Satellite-based soil moisture provides missing link between summertime precipitation and surface temperature biases in CMIP5 simulations over conterminous United States.

ABSTRACT: Past studies have shown that climate simulations have substantial warm and dry biases during the summer in the conterminous United States (CONUS), particularly in the central Great Plains (CGP). These biases have critical implications for the interpretation of climate change projections, but the complex overlap of multiple land-atmosphere feedback processes make them difficult to explain (and therefore correct). Even though surface soil moisture (SM) is often cited as a key control variable in these processes, there are still knowledge gaps about its specific role. Here, we use recently developed remotely sensed SM products to analyse the link between spatial patterns of summertime SM, precipitation and air temperature biases over CONUS in 20 different CMIP5 simulations. We identify three

SUBMITTER: Al-Yaari A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6367487 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature