Global scale error assessments of soil moisture estimates from microwave-based active and passive satellites and land surface models over forest and mixed irrigated/dryland agriculture regions
Hyunglok Kim, Jean‐Pierre Wigneron, Sujay V. Kumar, Jianzhi Dong, Wolfgang Wagner, Michael H. Cosh, David D. Bosch, Chandra Holifield Collins, Patrick J. Starks, M. S. Seyfried, V. Lakshmi
Synergistic impact of simultaneously assimilating radar- and radiometer-based soil moisture retrievals on the performance of numerical weather prediction systems
Yonghwan Kwon, Sanghee Jun, Hyunglok Kim, Kyung-Hee Seol, In-Hyuk Kwon, Eunkyu Kim, Sujeong Cho
IF 5.8
Hydrology and earth system sciences
Abstract. The combined use of independent soil moisture data from radar and radiometer measurements in data assimilation (DA) systems is expected to yield synergistic performance gains due to their complementary strengths. This study evaluates the impact of simultaneously assimilating soil moisture retrievals from ASCAT (Advanced SCATterometer) and SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) into the Korean Integrated Model (KIM) using a weakly coupled DA framework based on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Land Information System (LIS). The Noah land surface model (LSM) within LIS, which is the same as that used in KIM, is used to simulate land surface states and assimilate soil moisture retrievals. The impact of soil moisture DA is evaluated using independent reference datasets, assessing its influence on soil moisture analysis and numerical weather prediction performance. Overall, assimilating single-sensor soil moisture data, ASCAT or SMAP, into the LSM improves global soil moisture analysis accuracy by 4.0 % and 10.5 %, respectively, compared to the control case without soil moisture DA, achieving the most significant enhancements in croplands. Relative to single-sensor soil moisture DA, multi-sensor soil moisture DA yields more balanced skill enhancements for both specific humidity and air temperature analyses and forecasts. The most pronounced synergistic improvements by simultaneously assimilating both soil moisture products are observed in the 2 m air temperature analysis and forecast, especially when both soil moisture products have a positive impact. Precipitation forecast skill also improves with multi-sensor soil moisture DA, although the improvements are not consistent across regions and events. This paper discusses remaining issues for future studies to further improve the weather prediction performance of the KIM-LIS multi-sensor soil moisture DA system.
Simultaneous Estimation of Soil Moisture and Soil Organic Matter from in situ Dielectric Measurements - Part 1: Optimal Estimation Strategy
Chang‐Hwan Park, Ankur R. Desai, Jingyi Huang, Andreas Colliander, Hyunglok Kim, Thomas Jagdhuber, Venkataraman Lakshmi, Michael H. Cosh, Aaron Berg, Jean‐Pierre Wigneron
Simultaneous Estimation of Soil Moisture and Soil Organic Matter from in situ Dielectric - Part 2: Application of Optimal Estimation and Machine Learning Approaches
Chang‐Hwan Park, Ankur R. Desai, Jingyi Huang, Hyunglok Kim, Thomas Jagdhuber, Andreas Colliander, Jinkyu Hong, Venkataraman Lakshmi, Aaron Berg, Jean‐Pierre Wigneron
Global quantifying the fractions of precipitation transformed into terrestrial water storage and their changes
Yulong Zhong, Baoming Tian, Guodong Cheng, Hyunglok Kim, Yunlong Wu, Lizhe Wang
The pivotal role of precipitation in driving the terrestrial water cycle is well-known, but quantifying its transformation into terrestrial water storage remains challenging. This study introduces a new metric -- the average daily fraction of precipitation transformed into terrestrial water storage -- leveraging an advanced statistical reconstruction method and data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites and their follow-on mission. Results show that about 64% of land precipitation contributes to terrestrial water storage across 121 global river basins from 2002 to 2021, with notable variations across climatic and geographical regions. We also analyze changes in this fraction across global mascons. Our findings shed light on the interactions between precipitation, land surface processes, and climate change, providing valuable insights for water resource management and hydrological modeling.
Global scale error assessments of soil moisture estimates from microwave-based active and passive satellites and land surface models over forest and mixed irrigated/dryland agriculture regions
Hyunglok Kim, Jean‐Pierre Wigneron, Sujay V. Kumar, Jianzhi Dong, Wolfgang Wagner, Michael H. Cosh, David D. Bosch, Chandra Holifield Collins, Patrick J. Starks, M. S. Seyfried, V. Lakshmi