Simulation of alpine tundra surface microclimates using the Canadian Land Surface Scheme: I. Albedo and net radiation modelling

✍ Scribed by Saunders, I.R.; Bowers, J.D.; Huo, Z.; Bailey, W.G.; Verseghy, D.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 186 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0899-8418
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0088(19990630)19:8<913::aid-joc408>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

The Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS), a land-surface parameterisation scheme for use in large-scale climate models, was assessed against the observed surface climates of two alpine tundra sites in western Canada. Half-hourly and daily modelled albedo and net radiation were compared to field observations. Four different simulations using CLASS were employed, each containing different degrees of realism in model configuration. No substantive improvements in model performance were achieved using the more stringent configurations when compared to the model's default specifications. Overall modelling quality for both variables was good. In general, CLASS was conservative when modelling the surface albedo, the diurnal variation in particular. However, the resulting errors in net solar radiation or net radiation were small. In general, CLASS successfully modelled net radiation. Brief summer snowfalls, characteristic of this environment, caused some modelling problems; CLASS did not always recognise when precipitation fell as snow, and demonstrated some difficulty in determining albedo for fresh snow falls, as well as the subsequent decay curve.