Estimating energy, water and carbon flux over africa with using a land data assimilation system

A land surface data assimilation system was developed to simulate the water, energy and mass exchanges between land and atmosphere. The atmospheric forcing data was subset from GLDAS, which was free and globally available. The dynamic model is a modified version of the Simple Biosphere Model, in which the carbon flux simulation was improved by including a soil respiration mechanism. Brightness temperature observation from AMSR-E was assimilated into the system to improve the surface soil moisture estimation, and then the energy and carbon fluxes simulation. The system was validated by ground observations and then applied over whole Africa continent for 2009. The distribution patterns of carbon sink and source over the continent are identified from the results.