scholarly journals Comparison of the Roles of Optimizing Root Distribution and the Water Uptake Function in Simulating Water and Heat Fluxes within a Maize Agroecosystem

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fu Cai ◽  
Yushu Zhang ◽  
Huiqing Ming ◽  
Na Mi ◽  
Shujie Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Root Distribution ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Field Station ◽  
Common Land Model ◽  
Surface Models

Roots are an important water transport pathway between soil and plant. Root water uptake (RWU) plays a key role in water and heat exchange between plants and the atmosphere. Inaccurate RWU schemes in land surface models are one crucial reason for decreased model performance. Despite some types of RWU functions being adopted in land surface models, none have been certified as suitable for maize farmland ecosystems. Based on 2007–2009 data observed at the maize agroecosystem field station in Jinzhou, China, the RWU function and root distribution (RD) in the Common Land Model (CoLM) were optimized and the effects of the optimizations on model performance were compared. Results showed that RD parameters calculated with root length density were more practical relative to root biomass in reflecting soil water availability, and they improved the simulation accuracy for water and heat fluxes. The modified RWU function also played a significant role in optimizing the simulation of water and heat fluxes. Similarly, the respective and integrated roles of two optimization schemes in improving CoLM performance were significant during continuous non-precipitation days, especially during the key water requirement period of maize. Notably, the improvements were restrained within a threshold of soil water content, and the optimizations were inoperative outside this threshold. Thus, the optimized RWU function and the revised RD introduced into the CoLM model are applicable for simulation of water and heat fluxes for maize farmland ecosystems in arid areas.

scholarly journals From hydraulic root architecture models to macroscopic representations of root hydraulics in soil water flow and land surface models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Vanderborght ◽  
Valentin Couvreur ◽  
Felicien Meunier ◽  
Andrea Schnepf ◽  
Harry Vereecken ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Root Architecture ◽  
Root Water Uptake ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Surface Models ◽  
Root Model ◽  
Soil Water Flow

Abstract. Root water uptake is an important process in the terrestrial water cycle. How this process depends on soil water content, root distributions, and root properties is a soil-root hydraulic problem. We compare different approaches to implement root hydraulics in macroscopic soil water flow and land surface models. By upscaling a three dimensional hydraulic root architecture model, we derived an exact macroscopic root hydraulic model. The macroscopic model uses three characteristics: the root system conductance, Krs, the standard uptake fraction, SUF, that represents the uptake from a soil profile with a uniform hydraulic head, and a compensatory matrix that describes the redistribution of water uptake in a non-uniform hydraulic head profile. Two characteristics, Krs and SUF, are sufficient to describe the total uptake as a function of the collar and soil water potential; and water uptake redistribution does not depend on the total uptake or collar water potential. We compared the exact model with two hydraulic root models that make a-priori simplifications of the hydraulic root architecture: the parallel and big root model. The parallel root model uses only two characteristics, Krs and SUF, that can be calculated directly following a bottom up approach from the 3D hydraulic root architecture. The big root model uses more parameters than the parallel root model but these parameters cannot be obtained straightforwardly with a bottom up approach. The big root model was parameterized using a top down approach, i.e. directly from root segment hydraulic properties assuming a-priori a single big root architecture. This simplification of the hydraulic root architecture led to less accurate descriptions of root water uptake than by the parallel root model. To compute root water uptake in macroscopic soil water flow and land surface models, we recommend the use of the parallel root model with Krs and SUF computed in a bottom up approach from a known 3D root hydraulic architecture.

scholarly journals From hydraulic root architecture models to macroscopic representations of root hydraulics in soil water flow and land surface models

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 4835-4860
Author(s):  
Jan Vanderborght ◽  
Valentin Couvreur ◽  
Felicien Meunier ◽  
Andrea Schnepf ◽  
Harry Vereecken ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Root Architecture ◽  
Root Water Uptake ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Surface Models ◽  
Root Model ◽  
Soil Water Flow

Abstract. Root water uptake is an important process in the terrestrial water cycle. How this process depends on soil water content, root distributions, and root properties is a soil–root hydraulic problem. We compare different approaches to implement root hydraulics in macroscopic soil water flow and land surface models. By upscaling a three-dimensional hydraulic root architecture model, we derived an exact macroscopic root hydraulic model. The macroscopic model uses the following three characteristics: the root system conductance, Krs, the standard uptake fraction, SUF, which represents the uptake from a soil profile with a uniform hydraulic head, and a compensatory matrix that describes the redistribution of water uptake in a non-uniform hydraulic head profile. The two characteristics, Krs and SUF, are sufficient to describe the total uptake as a function of the collar and soil water potential, and water uptake redistribution does not depend on the total uptake or collar water potential. We compared the exact model with two hydraulic root models that make a priori simplifications of the hydraulic root architecture, i.e., the parallel and big root model. The parallel root model uses only two characteristics, Krs and SUF, which can be calculated directly following a bottom-up approach from the 3D hydraulic root architecture. The big root model uses more parameters than the parallel root model, but these parameters cannot be obtained straightforwardly with a bottom-up approach. The big root model was parameterized using a top-down approach, i.e., directly from root segment hydraulic properties, assuming a priori a single big root architecture. This simplification of the hydraulic root architecture led to less accurate descriptions of root water uptake than by the parallel root model. To compute root water uptake in macroscopic soil water flow and land surface models, we recommend the use of the parallel root model with Krs and SUF computed in a bottom-up approach from a known 3D root hydraulic architecture.

