Barinas et al. (2026) NEON Storm Data Suggest Systematic Differences in NLDAS-2 Estimates of Canopy Interception Loss

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrometeorology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-08
• Authors: Gabriel Barinas, Stephen Paul Good, Marja Haagsma, Abigail G. Sandquist, Scott T. Allen
• DOI: 10.1175/jhm-d-25-0114.1

Research Groups

• Water Resources Graduate Program, Oregon State University
• Biological & Ecological Engineering Department, Oregon State University
• Graduate Program of Hydrologic Sciences, University of Nevada Reno
• Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno

Short Summary

This study benchmarks event-scale interception loss estimates from three widely used operational North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2) land surface models against direct observations from 22 forested sites in the National Ecological Observatory Network.

Objective

• Evaluate model-observation differences in interception loss as a total depth and as a percent of precipitation amount, with and without restricting events to cases where modeled and observed rainfall totals agreed within ±20%.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Event-scale (1,787 storm events)
• Temporal Scale: Short-term (storm event scale)

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Mosaic, Noah, and VIC models from the NLDAS-2 configuration
• Data sources: NEON observations

Main Results

• R 2 between event-scale modeled interception loss and NEON interception loss ranged from 0.05 to 0.24.
• All three models show lower interception loss magnitude and variability across sites.
• Mean percent bias in event-scale interception percentage relative to NEON ranging from −6% to −18%.

Contributions

• This study highlights opportunities for improving gridded land-surface modeling products, including reconsidering how wet-canopy evaporation depends on wind and evaporative demand variability.

Funding

• Not specified

Citation

@article{Barinas2026NEON,
  author = {Barinas, Gabriel and Good, Stephen Paul and Haagsma, Marja and Sandquist, Abigail G. and Allen, Scott T.},
  title = {NEON Storm Data Suggest Systematic Differences in NLDAS-2 Estimates of Canopy Interception Loss},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrometeorology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1175/jhm-d-25-0114.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1175/jhm-d-25-0114.1}
}