Experiments of one-dimensional soil moisture assimilation system based on ensemble Kalman filter

Abstract

Ensemble Kalman filter is a new sequential data assimilation algorithm which was originally developed for atmospheric and oceanographic data assimilation. It can be applied to calculate error covariance matrix through Monte-Carlo simulation. This approach is able to resolve the nonlinearity and discontinuity existed within model operator and observation operator. When observation data are assimilated at each time step, error covariances are estimated from the phase-space distribution of an ensemble of model states. The error statistics is then used to calculate Kalman gain matrix and analysis increments. In this study, we develop a one-dimensional soil moisture data assimilation system based on ensemble Kalman filter, the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB2) and microwave radiation transfer model (AIEM, advanced integration equation model). We conduct numerical experiments to assimilate in situ soil surface moisture measurements and low-frequency passive microwave remote sensing data into a land surface model, respectively. The results indicate that data assimilation can significantly improve the soil surface moisture estimation. The improvement in root zone is related to the model bias errors at surface layer and root zone. The soil moisture does not vary significantly in deep layer. Additionally, the ensemble Kalman filter is predominant in dealing with the nonlinearity of model operator and observation operator. It is practical and effective for assimilating observations in situ and remotely sensed data into land surface models.