, we find that increased complexity only improves skill if parameters are adequately informed. Otherwise, it can degrade skill, and an intermediate-complexity model is optimal.
Richard Essery, Hyungjun Kim, Libo Wang, Paul Bartlett, Aaron Boone, Claire Brutel-Vuilmet, Eleanor Burke, Matthias Cuntz, Bertrand Decharme, Emanuel Dutra, Xing Fang, Yeugeniy Gusev, Stefan Hagemann, Vanessa Haverd, Anna Kontu, Gerhard Krinner, Matthieu Lafaysse, Yves Lejeune, Thomas Marke, Danny Marks, Christoph Marty, Cecile B. Menard, Olga Nasonova, Tomoko Nitta, John Pomeroy, Gerd Schädler, Vladimir Semenov, Tatiana Smirnova, Sean Swenson, Dmitry Turkov, Nander Wever, and Hua Yuan
The Cryosphere, 14, 4687–4698, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4687-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4687-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Climate models are uncertain in predicting how warming changes snow cover. This paper compares 22 snow models with the same meteorological inputs. Predicted trends agree with observations at four snow research sites: winter snow cover does not start later, but snow now melts earlier in spring than in the 1980s at two of the sites. Cold regions where snow can last until late summer are predicted to be particularly sensitive to warming because the snow then melts faster at warmer times of year.
Alireza Farahmand, E. Natasha Stavros, John T. Reager, Ali Behrangi, James T. Randerson, and Brad Quayle
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 1097–1106, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-1097-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-1097-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Wildfires result in billions of dollars of losses each year. Most wildfire predictions have a 10 d lead-time. This study introduces a framework for a 1-month lead-time prediction of wildfires based on vapor pressure deficit and surface soil moisture in the US. The results show that the model can successfully predict burned area with relatively small margins of error. This is especially important for operational wildfire management such as national resource allocation.
Corey R. Lawrence, Jeffrey Beem-Miller, Alison M. Hoyt, Grey Monroe, Carlos A. Sierra, Shane Stoner, Katherine Heckman, Joseph C. Blankinship, Susan E. Crow, Gavin McNicol, Susan Trumbore, Paul A. Levine, Olga Vindušková, Katherine Todd-Brown, Craig Rasmussen, Caitlin E. Hicks Pries, Christina Schädel, Karis McFarlane, Sebastian Doetterl, Christine Hatté, Yujie He, Claire Treat, Jennifer W. Harden, Margaret S. Torn, Cristian Estop-Aragonés, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Marco Keiluweit, Ágatha Della Rosa Kuhnen, Erika Marin-Spiotta, Alain F. Plante, Aaron Thompson, Zheng Shi, Joshua P. Schimel, Lydia J. S. Vaughn, Sophie F. von Fromm, and Rota Wagai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 61–76, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-61-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-61-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The International Soil Radiocarbon Database (ISRaD) is an an open-source archive of soil data focused on datasets including radiocarbon measurements. ISRaD includes data from bulk or
whole soils, distinct soil carbon pools isolated in the laboratory by a variety of soil fractionation methods, samples of soil gas or water collected interstitially from within an intact soil profile, CO2 gas isolated from laboratory soil incubations, and fluxes collected in situ from a soil surface.
Altug Ekici, Hanna Lee, David M. Lawrence, Sean C. Swenson, and Catherine Prigent
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 5291–5300, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5291-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5291-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Ice-rich permafrost thaw can create expanding thermokarst lakes as well as shrinking large wetlands. Such processes can have major biogeochemical implications and feedbacks to climate systems by altering the pathways and rates of permafrost carbon release. We developed a new model parameterization that allows a direct representation of surface water dynamics with subsidence. Our results show increased surface water fractions around western Siberian plains and northeastern territories of Canada.
Niels Andela, Douglas C. Morton, Louis Giglio, Ronan Paugam, Yang Chen, Stijn Hantson, Guido R. van der Werf, and James T. Randerson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 529–552, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-529-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-529-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Natural and human-ignited fires affect all major biomes, and satellite observations provide evidence for rapid changes in global fire activity. The Global Fire Atlas of individual fire size, duration, speed, and direction is the first global data product on individual fire behavior. Moving towards a global understanding of individual fire behavior is a critical next step in fire research, required to understand how global fire regimes are changing in response to land management and climate.
Gerhard Krinner, Chris Derksen, Richard Essery, Mark Flanner, Stefan Hagemann, Martyn Clark, Alex Hall, Helmut Rott, Claire Brutel-Vuilmet, Hyungjun Kim, Cécile B. Ménard, Lawrence Mudryk, Chad Thackeray, Libo Wang, Gabriele Arduini, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Paul Bartlett, Julia Boike, Aaron Boone, Frédérique Chéruy, Jeanne Colin, Matthias Cuntz, Yongjiu Dai, Bertrand Decharme, Jeff Derry, Agnès Ducharne, Emanuel Dutra, Xing Fang, Charles Fierz, Josephine Ghattas, Yeugeniy Gusev, Vanessa Haverd, Anna Kontu, Matthieu Lafaysse, Rachel Law, Dave Lawrence, Weiping Li, Thomas Marke, Danny Marks, Martin Ménégoz, Olga Nasonova, Tomoko Nitta, Masashi Niwano, John Pomeroy, Mark S. Raleigh, Gerd Schaedler, Vladimir Semenov, Tanya G. Smirnova, Tobias Stacke, Ulrich Strasser, Sean Svenson, Dmitry Turkov, Tao Wang, Nander Wever, Hua Yuan, Wenyan Zhou, and Dan Zhu
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 5027–5049, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5027-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5027-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides an overview of a coordinated international experiment to determine the strengths and weaknesses in how climate models treat snow. The models will be assessed at point locations using high-quality reference measurements and globally using satellite-derived datasets. How well climate models simulate snow-related processes is important because changing snow cover is an important part of the global climate system and provides an important freshwater resource for human use.
Guido R. van der Werf, James T. Randerson, Louis Giglio, Thijs T. van Leeuwen, Yang Chen, Brendan M. Rogers, Mingquan Mu, Margreet J. E. van Marle, Douglas C. Morton, G. James Collatz, Robert J. Yokelson, and Prasad S. Kasibhatla
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 697–720, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-697-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-697-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Fires occur in many vegetation types and are sometimes natural but often ignited by humans for various purposes. We have estimated how much area they burn globally and what their emissions are. Total burned area is roughly equivalent to the size of the EU with most fires burning in tropical savannas. Their emissions vary substantially from year to year and contribute to the atmospheric burdens of many trace gases and aerosols. The 20-year dataset is mostly suited for large-scale assessments.
Weiwei Fu, James T. Randerson, and J. Keith Moore
Biogeosciences, 13, 5151–5170, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5151-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5151-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Global NPP and EP are reduced considerably for RCP8.5. Negative response of NPP and EP to stratification increases reflects a bottom-up control. Models with dynamic phytoplankton community structure show larger declines in EP than in NPP driven by phytoplankton community composition shifts. Projections of the NPP response to climate change depend on the phytoplankton community structure, the efficiency of the biological pump and the levels of regenerated production.
Chris D. Jones, Vivek Arora, Pierre Friedlingstein, Laurent Bopp, Victor Brovkin, John Dunne, Heather Graven, Forrest Hoffman, Tatiana Ilyina, Jasmin G. John, Martin Jung, Michio Kawamiya, Charlie Koven, Julia Pongratz, Thomas Raddatz, James T. Randerson, and Sönke Zaehle
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2853–2880, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2853-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2853-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
How the carbon cycle interacts with climate will affect future climate change and how society plans emissions reductions to achieve climate targets. The Coupled Climate Carbon Cycle Model Intercomparison Project (C4MIP) is an endorsed activity of CMIP6 and aims to quantify these interactions and feedbacks in state-of-the-art climate models. This paper lays out the experimental protocol for modelling groups to follow to contribute to C4MIP. It is a contribution to the CMIP6 GMD Special Issue.
