Articles | Volume 20, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-4099-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-4099-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Assessing the effect of land cover on ISBA snow water equivalent and land surface temperature simulations over Europe
Oscar Rojas-Munoz
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Toulouse, France
Constantin Ardilouze
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Toulouse, France
Bertrand Bonan
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Toulouse, France
Diane Tzanos
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Toulouse, France
Darren Ghent
Department of Physics and Astronomy, National Centre for Earth Observation, Univ. Leicester, Leicester, UK
Céline Lamarche
Earth and Life Institute, Environmental Sciences, Univ. catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Thomas Nagler
ENVEO IT GmbH, Innsbruck, Austria
Jean-Christophe Calvet
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Toulouse, France
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A method is developed and evaluated to quantify each process that affects hourly 2 m temperature variations on a local scale, based almost exclusively on observations retrieved from an observatory near the Paris region. Each term involved in surface temperature variations is estimated, and its contribution and importance are also assessed. It is found that clouds are the main modulator on hourly temperature variations for most hours of the day, and thus their characterization is addressed.
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1247, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1247, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS).
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-838, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-838, 2026
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Onaïa Savary, Constantin Ardilouze, and Julien Cattiaux
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Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 6917–6933, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6917-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6917-2025, 2025
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Gabriel Fernando Narváez-Campo and Constantin Ardilouze
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 4739–4759, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4739-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4739-2025, 2025
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Aurélien Mirebeau, Cécile de Munck, Bertrand Bonan, Christine Delire, Aude Lemonsu, Valéry Masson, and Stephan Weber
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 5329–5349, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-5329-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-5329-2025, 2025
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The greening of cities is recommended to limit the effects of climate change. In particular, green roofs can provide numerous environmental benefits, such as urban cooling, water retention, and carbon sequestration. The aim of this research is to develop a new module for calculating green roof CO2 fluxes within a model that can already simulate hydrological and thermal processes of such roofs. The calibration and evaluation of this module take advantage of long-term experimental data.
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Sophie Barthelemy, Bertrand Bonan, Miquel Tomas-Burguera, Gilles Grandjean, Séverine Bernardie, Jean-Philippe Naulin, Patrick Le Moigne, Aaron Boone, and Jean-Christophe Calvet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2321–2337, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2321-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2321-2025, 2025
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A drought index is developed that quantifies drought on an annual scale, making it applicable to monitoring clay shrinkage damage to buildings. A comparison with the number of insurance claims for subsidence shows that the presence of trees near individual houses must be taken into account. Significant soil moisture droughts occurred in France in 2003, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022. Particularly high index values are observed in 2022. It is found that droughts will become more severe in the future.
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Richard Parsons, Sainan Sun, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Jan Wuite, and Thomas Nagler
The Cryosphere, 18, 5789–5801, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5789-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5789-2024, 2024
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In 2022, multi-year landfast sea ice in Antarctica's Larsen B embayment disintegrated, after which time an increase in the rate at which Crane Glacier discharged ice into the ocean was observed. As the fast ice was joined to the glacier terminus, it could provide resistance against the glacier's flow, slowing down the rate of ice discharge. We used numerical modelling to quantify this resistive stress and found that the fast ice provided significant support to Crane prior to its disintegration.
En Liu, Yonghua Zhu, Jean-Christophe Calvet, Haishen Lü, Bertrand Bonan, Jingyao Zheng, Qiqi Gou, Xiaoyi Wang, Zhenzhou Ding, Haiting Xu, Ying Pan, and Tingxing Chen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2375–2400, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2375-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2375-2024, 2024
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Overestimated root zone soil moisture (RZSM) based on land surface models (LSMs) is attributed to overestimated precipitation and an underestimated ratio of transpiration to total evapotranspiration and performs better in the wet season. Underestimated SMOS L3 surface SM triggers the underestimated SMOS L4 RZSM, which performs better in the dry season due to the attenuated radiation in the wet season. LSMs should reduce and increase the frequency of wet and dry soil moisture, respectively.
Sophie Barthelemy, Bertrand Bonan, Jean-Christophe Calvet, Gilles Grandjean, David Moncoulon, Dorothée Kapsambelis, and Séverine Bernardie
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 999–1016, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-999-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-999-2024, 2024
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This work presents a drought index specifically adapted to subsidence, a seasonal phenomenon of soil shrinkage that occurs frequently in France and damages buildings. The index is computed from land surface model simulations and evaluated by a rank correlation test with insurance data. With its optimal configuration, the index is able to identify years of both zero and significant loss.
Dominik Rains, Isabel Trigo, Emanuel Dutra, Sofia Ermida, Darren Ghent, Petra Hulsman, Jose Gómez-Dans, and Diego G. Miralles
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 567–593, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-567-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-567-2024, 2024
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Land surface temperature and surface net radiation are vital inputs for many land surface and hydrological models. However, current remote sensing datasets of these variables come mostly at coarse resolutions, and the few high-resolution datasets available have large gaps due to cloud cover. Here, we present a continuous daily product for both variables across Europe for 2018–2019 obtained by combining observations from geostationary as well as polar-orbiting satellites.
