Estimation of water balance components by Noah-MP land surface model for the Neyshaboor watershed, Khorasan Razavi, Iran

The numerical modeling of the land surface can make up for the insufficient station data in terms of number, dispersion, and temporal continuity. In this research, to evaluate the Noah-MP land surface model, the water balance components were estimated in the Neyshaboor watershed in the monthly time step during 2000–2009. Model input data were obtained from the global land data assimilation system version 1 (GLDAS-1), and the SWAT (soil and water assessment tool, a semi-distributed for small watershed to river basin-scale model) model output was used for the evaluation of the Noah-MP model. In this study, the ability of the Noah-MP model in simulating vegetation dynamically was studied. The precipitation was corrected before running the model for a more reliable evaluation. The time between 2000 and 2001 was considered a spin-up period and 2002–2009 for calibration and validation. The model has the best simulation in the mountainous areas; the runoff simulated by the Noah-MP model is in good agreement with the modeled runoff by SWAT in these areas. (R ² = 0.78, NSE = 0.62, RMSE = 1.98 m³/s). The R² for simulated soil moisture for soil layers (0–10, 10–40 cm) was 0.62 and 0.57, and RMSE was 0.059 (m³/m³) and 0.052 (m³/m³), respectively, in Motamedieh field. The annual amount of evapotranspiration estimated by the two models is comparable to the average annual evapotranspiration in the watershed (about 300 mm). Based on the results from the research, the model has well simulated: the runoff in the mountainous areas, the moisture in the upper layer of the soil, and the average annual evapotranspiration in the study area.