Do land models miss key soil hydrological processes controlling soil moisture memory?

Farmani, Mohammad A.; Behrangi, Ali; Gupta, Aniket; Tavakoly, Ahmad; Geheran, Matthew; Niu, Guo-Yue

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-547-2025

Articles | Volume 29, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-547-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-547-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 29, issue 2

Research article

|

29 Jan 2025

Research article |

| 29 Jan 2025

Do land models miss key soil hydrological processes controlling soil moisture memory?

Mohammad A. Farmani, Ali Behrangi, Aniket Gupta, Ahmad Tavakoly, Matthew Geheran, and Guo-Yue Niu

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-547-2025-supplement

Data sets

NLDAS-2: North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 Forcing Data (NLDAS_FORA0125_H, Version 2.0) Y. Xia et al. https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets/NLDAS_FORA0125_H_2.0/summary

SMAP Enhanced L3 Radiometer Global and Polar Grid Daily 9 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture. (SPL3SMP_E, Version 6) P. E. O'Neill et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/M20OXIZHY3RJ

GPM IMERG Final Precipitation L3 1 day 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree V07 G. J. Huffman et al. https://doi.org/10.5065/7DE2-M746

mfarmani95/NoahMP_Dual: Noah-MP(VGM_DPM) (Noah-MP(VGM_DPM)) G.-Y. Niu and M. Farmani https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14740700

Short summary

Soil moisture memory (SMM) shows how long soil stays moist after rain, impacting climate and ecosystems. Current models often overestimate SMM, causing inaccuracies in evaporation predictions. We enhanced a land model, Noah-MP, to include better water flow and ponding processes, and we tested it against satellite and field data. This improved model reduced overestimations and enhanced short-term predictions, helping create more accurate climate and weather forecasts.