Lohou F. auteur aut IRD Kergoat L. auteur aut IRD Guichard F. auteur aut IRD Boone A. auteur aut IRD Cappelaere Bernard auteur aut IRD Cohard J. M. auteur aut IRD Demarty Jérome auteur aut IRD Galle Sylvie auteur aut IRD Grippa M. auteur aut IRD Peugeot Christophe auteur aut IRD Ramier D. auteur aut IRD Taylor C. M. auteur aut IRD Timouk Franck auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access This study analyses the response of the continental surface to rain events, taking advantage of the long-term near-surface measurements over different vegetation types at different latitudes, acquired during the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) by the AMMA-CATCH observing system. The simulated surface response by nine land surface models involved in AMMA Land Model Intercomparison Project (ALMIP), is compared to the observations. The surface response, described via the evaporative fraction (EF), evolves in two steps: the immediate surface response (corresponding to an increase of EF occurring immediately after the rain) and the surface recovery (characterized by a decrease of EF over several days after the rain). It is shown that, for all the experimental sites, the immediate surface response is mainly dependent on the soil moisture content and the recovery period follows an exponential relationship whose rate is strongly dependent on the vegetation type (from 1 day over bare soil to 70 days over forest) and plant functional type (below and above 10 days for annual and perennial plants, respectively). The ALMIP model ensemble depicts a broad range of relationships between EF and soil moisture, with the worst results for the drier sites (high latitudes). The land surface models tend to simulate a realistic surface recovery for vegetated sites, but a slower and more variable EF decrease is simulated over bare soil than observed. specialized AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST SAHEL 062 14 8 3883-3898 2014 1680-7316 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010062026 10.5194/acp-14-3883-2014 1680-7316 [F B010062026] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010062026 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2014/06/010062026.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2014-07-03 2019-09-02 fdi:010062026 fre