Soil Moisture Memory in Commonly-used Land Surface Models Differ Significantly from SMAP Observation

Abstract

Weather and climate forecast predictability relies on Land-Atmosphere (L-A) interactions occurring at different time scales. However, evaluation of L-A coupling parameterizations in current land surface models (LSMs) is challenging since the physical processes are complex, and large-scale observations are scarce and uncommon. Recent advancements in satellite observations, in this light, provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the models' performances at large spatial scales. Using 5-year soil moisture memory (SMM) from Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) observations, we evaluate L-A coupling performances in 4 prevailing LSMs with both coupled and offline simulations. Multi-model mean comparison at the global scale shows that current LSMs tend to overestimate SMM that is controlled by water-limited processes and vice versa. Large model spreads in SMM are also observed between individual models. The SMM biases are highly dependent on models' parameterizations, while showing minor relevance to the models' soil layer depths or the models' online/offline simulating schemes. Further analyses of two important terrestrial water cycle-related variables indicate current LSMs may underestimate soil moisture that is directly available for evapotranspiration and global flood risks. Finally, a comparison of two soil moisture thresholds indicates that the soil parameters employed in LSMs play an essential role in producing the model's biases. The satellite estimation of ET at the water-limited stage and soil hydraulic parameters provides readily available information to constrain LSMs, which are essentially important to improve the models' L-A coupling simulations, as well as other land surface processes such as terrestrial hydrological cycles.