The scale-dependence of SMOS soil moisture accuracy and its improvement through land data assimilation in the central Tibetan Plateau

2014 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 345-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Zhao ◽  
Kun Yang ◽  
Jun Qin ◽  
Yingying Chen ◽  
Wenjun Tang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Scale Dependence ◽  
Central Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Land Data Assimilation

The Optimality of Potential Rescaling Approaches in Land Data Assimilation

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 650-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Tugrul Yilmaz ◽  
Wade T. Crow
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Least Squares ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Linear Least Squares ◽  
Optimal Analysis ◽  
Land Data Assimilation ◽  
Temporal Statistics ◽  
Hydrological Variables

Abstract It is well known that systematic differences exist between modeled and observed realizations of hydrological variables like soil moisture. Prior to data assimilation, these differences must be removed in order to obtain an optimal analysis. A number of rescaling approaches have been proposed for this purpose. These methods include rescaling techniques based on matching sampled temporal statistics, minimizing the least squares distance between observations and models, and the application of triple collocation. Here, the authors evaluate the optimality and relative performances of these rescaling methods both analytically and numerically and find that a triple collocation–based rescaling method results in an optimal solution, whereas variance matching and linear least squares regression approaches result in only approximations to this optimal solution.

scholarly journals Evaluating the utility of satellite soil moisture retrievals over irrigated areas and the ability of land data assimilation methods to correct for unmodeled processes

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 5967-6009 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. V. Kumar ◽  
C. D. Peters-Lidard ◽  
J. A. Santanello ◽  
R. H. Reichle ◽  
C. S. Draper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Bias Correction ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Earth Observing System ◽  
Surface Models ◽  
Ocean Salinity ◽  
Natural Land ◽  
Land Data Assimilation ◽  
Correction Strategies

Abstract. The Earth's land surface is characterized by tremendous natural heterogeneity and human engineered modifications, both of which are challenging to represent in land surface models. Satellite remote sensing is often the most practical and effective method to observe the land surface over large geographical areas. Agricultural irrigation is an important human induced modifications to natural land surface processes, as it is pervasive across the world and because of its significant influence on the regional and global water budgets. In this article, irrigation is used as an example of a human engineered, unmodeled land surface process, and the utility of satellite soil moisture retrievals over irrigated areas in the continental US is examined. Such retrievals are based on passive or active microwave observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, WindSat and the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT). The analysis suggests that the skill of these retrievals for representing irrigation artifacts is mixed, with ASCAT based products somewhat more skillful than SMOS and AMSR2 products. The article then examines the suitability of typical bias correction strategies in current land data assimilation systems when unmodeled processes dominate the bias between the model and the observations. Using a suite of synthetic experiments that includes bias correction strategies such as quantile mapping and trained forward modeling, it is demonstrated that the bias correction practices lead to the exclusion of the signals from unmodeled processes, if these processes are the major source of the biases. It is further shown that new methods are needed to preserve the observational information about unmodeled processes during data assimilation.

scholarly journals Linkages between Rainfed Cereal Production and Agricultural Drought through Remote Sensing Indices and a Land Data Assimilation System: A Case Study in Morocco

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 4018
Author(s):  
El houssaine Bouras ◽  
Lionel Jarlan ◽  
Salah Er-Raki ◽  
Clément Albergel ◽  
Bastien Richard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Condition Index ◽  
Cereal Production ◽  
Land Data Assimilation ◽  
Land Data Assimilation System ◽  
Data Assimilation System ◽  
Assimilation System

In Morocco, cereal production shows high interannual variability due to uncertain rainfall and recurrent drought periods. Considering the socioeconomic importance of cereal for the country, there is a serious need to characterize the impact of drought on cereal yields. In this study, drought is assessed through (1) indices derived from remote sensing data (the vegetation condition index (VCI), temperature condition index (TCI), vegetation health ind ex (VHI), soil moisture condition index (SMCI) and soil water index for different soil layers (SWI)) and (2) key land surface variables (Land Area Index (LAI), soil moisture (SM) at different depths, soil evaporation and plant transpiration) from a Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) over 2000–2017. A lagged correlation analysis was conducted to assess the relationships between the drought indices and cereal yield at monthly time scales. The VCI and LAI around the heading stage (March-April) are highly linked to yield for all provinces (R = 0.94 for the Khemisset province), while a high link for TCI occurs during the development stage in January-February (R = 0.83 for the Beni Mellal province). Interestingly, indices related to soil moisture in the superficial soil layer are correlated with yield earlier in the season around the emergence stage (December). The results demonstrate the clear added value of using an LDAS compared with using a remote sensing product alone, particularly concerning the soil moisture in the root-zone, considered a key variable for yield production, that is not directly observable from space. The time scale of integration is also discussed. By integrating the indices on the main phenological stages of wheat using a dynamic threshold approach instead of the monthly time scale, the correlation between indices and yield increased by up to 14%. In addition, the contributions of VCI and TCI to VHI were optimized by using yield anomalies as proxies for drought. This study opens perspectives for the development of drought early warning systems in Morocco and over North Africa, as well as for seasonal crop yield forecasting.

From Monitoring to Forecasting the Land Surface Condition Using a Land Data Assimilation System: Application over the Contiguous United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Mucia ◽  
Clément Albergel ◽  
Bertrand Bonan ◽  
Yongjun Zheng ◽  
Jean-Christophe Calvet
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Global Land ◽  
Land Data Assimilation ◽  
Land Data Assimilation System ◽  
Data Assimilation System ◽  
Assimilation System

<p>LDAS-Monde is a global Land Data Assimilation System developed in the research department of Météo-France (CNRM) to monitor Land Surface Variables (LSVs) at various scales, from regional to global. With LDAS-Monde, it is possible to assimilate satellite derived observations of Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) e.g. from the Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS). It is an offline system normally driven by atmospheric reanalyses such as ECMWF ERA5.</p><p>In this study we investigate LDAS-Monde ability to use atmospheric forecasts to predict LSV states up to weeks in advance. In addition to the accuracy of the forecast predictions, the impact of the initialization on the LSVs forecast is addressed. To perform this study, LDAS-Monde is forced by a fifteen-day forecast from ECMWF for the 2017-2018 period over the Contiguous United States (CONUS) at 0.2<sup>o</sup> x 0.2<sup>o</sup> spatial resolution. These LSVs forecasts are initialized either by the model alone (LDAS-Monde open-loop, no assimilation, Fc_ol) or by the analysis (assimilation of SSM and LAI, Fc_an). These two sets of forecast are then assessed using satellite derived observations of SSM and LAI, evapotranspiration estimates, as well as in situ measurements of soil moisture from the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN). Results indicate that for the three evaluation variables (SSM, LAI, and evapotranspiration), LDAS-Monde provides reasonably accurate predictions two weeks in advance. Additionally, the initial conditions are shown to make a positive impact with respect to LAI, evapotranspiration, and deeper layers of soil moisture when using Fc_an. Moreover, this impact persists in time, particularly for vegetation related variables. Other model variables (such as runoff and drainage) are also affected by the initial conditions. Future work will focus on the transfer of this predictive information from a research to stakeholder tool.</p>

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