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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L01404, doi:10.1029/2007GL031986, 2008

Contribution of soil moisture retrievals to land data assimilation products

R. H. Reichle

Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA


W. T. Crow

Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland, USA


R. D. Koster

Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA


H. O. Sharif

Civil Engineering Department, University of Texas, San Antonio, Texas, USA


S. P. P. Mahanama

Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA


Abstract

Satellite measurements (retrievals) of surface soil moisture are subject to errors and cannot provide complete space-time coverage. Data assimilation systems merge available retrievals with information from land surface models and antecedent meteorological data, information that is spatio-temporally complete but likewise uncertain. For the design of new satellite missions it is critical to understand just how uncertain retrievals can be and still be useful. Here, we present a synthetic data assimilation experiment that determines the contribution of retrievals to the skill of land assimilation products (soil moisture and evapotranspiration) as a function of retrieval and land model skill. As expected, the skill of the assimilation products increases with the skill of the model and that of the retrievals. The skill of the soil moisture assimilation products always exceeds that of the model acting alone; even retrievals of low quality contribute information to the assimilation product, particularly if model skill is modest.

Received 11 September 2007; accepted 6 December 2007; published 10 January 2008.

Keywords: data assimilation; soil moisture; satellite retrievals.

Index Terms: 1866 Hydrology: Soil moisture; 3315 Atmospheric Processes: Data assimilation; 1843 Hydrology: Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1631, 3322); 1855 Hydrology: Remote sensing (1640); 1816 Hydrology: Estimation and forecasting.

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Citation: Reichle, R. H., W. T. Crow, R. D. Koster, H. O. Sharif, and S. P. P. Mahanama (2008), Contribution of soil moisture retrievals to land data assimilation products, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L01404, doi:10.1029/2007GL031986.