| description abstract | Soil water contents, calculated with seven soil hydraulic parameterizations, that is, soil hydraulic functions together with the corresponding parameter sets, are compared with observational data. The parameterizations include the Campbell/Clapp?Hornberger parameterization that is often used by meteorologists and the van Genuchten/Rawls?Brakensiek parameterization that is widespread among hydrologists. The observations include soil water contents at several soil depths and atmospheric surface data; they were obtained within the Regio Klima Projekt (REKLIP) at three sites in the Rhine Valley in southern Germany and cover up to 3 yr with 10-min temporal resolution. Simulations of 48-h episodes, as well as series of daily simulations initialized anew every 24 h and covering several years, were performed with the ?VEG3D? soil?vegetation model in stand-alone mode; furthermore, 48-h episodes were simulated with the model coupled to a one-dimensional atmospheric model. For the cases and soil types considered in this paper, the van Genuchten/Rawls?Brakensiek model gives the best agreement between observed and simulated soil water contents on average. Especially during episodes with medium and high soil water content, the van Genuchten/Rawls?Brakensiek model performs better than the Campbell/Clapp?Hornberger model. | |
