A trial to improve surface heat exchange simulation through sensitivity experiments over a desert steppe site

It is still a daunting challenge for land surface models (LSMs) to correctly represent surface heat exchange for water-limited desert steppe ecosystems. This study aims to improve the ability of the Noah LSM to simulate surface heat fluxes through addressing uncertainties in precipitation forcing conditions, rapidly evolving vegetation properties, soil hydraulic properties (SHPs), and key parameterization schemes. Three years (2008–10) of observed surface heat fluxes and soil temperature over a desert steppe site in Inner Mongolia, China, are used to verify model simulations. The proper seasonal distribution of precipitation, along with more realistic vegetation parameters, can improve the simulation of sensible heat flux (SH) and the seasonal variability of latent heat flux. Correctly representing the low-surface exchange coefficient is crucial for improving SH for short vegetation like this desert steppe site. Relating Czil, the coefficient in the Noah surface exchange coefficient calculation, with canopy height h improves the simulated SH and the diurnal range of soil temperature over the simulation compared with using the default constant Czil. The exponential water stress formulation proposed here for the Jarvis scheme improves the partitioning between soil evaporation and transpiration. It is found that the surface energy fluxes are very sensitive to SHPs. This study highlights the important role of the proper parameter values and appropriate parameterizations for the surface exchange coefficient and water stress function in canopy resistance in capturing the observed surface energy fluxes and soil temperature variations for this desert steppe site.