scholarly journals Verification of the new ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis over France

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 647-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Szczypta ◽  
J.-C. Calvet ◽  
C. Albergel ◽  
G. Balsamo ◽  
S. Boussetta ◽  
...  

Abstract. An evaluation of the global ECMWF atmospheric reanalysis ERA-Interim (with a 0.5° grid) is performed over France, based on the high resolution (8 km) SAFRAN atmospheric reanalysis. The ERA-Interim precipitation, Incoming Solar Radiation (ISR), air temperature, air humidity, and wind speed, are compared with their SAFRAN counterparts. Also, interpolated in situ ISR observations are used in order to consolidate the evaluation of this variable. The daily precipitation estimates produced by ERA-Interim over France correlate very well with SAFRAN. However, the values are underestimated by 27%. A GPCP-corrected version of ERA-Interim is less biased (13%). The ERA-Interim estimates of ISR correlate very well with SAFRAN and with in situ observations on a daily basis. Whereas SAFRAN underestimates the ISR by 6 Wm−2, ERA-Interim overestimates the ISR by 10 Wm−2. In order to assess the impact of the ERA-Interim errors, simulations of the ISBA-A-gs land surface model are performed over the SMOSREX grassland site in southwestern France using ERA-Interim (with and without GPCP rescaling) and SAFRAN. Latent and sensible heat fluxes are simulated, together with carbon dioxide fluxes. The rescaled ERA-Interim performs better than the original ERA-Interim and permits to achieve flux scores similar to those obtained with SAFRAN.

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 7151-7190
Author(s):  
C. Szczypta ◽  
J.-C. Calvet ◽  
C. Albergel ◽  
G. Balsamo ◽  
S. Boussetta ◽  
...  

Abstract. An evaluation of the global ECMWF atmospheric reanalysis ERA-Interim (with a 0.5° grid) is performed over France, based on the high resolution (8 km) SAFRAN atmospheric reanalysis. The ERA-Interim precipitation, Incoming Solar Radiation (ISR), air temperature, air humidity, and wind speed, are compared with their SAFRAN counterparts. Also, interpolated in situ ISR observations are used in order to consolidate the evaluation of this variable. The daily precipitation estimates produced by ERA-Interim over France correlate very well with SAFRAN. However, the values are underestimated by 26%. A GPCP-corrected version of ERA-Interim is less biased (10–15%). The ERA-Interim estimates of ISR correlate very well with SAFRAN and with in situ observations on a daily basis. Whereas SAFRAN underestimates the ISR by 6–8 W m−2, ERA-Interim overestimates the ISR by 9–10 W m−2. In order to assess the impact of the ERA-Interim errors, simulations of the ISBA-A-gs land surface model are performed over the SMOSREX grassland site in southwestern France using ERA-Interim (with and without GPCP rescaling) and SAFRAN. Latent and sensible heat fluxes are simulated, together with carbon dioxide fluxes. The rescaled ERA-Interim performs better than the original ERA-Interim and permits to achieve flux scores similar to those obtained with SAFRAN.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibo Zhang ◽  
Jean-Christophe Calvet ◽  
José Darrozes ◽  
Nicolas Roussel ◽  
Frédéric Frappart ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work aims to assess the estimation of surface volumetric soil moisture (VSM) using the Global Navigation Satellite System Interferometric Reflectometry (GNSS-IR) technique. Year-round observations were acquired from a grassland site in southwestern France using an antenna consecutively placed at two contrasting heights above the ground surface (3.3 or 29.4 m). The VSM retrievals are compared with two independent reference datasets: in situ observations of soil moisture, and numerical simulations of soil moisture and vegetation biomass from the ISBA (Interactions between Soil, Biosphere and Atmosphere) land surface model. Scaled VSM estimates can be retrieved throughout the year removing vegetation effects by the separation of growth and senescence periods and by the filtering of the GNSS-IR observations that are most affected by vegetation. Antenna height has no significant impact on the quality of VSM estimates. Comparisons between the VSM GNSS-IR retrievals and the in situ VSM observations at a depth of 5 cm show a good agreement (R2 = 0.86 and RMSE = 0.04 m3 m−3). It is shown that the signal is sensitive to the grass litter water content and that this effect triggers differences between VSM retrievals and in situ VSM observations at depths of 1 cm and 5 cm, especially during light rainfall events.