R. G. Anderson, M.-H. Lo, S. Swenson, J. S. Famiglietti, Q. Tang, T. H. Skaggs, Y.-H. Lin, and R.-J. Wu
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 3021–3031, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3021-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3021-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Current land surface models (LSMs) poorly represent irrigation impacts on regional hydrology. Approaches to include irrigation in LSMs are based on either potentially outdated irrigation inventory data or soil moisture curves that are not constrained by regional water balances. We use satellite remote sensing of actual ET and groundwater depletion to develop recent estimates of regional irrigation data. Remote sensing parameterizations of irrigation improve model performance.
C. D. Koven, W. J. Riley, Z. M. Subin, J. Y. Tang, M. S. Torn, W. D. Collins, G. B. Bonan, D. M. Lawrence, and S. C. Swenson
Biogeosciences, 10, 7109–7131, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7109-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7109-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Global hydrology | Techniques and Approaches: Remote Sensing and GIS
Interannual variations of terrestrial water storage in the East African Rift region
Technical note: Surface fields for global environmental modelling
Benchmarking multimodel terrestrial water storage seasonal cycle against Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) observations over major global river basins
Increasing seasonal variation in the extent of rivers and lakes from 1984 to 2022
Investigating sources of variability in closing the terrestrial water balance with remote sensing
Characterising recent drought events in the context of dry-season trends using state-of-the-art reanalysis and remote-sensing soil moisture products
Dynamic rainfall erosivity estimates derived from IMERG data
A global analysis of water storage variations from remotely sensed soil moisture and daily satellite gravimetry
Soil moisture estimates at 1 km resolution making a synergistic use of Sentinel data
Global evaluation of the “dry gets drier, and wet gets wetter” paradigm from a terrestrial water storage change perspective
Global assessment of subnational drought impact based on the Geocoded Disasters dataset and land reanalysis
Scaling methods of leakage correction in GRACE mass change estimates revisited for the complex hydro-climatic setting of the Indus Basin
Remotely sensed reservoir water storage dynamics (1984–2015) and the influence of climate variability and management at a global scale
Characterizing natural variability in complex hydrological systems using passive microwave-based climate data records: a case study for the Okavango Delta
High-resolution (1 km) satellite rainfall estimation from SM2RAIN applied to Sentinel-1: Po River basin as a case study
The accuracy of temporal upscaling of instantaneous evapotranspiration to daily values with seven upscaling methods
Global component analysis of errors in three satellite-only global precipitation estimates
Estimation of hydrological drought recovery based on precipitation and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) water storage deficit
Intercomparison of freshwater fluxes over ocean and investigations into water budget closure
Widespread decline in terrestrial water storage and its link to teleconnections across Asia and eastern Europe
Assimilation of vegetation optical depth retrievals from passive microwave radiometry
Long-term total water storage change from a Satellite Water Cycle reconstruction over large southern Asian basins
Global partitioning of runoff generation mechanisms using remote sensing data
Land–atmosphere interactions in the tropics – a review
Global-scale human pressure evolution imprints on sustainability of river systems
Using GRACE in a streamflow recession to determine drainable water storage in the Mississippi River basin
A new dense 18-year time series of surface water fraction estimates from MODIS for the Mediterranean region
Global joint assimilation of GRACE and SMOS for improved estimation of root-zone soil moisture and vegetation response
Using modelled discharge to develop satellite-based river gauging: a case study for the Amazon Basin
Global downscaling of remotely sensed soil moisture using neural networks
Global 5 km resolution estimates of secondary evaporation including irrigation through satellite data assimilation
Exploring the merging of the global land evaporation WACMOS-ET products based on local tower measurements
Estimating time-dependent vegetation biases in the SMAP soil moisture product
Daily GRACE gravity field solutions track major flood events in the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta
Controls on surface soil drying rates observed by SMAP and simulated by the Noah land surface model
Quantification of surface water volume changes in the Mackenzie Delta using satellite multi-mission data
Microwave implementation of two-source energy balance approach for estimating evapotranspiration
A global approach to estimate irrigated areas – a comparison between different data and statistics
The future of Earth observation in hydrology
Validation of terrestrial water storage variations as simulated by different global numerical models with GRACE satellite observations
MSWEP: 3-hourly 0.25° global gridded precipitation (1979–2015) by merging gauge, satellite, and reanalysis data
Evaluating the hydrological consistency of evaporation products using satellite-based gravity and rainfall data
Cloud tolerance of remote-sensing technologies to measure land surface temperature
Dynamic changes in terrestrial net primary production and their effects on evapotranspiration
Assessing changes in urban flood vulnerability through mapping land use from historical information
SACRA – a method for the estimation of global high-resolution crop calendars from a satellite-sensed NDVI
A global data set of the extent of irrigated land from 1900 to 2005
Evaluation of the satellite-based Global Flood Detection System for measuring river discharge: influence of local factors
Spatial patterns in timing of the diurnal temperature cycle
Potential and limitations of multidecadal satellite soil moisture observations for selected climate model evaluation studies
Eva Boergens, Andreas Güntner, Mike Sips, Christian Schwatke, and Henryk Dobslaw
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4733–4754, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4733-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4733-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The satellites GRACE and GRACE-FO observe continental terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes. With over 20 years of data, we can look into long-term variations in the East Africa Rift region. We focus on analysing the interannual TWS variations compared to meteorological data and observations of the water storage compartments. We found strong influences of natural precipitation variability and human actions over Lake Victoria's water level.
Margarita Choulga, Francesca Moschini, Cinzia Mazzetti, Stefania Grimaldi, Juliana Disperati, Hylke Beck, Peter Salamon, and Christel Prudhomme
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2991–3036, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2991-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2991-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
CEMS_SurfaceFields_2022 dataset is a new set of high-resolution maps for land type (e.g. lake, forest), soil properties and population water needs at approximately 2 and 6 km at the Equator, covering Europe and the globe (excluding Antarctica). We describe what and how new high-resolution information can be used to create the dataset. The paper suggests that the dataset can be used as input for river, weather or other models, as well as for statistical descriptions of the region of interest.
Sadia Bibi, Tingju Zhu, Ashraf Rateb, Bridget R. Scanlon, Muhammad Aqeel Kamran, Abdelrazek Elnashar, Ali Bennour, and Ci Li
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1725–1750, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1725-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1725-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We assessed 13 global models using GRACE satellite data over 29 river basins. Simulated seasonal water storage cycles showed discrepancies compared to GRACE. The models overestimated seasonal amplitude in boreal basins and showed underestimation in tropical, arid, and temperate zones, with phase differences of 2–3 months compared to GRACE in cold basins and of 1 month in temperate, arid, and semi-arid basins. Seasonal amplitude and phase differences provide insights for model improvement.
Björn Nyberg, Roger Sayre, and Elco Luijendijk
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1653–1663, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1653-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1653-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of surface water is crucial for effective water resource management, maintaining ecosystem health and assessing flood risks. This study examined permanent and seasonal rivers and lakes globally over 38 years, uncovering a statistically significant expansion in seasonal extent captured in the new SARL database. The findings offer valuable resources for assessing the impact of changing river and lake extents on ecosystems and human livelihoods.
Claire I. Michailovsky, Bert Coerver, Marloes Mul, and Graham Jewitt
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4335–4354, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4335-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4335-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Many remote sensing products for precipitation, evapotranspiration, and water storage variations exist. However, when these are used with in situ runoff data in water balance closure studies, no single combination of products consistently outperforms others. We analyzed the water balance closure using different products in catchments worldwide and related the results to catchment characteristics. Our results can help identify the dataset combinations best suited for use in different catchments.
