The identification of wetlands in Noah-MP and their regional environmental effects

Wetlands play an irreplaceable role in regulating global climate and preserving biodiversity within ecosystems. In recent years, the loss and degradation of wetlands, under the dual impact of human activities and natural factors, have emerged as a critical issue requiring urgent global attention. Due to the fine scale of wetland, the accurate identification and representation of wetlands and their hydrological processes are crucial for monitoring and protecting wetlands from future harm or land conversion. Land Surface Models (LSMs), with Noah-MP as a representative example, serve as essential tools in Earth System Science research to representing the interactions between various land cover types and atmosphere. Despite the significance of wetland, numerous studies indicate that the current representation of wetland physical processes in LSMs remains coarse and deviates significantly from actual observations. This study focuses on analyzing the relationship between terrain indices, hydrological indices, and the probability of wetland presence. These relationships are then incorporated into the Noah-MP land surface model as wetland identification indicators. The study places particular emphasis on the highly urbanized Yangtze River Delta region in China, utilizing these wetland identification indicators to recognize and represent the distribution of wetlands and their hydrological processes. Driven by the China meteorological forcing dataset (CMFD), the research simulates the wetland hydrological dynamics and their regional environmental effects in the Shanghai area from 1979 to 2018. The outcomes of this study contribute valuable insights into wetland protection policies within the context of future sustainable land use.