Scale and Persistence of Soil Moisture Anomalies as Simulated in a Global Model

摘要

Soil moisture provides the storage and subsequent return to the atmosphere,through evaporation and transpiration, of precipitation anomalies over land. Global Circulation Model (GCM) simulations enable consistent identification of correlations and dynamical connections between the hydrologic variables, many of which are incompletely observed. In this study, we will report on a sensitivity study in which a GCM with a sophisticated land surface representation is used to investigate soil moisture variability in the model climate. The simulations used in this study were made at R15 resolution (approximately 4.5 deg latitude x 7.5 deg longitude) with prescribed sea surface temperatures (SST) in the GENESIS model, which is coupled to a Land Surface Transfer model (LSX) at 2 deg x 2 deg resolution.