Modeling Surface Runoff and Water Fluxes over Contrasted Soils in the Pastoral Sahel : Evaluation of the ALMIP2 Land Surface Models over the Gourma Region in Mali

AbstractLand surface processes play an important role in the West African monsoon variability. In addition, the evolution of hydrological systems in this region, and particularly the increase of surface water and runoff coefficients observed since the 1950s, has had a strong impact on water resources and on the occurrence of floods events. This study addresses results from phase 2 of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) Land Surface Model Intercomparison Project (ALMIP2), carried out to evaluate the capability of different state-of-the-art land surface models to reproduce surface processes at the mesoscale. Evaluation of runoff and water fluxes over the Mali site is carried out through comparison with runoff estimations over endorheic watersheds as well as evapotranspiration (ET) measurements. Three remote-sensing-based ET products [ALEXI, MODIS, and Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM)] are also analyzed. It is found that, over deep sandy soils, surface runoff is generally ove...

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