Martin Hirschi, Bas Crezee, Pietro Stradiotti, Wouter Dorigo, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2499, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2499, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Based on surface and root-zone soil moisture, we compare the ability of selected long-term reanalysis and merged remote-sensing products to represent major agroecological drought events. While all products capture the investigated droughts, they particularly show differences in the drought magnitudes. Globally, the diverse and regionally contradicting dry-season soil moisture trends of the products is an important factor governing their drought representation and monitoring capability.
Robert A. Emberson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3547–3563, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3547-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3547-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Soil can be eroded by rainfall, and this is a major threat to agricultural sustainability. Estimating the erosivity of rainfall is essential as a first step to determine how much soil might be lost. Until recently, satellite data have not been used to estimate rainfall erosivity, but the data quality is now sufficient to do so. In this study, I test several methods to calculate rainfall erosivity using satellite rainfall data and contrast this with ground-based estimates.
Daniel Blank, Annette Eicker, Laura Jensen, and Andreas Güntner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2413–2435, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2413-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2413-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Soil moisture (SM), a key variable of the global water cycle, is analyzed using two types of satellite observations; microwave sensors measure the top few centimeters and satellite gravimetry (GRACE) the full vertical water column. As SM can change very fast, non-standard daily GRACE data are applied for the first time for this analysis. Jointly analyzing these data gives insight into the SM dynamics at different soil depths, and time shifts indicate the infiltration time into deeper layers.
Remi Madelon, Nemesio J. Rodríguez-Fernández, Hassan Bazzi, Nicolas Baghdadi, Clement Albergel, Wouter Dorigo, and Mehrez Zribi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1221–1242, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1221-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present an approach to estimate soil moisture (SM) at 1 km resolution using Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 satellites. The estimates were compared to other high-resolution (HR) datasets over Europe, northern Africa, Australia, and North America, showing good agreement. However, the discrepancies between the different HR datasets and their lower performances compared with in situ measurements and coarse-resolution datasets show the remaining challenges for large-scale HR SM mapping.
Jinghua Xiong, Shenglian Guo, Abhishek, Jie Chen, and Jiabo Yin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6457–6476, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6457-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6457-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Although the "dry gets drier, and wet gets wetter (DDWW)" paradigm is prevalent in summarizing wetting and drying trends, we show that only 11.01 %–40.84 % of the global land confirms and 10.21 %–35.43 % contradicts the paradigm during 1985–2014 from a terrestrial water storage change perspective. Similar proportions that intensify with the increasing emission scenarios persist until the end of the 21st century. Findings benefit understanding of global hydrological responses to climate change.
Yuya Kageyama and Yohei Sawada
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4707–4720, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4707-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4707-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores the link between hydrometeorological droughts and their socioeconomic impact at a subnational scale based on the newly developed disaster dataset with subnational location information. Hydrometeorological drought-prone areas were generally consistent with socioeconomic drought-prone areas in the disaster dataset. Our analysis clarifies the importance of the use of subnational disaster information.
Vasaw Tripathi, Andreas Groh, Martin Horwath, and Raaj Ramsankaran
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4515–4535, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4515-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4515-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
GRACE/GRACE-FO provided global observations of water storage change since 2002. Scaling is a common approach to compensate for the spatial filtering inherent to the results. However, for complex hydrological basins, the compatibility of scaling with the characteristics of regional hydrology has been rarely assessed. We assess traditional scaling approaches and a new scaling approach for the Indus Basin. Our results will help users with regional focus understand implications of scaling choices.
Jiawei Hou, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Hylke E. Beck, Luigi J. Renzullo, and Yoshihide Wada
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3785–3803, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3785-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3785-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We used satellite imagery to measure monthly reservoir water volumes for 6695 reservoirs worldwide for 1984–2015. We investigated how changing precipitation, streamflow, evaporation, and human activity affected reservoir water storage. Almost half of the reservoirs showed significant increasing or decreasing trends over the past three decades. These changes are caused, first and foremost, by changes in precipitation rather than by changes in net evaporation or dam release patterns.
Robin van der Schalie, Mendy van der Vliet, Clément Albergel, Wouter Dorigo, Piotr Wolski, and Richard de Jeu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3611–3627, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3611-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3611-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Climate data records of surface soil moisture, vegetation optical depth, and land surface temperature can be derived from passive microwave observations. The ability of these datasets to properly detect anomalies and extremes is very valuable in climate research and can especially help to improve our insight in complex regions where the current climate reanalysis datasets reach their limitations. Here, we present a case study over the Okavango Delta, where we focus on inter-annual variability.
Paolo Filippucci, Luca Brocca, Raphael Quast, Luca Ciabatta, Carla Saltalippi, Wolfgang Wagner, and Angelica Tarpanelli
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2481–2497, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2481-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2481-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A high-resolution (1 km) rainfall product with 10–30 d temporal resolution was obtained starting from SM data from Sentinel-1. Good performances are achieved using observed data (gauge and radar) over the Po River Valley, Italy, as a benchmark. The comparison with a product characterized by lower spatial resolution (25 km) highlights areas where the high spatial resolution of Sentinel-1 has great benefits. Possible applications include water management, agriculture and index-based insurances.
Zhaofei Liu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4417–4433, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4417-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4417-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Instantaneous evapotranspiration (ET), which is detected by the remote sensing technique, needs to be upscaled to daily values in order to practical applications. The accuracy of seven upscaling methods is evaluated by using global observations. The sine function and the evaporative fraction method using extraterrestrial solar irradiance are recommended. Although every upscaling scheme has high accuracy at most sites, it is less accurate at tropical rainforest and tropical monsoon sites.
Hanqing Chen, Bin Yong, Pierre-Emmanuel Kirstetter, Leyang Wang, and Yang Hong
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3087–3104, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3087-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3087-2021, 2021
Alka Singh, John Thomas Reager, and Ali Behrangi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 511–526, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-511-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-511-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The study demonstrates the utility of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) terrestrial water storage anomalies (TWSAs) for obtaining statistics of hydrological droughts, i.e., recovery periods and required precipitation in different precipitation scenarios. The findings of this study are that the GRACE-based drought index is valid for estimating the required precipitation for drought recovery, and the period of drought recovery depends on the intensity of the precipitation.
Marloes Gutenstein, Karsten Fennig, Marc Schröder, Tim Trent, Stephan Bakan, J. Brent Roberts, and Franklin R. Robertson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 121–146, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-121-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-121-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The net exchange of water between the surface and atmosphere is mainly determined by the freshwater flux: the difference between evaporation (E) and precipitation (P), or E−P. Although there is consensus among modelers that with a warming climate E−P will increase, evidence from satellite data is still not conclusive, mainly due to sensor calibration issues. We here investigate the degree of correspondence among six recent
satellite-based climate data records and ERA5 reanalysis E−P data.
Xianfeng Liu, Xiaoming Feng, Philippe Ciais, and Bojie Fu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3663–3676, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3663-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3663-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Freshwater availability is crucial for sustainable development across the Asian and eastern European regions. Our results indicate widespread decline in terrestrial water storage (TWS) over the region during 2002–2017, primarily due to the intensive over-extraction of groundwater and warmth-induced surface water loss. The findings provide insights into changes in TWS and its components over the Asian and eastern European regions, where there is growing demand for food grains and water supplies.
Sujay V. Kumar, Thomas R. Holmes, Rajat Bindlish, Richard de Jeu, and Christa Peters-Lidard
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3431–3450, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3431-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3431-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Vegetation optical depth (VOD) is a byproduct of the soil moisture retrieval from passive microwave instruments. This study demonstrates that VOD information can be utilized for improving land surface water budget and carbon conditions through data assimilation.