scholarly journals Exploring the Sensitivity of Photosynthesis and Stomatal Resistance Parameters in a Land Surface Model

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 897-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Jefferson ◽  
Reed M. Maxwell ◽  
Paul G. Constantine
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Stomatal Resistance ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Common Land Model ◽  
Surface Models ◽  
Input Parameters ◽  
Rate Of Photosynthesis ◽  
Quantities Of Interest

Abstract Land surface models, like the Common Land Model component of the ParFlow integrated hydrologic model (PF-CLM), are used to estimate transpiration from vegetated surfaces. Transpiration rates quantify how much water moves from the subsurface through the plant and into the atmosphere. This rate is controlled by the stomatal resistance term in land surface models. The Ball–Berry stomatal resistance parameterization relies, in part, on the rate of photosynthesis, and together these equations require the specification of 20 input parameters. Here, the active subspace method is applied to 2100 year-long PF-CLM simulations, forced by atmospheric data from California, Colorado, and Oklahoma, to identify which input parameters are important and how they relate to three quantities of interest: transpiration, stomatal resistance from the sunlit portion of the canopy, and stomatal resistance from the shaded portion. The slope (mp) and intercept (bp) parameters associated with the Ball–Berry parameterization are consistently important for all locations, along with five parameters associated with ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO)- and light-limited rates of photosynthesis [CO2 Michaelis–Menten constant at 25°C (kc25), maximum ratio of oxygenation to carboxylation (ocr), quantum efficiency at 25°C (qe25), maximum rate of carboxylation at 25°C (vcmx25), and multiplier in the denominator of the equation used to compute the light-limited rate of photosynthesis (wj1)]. The importance of these input parameters, quantified by the active variable weight, and the relationship between the input parameters and quantities of interest vary seasonally and diurnally. Input parameter values influence transpiration rates most during midday, summertime hours when fluxes are large. This research informs model users about which photosynthesis and stomatal resistance parameters should be more carefully selected. Quantifying sensitivities associated with the stomatal resistance term is necessary to better understand transpiration estimates from land surface models.

scholarly journals Evaluating a land surface model at a water-limited site: implications for land surface contributions to droughts and heatwaves

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengyuan Mu ◽  
Martin De Kauwe ◽  
Anna Ukkola ◽  
Andy Pitman ◽  
Teresa Gimeno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Water Fluxes ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Groundwater Aquifer ◽  
Surface Models

<p>Land surface models underpin coupled climate model projections of droughts and heatwaves. However, the lack of simultaneous observations of individual components of evapotranspiration, concurrent with root-zone soil moisture, has limited previous model evaluations. Here, we use a comprehensive set of observations from a water-limited site in southeastern Australia including both evapotranspiration and soil moisture to a depth of 4.5 m to evaluate the Community Atmosphere-Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) land surface model. We demonstrate that alternative process representations within CABLE had the capacity to improve simulated evapotranspiration, but not necessarily soil moisture dynamics - highlighting problems of model evaluations against water fluxes alone. Our best simulation was achieved by resolving a soil evaporation bias; a more realistic initialisation of the groundwater aquifer state; higher vertical soil resolution informed by observed soil properties; and further calibrating soil hydraulic conductivity. Despite these improvements, the role of the empirical soil moisture stress function in influencing the simulated water fluxes remained important: using a site calibrated function reduced the soil water stress on plants by 36 % during drought and 23 % at other times. These changes in CABLE not only improve the seasonal cycle of evapotranspiration, but also affect the latent and sensible heat fluxes during droughts and heatwaves. The range of parameterisations tested led to differences of ~150 W m<sup>-2</sup> in the simulated latent heat flux during a heatwave, implying a strong impact of parameterisations on the capacity for evaporative cooling and feedbacks to the boundary layer (when coupled). Overall, our results highlight the opportunity to advance the capability of land surface models to capture water cycle processes, particularly during meteorological extremes, when sufficient observations of both evapotranspiration fluxes and soil moisture profiles are available.</p>

Model performance, model robustness, and model fitness scores: A new method for identifying good land-surface models

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey E. Gulden ◽  
Enrique Rosero ◽  
Zong-Liang Yang ◽  
Thorsten Wagener ◽  
Guo-Yue Niu
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Performance Model ◽  
New Method ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Surface Models ◽  
Model Robustness

scholarly journals Coupling the Community Land Model version 5.0 to the parallel data assimilation framework PDAF: Description and applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Strebel ◽  
Heye Bogena ◽  
Harry Vereecken ◽  
Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Soil Water Content ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Community Land Model ◽  
Model Version ◽  
Parallel Data ◽  
Surface Models

