The Tibetan Plateau observatory of plateau scale soil moisture and soil temperature (Tibet-Obs) for quantifying uncertainties in coarse resolution satellite and model products

摘要

A plateau scale soil moisture and soil temperature observatory isestablished on the Tibetan Plateau for quantifying uncertainties in coarseresolution satellite and model products of soil moisture and soiltemperature. The Tibetan Plateau observatory of plateau scale soil moistureand soil temperature (Tibet-Obs) consists of three regional scale in-situreference networks, including the Naqu network in a cold semiarid climate,the Maqu network in a cold humid climate and the Ngari network in a coldarid climate. These networks provide a representative coverage of thedifferent climate and land surface hydrometeorological conditions on theTibetan plateau. In this paper the details of the Tibet-Obs are reported. Todemonstrate the uniqueness of the Tibet-Obs in quantifying and explainingsoil moisture uncertainties in existing coarse satellite products, ananalysis is carried out to assess the reliability of several satelliteproducts for the Naqu and the Maqu network areas. It is concluded thatglobal coarse resolution soil moisture products are useful but exhibit tillnow unreported uncertainties in cold and semiarid regions – use of themwould be critically enhanced if uncertainties can be quantified and reducedusing in-situ measurements.