Author(s):  
Nemesio Rodriguez-Fernandez ◽  
Patricia de Rosnay ◽  
Clement Albergel ◽  
Philippe Richaume ◽  
Filipe Aires ◽  
...  

The assimilation of Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) data into the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts) H-TESSEL (Hydrology revised - Tiled ECMWF Scheme for Surface Exchanges over Land) model is presented. SMOS soil moisture (SM) estimates have been produced specifically by training a neural network with SMOS brightness temperatures as input and H-TESSEL model SM simulations as reference. This can help the assimilation of SMOS information in several ways: (1) the neural network soil moisture (NNSM) data have a similar climatology to the model, (2) no global bias is present with respect to the model even if regional differences can exist. Experiments performing joint data assimilation (DA) of NNSM, 2 metre air temperature and relative humidity or NNSM-only DA are discussed. The resulting SM was evaluated against a large number of in situ measurements of SM obtaining similar results to those of the model with no assimilation, even if significant differences were found from site to site. In addition, atmospheric forecasts initialized with H-TESSEL runs (without DA) or with the analysed SM were compared to measure of the impact of the satellite information. Although, NNSM DA has an overall neutral impact in the forecast in the Tropics, a significant positive impact was found in other areas and periods, especially in regions with limited in situ information. The joint NNSM, T2m and RH2m DA improves the forecast for all the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere. The impact is mostly due to T2m and RH2m, but SMOS NN DA alone also improves the forecast in July- September. In the Northern Hemisphere, the joint NNSM, T2m and RH2m DA improves the forecast in April-September, while NNSM alone has a significant positive effect in July-September. Furthermore, forecasting skill maps show that SMOS NNSM improves the forecast in North America and in Northern Asia for up to 72 hours lead time.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leqiang Sun ◽  
Stéphane Belair ◽  
Marco Carrera ◽  
Bernard Bilodeau

<p>Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has recently started receiving and processing the images from the recently launched C-band RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM). The backscatter and soil moisture retrievals products from the previously launched RADARSAT-2 agree well with both in-situ measurements and surface soil moisture modeled with land surface model Soil, Vegetation, and Snow (SVS). RCM will provide those products at an even better spatial coverage and temporal resolution. In preparation of the potential operational application of RCM products in Canadian Meteorological Center (CMC), this paper presents the scenarios of assimilating either soil moisture retrieval or outright backscatter signal in a 100-meter resolution version of the Canadian Land Data Assimilation System (CaLDAS) on field scale with time interval of three hours. The soil moisture retrieval map was synthesized by extrapolating the regression relationship between in-situ measurements and open loop model output based on soil texture lookup table. Based on this, the backscatter map was then generated with the surface roughness retrieved from RADARSAT-2 images using a modified Integral Equation Model (IEM) model. Bias correction was applied to the Ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) to mitigate the impact of nonlinear errors introduced by multi-sourced perturbations. Initial results show that the assimilation of backscatter is as effective as assimilating soil moisture retrievals. Compared to open loop, both can improve the analysis of surface moisture, particularly in terms of reducing bias.  </p>


2004 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 1477-1497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youlong Xia ◽  
Mrinal K. Sen ◽  
Charles S. Jackson ◽  
Paul L. Stoffa

