Soil structure is an important omission in Earth System Models

Most soil hydraulic information used in Earth System Models (ESMs) is derived from pedo-transfer functions that use easy-to-measure soil attributes to estimate hydraulic parameters. This parameterization relies heavily on soil texture, but overlooks the critical role of soil structure originated by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2020-01, Vol.11 (1), p.522-522, Article 522
Main Authors: Fatichi, Simone, Or, Dani, Walko, Robert, Vereecken, Harry, Young, Michael H., Ghezzehei, Teamrat A., Hengl, Tomislav, Kollet, Stefan, Agam, Nurit, Avissar, Roni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/106
704/242
Biological activity
Computer simulation
Earth
Fluxes
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydraulic properties
Hydraulics
Hydrology
Information systems
Measurement methods
multidisciplinary
Parameter estimation
Parameterization
Rainfall
Runoff
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Soil properties
Soil structure
Soil texture
Soils
Spatial resolution
Texture
Transfer functions
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Summary:Most soil hydraulic information used in Earth System Models (ESMs) is derived from pedo-transfer functions that use easy-to-measure soil attributes to estimate hydraulic parameters. This parameterization relies heavily on soil texture, but overlooks the critical role of soil structure originated by soil biophysical activity. Soil structure omission is pervasive also in sampling and measurement methods used to train pedotransfer functions. Here we show how systematic inclusion of salient soil structural features of biophysical origin affect local and global hydrologic and climatic responses. Locally, including soil structure in models significantly alters infiltration-runoff partitioning and recharge in wet and vegetated regions. Globally, the coarse spatial resolution of ESMs and their inability to simulate intense and short rainfall events mask effects of soil structure on surface fluxes and climate. Results suggest that although soil structure affects local hydrologic response, its implications on global-scale climate remains elusive in current ESMs. The effect of soil structure is not included in most Earth System Models. The authors here introduce and evaluate the consequences at local and global scale of modifying hydraulic properties of soils in response to biological activity—a process significantly changing soil structure.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-020-14411-z