To understand the contribution of dynamic leaf area index (LAI) in simulating the surface African climate, two 12-year simulations were analysed. The first simulation operates in the satellite phenology (SP) mode; meanwhile the second simulation relies on activating the carbon-nitrogen (CN) module. Both simulations used the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) as a land-surface hydrology scheme. The first simulation was referred to as SP-VIC, and the second one was designated as CN-VIC. The results showed that CN-VIC severely decrease LAI more than the SP-VIC particularly over the Congo basin. This leads to a severe decrease in vegetative evaporation and transpiration and a pronounced increase of soil evaporation in comparison with the SP-VIC. As a result, a remarkable decrease of total evapotranspiration was observed leading to a high warm bias relative to an observational dataset. The rate of total precipitation was less than when it is simulated by the SP-VIC, due to a decrease in the amount of water vapour transferred to the atmosphere. To ensure a superior performance of the coupled CN-VIC system, the four surface parameters of the VIC all need to be recalibrated over Africa particularly over the Congo basin, so the vegetation status and surface climate of Africa can be properly simulated.

为了了解动态叶面积指数（LAI）在模拟非洲表面气候中的贡献，分析了两个为期12年的模拟。第一次模拟是在卫星物候（SP）模式下进行的；同时，第二个模拟依赖于激活碳氮（CN）模块。两种模拟均使用可变渗透能力（VIC）作为陆面水文学方案。第一个模拟称为SP-VIC，第二个模拟称为CN-VIC。结果表明，CN-VIC比SP-VIC严重降低了LAI，特别是在刚果盆地。与SP-VIC相比，这导致营养蒸发和蒸腾作用严重降低，土壤蒸发显着增加。结果是，相对于观测数据集，总蒸散量显着下降，导致较高的暖偏。由于减少了转移到大气中的水蒸气量，总降水率低于SP-VIC模拟的总降水率。为了确保CN-VIC耦合系统的出色性能，VIC的四个表面参数都需要在非洲范围内重新校准，特别是在刚果盆地，因此可以正确模拟非洲的植被状况和地表气候。