Multi-scale evaluation of the energy and water balance of the ORCHIDEE model on Siberia and response to climate change

The natural evolution of the climate, disturbed since the industrial revolutions, is strongly marked in the high latitudes especially in Siberia where a temperature anomaly of +0.8 C has been observed since the 2000's against an average anomaly of + 0.4 C for The mid-latitudes. Siberia is covered by permafrost, giving it particularities, especially for the hydrological regimes of rivers. Climatic projections predicting up to +5 C warming by 2100, it is essential to evaluate their impacts. Physical-based numerical modeling is an interesting tool to answer these questions. Thus, in order to evaluate the hydrological response to climate change in Siberia we worked on the multi-scale evaluation of energy and water balances with the ORCHIDEE model. This model was adapted to the characteristics of cold environments, with an improvement of the representation of the snow, a consideration of the freezing of the soil water and a map of vegetation more representative of the Siberian vegetation. An evaluation in forced mode i.e. without coupling with the atmosphere was carried out initially. Thus, we evaluated ORCHIDEE at the present time (1979-2009) at the site scale, concentrating on the soil moisture and soil temperature data available. A sensitivity analysis of the model allowed to identify the most influential parameters on the balance of energy and water in the soil. Their on-site calibration allowed to show that the ORCHIDEE model is able to correctly simulate the vertical transfers of heat and water and the resulting water and soil temperature contents. We then extended the evaluation to the Siberian region by comparing simulation results with remote sensing data, allowing an evaluation over a substantial time series and over a large area. We collected a large number of observations such as albedo data, water equivalent for snow..., on which we compared the simulation results. This work allowed to show that the model simulates satisfactorily the energy and water balance in Siberia, but also to highlight the importance of the choice of climatic forcing. Thus, the use of a second climatic forcing enabled to show the importance of rain/snow partitioning and the possible underestimation of precipitation in forcing. The validated model was then used to carry out impact studies, using 2 climatic forcings on the future time (2005 to 2099) under scenario of emission of greenhouse gases RCP8.5. Thus, we were able to evaluate the variability related to forcing and the impact of climate change on the variables of energy and water balance. A boundary around latitude 60 degrees N has been defined in the analysis of future precipitation and chosen to orient our analysis in two zones on either side of the boundary. We analyzed the seasonal cycles of the surface variables allowing us to highlight the impacts of global warming in relation to the increase in the air temperature and their spatial differences. We have shown that the melting of the snowpack is earlier in the South and generates a temporal advance of the spring flood peak for the Lena and the Amur. On the Ob and Yenisei, changes have also been shown (a decrease in flow over time for the Ob and an increase for the Yenisei, without any change in temporal phasing), which could lead to socio-economic impacts important for local populations. This study also allowed us to show that the new climatic conditions are more favorable to vegetation. We also showed the coherence of the two climate projections studied. (author)