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Comparisons of soil moisture datasets over the Tibetan Plateau and application to the simulation of Asia summer monsoon onset

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Abstract

The influence of soil moisture on Asian monsoon simulation/prediction was less studied, partly due to a lack of available and reliable soil moisture datasets. In this study, we firstly compare several soil moisture datasets over the Tibetan Plateau, and find that the remote sensing products from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) can capture realistic temporal variations of soil moisture better than the two reanalyses (NCEP and ECMWF) during the pre-monsoon seasons. Using the AMSR-E soil moisture product, we investigate the impacts of soil moisture over the Tibetan Plateau on Asian summer monsoon onset based on a Spectral Atmospheric Model developed at IAP/LASG (SAMIL). Comparison between results with and without the assimilation of remotely sensed soil moisture data demonstrates that with soil moisture assimilated into SAMIL, the land-sea thermal contrast during pre-monsoon seasons is more realistic. Accordingly, the simulation of summer monsoon onset dates over both the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea regions are more accurate with AMSR-E soil moisture assimilated. This study reveals that the application of the soil moisture remote sensing products in a numerical model could potentially improve prediction of the Asian summer monsoon onset.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Qing Bao  (包 庆), Yimin Liu  (刘屹岷) & Guoxiong Wu  (武国雄)

  2. Institute for Computational Earth System Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

    Jiancheng Shi  (施建成)

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  1. Qing Bao  (包 庆)
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  2. Yimin Liu  (刘屹岷)
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  3. Jiancheng Shi  (施建成)
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  4. Guoxiong Wu  (武国雄)
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Correspondence to Qing Bao  (包 庆).

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Bao, Q., Liu, Y., Shi, J. et al. Comparisons of soil moisture datasets over the Tibetan Plateau and application to the simulation of Asia summer monsoon onset. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 27, 303–314 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-009-8132-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-009-8132-5

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