Abstract
An Arctic terrestrial model intercomparison project (GTMIP), designed for enhanced collaborations between modeling and field scientists, and for assessment of uncertainty and variations in current terrestrial models to improve, was carried out with 21 domestic and international participants, ranging from physical to biogeochemical to hybrid models. Metrics of the project covers energy-water budget, snowpack, phenology, subsurface regimes, and carbon budget. This paper reports the results on energy-water budget between the atmosphere, surface and subsurface, of the 34-year site simulations (1980-2013) for four GRENE-TEA sites with different eco-climate background (i.e., Fairbanks, Kevo, Tiksi, and Yakutsk). Models were driven by common, statistically fitted data created through model‒field collaborations with use of the site observations.
Energetic and hydrological balances between the atmosphere showed no systematic differences that result from disciplines that models are oriented to, but individual modelsʼ specifics. Modelsʼ performance at different sites were less associated with the types or complexity of the models than with the ecological and subsurface characteristics of the sites. The model ensemble proved to be a robust estimate to represent the observed values in general. However, snowpack and subsurface hydrological-thermal states, which greatly affect surface-subsurface exchanges, demonstrated large differences in performance and biases among models, which implies needs for special attention at future developments.
