1. Evaluation of Soil Moisture in CMIP6 Multimodel Simulations Over Conterminous China.
- Author
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Wang, Aihui, Kong, Xianghui, Chen, Yue, and Ma, Xin
- Subjects
SOIL moisture ,GROWING season ,ATMOSPHERIC models ,ATMOSPHERE - Abstract
The Sixth Phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) provides the long‐term soil moisture (SM) products and this study conducts a comprehensive assessment of SM products of multiple CMIP6 model simulations over conterminous China. Both near‐surface (0–10 cm) SM simulations from 40 models and root‐zone (0–100 cm) SM from 25 models are compared with a set of in situ and a satellite‐based data set in the growing season for 1992–2013. The long‐term trend and interannual variability of near‐surface SM for 1961–2014 are further evaluated with an offline land surface modeling data set. Simulations from most models broadly capture the spatial characteristics of observation, and the multimodel mean (MME) well reproduces seasonal variations over the majority of regions, regardless of the large spread across models. SM from CMIP6 models from the same institution likely manifests similar performances, which indicates that the land‐surface scheme plays a dominant role in the CMIP6 SM reproduction. The majority of CMIP6 models well simulate the overall drying trend in China as a whole and the signs of a SM trend are highly consistent across different models, but the areas with significant wetting/drying trends vary with models. The spatial patterns of SM interannual variability are model‐dependent. MME is overall superior to the simulation of individual model and may have potential applications in future research. The heterogeneity of SM performances across CMIP6 models reveals the complexity and uncertainty in modeling land surface variables, suggesting the need for improving representations of land surface processes in the coupled models. Plain Language Summary: Soil moisture influences the exchange of energy, water, and carbon within the soil‐vegetation‐atmosphere system. Climate models are extensively applied to simulate soil moisture (SM) that is required to be assessed before applications. In this study, we comprehensively evaluate the SM simulations in the Sixth Phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) historical experiments with a set of station observations, a satellite‐based data set, and a high‐quality pre‐derived SM product in China as the reference data sets. The results show that the spatial and temporal characteristics of SM simulated by the majority of models are consistent with reference data sets and the multimodel mean (MME) well reproduces SM seasonal variations in most regions. Resemble performances are found for models from the same institution. For China as a whole during 1961–2014, the drying trend is reproduced by most models. There are high consistencies of trend patterns across the country among models, although the magnitudes of the trend are model‐dependent. The interannual variability of SM varies with models in terms of spatial patterns, for which MME overall shows better performance than the simulation of the individual model. This study provides a basic reference for selecting SM products in CMIP6 for future applications. Key Points: Station‐based, satellite‐based, and pre‐derived soil moisture (SM) data sets in China are used to assess the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project multimodel simulationsThe SM simulations are similar to models in the same institutions and most models reproduce the recent drying trend in ChinaThe multimodel mean performs overall superior to the individual model, which is suggested for future applications [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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