Energy and Water Balance at Soil-Air Interface in a Sahelian Region

The aim of this work is an improvement of the parameterization of the soil moisture in the scheme of the Land Surface Process Model (LSPM) for applications over desert areas. In fact, in very dry conditions, the water vapour flux plays an important role in the evaporation processes and influences the underground profiles of humidity and temperature. The improved version of soil moisture parametcrization in the LSPM scheme has been checked by using the data taken from the database of the field experiment HAPEX-Sahel (Hydrology-Atmosphere Pilot Experiment in the Sahel, 1990-1992). Model simulations refer to three dif ferent stations located in Niger (Fallow, Millet and Tiger sites) where input data for LSPM and observations were simultaneously available. The results of simulations taking into account the water vapour flux in the soil model LSPM, seem to compare better with the observed behaviour of soil moisture and turbulent heat fluxes than those overlooking the water vapour flux, confirming the great importance of the water vapour in such dry conditions.