The Influence of the Inclusion of Soil Freezing on Simulations by a Soil–Vegetation–Atmosphere Transfer Scheme

Abstract

The interactions between the soil, biosphere, and atmosphere (ISBA) land surface parameterization scheme has been modified to include soil ice. The liquid water equivalent volumetric ice content is modeled using two reservoirs within the soil: a thin surface layer that directly affects the surface energy balance, and a deep soil layer. The freezing/drying, wetting/thawing analogy is used, and a description of the modifications to the ISBA force-restore scheme, in particular to the hydrological and thermal transfer coefficients, is presented. In addition, the ISBA surface/vegetation scheme is coupled to a multilayer explicit diffusion soil heat and mass transfer model in order to investigate the accuracy of the force-restore formalism soil freezing parameterization as compared with a higher-order scheme.