Showing papers by "Jean-Christophe Calvet published in 2011"

Assimilation of ASCAT near-surface soil moisture into the SIM hydrological model over France

Abstract: . This study examines whether the assimilation of remotely sensed near-surface soil moisture observations might benefit an operational hydrological model, specifically Meteo-France's SAFRAN-ISBA-MODCOU (SIM) model. Soil moisture data derived from ASCAT backscatter observations are assimilated into SIM using a Simplified Extended Kalman Filter (SEKF) over 3.5 years. The benefit of the assimilation is tested by comparison to a delayed cut-off version of SIM, in which the land surface is forced with more accurate atmospheric analyses, due to the availability of additional atmospheric observations after the near-real time data cut-off. However, comparing the near-real time and delayed cut-off SIM models revealed that the main difference between them is a dry bias in the near-real time precipitation forcing, which resulted in a dry bias in the root-zone soil moisture and associated surface moisture flux forecasts. While assimilating the ASCAT data did reduce the root-zone soil moisture dry bias (by nearly 50%), this was more likely due to a bias within the SEKF, than due to the assimilation having accurately responded to the precipitation errors. Several improvements to the assimilation are identified to address this, and a bias-aware strategy is suggested for explicitly correcting the model bias. However, in this experiment the moisture added by the SEKF was quickly lost from the model surface due to the enhanced surface fluxes (particularly drainage) induced by the wetter soil moisture states. Consequently, by the end of each winter, during which frozen conditions prevent the ASCAT data from being assimilated, the model land surface had returned to its original (dry-biased) climate. This highlights that it would be more effective to address the precipitation bias directly, than to correct it by constraining the model soil moisture through data assimilation.

Sensitivity of Passive Microwave Observations to Soil Moisture and Vegetation Water Content: L-Band to W-Band

Abstract: Ground-based multifrequency (L-band to W-band, 1.41-90 GHz) and multiangular (20°-50°) bipolarized (V and H) microwave radiometer observations, acquired over a dense wheat field, are analyzed in order to assess the sensitivity of brightness temperatures (Tb) to land surface properties: surface soil moisture (mv) and vegetation water content (VWC). For each frequency, a combination of microwave Tb observed at either two contrasting incidence angles or two polarizations is used to retrieve mv and VWC, through regressed empirical logarithmic equations. The retrieval performance of the regression is used as an indicator of the sensitivity of the microwave signal to either mv or VWC. In general, L-band measurements are shown to be sensitive to both mv and VWC, with lowest root mean square errors (0.04 m3 ·m-3 and 0.52 kg ·m-2 , respectively) obtained at H polarization, 20° and 50° incidence angles. In spite of the dense vegetation, it is shown that mv influences the microwave observations from L-band to K-band (23.8 GHz). The highest sensitivity to soil moisture is observed at L-band in all configurations, while observations at higher frequencies, from C-band (5.05 GHz) to K-band, are only moderately influenced by mv at low incidence angles (e.g., 20°). These frequencies are also shown to be very sensitive to VWC in all the configurations tested. The highest frequencies (Q- and W-bands) are shown to be moderately sensitive to VWC only. These results are used to analyze the response of W-band emissivities derived from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit instruments over northern France.

Verification of the new ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis over France

Abstract: . An evaluation of the global ECMWF atmospheric reanalysis ERA-Interim (with a 0.5° grid) is performed over France, based on the high resolution (8 km) SAFRAN atmospheric reanalysis. The ERA-Interim precipitation, Incoming Solar Radiation (ISR), air temperature, air humidity, and wind speed, are compared with their SAFRAN counterparts. Also, interpolated in situ ISR observations are used in order to consolidate the evaluation of this variable. The daily precipitation estimates produced by ERA-Interim over France correlate very well with SAFRAN. However, the values are underestimated by 27%. A GPCP-corrected version of ERA-Interim is less biased (13%). The ERA-Interim estimates of ISR correlate very well with SAFRAN and with in situ observations on a daily basis. Whereas SAFRAN underestimates the ISR by 6 Wm−2, ERA-Interim overestimates the ISR by 10 Wm−2. In order to assess the impact of the ERA-Interim errors, simulations of the ISBA-A-gs land surface model are performed over the SMOSREX grassland site in southwestern France using ERA-Interim (with and without GPCP rescaling) and SAFRAN. Latent and sensible heat fluxes are simulated, together with carbon dioxide fluxes. The rescaled ERA-Interim performs better than the original ERA-Interim and permits to achieve flux scores similar to those obtained with SAFRAN.

