Articles | Volume 24, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-615-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-615-2020
Research article
 | 
13 Feb 2020
Research article |  | 13 Feb 2020

Dual state/rainfall correction via soil moisture assimilation for improved streamflow simulation: evaluation of a large-scale implementation with Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite data

Yixin Mao, Wade T. Crow, and Bart Nijssen

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Cited articles

Alvarez-Garreton, C., Ryu, D., Western, A. W., Crow, W. T., and Robertson, D. E.: The impacts of assimilating satellite soil moisture into a rainfall-runoff model in a semi-arid catchment, J. Hydrol., 519, 2763–2774, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.07.041, 2014. 
Alvarez-Garreton, C., Ryu, D., Western, A. W., Crow, W. T., Su, C.-H., and Robertson, D. R.: Dual assimilation of satellite soil moisture to improve streamflow prediction in data-scarce catchments, Water Resour. Res., 52, 5357–5375, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR018429, 2016. 
Aubert, D., Loumagne, C., and Oudin, L.: Sequential assimilation of soil moisture and streamflow data in a conceptual rainfall-runoff model, J. Hydrol., 280, 145–161, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(03)00229-4, 2003. 
Bolten, J. D. and Crow, W. T.: Improved prediction of quasi-global vegetation conditions using remotely-sensed surface soil moisture, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L19406, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL053470, 2012. 
Brocca, L., Melone, F., Moramarco, T., Wagner, W., Naeimi, V., Bartalis, Z., and Hasenauer, S.: Improving runoff prediction through the assimilation of the ASCAT soil moisture product, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1881–1893, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-14-1881-2010, 2010. 
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Short summary
The new generation of satellite soil moisture observations are used to correct the streamflow in a regional-scale river basin simulated by a mathematical model. The correction is done via both the direct updating of soil moisture and correction of rainfall input. Results show some streamflow improvement, but the magnitude is small. A larger improvement will need future generations of even higher-quality satellite soil moisture data and better process representation in the mathematical model.