Evaluation of the Community Land Model (CLM) in the Florida Everglades

The Community Land Model (CLM) was developed as part of a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional project designed to provide land surface forcings for the lower boundary of the Community Climate System Model. However, it has been calibrated and validated in a limited number of ecosystems. In this study, we examine the ability of CLM to capture the energy and water dynamics at nine sites in the Florida Everglades. All the sites are in a freshwater marsh habitat, the predominant Everglades ecosystem, and provide a network representative of the non-forested portion of the Everglades ecosystem in terms of plant communities, duration of water inundation (hydroperiod), and geographic coverage. Model evaluation considers the validity of prescribed wetland characteristics and recommended modifications to the model's parameterization and the structure to improve representation of the everglades ecosystem.