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Title: Implementing and Evaluating Variable Soil Thickness in the Community Land Model, Version 4.5 (CLM4.5)

Journal Article · · Journal of Climate
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  1. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
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One of the recognized weaknesses of land surface models as used in weather and climate models is the assumption of constant soil thickness because of the lack of global estimates of bedrock depth. As such, using a 30-arc-s global dataset for the thickness of relatively porous, unconsolidated sediments over bedrock, spatial variation in soil thickness is included here in version 4.5 of the Community Land Model (CLM4.5). The number of soil layers for each grid cell is determined from the average soil depth for each 0.9° latitude × 1.25° longitude grid cell. The greatest changes in the simulation with variable soil thickness are to baseflow, with the annual minimum generally occurring earlier. Smaller changes are seen in latent heat flux and surface runoff primarily as a result of an increase in the annual cycle amplitude. These changes are related to soil moisture changes that are most substantial in locations with shallow bedrock. Total water storage (TWS) anomalies are not strongly affected over most river basins since most basins contain mostly deep soils, but TWS anomalies are substantially different for a river basin with more mountainous terrain. Additionally, the annual cycle in soil temperature is partially affected by including realistic soil thicknesses resulting from changes in the vertical profile of heat capacity and thermal conductivity. However, the largest changes to soil temperature are introduced by the soil moisture changes in the variable soil thickness simulation. This implementation of variable soil thickness represents a step forward in land surface model development.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; SC0006773; NNX13AK82A; AGS-0944101
OSTI ID:
1327090
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-109797; KP1703020
Journal Information:
Journal of Climate, Vol. 29, Issue 9; ISSN 0894-8755
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 46 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

A review of the global soil property maps for Earth system models journal January 2019
Quantification of the seasonal hillslope water storage that does not drive streamflow: Catchment storage that does not drive streamflow journal May 2018
Satellite and In Situ Observations for Advancing Global Earth Surface Modelling: A Review journal December 2018
Watersheds dynamics following wildfires: Nonlinear feedbacks and implications on hydrologic responses journal August 2019
On the appropriate definition of soil profile configuration and initial conditions for land surface–hydrology models in cold regions journal January 2018
Direct observations of rock moisture, a hidden component of the hydrologic cycle journal February 2018
Soil Moisture Memory and Its Effect on the Surface Water and Heat Fluxes on Seasonal and Interannual Time Scales journal October 2019
On the Appropriate Definition of Soil Profile Configuration and Initial Conditions for Land Surface-Hydrology Models in Cold Regions posted_content October 2017
Satellite and In Situ Observations for Advancing Global Earth Surface Modelling: A Review text January 2018

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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