Evaluation of air-soil temperature relationships simulated by land surface models during winter across the permafrost region
(2016) In Cryosphere 10(4). p.1721-1737- Abstract
A realistic simulation of snow cover and its thermal properties are important for accurate modelling of permafrost. We analyse simulated relationships between air and near-surface (20 cm) soil temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region during winter, with a particular focus on snow insulation effects in nine land surface models, and compare them with observations from 268 Russian stations. There are large cross-model differences in the simulated differences between near-surface soil and air temperatures (ΔT; 3 to 14 °C), in the sensitivity of soil-to-air temperature (0.13 to 0.96 °C °C-1), and in the relationship between ΔT and snow depth. The observed relationship between ΔT and snow depth can be used as a... (More)
A realistic simulation of snow cover and its thermal properties are important for accurate modelling of permafrost. We analyse simulated relationships between air and near-surface (20 cm) soil temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region during winter, with a particular focus on snow insulation effects in nine land surface models, and compare them with observations from 268 Russian stations. There are large cross-model differences in the simulated differences between near-surface soil and air temperatures (ΔT; 3 to 14 °C), in the sensitivity of soil-to-air temperature (0.13 to 0.96 °C °C-1), and in the relationship between ΔT and snow depth. The observed relationship between ΔT and snow depth can be used as a metric to evaluate the effects of each model's representation of snow insulation, hence guide improvements to the model's conceptual structure and process parameterisations. Models with better performance apply multilayer snow schemes and consider complex snow processes. Some models show poor performance in representing snow insulation due to underestimation of snow depth and/or overestimation of snow conductivity. Generally, models identified as most acceptable with respect to snow insulation simulate reasonable areas of near-surface permafrost (13.19 to 15.77 million km2). However, there is not a simple relationship between the sophistication of the snow insulation in the acceptable models and the simulated area of Northern Hemisphere near-surface permafrost, because several other factors, such as soil depth used in the models, the treatment of soil organic matter content, hydrology and vegetation cover, also affect the simulated permafrost distribution.
(Less)
- author
- Wang, Wenli
; Rinke, Annette
; Moore, John C.
; Ji, Duoying
; Cui, Xuefeng
; Peng, Shushi
; Lawrence, David M.
; McGuire, A. David
; Burke, Eleanor J.
; Chen, Xiaodong
; Decharme, Bertrand
; Koven, Charles
; MacDougall, Andrew
; Saito, Kazuyuki
; Zhang, Wenxin
LU
; Alkama, Ramdane
; Bohn, Theodore J.
; Ciais, Philippe
; Delire, Christine
; Gouttevin, Isabelle
; Hajima, Tomohiro
; Krinner, Gerhard
; Lettenmaier, Dennis P.
; Miller, Paul A.
LU
; Smith, Benjamin
LU
; Sueyoshi, Tetsuo
and Sherstiukov, Artem B.
(Less) - organization
- publishing date
- 2016
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Cryosphere
- volume
- 10
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 17 pages
- publisher
- Copernicus GmbH
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000381218000015
- scopus:84982132334
- ISSN
- 1994-0416
- DOI
- 10.5194/tc-10-1721-2016
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 46689c32-c35f-48d1-b171-4ea8f4f59e3c
- date added to LUP
- 2016-10-11 17:21:59
- date last changed
- 2024-04-19 10:15:59
@article{46689c32-c35f-48d1-b171-4ea8f4f59e3c,
abstract = {{<p>A realistic simulation of snow cover and its thermal properties are important for accurate modelling of permafrost. We analyse simulated relationships between air and near-surface (20 cm) soil temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region during winter, with a particular focus on snow insulation effects in nine land surface models, and compare them with observations from 268 Russian stations. There are large cross-model differences in the simulated differences between near-surface soil and air temperatures (ΔT; 3 to 14 °C), in the sensitivity of soil-to-air temperature (0.13 to 0.96 °C °C<sup>-1</sup>), and in the relationship between ΔT and snow depth. The observed relationship between ΔT and snow depth can be used as a metric to evaluate the effects of each model's representation of snow insulation, hence guide improvements to the model's conceptual structure and process parameterisations. Models with better performance apply multilayer snow schemes and consider complex snow processes. Some models show poor performance in representing snow insulation due to underestimation of snow depth and/or overestimation of snow conductivity. Generally, models identified as most acceptable with respect to snow insulation simulate reasonable areas of near-surface permafrost (13.19 to 15.77 million km<sup>2</sup>). However, there is not a simple relationship between the sophistication of the snow insulation in the acceptable models and the simulated area of Northern Hemisphere near-surface permafrost, because several other factors, such as soil depth used in the models, the treatment of soil organic matter content, hydrology and vegetation cover, also affect the simulated permafrost distribution.</p>}},
author = {{Wang, Wenli and Rinke, Annette and Moore, John C. and Ji, Duoying and Cui, Xuefeng and Peng, Shushi and Lawrence, David M. and McGuire, A. David and Burke, Eleanor J. and Chen, Xiaodong and Decharme, Bertrand and Koven, Charles and MacDougall, Andrew and Saito, Kazuyuki and Zhang, Wenxin and Alkama, Ramdane and Bohn, Theodore J. and Ciais, Philippe and Delire, Christine and Gouttevin, Isabelle and Hajima, Tomohiro and Krinner, Gerhard and Lettenmaier, Dennis P. and Miller, Paul A. and Smith, Benjamin and Sueyoshi, Tetsuo and Sherstiukov, Artem B.}},
issn = {{1994-0416}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{1721--1737}},
publisher = {{Copernicus GmbH}},
series = {{Cryosphere}},
title = {{Evaluation of air-soil temperature relationships simulated by land surface models during winter across the permafrost region}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1721-2016}},
doi = {{10.5194/tc-10-1721-2016}},
volume = {{10}},
year = {{2016}},
}