Application Oriented Land Surface Model Improvement Efforts at CRREL

A preliminary intercomparison is conducted of land surface modeling (LSM) approaches' performance relative to contexts important to the United States Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), including:

a) social concerns, b) hydrologic concerns, and c) over-land mobility concerns.

The study is facilitated through the overarching software framework developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the United States Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA):

a) Land Data Toolkit (LDT), b) Land Information System (LIS), and c) Land Verification Toolkit (LVT).

Sensitivity of each of selected LSM results to selected forcing and parameter datasets and resolutions is explored, along with various continuous, categorical, and more “fuzzy” measures (spatial decomposition, e.g.) of efficacy in the context of each above-listed concern is discussed independently and interdependently with the other concerns. Further, factors including improved parameter estimation, data acquisition, and experimental validation (e.g., field studies of concern to “downstream” interests – for instance, modelers and decision makers making indirect use of LSM output) are identified and discussed relative to their respective importance towards realizing and determining performance gains for specific requirements (e.g., calculations related to soil moisture and frost) – gains which might not be obvious through more typical benchmarking of LSM output, itself. Preliminary efforts – e.g., through the LIS optimization and parameter estimation capability – toward addressing these factors are also discussed.