Victor Pellet, Filipe Aires, Fabrice Papa, Simon Munier, and Bertrand Decharme
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3033–3055, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3033-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3033-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The water mass variation at and below the land surface is a major component of the water cycle that was first estimated using GRACE observations (2002–2017). Our analysis shows the advantages of the use of satellite observation for precipitation and evapotranspiration along with river discharge measurement to perform an indirect and coherent reconstruction of this water component estimate over longer time periods.
Joseph T. D. Lucey, John T. Reager, and Sonya R. Lopez
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1415–1427, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1415-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1415-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This work relates total water storage (TWS) and rainfall to surface water inundation (SWI) using NASA satellite data. We determine whether TWS and/or rainfall control global SWI developments. Regression methods and cross-correlations were used to relate the measurements and correct for time differences among peaks. Results show TWS and rainfall control most global SWI developments. To our knowledge, this is the first global study on SWI controls and validates previous findings.
Pierre Gentine, Adam Massmann, Benjamin R. Lintner, Sayed Hamed Alemohammad, Rong Fu, Julia K. Green, Daniel Kennedy, and Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 4171–4197, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4171-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4171-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Land–atmosphere interactions are key for the exchange of water, energy, and carbon dioxide, especially in the tropics. We here review some of the recent findings on land–atmosphere interactions in the tropics and where we see potential challenges and paths forward.
Serena Ceola, Francesco Laio, and Alberto Montanari
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3933–3944, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3933-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3933-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
A simple and effective index for the quantitative estimation of the evolution of human pressure on rivers at global scale is proposed. This index, based on nightlights and river discharge data, shows a significant increase from 1992 to 2013 worldwide. The most notable changes are found in river basins across Africa and Asia, where human pressure on rivers is growing markedly. This index identifies priority areas that can be targeted for the implementation of mitigation strategies and plans.
Heloisa Ehalt Macedo, Ralph Edward Beighley, Cédric H. David, and John T. Reager
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3269–3277, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3269-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3269-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The water stored under the surface is very important for defining the amount of water available for human and environmental applications; however, it is still a challenge to obtain such measurements. NASA's GRACE satellites provide information on total terrestrial water storage based on observations of gravity changes. Here, we relate GRACE data to streamflow measurements, providing estimations of the fraction of baseflow and total drainable storage for the Mississippi River basin.
Linlin Li, Andrew Skidmore, Anton Vrieling, and Tiejun Wang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3037–3056, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3037-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3037-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We derived an 8 d, 500 m resolution surface water fraction product over the Mediterranean region for 2000–2017 based on MODIS data. This dataset complements existing surface water/wetland datasets by adding more temporal detail. It allows for the seasonal, inter-annual, and long-term dynamics of the surface water extent to be monitored, inclusive of small-sized and highly dynamic water bodies; it can also contribute to biodiversity and climate change assessment.
Siyuan Tian, Luigi J. Renzullo, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Paul Tregoning, and Jeffrey P. Walker
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1067–1081, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1067-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1067-2019, 2019
Jiawei Hou, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Luigi J. Renzullo, and Robert A. Vertessy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 6435–6448, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6435-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6435-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite-based river gauging can be constructed based on remote-sensing-derived surface water extent and modelled discharge, and used to estimate river discharges with satellite observations only. This provides opportunities for monitoring river discharge in the absence of a real-time hydrological model or gauging stations.
Seyed Hamed Alemohammad, Jana Kolassa, Catherine Prigent, Filipe Aires, and Pierre Gentine
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5341–5356, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5341-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5341-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A new machine learning algorithm is developed to downscale satellite-based soil moisture estimates from their native spatial scale of 9 km to 2.25 km.
Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Jaap Schellekens, Marta Yebra, Hylke E. Beck, Luigi J. Renzullo, Albrecht Weerts, and Gennadii Donchyts
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4959–4980, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4959-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4959-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Evaporation from wetlands, lakes and irrigation areas needs to be measured to understand water scarcity. So far, this has only been possible for small regions. Here, we develop a solution that can be applied at a very high resolution globally by making use of satellite observations. Our results show that 16% of global water resources evaporate before reaching the ocean, mostly from surface water. Irrigation water use is less than 1% globally but is a very large water user in several dry basins.
Carlos Jiménez, Brecht Martens, Diego M. Miralles, Joshua B. Fisher, Hylke E. Beck, and Diego Fernández-Prieto
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4513–4533, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4513-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4513-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Observing the amount of water evaporated in nature is not easy, and we need to combine accurate local measurements with estimates from satellites, more uncertain but covering larger areas. This is the main topic of our paper, in which local observations are compared with global land evaporation estimates, followed by a weighting of the global observations based on this comparison to attempt derive a more accurate evaporation product.
Simon Zwieback, Andreas Colliander, Michael H. Cosh, José Martínez-Fernández, Heather McNairn, Patrick J. Starks, Marc Thibeault, and Aaron Berg
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4473–4489, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4473-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4473-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite soil moisture products can provide critical information on incipient droughts and the interplay between vegetation and water availability. However, time-variant systematic errors in the soil moisture products may impede their usefulness. Using a novel statistical approach, we detect such errors (associated with changing vegetation) in the SMAP soil moisture product. The vegetation-associated biases impede drought detection and the quantification of vegetation–water interactions.
Ben T. Gouweleeuw, Andreas Kvas, Christian Gruber, Animesh K. Gain, Thorsten Mayer-Gürr, Frank Flechtner, and Andreas Güntner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2867–2880, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2867-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2867-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Daily GRACE gravity field solutions have been evaluated against daily river runoff data for major flood events in the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta in 2004 and 2007. Compared to the monthly gravity field solutions, the trends over periods of a few days in the daily gravity field solutions are able to reflect temporal variations in river runoff during major flood events. This implies that daily gravity field solutions released in near-real time may support flood monitoring for large events.
Peter J. Shellito, Eric E. Small, and Ben Livneh
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1649–1663, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1649-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1649-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
After soil gets wet, much of the surface moisture evaporates directly back into the air. Recent satellite data show that this process is enhanced when there is more water in the soil, less humidity in the air, and less vegetation covering the ground. A widely used model shows similar effects of soil water and humidity, but it largely misses the role of vegetation and assigns outsized importance to soil type. These results are encouraging evidence that the satellite can be used to improve models.
Cassandra Normandin, Frédéric Frappart, Bertrand Lubac, Simon Bélanger, Vincent Marieu, Fabien Blarel, Arthur Robinet, and Léa Guiastrennec-Faugas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1543–1561, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1543-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1543-2018, 2018
Thomas R. H. Holmes, Christopher R. Hain, Wade T. Crow, Martha C. Anderson, and William P. Kustas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1351–1369, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1351-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1351-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In an effort to apply cloud-tolerant microwave data to satellite-based monitoring of evapotranspiration (ET), this study reports on an experiment where microwave-based land surface temperature is used as the key diagnostic input to a two-source energy balance method for the estimation of ET. Comparisons of this microwave ET with the conventional thermal infrared estimates show widespread agreement in spatial and temporal patterns from seasonal to inter-annual timescales over Africa and Europe.
Jonas Meier, Florian Zabel, and Wolfram Mauser
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1119–1133, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1119-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1119-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The following study extends existing irrigation maps based on official reports. The main idea was to extend the reported irrigated areas using agricultural suitability data and compare them with remote sensing information about plant conditions. The analysis indicates an increase in irrigated land by 18 % compared to the reported statistics. The additional areas are mainly identified within already known irrigated regions where irrigation is more dense than previously estimated.
