A Review of Land Data Assimilation System

Abstract

The improvement and development of atmospheric and oceanic data assimilation system promotes the study of land data assimilation system (LDAS). In the beginning of 21st century, with the formation of the North American Land Data Assimilation System(NLDAS) and the Global Land Data Assimilation System(GLDAS), the study that utilizes satellite and radar data to assimilate soil moisture, surface temperature and energy flux has being carried on. At the same time, the land data assimilation has been the hotspot of the study in land surface process and hydrology process. In this paper, the main framework of land data assimilation system is summarized in detail. The North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS), European Land Data Assimilation System (ELDAS) and West China Land Data Assimilation System (WCLDAS) are introduced. At last, some problems that need to be resolved in the study of land data assimilation system are pointed out.