Brief Communication: Effects of different saturation vapor pressure calculations on simulated surface-subsurface hydrothermal regimes at a permafrost field site

• Main Authors: Huang, Xiang, Abolt, Charles J., Bennett, Katrina E.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Active layer thickness; Ice; permafrost; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-8; https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2023-8/

Air saturation vapor pressure (SVP) can be calculated using different formulas, with or without over-ice correction. These different approaches result in variability that affects the simulation of surface-subsurface thermal-hydrological processes in cold regions; however, this topic has not been well documented to date. In this study, we compared the relative humidity (RH) downloaded and calculated from four data sources in Alaska based on five commonly used SVP formulas. RH, along with other meteorological indicators, was used to drive physically-based land surface models. Results show that RH is a sensitive parameter, and its biases from SVP with or without over-ice correction meaningfully impact model-based predictions of snow depth, sublimation, soil temperature, and active layer thickness.