Assimilation of Soil Wetness Index and Leaf Area Index into the ISBA-A-gs land surface model: grassland case study

Abstract: . The performance of the joint assimilation in a land surface model of a Soil Wetness Index (SWI) product provided by an exponential filter together with Leaf Area Index (LAI) is investigated. The data assimilation is evaluated with different setups using the SURFEX modeling platform, for a period of seven years (2001–2007), at the SMOSREX grassland site in southwestern France. The results obtained with a Simplified Extended Kalman Filter demonstrate the effectiveness of a joint data assimilation scheme when both SWI and Leaf Area Index are merged into the ISBA-A-gs land surface model. The assimilation of a retrieved Soil Wetness Index product presents several challenges that are investigated in this study. A significant improvement of around 13 % of the root-zone soil water content is obtained by assimilating dimensionless root-zone SWI data. For comparison, the assimilation of in situ surface soil moisture is considered as well. A lower impact on the root zone is noticed. Under specific conditions, the transfer of the information from the surface to the root zone was found not accurate. Also, our results indicate that the assimilation of in situ LAI data may correct a number of deficiencies in the model, such as low LAI values in the senescence phase by using a seasonal-dependent error definition for background and observations. In order to verify the specification of the errors for SWI and LAI products, a posteriori diagnostics are employed. This approach highlights the importance of the assimilation design on the quality of the analysis. The impact of data assimilation scheme on CO2 fluxes is also quantified by using measurements of net CO2 fluxes gathered at the SMOSREX site from 2005 to 2007. An improvement of about 5 % in terms of rms error is obtained.

Ground-based Optical Measurements at European Flux Sites: A Review of Methods, Instruments and Current Controversies

Abstract: This paper reviews the currently available optical sensors, their limitations and opportunities for deployment at Eddy Covariance (EC) sites in Europe. This review is based on the results obtained from an online survey designed and disseminated by the Co-cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ESO903—“Spectral Sampling Tools for Vegetation Biophysical Parameters and Flux Measurements in Europe” that provided a complete view on spectral sampling activities carried out within the different research teams in European countries. The results have highlighted that a wide variety of optical sensors are in use at flux sites across Europe, and responses further demonstrated that users were not always fully aware of the key issues underpinning repeatability and the reproducibility of their spectral measurements. The key findings of this survey point towards the need for greater awareness of the need for standardisation and development of a common protocol of optical sampling at the European EC sites.

Modelling LAI, surface water and carbon fluxes at high-resolution over France: comparison of ISBA-A-gs and ORCHIDEE

Abstract: . The Leaf Area Index (LAI) is a measure of the amount of photosynthetic leaves and governs the canopy conductance to water vapor and carbon dioxide. Four different estimates of LAI were compared over France: two LAI products derived from satellite remote sensing, and two LAI simulations derived from land surface modelling. The simulated LAI was produced by the ISBA-A-gs model and by the ORCHIDEE model (developed by CNRM-GAME and by IPSL, respectively), for the 1994–2007 period. The two models were driven by the same atmospheric variables and used the same land cover map (SAFRAN and ECOCLIMAP-II, respectively). The MODIS and CYCLOPES satellite LAI products were used. Both products were available from 2000 to 2007 and this relatively long period allowed to investigate the interannual and the seasonal variability of monthly LAI values. In particular the impact of the 2003 and 2005 droughts were analyzed. The two models presented contrasting results, with a difference of one month between the average leaf onset dates simulated by the two models, and a maximum interannual variability of LAI simulated at springtime by ORCHIDEE and at summertime by ISBA-A-gs. The comparison with the satellite LAI products showed that, in general, the seasonality was better represented by ORCHIDEE, while ISBA-A-gs tended to better represent the interannual variability, especially for grasslands. While the two models presented comparable values of net carbon fluxes, ORCHIDEE simulated much higher photosynthesis rates than ISBA-A-gs (+70%), while providing lower transpiration estimates (−8%).