Kandice L. Harper, Céline Lamarche, Andrew Hartley, Philippe Peylin, Catherine Ottlé, Vladislav Bastrikov, Rodrigo San Martín, Sylvia I. Bohnenstengel, Grit Kirches, Martin Boettcher, Roman Shevchuk, Carsten Brockmann, and Pierre Defourny
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1465–1499, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1465-2023, 2023
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We built a spatially explicit annual plant-functional-type (PFT) dataset for 1992–2020 exhibiting intra-class spatial variability in PFT fractional cover at 300 m. For each year, 14 maps of percentage cover are produced: bare soil, water, permanent snow/ice, built, managed grasses, natural grasses, and trees and shrubs, each split into leaf type and seasonality. Model simulations indicate significant differences in simulated carbon, water, and energy fluxes in some regions using this new set.
En Liu, Yonghua Zhu, Jean-christophe Calvet, Haishen Lü, Bertrand Bonan, Jingyao Zheng, Qiqi Gou, Xiaoyi Wang, Zhenzhou Ding, Haiting Xu, Ying Pan, and Tingxing Chen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-33, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-33, 2023
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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Among the 8 considered products, GLDAS_CLSM product performs best. All RZSM products overestimate the in situ measurements which attributes to a wet bias of air temperature, precipitation amount and frequency except the underestimation of SMOS L4 RZSM related to the underestimation of SMOS L3 SSM. The higher R between SMPA L4 and MERRA-2 was attributed to they both use CLSM and meteorological forcing from GEOS-5 where precipitation was corrected with CPCU precipitation product.
Arsène Druel, Simon Munier, Anthony Mucia, Clément Albergel, and Jean-Christophe Calvet
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 8453–8471, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8453-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8453-2022, 2022
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Crop phenology and irrigation is implemented into a land surface model able to work at a global scale. A case study is presented over Nebraska (USA). Simulations with and without the new scheme are compared to different satellite-based observations. The model is able to produce a realistic yearly irrigation water amount. The irrigation scheme improves the simulated leaf area index, gross primary productivity, evapotransipiration, and land surface temperature.
Karla Boxall, Frazer D. W. Christie, Ian C. Willis, Jan Wuite, and Thomas Nagler
The Cryosphere, 16, 3907–3932, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3907-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3907-2022, 2022
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Using high-spatial- and high-temporal-resolution satellite imagery, we provide the first evidence for seasonal flow variability of land ice draining to George VI Ice Shelf (GVIIS), Antarctica. Ultimately, our findings imply that other glaciers in Antarctica may be susceptible to – and/or currently undergoing – similar ice-flow seasonality, including at the highly vulnerable and rapidly retreating Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers.
Ioanna Karagali, Magnus Barfod Suhr, Ruth Mottram, Pia Nielsen-Englyst, Gorm Dybkjær, Darren Ghent, and Jacob L. Høyer
The Cryosphere, 16, 3703–3721, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3703-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3703-2022, 2022
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Ice surface temperature (IST) products were used to develop the first multi-sensor, gap-free Level 4 (L4) IST product of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) for 2012, when a significant melt event occurred. For the melt season, mean IST was −15 to −1 °C, and almost the entire GIS experienced at least 1 to 5 melt days. Inclusion of the L4 IST to a surface mass budget (SMB) model improved simulated surface temperatures during the key onset of the melt season, where biases are typically large.
Juha Lemmetyinen, Juval Cohen, Anna Kontu, Juho Vehviläinen, Henna-Reetta Hannula, Ioanna Merkouriadi, Stefan Scheiblauer, Helmut Rott, Thomas Nagler, Elisabeth Ripper, Kelly Elder, Hans-Peter Marshall, Reinhard Fromm, Marc Adams, Chris Derksen, Joshua King, Adriano Meta, Alex Coccia, Nick Rutter, Melody Sandells, Giovanni Macelloni, Emanuele Santi, Marion Leduc-Leballeur, Richard Essery, Cecile Menard, and Michael Kern
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 3915–3945, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3915-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3915-2022, 2022
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The manuscript describes airborne, dual-polarised X and Ku band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data collected over several campaigns over snow-covered terrain in Finland, Austria and Canada. Colocated snow and meteorological observations are also presented. The data are meant for science users interested in investigating X/Ku band radar signatures from natural environments in winter conditions.
Frank Paul, Livia Piermattei, Désirée Treichler, Lin Gilbert, Luc Girod, Andreas Kääb, Ludivine Libert, Thomas Nagler, Tazio Strozzi, and Jan Wuite
The Cryosphere, 16, 2505–2526, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2505-2022, 2022
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Anthony Mucia, Bertrand Bonan, Clément Albergel, Yongjun Zheng, and Jean-Christophe Calvet
Biogeosciences, 19, 2557–2581, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2557-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2557-2022, 2022
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For the first time, microwave vegetation optical depth data are assimilated in a land surface model in order to analyze leaf area index and root zone soil moisture. The advantage of microwave products is the higher observation frequency. A large variety of independent datasets are used to verify the added value of the assimilation. It is shown that the assimilation is able to improve the representation of soil moisture, vegetation conditions, and terrestrial water and carbon fluxes.
