Utility of coupling microwave-derived soil moisture and radiometric surface temperature in an energy balance modeling scheme

Over the last several years a Two-Source (soil+vegetation) Energy Balance (TSEB) modeling scheme has been developed and tested using either microwave-derived near-surface soil moisture (TSEB_SM) or radiometric surface temperature (TSEB_TR) as the key surface boundary condition. Output of the surface heat fluxes from both schemes are compared using microwave and radiometric surface temperature observations collected during the 1997 Southern Great Plains experiment (SGP97) conducted in Oklahoma, USA. Results from the beat flux comparisons and simulated versus observed surface temperatures suggest revisions to the TSEB_SM scheme are needed to better constrain flux predictions from the soil and vegetation in order to accommodate a wider range of environmental conditions. The revisions involve an adjustment to the soil evaporation algorithm for ´decoupling´ effects and assimilation of the Priestley-Taylor coefficient estimated from the TSEB_TR model