Numerical investigation of evapotranspiration processes in a forested watershed of Central Siberia

TL;DR

This paper presents a numerical study of evapotranspiration in a Siberian forest watershed, examining how spatial variations affect water processes using a specialized cryohydrogeological model.

Contribution

It introduces a high-performance computational model to simulate evapotranspiration considering spatial heterogeneity in boreal forest environments.

Findings

Spatial contrasts significantly influence evapotranspiration rates.

The model effectively captures complex interactions in the active layer.

Results aid understanding of water dynamics in boreal ecosystems.

Abstract

Evapotranspiration has a major control on continental surfaces dynamics in forested boreal environments. For example, it has strong impacts on active layer thickness, mainly because of its effect on water content within the upper layers of the soil column. These are complex processes, depending not only on climate forcings (atmospheric water demand) but also on physical, geo-pedological and biological properties of the considered areas. Here we propose a numerical investigation of evapotranspiration processes in the active layer of slopes of a forested watershed in Central Siberia. The effect on actual evapotranspiration of the spatial contrasts in terms of exposure, root layer thickness and tree stand density within the watershed are simulated using a recently developed high performance computing cryohydrogeological model, permaFoam.