Comparison of land-atmosphere interaction in the southern La Plata Basin using satellite products and climate models

In this work we analyze the use of satellite based Soil Moisture (SM) and Land Surface Temperature (LST) products for estimation of land-atmosphere coupling, using the Dirmeyer coupling index, over southeastern South America (SESA) and we compare the results with the ones obtained with GLDAS-Noah based SM and LST. Due to the difference obtained between them, we analyze the effect of dry and wet summers over the coupling strength and compare the results with those obtained with the regional climate model RCA4. The satellite based products coincide with RCA4 in that coupling is higher in dry summers than in wet summers.