Abstract This study evaluates the ability of Bayesian stochastic inversion (BSI) and multicriteria (MC) methods to search for the optimal parameter sets of the Chameleon Surface Model (CHASM) using prescribed forcing to simulate observed sensible and latent heat fluxes from seven measurement sites representative of six biomes including temperate coniferous forests, tropical forests, temperate and tropical grasslands, temperate crops, and semiarid grasslands. Calibration results with the BSI and MC show that estimated optimal values are very similar for the important parameters that are specific to the CHASM model. The model simulations based on estimated optimal parameter sets perform much better than the default parameter sets. Cross-validations for two tropical forest sites show that the calibrated parameters for one site can be transferred to another site within the same biome. The uncertainties of optimal parameters are obtained through BSI, which estimates a multidimensional posterior probability density function (PPD). Marginal PPD analyses show that nonoptimal choices of stomatal resistance would contribute most to model simulation errors at all sites, followed by ground and vegetation roughness length at six of seven sites. The impact of initial root-zone soil moisture and nonmosaic approach on estimation of optimal parameters and their uncertainties is discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 6773-6809
Author(s):  
T. Osborne ◽  
J. Gornall ◽  
J. Hooker ◽  
K. Williams ◽  
A. Wiltshire ◽  
...  

Abstract. Studies of climate change impacts on the terrestrial biosphere have been completed without recognition of the integrated nature of the biosphere. Improved assessment of the impacts of climate change on food and water security requires the development and use of models not only representing each component but also their interactions. To meet this requirement the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) land surface model has been modified to include a generic parametrisation of annual crops. The new model, JULES-crop, is described and evaluation at global and site levels for the four globally important crops; wheat, soy bean, maize and rice is presented. JULES-crop demonstrates skill in simulating the inter-annual variations of yield for maize and soy bean at the global level, and for wheat for major spring wheat producing countries. The impact of the new parametrisation, compared to the standard configuration, on the simulation of surface heat fluxes is largely an alteration of the partitioning between latent and sensible heat fluxes during the later part of the growing season. Further evaluation at the site level shows the model captures the seasonality of leaf area index and canopy height better than in standard JULES. However, this does not lead to an improvement in the simulation of sensible and latent heat fluxes. The performance of JULES-crop from both an earth system and crop yield model perspective is encouraging however, more effort is needed to develop the parameterisation of the model for specific applications. Key future model developments identified include the specification of the yield gap to enable better representation of the spatial variability in yield.


2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 504-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Carrer ◽  
S. Lafont ◽  
J.-L. Roujean ◽  
J.-C. Calvet ◽  
C. Meurey ◽  
...  

Abstract The Land Surface Analysis Satellite Applications Facility (LSA SAF) project radiation fluxes, derived from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) geostationary satellite, were used in the Interactions between Soil, Biosphere, and Atmosphere (ISBA) land surface model (LSM), which is a component of the Surface Externalisée (SURFEX) modeling platform. The Système d’Analyze Fournissant des Renseignements Atmosphériques à la Neige (SAFRAN) atmospheric analysis provides high-resolution atmospheric variables used to drive LSMs over France. The impact of using the incoming solar and infrared radiation fluxes [downwelling surface shortwave (DSSF) and longwave (DSLF), respectively] from either SAFRAN or LSA SAF, in ISBA, was investigated over France for 2006. In situ observations from the Flux Network (FLUXNET) were used for the verification. Daily differences between SAFRAN and LSA SAF radiation fluxes averaged over the whole year 2006 were 3.75 and 2.61 W m−2 for DSSF and DSLF, respectively, representing 2.5% and 0.8% of their average values. The LSA SAF incoming solar radiation presented a better agreement with in situ measurements at six FLUXNET stations than the SAFRAN analysis. The bias and standard deviation of differences were reduced by almost 50%. The added value of the LSA SAF products was assessed with the simulated surface temperature, soil moisture, and the water and energy fluxes. The latter quantities were improved by the use of LSA SAF satellite estimates. As many areas lack a high-resolution meteorological analysis, the LSA SAF radiative products provide new and valuable information.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1931-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibo Zhang ◽  
Jean-Christophe Calvet ◽  
José Darrozes ◽  
Nicolas Roussel ◽  
Frédéric Frappart ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work assesses the estimation of surface volumetric soil moisture (VSM) using the global navigation satellite system interferometric reflectometry (GNSS-IR) technique. Year-round observations were acquired from a grassland site in southwestern France using an antenna consecutively placed at two contrasting heights above the ground surface (3.3 and 29.4 m). The VSM retrievals are compared with two independent reference datasets: in situ observations of soil moisture, and numerical simulations of soil moisture and vegetation biomass from the ISBA (Interactions between Soil, Biosphere and Atmosphere) land surface model. Scaled VSM estimates can be retrieved throughout the year removing vegetation effects by the separation of growth and senescence periods and by the filtering of the GNSS-IR observations that are most affected by vegetation. Antenna height has no significant impact on the quality of VSM estimates. Comparisons between the VSM GNSS-IR retrievals and the in situ VSM observations at a depth of 5 cm show good agreement (R2= 0.86 and RMSE = 0.04 m3 m−3). It is shown that the signal is sensitive to the grass litter water content and that this effect triggers differences between VSM retrievals and in situ VSM observations at depths of 1 and 5 cm, especially during light rainfall events.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 4059-4093
Author(s):  
A. Brut ◽  
C. Rüdiger ◽  
S. Lafont ◽  
J.-L. Roujean ◽  
J.-C. Calvet ◽  
...  

