Climate Sensitivity to Land Surface Processes: An Evaluation of Three Land Surface Schemes Coupled to a Single GCM

Three land surface schemes (LSM, BATS, and SSiB) are currently coupled to a single atmospheric GCM (NCAR CCM3). A comparison of the climate simulated by these three models provides the information to analyze climate sensitivity to land surface processes. Evaluation of these simulations will concentrate on the analysis of the hydrological cycle of a few regions selected for their sensitive to the treatment of land surface processes. These regions include West and Central Africa, and the North American Monsoon region over the Western United States and Mexico. Observational data from standard climatologies, blended gauge-satellite-model products, and the land surface climate provided by the data from field campaigns are also be used in this evaluation.