Abstract ID: 527

Assessing the South American Land Data Assimilation System (SALDAS) datasets for the LBA Model Intercomparison Project (LBA-MIP)

Significant advances have been made in the past few years by the LBA project on towards understanding how the water, energy and carbon cycles function in the Amazon. However, most of these studies have been limited to results from point measurements from strategically located sites in the tropical forest and other LBA-related areas. As the LBA project progresses into its synthesis phase, there is increased interest in using the acquired knowledge to better understand how Amazonia works as a regional entity. The South American Land Data Assimilation System (SALDAS) initiative, which involves NASA/GSFC, CPTEC/INPE and University of Arizona, provides the capability to integrate results within the robust land surface modeling and data assimilation infrastructure that has already been developed at NASA/GSFC and used for regional studies over the LBA region. SALDAS simulations span from 2000 until present, using the Noah model as its primary land surface model with 3-hourly, 12Km resolution output. SALDAS is planned to be used for the next phase of the LBA Model Intercomparison Project (LBA-MIP) where land surface models will be compared at gridded regional scale over the Amazon region. This study investigates the feasibility of using the SALDAS atmospheric forcing datasets for land surface modeling over the Amazonia by comparing these forcing data with the eight LBA-MIP participant sites. The discussion of the results focuses on whether the ranges shown in the evaluation are within acceptable ranges for land surface modeling over that region.

Session:  Carbon - The LBA Model-Intercomparison Project.

Presentation Type:  Oral