Matthew F. McCabe, Matthew Rodell, Douglas E. Alsdorf, Diego G. Miralles, Remko Uijlenhoet, Wolfgang Wagner, Arko Lucieer, Rasmus Houborg, Niko E. C. Verhoest, Trenton E. Franz, Jiancheng Shi, Huilin Gao, and Eric F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3879–3914, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3879-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3879-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We examine the opportunities and challenges that technological advances in Earth observation will present to the hydrological community. From advanced space-based sensors to unmanned aerial vehicles and ground-based distributed networks, these emergent systems are set to revolutionize our understanding and interpretation of hydrological and related processes.
Liangjing Zhang, Henryk Dobslaw, Tobias Stacke, Andreas Güntner, Robert Dill, and Maik Thomas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 821–837, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-821-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-821-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Global numerical models perform differently, as has been found in some model intercomparison studies, which mainly focused on components like evapotranspiration, soil moisture or runoff. We have applied terrestrial water storage that is estimated from a GRACE-based state-of-art post-processing method to validate four global numerical models and try to identify the advantages and deficiencies of a certain model. GRACE-based TWS demonstrates its additional benefits to improve the models in future.
Hylke E. Beck, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Vincenzo Levizzani, Jaap Schellekens, Diego G. Miralles, Brecht Martens, and Ad de Roo
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 589–615, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-589-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-589-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
MSWEP (Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation) is a new global terrestrial precipitation dataset with a high 3-hourly temporal and 0.25° spatial resolution. The dataset is unique in that it takes advantage of a wide range of data sources, including gauge, satellite, and reanalysis data, to obtain the best possible precipitation estimates at global scale. The dataset outperforms existing gauge-adjusted precipitation datasets.
Oliver López, Rasmus Houborg, and Matthew Francis McCabe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 323–343, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-323-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-323-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The study evaluated the spatial and temporal consistency of satellite-based hydrological products based on the water budget equation, including three global evaporation products. The products were spatially matched using spherical harmonics analysis. The results highlighted the difficulty in obtaining agreement between independent satellite products, even over regions with simple water budgets. However, imposing a time lag on water storage data improved results considerably.
Thomas R. H. Holmes, Christopher R. Hain, Martha C. Anderson, and Wade T. Crow
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3263–3275, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3263-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3263-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We test the cloud tolerance of two technologies to estimate land surface temperature (LST) from space: microwave (MW) and thermal infrared (TIR). Although TIR has slightly lower errors than MW with ground data under clear-sky conditions, it suffers increasing negative bias as cloud cover increases. In contrast, we find no direct impact of clouds on the accuracy and bias of MW-LST. MW-LST can therefore be used to improve TIR cloud screening and increase sampling in clouded regions.
Zhi Li, Yaning Chen, Yang Wang, and Gonghuan Fang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2169–2178, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2169-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2169-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Global net primary production (NPP) slightly increased in 2000–2014. More than 64 % of vegetated land in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) showed increased NPP, while 60.3 % in Southern Hemisphere (SH) showed a decreasing trend. Vegetation greening and climate change promote rises of global evapotranspiration (ET). The increased rate of ET in the NH is faster than that in the SH. Meanwhile, global warming and vegetation greening accelerate evaporation in soil moisture. Continuation of these trends will likely exacerbate the risk of ecological drought.
M. Boudou, B. Danière, and M. Lang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 161–173, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-161-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-161-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents an appraisal of flood vulnerability of two French cities, Besançon and Moissac, which have been largely impacted by two ancient major floods (resp. in January 1910 and March 1930). An analysis of historical sources allows the mapping of land use and occupation within the flood extent of the two historical floods, both in past and present contexts. It gives an insight into the complexity of flood risk evolution, at a local scale.
S. Kotsuki and K. Tanaka
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 4441–4461, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-4441-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-4441-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
This study aims to develop a new global data set of a satellite-derived crop calendar (SACRA) and to reveal its advantages and disadvantages compared to other global products. The cultivation period of SACRA is identified from the time series of NDVI; therefore, SACRA considers current effects of human decisions and natural disasters. The difference between the estimated sowing dates and other existing products is less than 2 months (< 62 days) in most areas.
S. Siebert, M. Kummu, M. Porkka, P. Döll, N. Ramankutty, and B. R. Scanlon
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1521–1545, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1521-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1521-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We developed the historical irrigation data set (HID) depicting the spatio-temporal development of the area equipped for irrigation (AEI) between 1900 and 2005 at 5arcmin resolution.
The HID reflects very well the spatial patterns of irrigated land as shown on two historical maps for 1910 and 1960.
Global AEI increased from 63 million ha (Mha) in 1900 to 111 Mha in 1950 and 306 Mha in 2005. Mean aridity on irrigated land increased and mean natural river discharge decreased from 1900 to 1950.
B. Revilla-Romero, J. Thielen, P. Salamon, T. De Groeve, and G. R. Brakenridge
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 4467–4484, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4467-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4467-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
One of the main challenges in global hydrological modelling is the limited availability of observational data for calibration and model verification. The aim of this study is to test the potentials and constraints of the remote sensing signal of the Global Flood Detection System (GFDS) for converting the flood detection signal into river discharge values. This work also provides a first analysis of the local factors influencing the accuracy of discharge measurement as provided by this system.
T. R. H. Holmes, W. T. Crow, and C. Hain
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3695–3706, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3695-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3695-2013, 2013
A. Loew, T. Stacke, W. Dorigo, R. de Jeu, and S. Hagemann
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3523–3542, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3523-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3523-2013, 2013
Cited articles
Alfieri, L., Claps, P., D'Odorico, P., Laio, F., and Over, T. M.: An analysis of the soil moisture feedback on convective and stratiform precipitation, J. Hydrometeorol., 9, 280–291, https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JHM863.1, 2008.
Berg, A., Lintner, B. R., Findell, K., Seneviratne, S. I., van den Hurk, B., Ducharne, A., Chéruy, F., Hagemann, S., Lawrence, D. M., Malyshev, S., Meier, A., and Gentine, P.: Interannual Coupling between Summertime Surface Temperature and Precipitation over Land: Processes and Implications for Climate Change, J. Climate, 28, 1308–1328, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00324.1, 2015.
Betts, A. K.: Land-surface–atmosphere coupling in observations and models, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 1, 4, https://doi.org/10.3894/JAMES.2009.1.4, 2009.
Betts, A. K., Desjardins, R., Worth, D., and Beckage, B.: Climate coupling between temperature, humidity, precipitation, and cloud cover over the Canadian Prairies, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 13305–13326, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022511, 2014.
Chen, Y., Velicogna, I., Famiglietti, J. S., and Randerson, J. T.: Satellite observations of terrestrial water storage provide early warning information about drought and fire season severity in the Amazon, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 118, 495–504, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrg.20046, 2013.
Chen, Y., Morton, D. C., Andela, N., Giglio, L., and Randerson, J. T.: How much global burned area can be forecast on seasonal time scales using sea surface temperatures?, Environ. Res. Lett., 11, 45001, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/045001, 2016.
Cheruy, F., Campoy, A., Dupont, J.-C., Ducharne, A., Hourdin, F., Haeffelin, M., Chiriaco, M., and Idelkadi, A.: Combined influence of atmospheric physics and soil hydrology on the simulated meteorology at the SIRTA atmospheric observatory, Clim. Dynam., 40, 2251–2269, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1469-y, 2013.
Cheruy, F., Dufresne, J. L., Hourdin, F., and Ducharne, A.: Role of clouds and land–atmosphere coupling in midlatitude continental summer warm biases and climate change amplification in CMIP5 simulations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 6493–6500, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL061145, 2014.
Cohen, J. and Barlow, M.: The NAO, the AO, and global warming: how closely related?, J. Climate, 18, 4498–4513, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3530.1, 2005.
Dai, A.: Precipitation characteristics in eighteen coupled climate models, J. Climate, 19, 4605–4630, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3884.1, 2006.
