Evaluating the JULES Land Surface Model Energy Fluxes Using FLUXNET Data

Surface energy flux measurements from a sample of 10 flux network (FLUXNET) sites selected to represent a range of climate conditions and biome types were used to assess the performance of the Hadley Centre land surface model (Joint U.K. Land Environment Simulator; JULES). Because FLUXNET data are prone systematically to undermeasure surface fluxes, the model was evaluated by its ability to partition incoming radiant energy into evaporation and how such partition varies with atmospheric evaporative demand at annual, seasonal, weekly, and diurnal time scales. The model parameters from the GCM configuration were used. The overall performance was good, although weaknesses in model performance were identified that are associated with the specification of the leaf area index and plant rooting depth, and the representation of soil freezing.