Massoud et al. (2025) Diagnosing the representation of surface and layered soil moisture in Earth system models

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-19
• Authors: Elias Massoud, Nathaniel O. Collier, Min Xu, Mingjie Shi, Forrest M. Hoffman
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae2f72

Research Groups

Various Earth System Modeling centers contributing to CMIP6.

Short Summary

This study evaluates the physical consistency between surface soil moisture (mrsos) and vertically integrated soil moisture (mrsol) in nine CMIP6 Earth System Models, revealing substantial inconsistencies attributed to metadata errors, inconsistent variable definitions, or diagnostic sequencing, which can lead to significant biases.

Objective

• To evaluate the physical consistency between surface soil moisture (mrsos) and vertically integrated soil moisture (mrsol) over the top 0.1 m in nine CMIP6 Earth System Models.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global, across model grid cells.
• Temporal Scale: Climate model simulations (CMIP6).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Nine CMIP6 Earth System Models (ESMs).
• Data sources: Output variables (mrsos, mrsol) from CMIP6 models.

Main Results

• Substantial inconsistencies were found between mrsos and mrsol across the nine CMIP6 models.
• Consistency varied: some models showed global agreement, others regional, and a few diverged across all grid cells.
• Discrepancies were attributed to a combination of factors, including metadata errors, inconsistent variable definitions, or diagnostic sequencing within the models.
• These issues were shown to lead to significant biases in model outputs.

Contributions

• Identified and quantified significant physical inconsistencies between related soil moisture variables (mrsos and mrsol) in CMIP6 models.
• Demonstrated how these inconsistencies, arising from metadata errors or diagnostic issues, can introduce biases and lead to flawed conclusions in multi-model comparisons.
• Advocated for routine consistency checks, improved metadata standards, and community-wide practices to enhance the reliability of derived variables in ESM outputs, particularly for future initiatives like CMIP7.

Funding

Not specified in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Massoud2025Diagnosing,
  author = {Massoud, Elias and Collier, Nathaniel O. and Xu, Min and Shi, Mingjie and Hoffman, Forrest M.},
  title = {Diagnosing the representation of surface and layered soil moisture in Earth system models},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ae2f72},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae2f72}
}