Dee, D. P., Uppala, S. M., Simmons, A. J., Berrisford, P., Poli, P., Kobayashi, S., Andrae, U., Balmaseda, M. A., Balsamo, G., Bauer, P., Bechtold, P., Beljaars, A. C. M., van de Berg, L., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N., Delsol, C., Dragani, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, A. J., Haimberger, L., Healy, S. B., Hersbach, H., Hólm, E. V., Isaksen, L., Kållberg, P., Köhler, M., Matricardi, M., McNally, A. P., Monge-Sanz, B. M., Morcrette, J.-J., Park, B.-K., Peubey, C., de Rosnay, P., Tavolato, C., Thépaut, J.-N., and Vitart, F.: The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 137, 553–597, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828, 2011.
Dirmeyer, P. A., Koster, R. D., and Guo, Z.: Do global models properly represent the feedback between land and atmosphere?, J. Hydrometeorol., 7, 1177–1198, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM532.1, 2006a.
Dirmeyer, P. A., Gao, X., Zhao, M., Guo, Z., Oki, T., and Hanasaki, N.: GSWP-2: Multimodel Analysis and Implications for Our Perception of the Land Surface, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 87, 1381–1397, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-87-10-1381, 2006b.
Dirmeyer, P. A., Jin, Y., Singh, B., and Yan, X.: Trends in Land–Atmosphere Interactions from CMIP5 Simulations, J. Hydrometeorol., 14, 829–849, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-12-0107.1, 2013.
Dufresne, J.-L., Foujols, M.-A., Denvil, S., Caubel, A., Marti, O., Aumont, O., Balkanski, Y., Bekki, S., Bellenger, H., Benshila, R., Bony, S., Bopp, L., Braconnot, P., Brockmann, P., Cadule, P., Cheruy, F., Codron, F., Cozic, A., Cugnet, D., Noblet, N., Duvel, J.-P., Ethé, C., Fairhead, L., Fichefet, T., Flavoni, S., Friedlingstein, P., Grandpeix, J.-Y., Guez, L., Guilyardi, E., Hauglustaine, D., Hourdin, F., Idelkadi, A., Ghattas, J., Joussaume, S., Kageyama, M., Krinner, G., Labetoulle, S., Lahellec, A., Lefebvre, M.-P., Lefevre, F., Levy, C., Li, Z. X., Lloyd, J., Lott, F., Madec, G., Mancip, M., Marchand, M., Masson, S., Meurdesoif, Y., Mignot, J., Musat, I., Parouty, S., Polcher, J., Rio, C., Schulz, M., Swingedouw, D., Szopa, S., Talandier, C., Terray, P., Viovy, N., and Vuichard, N.: Climate change projections using the IPSL-CM5 Earth System Model: from CMIP3 to CMIP5, Clim. Dynam., 40, 2123–2165, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1636-1, 2013.
Dunne, J. P., John, J. G., Adcroft, A. J., Griffies, S. M., Hallberg, R. W., Shevliakova, E., Stouffer, R. J., Cooke, W., Dunne, K. A., Harrison, M. J., Krasting, J. P., Malyshev, S. L., Milly, P. C. D., Phillipps, P. J., Sentman, L. T., Samuels, B. L., Spelman, M. J., Winton, M., Wittenberg, A. T., and Zadeh, N.: GFDL's ESM2 global coupled climate–carbon earth system models. Part I: Physical formulation and baseline simulation characteristics, J. Climate, 25, 6646–6665, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00560.1, 2012.
Eltahir, E. A. B.: A soil moisture–rainfall feedback mechanism: 1. Theory and observations, Water Resour. Res., 34, 765–776, https://doi.org/10.1029/97WR03499, 1998.
Ferguson, C. R., Wood, E. F., and Vinukollu, R. K.: A global intercomparison of modeled and observed land–atmosphere coupling, J. Hydrometeorol., 13, 749–784, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-11-0119.1, 2012.
Findell, K. L. and Eltahir, E. A. B.: An analysis of the soil moisture–rainfall feedback, based on direct observations from Illinois, Water Resour. Res., 33, 725–735, https://doi.org/10.1029/96WR03756, 1997.
Findell, K. L. and Eltahir, E. A. B.: Atmospheric controls on soil moisture–boundary layer interactions. Part I: Framework development, J. Hydrometeorol., 4, 552–569, https://doi.org/10.1175/1525-7541(2003)004<0552:ACOSML>2.0.CO;2, 2003.
Findell, K. L., Gentine, P., Lintner, B. R., and Kerr, C.: Probability of afternoon precipitation in eastern United States and Mexico enhanced by high evaporation, Nat. Geosci., 4, 434–439, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1174, 2011.
Findell, K. L., Gentine, P., Lintner, B. R., and Guillod, B. P.: Data length requirements for observational estimates of land–atmosphere coupling strength, J. Hydrometeorol., 16, 1615–1635, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-14-0131.1, 2015.
Flechtner, F., Morton, P., Watkins, M., and Webb, F.: Status of the GRACE Follow-On Mission, in: Gravity, Geoid and Height Systems, Proceedings of the IAG Symposium, edited by: Marti, U., Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, 117–121, 2014.
Guillod, B. P., Orlowsky, B., Miralles, D., Teuling, A. J., Blanken, P. D., Buchmann, N., Ciais, P., Ek, M., Findell, K. L., Gentine, P., Lintner, B. R., Scott, R. L., den Hurk, B., and Seneviratne, S.: Land-surface controls on afternoon precipitation diagnosed from observational data: uncertainties and confounding factors, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8343–8367, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8343-2014, 2014.
Guillod, B. P., Orlowsky, B., Miralles, D. G., Teuling, A. J., and Seneviratne, S. I.: Reconciling spatial and temporal soil moisture effects on afternoon rainfall, Nat. Commun., 6, 6443, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7443, 2015.
Guo, Z. and Dirmeyer, P. A.: Interannual variability of land–atmosphere coupling strength, J. Hydrometeorol., 14, 1636–1646, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-12-0171.1, 2013.
Guo, Z., Dirmeyer, P. A., Koster, R. D., Sud, Y. C., Bonan, G., Oleson, K. W., Chan, E., Verseghy, D., Cox, P., Gordon, C. T., McGregor, J. L., Kanae, S., Kowalczyk, E., Lawrence, D., Liu, P., Mocko, D., Lu, C.-H., Mitchell, K., Malyshev, S., McAvaney, B., Oki, T., Yamada, T., Pitman, A., Taylor, C. M., Vasic, R., and Xue, Y.: GLACE: The Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment. Part II: Analysis, J. Hydrometeorol., 7, 611–625, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM511.1, 2006.
Harper, A., Baker, I. T., Denning, A. S., Randall, D. A., Dazlich, D., and Branson, M.: Impact of evapotranspiration on dry season climate in the Amazon forest, J. Climate, 27, 574–591, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00074.1, 2013.
Hilker, T., Lyapustin, A. I., Tucker, C. J., Hall, F. G., Myneni, R. B., Wang, Y., Bi, J., de Moura, Y., and Sellers, P. J.: Vegetation dynamics and rainfall sensitivity of the Amazon, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 111, 16041–16046, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1404870111, 2014.
Hirschi, M., Seneviratne, S. I., Alexandrov, V., Boberg, F., Boroneant, C., Christensen, O. B., Formayer, H., Orlowsky, B., and Stepanek, P.: Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in southeastern Europe, Nat. Geosci., 4, 17–21, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1032, 2011.
Hirschi, M., Mueller, B., Dorigo, W., and Seneviratne, S. I.: Using remotely sensed soil moisture for land–atmosphere coupling diagnostics: The role of surface vs. root-zone soil moisture variability, Remote Sens. Environ., 154, 246–252, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2014.08.030, 2014.
