Evaluation of NOAH-LSM model over Pune and Ranchi in different seasons

Soil moisture (SM) and atmospheric parameters determine the surface energy partition, which impacts near-surface air temperature and moisture. Two locations, Pune and Ranchi, with different soil moisture (SM at Pune with clay soil is higher than that at Ranchi with loam soil), are chosen to evaluate the NOAH land surface model (NCEP, OSU-version 2.7.1) for winter, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. We have used the estimated surface fluxes by eddy covariance technique for the model validation. Agreement is better between the model and observations of net shortwave radiation for dry soil than that for wet soil, such a feature caused by surface albedo mismatch. Model validation of sensible (H) and latent (LE) heat fluxes at Pune indicate better agreement overall for winter (Jan; R2 and RMSE for H, 0.72, 34) and post-monsoon (Nov; 0.67, 56) compared to summer, (May; 0.55, 70). Similar is the case at Ranchi, with R2 and RMSE for winter and post-monsoon (January: 0.8, 24 & November: 0.9, 14) better and lower for summer (May: 0.7, 65). Bowen ratio (Model) for wet soil (0.45) is lower than that for dry soil (0.6). The model underestimates ground heat flux for wet soil and overestimates for dry soil due to soil thermal and hydraulic conductivity uncertainty. Further improvement of parameterization schemes in the land surface models would help better understand soil hydrology and boundary layer development.