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Comparisons of the Noah-MP land surface model simulations with measurements of forest and crop sites in Amazonia

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Abstract

This study evaluates the simulations of the Noah-MP surface processes over a crop and a forest sites in Amazonia using tower observations. Soil moisture simulations agree with the observations in both land covers, mainly during the rainy season. However, simulations show cold biases in the soil temperature at both sites. The magnitude and seasonal cycle of the surface energy fluxes are better simulated at the crop site, although the model significantly underestimates the sensible heat flux at this site. The model reproduces the seasonal pattern of surface runoff at both sites. The Noah-MP model does not adequately simulate the base flow at the crop site, while the simulated total runoff at the forest site is closer to the observation than at the crop site. The results show that, in general, the Noah-MP model simulations for the two sites in Amazonia exhibit fairly realistic performance, particularly over the crop site. However, there are cold biases in soil temperature simulations, which could be related with the parameterization of the equilibrium relationship between soil moisture and soil temperature.

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Acknowledgments

The first author thanks Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for the grant received for the development of this study, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), and the LBA project for the data. We thank Marta Llopart and Emilia Brasilio for providing data from the forest site and Michael Ek (NCEP/EMC) and Fei Chen (NCAR/RAL) for making available the Noah-MP model. The authors would like to thank the reviewers’s suggestions that helped improving the manuscript.

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  1. National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Rod. Pres. Dutra Km 39, Cachoeira Paulista, SP, 12630-000, Brazil

    Isabel L. Pilotto, Daniel A. Rodríguez, Javier Tomasella, Gilvan Sampaio & Sin Chan Chou

  2. National Early Warning and Monitoring Centre of Natural Disaster (CEMADEN), Rod. Pres. Dutra Km 39, Cachoeira Paulista, SP, 12630-000, Brazil

    Javier Tomasella

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  1. Isabel L. Pilotto
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Correspondence to Isabel L. Pilotto.

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Pilotto, I.L., Rodríguez, D.A., Tomasella, J. et al. Comparisons of the Noah-MP land surface model simulations with measurements of forest and crop sites in Amazonia. Meteorol Atmos Phys 127, 711–723 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-015-0399-8

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