A Coupled Land Surface and Radiative Transfer Models Based on Relief Correction for a Reliable Land Data Assimilation Over Mountainous Terrain

This letter presents a new approach to incorporate topographic relief effect in land data assimilation system over mountainous terrain. The conventional radiative transfer model (RTM) used for assimilation of microwave brightness temperature (Tb) is subjected to systematic bias owing to its flat earth model assumption. This is theoretically important for direct Tb assimilation system since a difference between simulated and observed Tb may disarray the assimilation system. Here, we consider three crucial relief effects, namely: 1) change in local incidence angle; 2) rotation of the plane of polarization; and 3) effect of pixels in shadow not visible to radiometer. Results indicate that the RTM formulation with relief effects (Topo) significantly reduce the bias as compared to the conventional RTM (Flat). The simulated Tb for the Topo case shows improved sensitivity toward soil moisture as compared to the Flat case. The proposed land surface model (LSM)-RTM assimilation framework has an immense potential source for initialization of LSM for seasonal climate prediction over mountainous terrain.