Ludivine Libert, Jan Wuite, and Thomas Nagler
The Cryosphere, 16, 1523–1542, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1523-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1523-2022, 2022
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Open fractures are important to monitor because they weaken the ice shelf structure. We propose a novel approach using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry for automatic delineation of ice shelf cracks. The method is applied to Sentinel-1 images of Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and the propagation of the North Rift, which led to iceberg calving in February 2021, is traced. It is also shown that SAR interferometry is more sensitive to rifting than SAR backscatter and optical imagery.
Wouter Dorigo, Irene Himmelbauer, Daniel Aberer, Lukas Schremmer, Ivana Petrakovic, Luca Zappa, Wolfgang Preimesberger, Angelika Xaver, Frank Annor, Jonas Ardö, Dennis Baldocchi, Marco Bitelli, Günter Blöschl, Heye Bogena, Luca Brocca, Jean-Christophe Calvet, J. Julio Camarero, Giorgio Capello, Minha Choi, Michael C. Cosh, Nick van de Giesen, Istvan Hajdu, Jaakko Ikonen, Karsten H. Jensen, Kasturi Devi Kanniah, Ileen de Kat, Gottfried Kirchengast, Pankaj Kumar Rai, Jenni Kyrouac, Kristine Larson, Suxia Liu, Alexander Loew, Mahta Moghaddam, José Martínez Fernández, Cristian Mattar Bader, Renato Morbidelli, Jan P. Musial, Elise Osenga, Michael A. Palecki, Thierry Pellarin, George P. Petropoulos, Isabella Pfeil, Jarrett Powers, Alan Robock, Christoph Rüdiger, Udo Rummel, Michael Strobel, Zhongbo Su, Ryan Sullivan, Torbern Tagesson, Andrej Varlagin, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Jeffrey Walker, Jun Wen, Fred Wenger, Jean Pierre Wigneron, Mel Woods, Kun Yang, Yijian Zeng, Xiang Zhang, Marek Zreda, Stephan Dietrich, Alexander Gruber, Peter van Oevelen, Wolfgang Wagner, Klaus Scipal, Matthias Drusch, and Roberto Sabia
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5749–5804, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5749-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5749-2021, 2021
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The International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN) is a community-based open-access data portal for soil water measurements taken at the ground and is accessible at https://ismn.earth. Over 1000 scientific publications and thousands of users have made use of the ISMN. The scope of this paper is to inform readers about the data and functionality of the ISMN and to provide a review of the scientific progress facilitated through the ISMN with the scope to shape future research and operations.
Constantin Ardilouze, Damien Specq, Lauriane Batté, and Christophe Cassou
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1033–1049, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1033-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1033-2021, 2021
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Forecasting temperature patterns beyond 2 weeks is very challenging, although occasionally, forecasts show more skill over Europe. Our study indicates that the level of skill varies concurrently for two distinct forecast systems. It also shows that higher skill occurs when forecasts are issued during specific patterns of atmospheric circulation that tend to be particularly persistent.
These results could help forecasters estimate a priori how trustworthy extended-range forecasts will be.
Oscar Javier Rojas Muñoz, Marjolaine Chiriaco, Sophie Bastin, and Justine Ringard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15699–15723, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15699-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15699-2021, 2021
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A method is developed and evaluated to quantify each process that affects hourly 2 m temperature variations on a local scale, based almost exclusively on observations retrieved from an observatory near the Paris region. Each term involved in surface temperature variations is estimated, and its contribution and importance are also assessed. It is found that clouds are the main modulator on hourly temperature variations for most hours of the day, and thus their characterization is addressed.
Helmut Rott, Stefan Scheiblauer, Jan Wuite, Lukas Krieger, Dana Floricioiu, Paola Rizzoli, Ludivine Libert, and Thomas Nagler
The Cryosphere, 15, 4399–4419, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4399-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4399-2021, 2021
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We studied relations between interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) signals and snow–firn properties and tested procedures for correcting the penetration bias of InSAR digital elevation models at Union Glacier, Antarctica. The work is based on SAR data of the TanDEM-X mission, topographic data from optical sensors and field measurements. We provide new insights on radar signal interactions with polar snow and show the performance of penetration bias retrievals using InSAR coherence.
Cited articles
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Short summary
This study evaluated how updating land cover maps, such as forests, grasslands, and croplands, affects simulations of snow and land surface temperatures across Europe from 2010 to 2022. Results using older, less detailed maps were compared with those from newer, high-resolution data. The updated maps improved the accuracy of snow predictions, particularly in areas where grasslands transitioned to forests. However, the improvements were less noticeable for temperature simulations.
This study evaluated how updating land cover maps, such as forests, grasslands, and croplands,...