Irrigation parameterization for the ICON model

Citation Metadata

Title title

Irrigation parameterization for the ICON model

Subtitle subtitle

Parameterization with Readily available water

Author author

1. Author Name

   Roque Mamani, Jane Leonor

   Author Affiliation

   University of Bonn

   Author Identifier Scheme

   ORCID

   Author Identifier

   Type Name

   authorIdentifier

   Multiple

   False

   Type Class

   primitive

   Value

   https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2419-6033

   Expandedvalue

   Person Name

   Roque Mamani, Jane Leonor

   @id

   https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2419-6033

   Scheme

   ORCID

   @type

   https://schema.org/Person

2. Author Name

   Valmassoi, Arianna

   Author Affiliation

   Deutscher Wetterdienst

Dataset Contact datasetContact

1. Dataset Contact Name

   Roque Mamani, Jane

   Dataset Contact Affiliation

   University of Bonn

   Dataset Contact Email

   jroquema@uni-bonn.de

Ds Description dsDescription

1. Ds Description Value

   Irrigation is an agricultural practice that keeps an ideal soil moisture for crop growth. Aside from this, the Earth system community also recognized the irrigation impact on different components of the Earth system. Therefore, the aim of the study was to develop an irrigation parameterization for the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic model (ICON) in order to quantify the long-term impact of irrigation on surface and atmospheric variables over the EURO-CORDEX domain using convection-permitting simulations that cover a period of 12 years. The ICON model was developed by the German Weather Service (DWD) and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M). ICON is currently used operationally at the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) for weather forecasting. Moreover, ICON is now open source (https://www.icon-model.org/) and the modules related to the parameterization are: the interface modules and the land surface scheme (TERRA). We found appropriate to add this parameterization to the interface between the atmosphere and the land surface since ICON can also be coupled with another land surface model. The parameterization includes irrigation water into the grid-scale precipitation variable. It is an adaptation from Valmassoi et. al (2020), irrigation parameterization for the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). However, in our study, the daily irrigation volume is equal to the readily available water (RAW), which is the portion of the total available water (TAW) that a crop can absorb from the root zone without experiencing water stress. To calculate RAW, we also use a constant depletion fraction and root depth in milimeters. For the TAW calculation, we use soil information, field capacity and permanent wilting point from a specific soil type of a given grid-cell. Our results reveal that irrigation has an effect on surface variables such as temperature 2-m, energy fluxes, evapotranspiration and even radiation variables. We found an irrigation cooling effect in irrigated areas, an increase of latent heat flux and evapotranspiration. As a result, sensible heat flux values decrease.

Subject subject

1. Earth and Environmental Sciences

Subject Refinement subjectRefinement

1. Subject Refinement Value

   Atmospheric Science, Oceanography and Climate Research [313]

Free Keyword freeKeyword

1. Free Keyword Value

   Parameterization

2. Free Keyword Value

   Irrigation

3. Free Keyword Value

   ICON

4. Free Keyword Value

   Earth system model

5. Free Keyword Value

   Temperature

Publication publication

1. Publication Relation Type

   IsSupplementTo

   Publication Citation

   Roque, J. L. and Valmassoi, A. (2026). Multi-year convection-permitting irrigation impacts across the European continent, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3354, 2026. This preprint is under review in the Journal of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).

   Publication IDType

   doi

   Publication IDNumber

   10.5194/egusphere-2026-3354

   Publication URL

   https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3354

Notes Text notesText

The current parameterization was used in long-term simulations with ICON-nwp at regional scales (EURO-CORDEX domain). In the current parameterization the daily irrigation volume is equal to the readily available water (RAW) which is the portion of the total available water (TAW) that a crop can absorb from the root zone without experiencing any water stress. The irrigation settings include an irrigation start date on May 1st of each year, an irrigation start time at 5 UTC and an irrigation length of 5 hours. The irrigation frequency is 12 days and the last irrigation event takes place on August 17th of each year. These settings can be adjusted based on the user preferences.

Language language

1. English

Production Date productionDate

2024-12-17

Production Place productionPlace

DWD

Grant Number grantNumber

1. Grant Number Agency

   Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

   Grant Number Value

   450058266

Depositor depositor

Roque Mamani, Jane

Date Of Deposit dateOfDeposit

2026-03-02

Software software

1. Software Name

   ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic model (ICON)

   Software Version

   icon-2.6.6-nwp3c

Other References otherReferences

1. ICON is open source available at https://www.icon-model.org/