Evaluation of a land-surface scheme at Cabauw

We study the response of the land-surface to prescribed atmospheric forcing for 31 May 1978 at Cabauw, Netherlands, using the land-surface scheme from the Coupled Atmospheric boundary layer-Plant-Soil (CAPS) model. Results from model runs show realistic daytime surface fluxes are produced using a canopy conductance formulation derived from Cabauw data (for 1987, a different year), and un-tuned parameterizations of root density (near-uniform with depth) and soil heat flux (reduced thermal conductivity through vegetation). Sensitivity of model-calculated surface heat fluxes to initial values of soil moisture is also examined. Results of this study provide the land-surface "base state" for a coupled land - Atmosphere modeling study.