How thick is the top of the soil layer in MERRA-2's land model?

[GES DISC - ingridgs]

Answer:
The thickness of the top soil layer in MERRA-2's land model (i.e., Catchment Model, Koster et al. 2000) is constant with time across the globe, as 0.05 meter (5 cm).

The corresponding variable is dzsf, defined as "thickness of soil layer associated with SFMC and GWETTOP (meter)" and saved in the MERRA-2 collection Constant Land-Surface Parameters file,M2CONXLND: (https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/information/documents?title=MERRA-2%20Data%20Collection%20Variable%20Tables#M2C0NXLND).

Reference:
Koster, R. D., Suarez, M. J., Ducharne, A., Stieglitz, M., and Kumar, P. (2000) A catchment-based approach to modeling land surface processes in a general circulation model: 1. Model structure, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 105, 24809–24822, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD900327. 

Related Data Collections:
M2C0NXLND_5.12.4