Hohenegger, C., Brockhaus, P., Bretherton, C. S., and Schär, C.: The soil moisture–precipitation feedback in simulations with explicit and parameterized convection, J. Climate, 22, 5003–5020, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI2604.1, 2009.
Hourdin, F., Foujols, M.-A., Codron, F., Guemas, V., Dufresne, J.-L., Bony, S., Denvil, S., Guez, L., Lott, F., Ghattas, J., Braconnot, P., Marti, O., Meurdesoif, Y., and Bopp, L.: Impact of the LMDZ atmospheric grid configuration on the climate and sensitivity of the IPSL-CM5A coupled model, Clim. Dynam., 40, 2167–2192, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1411-3, 2013.
Huffman, G. J., Adler, R. F., Bolvin, D. T., and Gu, G.: Improving the global precipitation record: GPCP Version 2.1, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L17808, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL040000, 2009.
Hung, M.-P., Lin, J.-L., Wang, W., Kim, D., Shinoda, T., and Weaver, S. J..: MJO and convectively coupled equatorial waves simulated by CMIP5 climate models, J. Climate, 26, 6185–6214, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00541.1, 2013.
Kay, J. E., Deser, C., Phillips, A., Mai, A., Hannay, C., Strand, G., Arblaster, J. M., Bates, S. C., Danabasoglu, G., Edwards, J., Holland, M., Kushner, P., Lamarque, J.-F., Lawrence, D., Lindsay, K., Middleton, A., Munoz, E., Neale, R., Oleson, K., Polvani, L., and Vertenstein, M.: The Community Earth System Model (CESM) Large Ensemble project: A community resource for studying climate change in the presence of internal climate variability, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 96, 1333–1349, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00255.1, 2014.
Kim, H., Yeh, P. J.-F., Oki, T., and Kanae, S.: Role of rivers in the seasonal variations of terrestrial water storage over global basins, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L17402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL039006, 2009.
Kooperman, G. J., Pritchard, M. S., Burt, M. A., Branson, M. D., and Randall, D. A.: Robust effects of cloud superparameterization on simulated daily rainfall intensity statistics across multiple versions of the Community Earth System Model, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 8, 140–165, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015MS000574, 2016.
Koster, R. D., Dirmeyer, P. A., Guo, Z., Bonan, G., Chan, E., Cox, P., Gordon, C. T., Kanae, S., Kowalczyk, E., Lawrence, D., Liu, P., Lu, C.-H., Malyshev, S., McAvaney, B., Mitchell, K., Mocko, D., Oki, T., Oleson, K., Pitman, A., Sud, Y. C., Taylor, C. M., Verseghy, D., Vasic, R., Xue, Y., and Yamada, T.: Regions of strong coupling between soil moisture and precipitation, Science, 305, 1138–1140, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1100217, 2004.
Koster, R. D., Sud, Y. C., Guo, Z., Dirmeyer, P. A., Bonan, G., Oleson, K. W., Chan, E., Verseghy, D., Cox, P., Davies, H., Kowalczyk, E., Gordon, C. T., Kanae, S., Lawrence, D., Liu, P., Mocko, D., Lu, C.-H., Mitchell, K., Malyshev, S., McAvaney, B., Oki, T., Yamada, T., Pitman, A., Taylor, C. M., Vasic, R., and Xue, Y.: GLACE: The Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment. Part I: Overview, J. Hydrometeorol., 7, 590–610, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM510.1, 2006.
Koster, R. D., Mahanama, S. P. P., Yamada, T. J., Balsamo, G., Berg, A. A., Boisserie, M., Dirmeyer, P. A., Doblas-Reyes, F. J., Drewitt, G., Gordon, C. T., Guo, Z., Jeong, J.-H., Lawrence, D. M., Lee, W.-S., Li, Z., Luo, L., Malyshev, S., Merryfield, W. J., Seneviratne, S. I., Stanelle, T., van den Hurk, B. J. J. M., Vitart, F., and Wood, E. F.: Contribution of land surface initialization to subseasonal forecast skill: First results from a multi-model experiment, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L02402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL041677, 2010.
Koster, R. D., Mahanama, S. P. P., Yamada, T. J., Balsamo, G., Berg, A. A., Boisserie, M., Dirmeyer, P. A., Doblas-Reyes, F. J., Drewitt, G., Gordon, C. T., Guo, Z., Jeong, J.-H., Lee, W.-S., Li, Z., Luo, L., Malyshev, S., Merryfield, W. J., Seneviratne, S. I., Stanelle, T., van den Hurk, B. J. J. M., Vitart, F., and Wood, E. F.: The second phase of the Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment: Soil moisture contributions to subseasonal forecast skill, J. Hydrometeorol., 12, 805–822, https://doi.org/10.1175/2011JHM1365.1, 2011.
Landerer, F. W. and Swenson, S. C.: Accuracy of scaled GRACE terrestrial water storage estimates, Water Resour. Res., 48, W04531, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR011453, 2012.
Lawrence, D. M., Oleson, K. W., Flanner, M. G., Thornton, P. E., Swenson, S. C., Lawrence, P. J., Zeng, X., Yang, Z.-L., Levis, S., Sakaguchi, K., Bonan, G. B., and Slater, A. G.: Parameterization improvements and functional and structural advances in Version 4 of the Community Land Model, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 3, M03001, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011MS00045, 2011.
Lawrence, M. G.: The relationship between relative humidity and the dewpoint temperature in moist air: A simple conversion and applications, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 86, 225–233, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-86-2-225, 2005.
Lee, J. E., Oliveira, R. S., Dawson, T. E., and Fung, I.: Root functioning modifies seasonal climate, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 102, 17576–17581, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0508785102, 2005.
Lindsay, K., Bonan, G. B., Doney, S. C., Hoffman, F. M., Lawrence, D. M., Long, M. C., Mahowald, N. M., Keith Moore, J., Randerson, J. T., and Thornton, P. E.: Preindustrial-control and twentieth-century carbon cycle experiments with the earth system model CESM1(BGC), J. Climate, 27, 8981–9005, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00565.1, 2014.
Loeb, N. G., Wielicki, B. A., Doelling, D. R., Smith, G. L., Keyes, D. F., Kato, S., Manalo-Smith, N., and Wong, T.: Toward optimal closure of the Earth's top-of-atmosphere radiation budget, J. Climate, 22, 748–766, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JCLI2637.1, 2009.
Lorenz, R. and Pitman, A. J.: Effect of land–atmosphere coupling strength on impacts from Amazonian deforestation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 5987–5995, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL061017, 2014.
May, W., Meier, A., Rummukainen, M., Berg, A., Chéruy, F., and Hagemann, S.: Contributions of soil moisture interactions to climate change in the tropics in the GLACE–CMIP5 experiment, Clim. Dynam., 45, 1–23, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2538-9, 2015.
Mecklenburg, S., Drusch, M., Kerr, Y. H., Font, J., Martin-Neira, M., Delwart, S., Buenadicha, G., Reul, N., Daganzo-Eusebio, E., Oliva, R., and Crapolicchio, R.: ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Mission: Mission performance and operations, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 50, 1354–1366, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2012.2187666, 2012.
Medlyn, B. E., Duursma, R. A., Eamus, D., Ellsworth, D. S., Prentice, I. C., Barton, C. V. M., Crous, K. Y., De Angelis, P., Freeman, M., and Wingate, L.: Reconciling the optimal and empirical approaches to modelling stomatal conductance, Global Change Biol., 17, 2134–2144, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02375.x, 2011.