CAROLS: A New Airborne L-Band Radiometer for Ocean Surface and Land Observations

Abstract: The "Cooperative Airborne Radiometer for Ocean and Land Studies" (CAROLS) L-Band radiometer was designed and built as a copy of the EMIRAD II radiometer constructed by the Technical University of Denmark team. It is a fully polarimetric and direct sampling correlation radiometer. It is installed on board a dedicated French ATR42 research aircraft, in conjunction with other airborne instruments (C-Band scatterometer--STORM, the GOLD-RTR GPS system, the infrared CIMEL radiometer and a visible wavelength camera). Following initial laboratory qualifications, three airborne campaigns involving 21 flights were carried out over South West France, the Valencia site and the Bay of Biscay (Atlantic Ocean) in 2007, 2008 and 2009, in coordination with in situ field campaigns. In order to validate the CAROLS data, various aircraft flight patterns and maneuvers were implemented, including straight horizontal flights, circular flights, wing and nose wags over the ocean. Analysis of the first two campaigns in 2007 and 2008 leads us to improve the CAROLS radiometer regarding isolation between channels and filter bandwidth. After implementation of these improvements, results show that the instrument is conforming to specification and is a useful tool for Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite validation as well as for specific studies on surface soil moisture or ocean salinity.

How errors on meteorological variables impact simulated ecosystem fluxes: a case study for six French sites

Abstract: . We analyze how biases of meteorological drivers impact the calculation of ecosystem CO2, water and energy fluxes by models. To do so, we drive the same ecosystem model by meteorology from gridded products and by meteorology from local observation at eddy-covariance flux sites. The study is focused on six flux tower sites in France spanning across a climate gradient of 7–14 °C annual mean surface air temperature and 600–1040 mm mean annual rainfall, with forest, grassland and cropland ecosystems. We evaluate the results of the ORCHIDEE process-based model driven by meteorology from four different analysis data sets against the same model driven by site-observed meteorology. The evaluation is decomposed into characteristic time scales. The main result is that there are significant differences in meteorology between analysis data sets and local observation. The phase of seasonal cycle of air temperature, humidity and shortwave downward radiation is reproduced correctly by all meteorological models (average R2 = 0.90). At sites located in altitude, the misfit of meteorological drivers from analysis data sets and tower meteorology is the largest. We show that day-to-day variations in weather are not completely well reproduced by meteorological models, with R2 between analysis data sets and measured local meteorology going from 0.35 to 0.70. The bias of meteorological driver impacts the flux simulation by ORCHIDEE, and thus would have an effect on regional and global budgets. The forcing error, defined by the simulated flux difference resulting from prescribing modeled instead of observed local meteorology drivers to ORCHIDEE, is quantified for the six studied sites at different time scales. The magnitude of this forcing error is compared to that of the model error defined as the modeled-minus-observed flux, thus containing uncertain parameterizations, parameter values, and initialization. The forcing error is on average smaller than but still comparable to model error, with the ratio of forcing error to model error being the largest on daily time scale (86%) and annual time scales (80%). The forcing error incurred from using a gridded meteorological data set to drive vegetation models is therefore an important component of the uncertainty budget of regional CO2, water and energy fluxes simulations, and should be taken into consideration in up-scaling studies.

Soil Moisture Estimations Based on Airborne CAROLS L-Band Microwave Data

Abstract: The SMOS satellite mission, launched in 2009, allows global soil moisture estimations to be made using the L-band Microwave Emission of the Biosphere (L-MEB) model, which simulates the L-band microwave emissions produced by the soil-vegetation layer. This model was calibrated using various sources of in situ and airborne data. In the present study, we propose to evaluate the L-MEB model on the basis of a large set of airborne data, recorded by the CAROLS radiometer during the course of 20 flights made over South West France (the SMOSMANIA site), and supported by simultaneous soil moisture measurements, made in 2009 and 2010. In terms of volumetric soil moisture, the retrieval accuracy achieved with the L-MEB model, with two default roughness parameters, ranges between 8% and 13%. Local calibrations of the roughness parameter, using data from the 2009 flights for different areas of the site, allowed an accuracy of approximately 5.3% to be achieved with the 2010 CAROLS data. Simultaneously we estimated the vegetation optical thickness (t) and we showed that, when roughness is locally adjusted, MODIS NDVI values are correlated (R2 = 0.36) to t. Finally, as a consequence of the significant influence of the roughness parameter on the estimated absolute values of soil moisture, we propose to evaluate the relative variability of the soil moisture, using a default soil roughness parameter. The soil moisture variations are estimated with an uncertainty of approximately 6%.