Abstract. Land surface models are important for improving our understanding of the earth system. They are continuously improving and becoming more accurate in describing the varied surface processes, e.g. the Community Land Model version 5 (CLM5). Similarly, observational networks and remote sensing operations are increasingly providing more and higher quality data. For the optimal combination of land surface models and observation data, data assimilation techniques have been developed in the past decades that incorporate observations to update modeled states and parameters. The Parallel Data Assimilation Framework (PDAF) is a software environment that enables ensemble data assimilation and simplifies the implementation of data assimilation systems in numerical models. In this paper, we present the further development of the PDAF to enable its application in combination with CLM5. This novel coupling adapts the optional CLM5 ensemble mode to enable integration of PDAF filter routines while keeping changes to the pre-existing parallel communication infrastructure to a minimum. Soil water content observations from an extensive in-situ measurement network in the Wüstebach catchment in Germany are used to illustrate the application of the coupled CLM5+PDAF system. The results show overall reductions in root mean square error of soil water content from 7 % up to 35 % compared to simulations without data assimilation. We expect the coupled CLM5+PDAF system to provide a basis for improved regional to global land surface modelling by enabling the assimilation of globally available observational data.

scholarly journals Biophysics and vegetation cover change: a process-based evaluation framework for confronting land surface models with satellite observations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Duveiller ◽  
Giovanni Forzieri ◽  
Eddy Robertson ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Goran Georgievski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Surface Models

Abstract. Land use and land cover change (LULCC) alter the biophysical properties of the Earth's surface. The associated changes in vegetation cover can perturb the local surface energy balance, which in turn can affect the local climate. The sign and magnitude of this change in climate depends on the specific vegetation transition, its timing and location, as well as on the background climate. Land surface models (LSMs) can be used to simulate such land-climate interactions and study their impact in past and future climates, but their capacity to model biophysical effects accurately across the globe remain unclear due to the complexity of the phenomena. Here we present a framework to evaluate the performance of such models with respect to a dedicated dataset derived from satellite remote sensing observations. Idealized simulations from four LSMs (JULES, ORCHIDEE, JSBACH and CLM) are combined with satellite observations to analyse the changes in radiative and turbulent fluxes caused by 15 specific vegetation cover transitions across geographic, seasonal and climatic gradients. The seasonal variation in net radiation associated with land cover change is the process that models capture best, whereas LSMs perform poorly when simulating spatial and climatic gradients of variation in latent, sensible and ground heat fluxes induced by land cover transitions. We expect that this analysis will help identify model limitations and prioritize efforts in model development as well as to inform where consensus between model and observations is already met, ultimately helping to improve the robustness and consistency of model simulations to better inform land-based mitigation and adaptation policies. The dataset is available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1182145.

scholarly journals Evaluating a land surface model at a water-limited site: implications for land surface contributions to droughts and heatwaves

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 447-471
Author(s):  
Mengyuan Mu ◽  
Martin G. De Kauwe ◽  
Anna M. Ukkola ◽  
Andy J. Pitman ◽  
Teresa E. Gimeno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Water Fluxes ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Groundwater Aquifer ◽  
Surface Models

Abstract. Land surface models underpin coupled climate model projections of droughts and heatwaves. However, the lack of simultaneous observations of individual components of evapotranspiration, concurrent with root-zone soil moisture, has limited previous model evaluations. Here, we use a comprehensive set of observations from a water-limited site in southeastern Australia including both evapotranspiration and soil moisture to a depth of 4.5 m to evaluate the Community Atmosphere-Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) land surface model. We demonstrate that alternative process representations within CABLE had the capacity to improve simulated evapotranspiration, but not necessarily soil moisture dynamics–highlighting problems of model evaluations against water fluxes alone. Our best simulation was achieved by resolving a soil evaporation bias, using a more realistic initialisation of the groundwater aquifer state and higher vertical soil resolution informed by observed soil properties, and further calibrating soil hydraulic conductivity. Despite these improvements, the role of the empirical soil moisture stress function in influencing the simulated water fluxes remained important: using a site-calibrated function reduced the soil water stress on plants by 36 % during drought and 23 % at other times. These changes in CABLE not only improve the seasonal cycle of evapotranspiration but also affect the latent and sensible heat fluxes during droughts and heatwaves. The range of parameterisations tested led to differences of ∼150 W m−2 in the simulated latent heat flux during a heatwave, implying a strong impact of parameterisations on the capacity for evaporative cooling and feedbacks to the boundary layer (when coupled). Overall, our results highlight the opportunity to advance the capability of land surface models to capture water cycle processes, particularly during meteorological extremes, when sufficient observations of both evapotranspiration fluxes and soil moisture profiles are available.

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