Sensitivity of bare soil albedo to surface soil moisture on the moraine of the Zongo glacier (Bolivia)

Simon Gascoin (1) , Agnès Ducharne (1) , Pierre Ribstein (1) , E. Perroy (2) , Patrick Wagnon (3, 4)

1 SISYPHE - Structure et fonctionnement des systèmes hydriques continentaux
2 Great Ice
3 LGGE - Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement
4 Unité de Recherche Great Ice

The dependence of bare soil albedo on soil water content is investigated using in situ data collected on the moraine of an Andean glacier (Bolivia). This study demonstrates a high negative correlation between the two variables that is best approximated by an exponential function, in agreement with previous studies. More importantly, the average snow-free albedo value during the rainy season is 40% lower than during the dry season (0.16 vs. 0.26). These results are relevant for climate and land surface modeling applications, where bare soil albedo is often considered as a constant parameter.

Keywords: albedo; soil moisture

Domains: Glaciology

Simon Gascoin, Agnès Ducharne, Pierre Ribstein, E. Perroy, Patrick Wagnon. Sensitivity of bare soil albedo to surface soil moisture on the moraine of the Zongo glacier (Bolivia). Geophysical Research Letters, 2009, 36, pp.L02405. ⟨10.1029/2008GL036377⟩. ⟨insu-00412561⟩