Application of vegetation continuous fields data in atmosphere-biosphere interaction models

Global atmosphere-biosphere interaction models and biogeochemical models currently use land-cover classifications that describe one single cover type in each grid cell. However, much of the land surface is made up of a heterogeneous mixture of trees, shrubs, grasses, crops, litter, rocks and bare soil. This heterogeneity exists over a large range of scales from a small patch of a few square meters to a 4 by 5 degree grid cell used in general circulation models of the atmosphere. To better describe this heterogeneity of land cover, a vegetation continuous fields (VCF) data set is being generated with satellite remote sensing data. The authors explore how the new land cover data set can be utilized to improve the estimates of the land surface biophysical parameters in two major examples of the global atmosphere-biosphere interaction models: the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB2) and the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS).