Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
HESS
Articles | Volume 22, issue 3
Articles | Volume 22, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1649-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1649-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 22, issue 3
Research article
 | 
06 Mar 2018
Research article |  | 06 Mar 2018

Controls on surface soil drying rates observed by SMAP and simulated by the Noah land surface model

Peter J. Shellito, Eric E. Small, and Ben Livneh

Data sets

SMAP Enhanced L3 Radiometer Global Daily 9 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture Version 1 P. E. O'Neill, S. Chan, E. G. Njoku, T. Jackson, and R. Bindlish https://doi.org/10.5067/ZRO7EXJ8O3XI

MOD13A2 MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 1 km SIN Grid V006, K. Didan https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13A2.006

NLDAS Noah Land Surface Model L4 Hourly 0.125 x 0.125 degree V002 Y. Xia, K. Mitchell, M. Ek, J. Sheffield, B. Cosgrove, E. Wood, L. Luo, C.,Alonge, H. Wei, J. Meng, B. Livneh, D. Lettenmaier, V. Koren, Q. Duan, K. Mo, Y. Fan, and D. Mocko https://doi.org/10.5067/47Z13FNQODKV

NLDAS Primary Forcing Data L4 Hourly 0.125 × 0.125 degree V002 Y. Xia, K. Mitchell, M. Ek, J. Sheffield, B. Cosgrove, E. Wood, L. Luo, C. Alonge, H. Wei, J. Meng, B. Livneh, D. Lettenmaier, V. Koren, Q. Duan, K. Mo, Y. Fan, and D. Mocko https://doi.org/10.5067/6J5LHHOHZHN4

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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.
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