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Improving CLM4.5 simulations of land–atmosphere exchange during freeze–thaw processes on the Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Soil is heterogeneous and has different thermal and hydraulic properties, causing varied behavior in heat and moisture transport. Therefore, soil has an important effect on land–atmosphere interactions. In this study, an improved soil parameterization scheme that considers gravel and organic matter in the soil was introduced into CLM4.5 (Community Land Model). By using data from the Zoige and Madoi sites on the Tibetan Plateau, the ability of the model to simultaneously simulate the duration of freeze–thaw periods, soil temperature, soil moisture, and surface energy during freeze–thaw processes, was validated. The results indicated that: (1) the new parameterization performed better in simulating the duration of the frozen, thawing, unfrozen, and freezing periods; (2) with the new scheme, the soil thermal conductivity values were decreased; (3) the new parameterization improved soil temperature simulation and effectively decreased cold biases; (4) the new parameterization scheme effectively decreased the dry biases of soil liquid water content during the freezing, completely frozen, and thawing periods, but increased the wet biases during the completely thawed period; and (5) the net radiation, latent heat flux, and soil surface heat flux of the Zoige and Madoi sites were much improved by the new organic matter and thermal conductivity parameterization.

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Acknowledgements

The observation data were provided by the Zoige Alpine Wetlands Ecosystem Research Station and the Madoi Grassland Station. We acknowledge computing resources and time at the Super-computing Center, Big Data Center, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Special thanks are given to the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their very constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Process and Climate Change in Cold and Arid Regions, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Siqiong Luo & Xuewei Fang

  2. School of Atmospheric Sciences, Plateau Atmosphere and Environment Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, 610225, China

    Xuewei Fang, Shihua Lyu & Yu Zhang

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science &Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Shihua Lyu

  4. Changzhou Meteorological Bureau, Changzhou, 213000, China

    Boli Chen

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  1. Siqiong Luo
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  3. Shihua Lyu
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  4. Yu Zhang
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Correspondence to Siqiong Luo.

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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91537104, 41375077, 91537106, and 91537214).

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Luo, S., Fang, X., Lyu, S. et al. Improving CLM4.5 simulations of land–atmosphere exchange during freeze–thaw processes on the Tibetan Plateau. J Meteorol Res 31, 916–930 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-017-6063-0

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