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Abstract
Land surface models (LSMs) must accurately simulate observed energy and water fluxes during droughts in order to provide reliable estimates of future water resources. We evaluated 8 different LSMs (14 model versions) for simulating evapotranspiration (ET) during periods of evaporative drought (Edrought) across six flux tower sites. Using an empirically defined Edrought threshold (a decline in ET below the observed 15th percentile), we show that LSMs simulated 58 Edrought days per year, on average, across the six sites, ∼3 times as many as the observed 20 d. The simulated Edrought magnitude was ∼8 times greater than observed and twice as intense. Our findings point to systematic biases across LSMs when simulating water and energy fluxes under water-stressed conditions. The overestimation of key Edrought characteristics undermines our confidence in the models' capability in simulating realistic drought responses to climate change and has wider implications for phenomena sensitive to soil moisture, including heat waves.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 104012 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Environmental Research Letters |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 13 Oct 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- evaporative drought
- evapotranspiration
- FLUXNET
- heat waves
- land surface models
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Dive into the research topics of 'Land surface models systematically overestimate the intensity, duration and magnitude of seasonal-scale evaporative droughts'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
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Identifying regions of high drought mortality risk for tree species in NSW
Beaumont, L., Medlyn, B., Tissue, D., Auld, T., Evans, B., Duursma, R., Rymer, P., Tjoelker, M., MQRES, M. & PhD Contribution (ARC), P. C.
23/02/15 → …
Project: Research