Regions of strong coupling between soil moisture and precipitation.
Previous estimates of land-atmosphere interaction (the impact of soil moisture on precipitation) have been limited by a lack of observational data and by the model dependence of computational estimates. To counter the second limitation, a dozen climate-modeling groups have recently performed the same highly controlled numerical experiment as part of a coordinated comparison project. This allows a multimodel estimation of the regions on Earth where precipitation is affected by soil moisture anomalies during Northern Hemisphere summer. Potential benefits of this estimation may include improved seasonal rainfall forecasts.
Koster
Randal D
RD
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. randal.d.koster@nasa.gov
Dirmeyer
Paul A
PA
Guo
Zhichang
Z
Bonan
Gordon
G
Chan
Edmond
E
Cox
Peter
P
Gordon
C T
CT
Kanae
Shinjiro
S
Kowalczyk
Eva
E
Lawrence
David
D
Liu
Ping
P
Lu
Cheng-Hsuan
CH
Malyshev
Sergey
S
McAvaney
Bryant
B
Mitchell
Ken
K
Mocko
David
D
Oki
Taikan
T
Oleson
Keith
K
Pitman
Andrew
A
Sud
Y C
YC
Taylor
Christopher M
CM
Verseghy
Diana
D
Vasic
Ratko
R
Xue
Yongkang
Y
Yamada
Tomohito
T