Reducing solar radiation forcing uncertainty and its impact on surface energy and water fluxes

Abstract

Downward shortwave radiation Rsd determines the surface energy balance, alters evapotranspiration and hydrological conditions, and feeds back to the regional and global climate. Large-scale Rsd estimates are usually retrieved from satellite-based top-of-atmosphere radiation and cloud parameters. These estimates are subject to biases and temporal inhomogeneity due to errors in atmospheric parameters, algorithms, and sensor changes. We found that three satellite products overestimate Rsd by 8%-10% over Asia for 1984-2006, particularly in high latitudes. We used the model tree ensemble (MTE) machine-learning algorithm and commonly used ensemble averaging methods to integrate ground observations and satellite products. Validations based on test stations and independent networks showed that the MTE approach reduces the median relative biases from 8%-10% to 2%, which is more effective than the ensemble averaging methods. We further evaluated the impacts of uncertainty in radiation forcing on surface energy and water balances using the land surface model Noah-MP. The uncertainty of radiation data affects the prediction of sensible heat the most, and also largely affects latent heat prediction in humid regions. Holding the other variables constant, a 10% positive bias in Rsd can lead to a 20%-60% positive bias in the monthly median sensible heat. The simulated hydrological responses to changing radiation forcing are nonlinear as a result of the interactions among evapotranspiration, snowpack, and soil moisture. Our analysis concludes that reducing uncertainty of radiation data is beneficial for predicting regional energy and water balances, which requires more high-quality ground observations and improved satellite retrieval algorithms.