Parameter sensitivity analysis and optimization of Noah land surface model with field measurements from Huaihe River Basin, China

This study aims to identify the parameters that are most important in controlling the Noah land surface model (LSM), the analysis of parameter interactions, and the evaluation of the performance of parameter optimization using the parameter estimation software PEST. We found it necessary to analyze parameter sensitivity in order to properly simulate hydrological variables such as latent heat flux in the Huaihe River Basin, China. The parameters under study in the Noah LSM link thermodynamic and hydrological parts into a complete model. To our knowledge, this parameter interaction in the Noah LSM has never been studied before. There are, however, several studies concerning the influence of vegetation types and climate conditions on parameter sensitivity of the Noah LSM. Three sensitivity analysis methods, the including local sensitivity analysis method SENSAN, regional sensitivity analysis, and Sobol’s method, were tested. Five experimental sites in the Huaihe River Basin were chosen to perform the simulations. The results show that the Noah LSM parameter sensitivities were impacted by the choice of the analysis method. The local method SENSAN often produced significant differences in results compared to the two global methods. The parameter interactions investigated made a significant contribution towards elucidating how one process influences another in the Noah LSM. The results show that parameters were not transferable solely based on vegetation types but also rely on climate conditions. According to the sensitivity analysis results, four sensitive parameters were chosen to be optimized using the PEST method. PEST is a widely used method for estimating parameters in models. Root-mean-square error was used to evaluate the effect of the optimization. Generally in all sites, the optimized parameters values perform better than the original parameter values.