Meehl, G. A., Washington, W. M., Arblaster, J. M., Hu, A., Teng, H., Kay, J. E., Gettelman, A., Lawrence, D. M., Sanderson, B. M., and Strand, W. G.: Climate change projections in CESM1(CAM5) compared to CCSM4, J. Climate, 26, 6287–6308, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00572.1, 2013.
Mei, R. and Wang, G.: Impact of sea surface temperature and soil moisture on summer precipitation in the United States based on observational data, J. Hydrometeorol., 12, 1086–1099, https://doi.org/10.1175/2011JHM1312.1, 2011.
Mei, R. and Wang, G.: Summer land–atmosphere coupling strength in the United States: Comparison among observations, reanalysis data, and numerical models, J. Hydrometeorol., 13, 1010–1022, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-11-075.1, 2012.
Miralles, D. G., van den Berg, M. J., Teuling, A. J., and de Jeu, R. A. M.: Soil moisture–temperature coupling: A multiscale observational analysis, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L21707, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL053703, 2012.
Miralles, D. G., Teuling, A. J., van Heerwaarden, C. C., and de Arellano, J.: Mega-heatwave temperatures due to combined soil desiccation and atmospheric heat accumulation, Nat. Geosci., 7, 345–349, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2141, 2014.
Mueller, B., and Seneviratne, S. I.: Systematic land climate and evapotranspiration biases in CMIP5 simulations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 128–134, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058055, 2014.
Neale, R. B., Richter, J., Park, S., Lauritzen, P. H., Vavrus, S. J., Rasch, P. J., and Zhang, M.: The mean climate of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM4) in forced SST and fully coupled experiments, J. Climate, 26, 5150–5168, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00236.1, 2013.
Notaro, M.: Statistical identification of global hot spots in soil moisture feedbacks among IPCC AR4 models, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 113, D09101, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009199, 2008.
Orlowsky, B. and Seneviratne, S. I.: Statistical analyses of land–atmosphere feedbacks and their possible pitfalls, J. Climate, 23, 3918–3932, https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3366.1, 2010.
Panciera, R., Walker, J. P., Jackson, T. J., Gray, D. A., Tanase, M. A., Ryu, D., Monerris, A., Yardley, H., Rudiger, C., Wu, X., Gao, Y., and Hacker, J. M.: The Soil Moisture Active Passive Experiments (SMAPEx): Toward soil moisture retrieval from the SMAP mission, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 52, 490–507, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2013.2241774, 2014.
Phillips, T. J. and Klein, S. A.: Land–atmosphere coupling manifested in warm-season observations on the U.S. southern great plains, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 509–528, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020492, 2014.
Rodell, M., Houser, P. R., Jambor, U., Gottschalck, J., Mitchell, K., Meng, C.-J., Arsenault, K., Cosgrove, B., Radakovich, J., Bosilovich, M., Entin, J. K., Walker, J. P., Lohmann, D., and Toll, D.: The Global Land Data Assimilation System, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 85, 381–394, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-85-3-381, 2004.
Santanello, J. A., Peters-Lidard, C. D., Kumar, S. V, Alonge, C., and Tao, W.-K.: A modeling and observational framework for diagnosing local land–atmosphere coupling on diurnal time scales, J. Hydrometeorol., 10, 577–599, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JHM1066.1, 2009.
Seneviratne, S. I., Luthi, D., Litschi, M., and Schar, C.: Land–atmosphere coupling and climate change in Europe, Nature, 443, 205–209, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05095, 2006.
Seneviratne, S. I., Corti, T., Davin, E. L., Hirschi, M., Jaeger, E. B., Lehner, I., Orlowsky, B., and Teuling, A. J.: Investigating soil moisture–climate interactions in a changing climate: A review, Earth-Sci. Rev., 99, 125–161, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.02.004, 2010.
Seneviratne, S. I., Wilhelm, M., Stanelle, T., van den Hurk, B., Hagemann, S., Berg, A., Cheruy, F., Higgins, M. E., Meier, A., Brovkin, V., Claussen, M., Ducharne, A., Dufresne, J.-L., Findell, K. L., Ghattas, J., Lawrence, D. M., Malyshev, S., Rummukainen, M., and Smith, B.: Impact of soil moisture–climate feedbacks on CMIP5 projections: First results from the GLACE–CMIP5 experiment, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 5212–5217, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50956, 2013.
Shevliakova, E., Pacala, S. W., Malyshev, S., Hurtt, G. C., Milly, P. C. D., Caspersen, J. P., Sentman, L. T., Fisk, J. P., Wirth, C., and Crevoisier, C.: Carbon cycling under 300 years of land use change: Importance of the secondary vegetation sink, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 23, GB2022, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GB003176, 2009.
Susskind, J., Blaisdell, J. M., and Iredell, L.: Improved methodology for surface and atmospheric soundings, error estimates, and quality control procedures: the atmospheric infrared sounder science team version-6 retrieval algorithm, J. Appl. Remote Sens., 8, 84994, https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.8.084994, 2014.
Swann, A. L., Hoffman, F. M., Koven, C. D., and Randerson, J. T.: Plant responses to increasing CO2 reduce estimates of climate impacts on drought severity, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 113, 10019–10024, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1604581113, 2016.
Swenson, S. C.: Grace monthly land water mass grids NETCDF release 5.0. Ver. 5.0, Datasets, PO.DAAC, CA, USA, https://doi.org/10.5067/TELND-NC005, 2012.
Swenson, S. C. and Lawrence, D. M.: Assessing a dry surface layer-based soil resistance parameterization for the Community Land Model using GRACE and FLUXNET-MTE data, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 10299–10312, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022314, 2014.
Swenson, S. C. and Lawrence, D. M.: A GRACE-based assessment of interannual groundwater dynamics in the Community Land Model, Water Resour. Res., 51, 8817–8833, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR017582, 2015.
Taylor, C. M., de Jeu, R. A. M., Guichard, F., Harris, P. P., and Dorigo, W. A.: Afternoon rain more likely over drier soils, Nature, 489, 423–426, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11377, 2012.
Taylor, C. M., Birch, C. E., Parker, D. J., Dixon, N., Guichard, F., Nikulin, G., and Lister, G. M. S.: Modeling soil moisture–precipitation feedback in the Sahel: Importance of spatial scale versus convective parameterization, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 6213–6218, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058511, 2013.
Teixeira, J., Waliser, D., Ferraro, R., Gleckler, P., Lee, T., and Potter, G.: Satellite observations for CMIP5: The genesis of Obs4MIPs, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 95, 1329–1334, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00204.1, 2014.
Wahr, J., Swenson, S., Zlotnicki, V., and Velicogna, I.: Time-variable gravity from GRACE: First results, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L11501, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019779, 2004.
Wei, J., Dickinson, R. E., and Chen, H.: A negative soil moisture–precipitation relationship and its causes, J. Hydrometeorol., 9, 1364–1376, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JHM955.1, 2008.
Whan, K., Zscheischler, J., Orth, R., Shongwe, M., Rahimi, M., Asare, E. O., and Seneviratne, S. I.: Impact of soil moisture on extreme maximum temperatures in Europe, Weather Clim. Extrem., 9, 57–67, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2015.05.001, 2015.
Zeng, X., Barlage, M., Castro, C., and Fling, K.: Comparison of land–precipitation coupling strength using observations and models, J. Hydrometeorol., 11, 979–994, https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JHM1226.1, 2010.
Short summary
We demonstrate a new approach to assess the strength of feedbacks resulting from land–atmosphere coupling on decadal timescales. Our approach was tailored to enable evaluation of Earth system models (ESMs) using data from Earth observation satellites that measure terrestrial water storage anomalies and relevant atmospheric variables. Our results are consistent with previous work demonstrating that ESMs may be overestimating the strength of land surface feedbacks compared with observations.
We demonstrate a new approach to assess the strength of feedbacks resulting from land–atmosphere...