Geoland2 – Towards an operational GMES Land Monitoring Core Service: the Biogeophysical Parameter Core Mapping Service

Abstract: The European GMES initiative provides a political framework for future implementation of Service Centres related to environmental applications. The FP7/geoland2 project is the last brick towards the implementation of fully mature GMES Land Services, consisting of Core Mapping Services (CMS) and Core Information Services (CIS). Its goal is to build, validate and demonstrate operational processing lines and products on a user-driven basis. The Bio-geophysical Parameter (BioPar) CMS aims at setting-up operational infrastructures for providing regional, continental, and global Essential Climate Variables. The research, development, production, and validation activities of the BioPar CMS are presented with a special focus on the biophysical products available to the institutional users, and to the scientific community.

Impact of the use of a CO 2 responsive land surface model in simulating the effect of climate change on the hydrology of French Mediterranean basins

Abstract: . In order to evaluate the uncertainty associated with the impact model in climate change studies, a CO2 responsive version of the land surface model ISBA (ISBA-A-gs) is compared with its standard version in a climate impact assessment study. The study is performed over the French Mediterranean basin using the Safran-Isba-Modcou chain. A downscaled A2 regional climate scenario is used to force both versions of ISBA, and the results of the two land surface models are compared for the present climate and for that at the end of the century. Reasonable agreement is found between models and with discharge observations. However, ISBA-A-gs has a lower mean evapotranspiration and a higher discharge than ISBA-Standard. Results for the impact of climate change are coherent on a yearly basis for evapotranspiration, total runoff, and discharge. However, the two versions of ISBA present contrasting seasonal variations. ISBA-A-gs develops a different vegetation cycle. The growth of the vegetation begins earlier and reaches a slightly lower maximum than in the present climate. This maximum is followed by a rapid decrease in summertime. In consequence, the springtime evapotranspiration is significantly increased when compared to ISBA-Standard, while the autumn evapotranspiration is lower. On average, discharge changes are more significant at the regional scale with ISBA-A-gs.

Retrievals of Soil Moisture and Optical Depth from CAROLS

Abstract: We propose in this paper to evaluate a method to retrieve soil moisture (SM) and vegetation optical thickness, in areas of unknown roughness and unknown vegetation water content in view of operational applications, by using airborne Tb measurements acquired in South-West of France. Results are compared to in situ measurements, manual and automatic ones included in SMOSmania network, in the South-West of France.

Land surface albedo and downwelling shortwave radiation from MSG geostationary satellite: Method for retrieval, validation, and application

Abstract: The European Meteorological Satellite Organization (EUMETSAT) maintains a number of decentralized processing centers dedicated to different scientific themes. The Portuguese Meteorological Institute hosts the Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF). The primary objective of the LSA-SAF is to provide added-value products for the meteorological and environmental science communities with main applications in the fields of climate modeling, environmental management, natural hazards management, and climate change detection. Since 2005 data from Meteosat Second Generation satellite are routinely processed in near real time by the LSA-SAF operational system in Lisbon. Presently, the delivered operational products comprise land surface albedo and temperature, shortwave and long-wave downwelling radiation fluxes, vegetation parameters and snow cover. After more than ten years (1999–2011) of research, development, and progressive operational activities, a summary of characteristics and performances of albedo and downwelling shortwave (DSSF) products is presented (Sections 2 and 3). The relevance of LSA-SAF albedo product is analyzed through a weather forecast model (ALADIN) in order to account for the inter-annual spatial and temporal variability (Section 4). The added value brought by the use of LSA-SAF shortwave and long-wave products is also diagnosed through SURFEX Land Surface Models (LSM) simulations with the surface temperature, the water content and the energy fluxes (Section 4). Perspectives of the LSA-SAF project are finally stressed (Section 5–6).