Evaluating Energy Fluxes of the Common Land Model Based on FLUXNET Dataset

Model evaluation is an important part of model development. In this study, the eddy covariance measurements from 30 FLUXNET sites of FLUXNET2015 dataset were used to evaluate the performance of the Common Land Model, version 2014 (CoLM2014) over different land-cover types, focusing on energy fluxes. The results show that the model captures the variation characteristics of sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, and net radiation flux at different time scales, such as the daily, seasonal, and annual averages, and has a good simulation ability for these fluxes. The simulation effect of net radiation is the best, followed by that of latent heat flux. When simulating seasonal variation, the spatial dispersion degree of sensible and latent heat fluxes under different vegetation types is greater in summer than in winter, and the simulation effect varies greatly among different stations. The variation range of net radiation standard deviation is smaller than sensible and latent heat fluxes, and the deviation of the simulation effect between different stations is small. The evaluation performances for evergreen needleleaf forests, savannas, grasslands, and croplands were relatively good, but poor performances were obtained when simulating the sensible heat flux in wetlands and deciduous broadleaf forests. This study provides a useful reference for improving and developing CoLM2014.