EKF data assimilation makes the model simulations catch up to the control run faster than direct insertion. The latter is not much better than no data assimilation. EKF trackes the soil
moisture correlation between the top layer and the deeper layer so that it corrects the second layer too.
Mosaic control run
No DA with flat initial
SM=0.3fc
Experiment Result 1: EKF and DI
Comparison
EKF DA w/ initial SM=0.3fc
DI with initial SM=0.3fc