Qi, Wei; Zhang, Chi; Fu, Guangtao; Zhou, Huicheng (2015). Global Land Data Assimilation System data assessment using a distributed biosphere hydrological model. JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY, 528, 652-667.

Abstract
Observed water and energy fluxes are sparse in many regions of the world. The overall aim of this study is to demonstrate the applicability of Global Land Data Assimilation System-Noah (GLDAS/Noah) data for basin scale water and energy studies in terms of input, output, seasonal and spatial distributions. A Water and Energy Budget-based Distributed Hydrological Model (WEB-DHM) is employed to evaluate the output of GLDAS/Noah and the simulations of seasonal and spatial distributions of fluxes after calibration with discharges and MODIS land surface temperatures (LSTs) in a semiarid catchment. GLDAS/Noah air temperatures and humidity agree well with observations, but GLDAS/Noah overestimates downward solar radiation and wind speed. LSTs and upward long wave radiation from GLDAS/Noah and WEB-DHM are comparable, but GLDAS/Noah shows larger upward shortwave, net radiation, latent heat, sensible heat fluxes and smaller ground heat flux amplitude. Two correction functions are developed for downward solar radiation and wind speed. The accuracy of discharges and LSTs is improved after corrections. The simulated seasonal and spatial distributions of water and energy fluxes and states (LSTs, evapotranspiration, surface, root, deep soil wetness, ground heat flux, latent heat flux, sensible heat flux, upward long wave radiation and upward shortwave radiation) show high accuracy using corrected GLDAS/Noah data. The findings provide an insight into the applicability of GLDAS/Noah. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI:
10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.07.011

ISSN:
0022-1694