Abstract. A CO2-responsive land surface model (the ISBA-A-gs model of Météo-France) is used to simulate photosynthesis and Leaf Area Index (LAI) in southwestern France for a 3-year period (2001–2003). A domain of about 170 000 km2 is covered at a spatial resolution of 8 km. The capability of ISBA-A-gs to reproduce the seasonal and the inter-annual variability of LAI at a regional scale, is assessed with two satellite-derived LAI products. One originates from the CYCLOPES programme using SPOT/VEGETATION data, and the second is based on MODIS data. The comparison reveals discrepancies between the two satellite LAI estimates and between satellite and simulated LAI values, both in their intensity and in the timing of the leaf onset. The model simulates higher LAI values for the C3 crops and coniferous trees than the satellite observations, which may be due to a saturation effect within the satellite signal. The simulated leaf onset presents a significant delay for mountainous grasslands. In-situ observations at a mid-altitude grassland site show that the generic temperature response of photosynthesis used in the model is not appropriate for plants adapted to the cold climatic conditions of the mountainous areas. This study demonstrates the potential of LAI remote sensing products for identifying and locating models' shortcomings at a regional scale.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nemesio Rodríguez-Fernández ◽  
Patricia de Rosnay ◽  
Clement Albergel ◽  
Philippe Richaume ◽  
Filipe Aires ◽  
...  

The assimilation of Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) data into the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts) H-TESSEL (Hydrology revised-Tiled ECMWF Scheme for Surface Exchanges over Land) model is presented. SMOS soil moisture (SM) estimates have been produced specifically by training a neural network with SMOS brightness temperatures as input and H-TESSEL model SM simulations as reference. This can help the assimilation of SMOS information in several ways: (1) the neural network soil moisture (NNSM) data have a similar climatology to the model, (2) no global bias is present with respect to the model even if local biases can remain. Experiments performing joint data assimilation (DA) of NNSM, 2 m air temperature and relative humidity or NNSM-only DA are discussed. The resulting SM was evaluated against a large number of in situ measurements of SM obtaining similar results to those of the model with no assimilation, even if significant differences were found from site to site. In addition, atmospheric forecasts initialized with H-TESSEL runs (without DA) or with the analysed SM were compared to measure of the impact of the satellite information. Although NNSM DA has an overall neutral impact in the forecast in the Tropics, a significant positive impact was found in other areas and periods, especially in regions with limited in situ information. The joint NNSM, T2m and RH2m DA improves the forecast for all the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere. The impact is mostly due to T2m and RH2m but SMOS NN DA alone also improves the forecast in July- September. In the Northern Hemisphere, the joint NNSM, T2m and RH2m DA improves the forecast in April–September, while NNSM alone has a significant positive effect in July–September. Furthermore, forecasting skill maps show that SMOS NNSM improves the forecast in North America and in Northern Asia for up to 72 h lead time.


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