Using an Explicit Vegetation Canopy in an Operational Land Model: Consequences for Land Data Assimilation

Significant biases exists in near-surface temperature and moisture forecasts in the NCEP regional and global models. These biases exist both for weather and short-term climate forecasts. The treatment of vegetation and groundwater in land models has significant effect on these biases. This talk focuses on using multiple options in the Noah-MP LSM as a tool to remove these biases using assimilation of land surface properties. The Noah-MP model, which contains an explicit canopy, expands the capabilities of the land surface models and land surface data assimilation. Results are shown demonstrating the necessity of using near-real-time satellite information to update vegetation properties and achieve accurate near-surface temperature and moisture prediction.