Calibration of a coupled canopy functioning and SVAT model in the ReSeDA experiment. Towards the assimilation of SPOT/HRV observations into the model

In the framework of the Alpilles-ReSeDA experiment (12), a coupled canopy functioning and SVAT model was used to simulate wheat crops. Each sub-model was first initialized and calibrated separately, using literature and ground measurements. The model was then run in coupled mode and gave reasonable results in terms of vegetation model outputs. The results were less satisfactory for the SVAT outputs. As a conclusion we pointed out that the SPOT/HRV measurements could be used through a calibration procedure to retrieve some of the growth mo- del key parameters.