Evergreen and deciduous forest fractions: inconsistencies? – in #9: CCLM

in #9: CCLM

<p> In the <span class="caps"> EXTPAR </span> v4.0 documentation on page 19 it reads: <br/> <em> Values that depend on the plant cover, such as <span class="caps"> PLCOV </span> MX, <span class="caps"> PLCOV </span> MN, <span class="caps"> LAI </span> MN, <span class="caps"> LAI </span> MX, RS <span class="caps"> MIN </span> , <span class="caps"> FOR </span> E, <span class="caps"> FOR </span> D, <span class="caps"> ROOTDP </span> and z0, are weighted with the plant cover maximum in addition to the pixel area. </em> <br/> This would mean that <span class="caps"> FOR </span> _D and <span class="caps"> FOR </span> _E are relative to plant cover fraction. In that case the vegetation part of the cell is veg_part = for_e+for_d+veg_low <br/> where veg_low stands for low vegetation which has a snow free albedo of 0.20 in your first equation <br/> For the snow albedo the equation would be then <br/> <pre> zsnow_alb = zsalb_snow*(1._ireals-for_e(i,j)-for_d(i,j)-veg_low(i,j)) &amp; + csalb_snow_fe * for_e(i,j) &amp; + csalb_snow_fd * for_d(i,j) + csalb_snow_veg_low * veg_low(i,j) </pre> <br/> In <span class="caps"> CCLM </span> it is assumed that low vegetation has the same snow albedo as bare soil. Therefore zsalb_snow=csalb_snow_veg_low. With this assumption you get </p> <p> <pre> zsnow_alb = zsalb_snow*(1._ireals-for_e(i,j)-for_d(i,j)) &amp; + csalb_snow_fe * for_e(i,j) &amp; + csalb_snow_fd * for_d(i,j) </pre> <br/> which is your second equation. </p> <p> Maybe one should define the long names in the output files more precisely: <br/> In the <span class="caps"> EXTPAR </span> output files <br/> <em> long_name = “Fraction of deciduous forest” </em> <br/> should be better defined as e.g. <br/> <em> long_name = “Fraction of deciduous forest of maximum plant cover” </em> <br/> and in the <span class="caps"> CCLM </span> output files <br/> <em> long_name = “ground fraction covered by deciduous forest” </em> <br/> should be better defined as e.g. <br/> <em> long_name = “ground fraction covered by deciduous forest weighted by maximum plant cover” </em> </p>

  @burkhardtrockel in #d17af0f

<p> In the <span class="caps"> EXTPAR </span> v4.0 documentation on page 19 it reads: <br/> <em> Values that depend on the plant cover, such as <span class="caps"> PLCOV </span> MX, <span class="caps"> PLCOV </span> MN, <span class="caps"> LAI </span> MN, <span class="caps"> LAI </span> MX, RS <span class="caps"> MIN </span> , <span class="caps"> FOR </span> E, <span class="caps"> FOR </span> D, <span class="caps"> ROOTDP </span> and z0, are weighted with the plant cover maximum in addition to the pixel area. </em> <br/> This would mean that <span class="caps"> FOR </span> _D and <span class="caps"> FOR </span> _E are relative to plant cover fraction. In that case the vegetation part of the cell is veg_part = for_e+for_d+veg_low <br/> where veg_low stands for low vegetation which has a snow free albedo of 0.20 in your first equation <br/> For the snow albedo the equation would be then <br/> <pre> zsnow_alb = zsalb_snow*(1._ireals-for_e(i,j)-for_d(i,j)-veg_low(i,j)) &amp; + csalb_snow_fe * for_e(i,j) &amp; + csalb_snow_fd * for_d(i,j) + csalb_snow_veg_low * veg_low(i,j) </pre> <br/> In <span class="caps"> CCLM </span> it is assumed that low vegetation has the same snow albedo as bare soil. Therefore zsalb_snow=csalb_snow_veg_low. With this assumption you get </p> <p> <pre> zsnow_alb = zsalb_snow*(1._ireals-for_e(i,j)-for_d(i,j)) &amp; + csalb_snow_fe * for_e(i,j) &amp; + csalb_snow_fd * for_d(i,j) </pre> <br/> which is your second equation. </p> <p> Maybe one should define the long names in the output files more precisely: <br/> In the <span class="caps"> EXTPAR </span> output files <br/> <em> long_name = “Fraction of deciduous forest” </em> <br/> should be better defined as e.g. <br/> <em> long_name = “Fraction of deciduous forest of maximum plant cover” </em> <br/> and in the <span class="caps"> CCLM </span> output files <br/> <em> long_name = “ground fraction covered by deciduous forest” </em> <br/> should be better defined as e.g. <br/> <em> long_name = “ground fraction covered by deciduous forest weighted by maximum plant cover” </em> </p>

In the EXTPAR v4.0 documentation on page 19 it reads:
Values that depend on the plant cover, such as PLCOV MX, PLCOV MN, LAI MN, LAI MX, RS MIN , FOR E, FOR D, ROOTDP and z0, are weighted with the plant cover maximum in addition to the pixel area.
This would mean that FOR _D and FOR _E are relative to plant cover fraction. In that case the vegetation part of the cell is veg_part = for_e+for_d+veg_low
where veg_low stands for low vegetation which has a snow free albedo of 0.20 in your first equation
For the snow albedo the equation would be then

zsnow_alb = zsalb_snow*(1._ireals-for_e(i,j)-for_d(i,j)-veg_low(i,j))       &
            + csalb_snow_fe * for_e(i,j)                       &
            + csalb_snow_fd * for_d(i,j)
            + csalb_snow_veg_low * veg_low(i,j)

In CCLM it is assumed that low vegetation has the same snow albedo as bare soil. Therefore zsalb_snow=csalb_snow_veg_low. With this assumption you get

zsnow_alb = zsalb_snow*(1._ireals-for_e(i,j)-for_d(i,j))       &
            + csalb_snow_fe * for_e(i,j)                       &
            + csalb_snow_fd * for_d(i,j)

which is your second equation.

Maybe one should define the long names in the output files more precisely:
In the EXTPAR output files
long_name = “Fraction of deciduous forest”
should be better defined as e.g.
long_name = “Fraction of deciduous forest of maximum plant cover”
and in the CCLM output files
long_name = “ground fraction covered by deciduous forest”
should be better defined as e.g.
long_name = “ground fraction covered by deciduous forest weighted by maximum plant cover”