Improved Performance of CLM5.0 Model in Frozen Soil Simulation Over Tibetan Plateau by Implementing the Vegetation Emissivity and Gravel Hydrothermal Schemes

Frozen soil is widely distributed over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and has significant impacts on the regional climate and ecosystem. However, the Community Land Model version 5 (CLM5.0) produces evident cold bias in the frozen soil simulation over TP. In this study, an improved vegetation emissivity scheme and a gravel hydrothermal scheme have been implemented into CLM5.0 model, and their synergistic influences on the frozen soil simulation over TP have been systematically addressed and revealed. Results show that adopting the vegetation emissivity scheme, the gravel hydrothermal scheme, and both can remarkably reduce the cold bias in the frozen soil simulated by the original CLM5.0 model, and the column mean root-mean-square error (RMSE) can be reduced by 12.88%, 20.68%, and 31.11% at Arou site and 25.03%, 10.15%, and 36.87% at Maqu site, respectively. The reductions of column mean RMSE for the modeled soil temperature regionally averaged over TP induced by the adoption of vegetation emissivity scheme, the gravel hydrothermal scheme, and both are 32.34%, 6.75%, and 30.18%, respectively. The underlying physical mechanisms are related to the improved representation of the soil hydrothermal processes above or in the soil. The improved vegetation emissivity scheme improves the soil surface long-wave radiation heat transfer process, while the gravel hydrothermal scheme improves the hydrothermal properties within the soil. Overall, improving the surface long-wave radiation heat transfer and the internal soil hydrothermal properties can obviously enhance the performance of CLM5.0 model in simulating the soil freeze-thaw processes.

Automated summary

In this study, improved vegetation emissivity and gravel hydrothermal schemes were implemented into the CLM5.0 model to address the cold bias in the frozen soil simulation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The results showed that adopting both schemes significantly reduced the cold bias and improved the performance of the model in simulating the freeze-thaw processes of the soil.