scholarly journals Atmosphere-Cryosphere Coupled Model for Regional Climate Applications

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ki-Hong Min ◽  
Wen-Yih Sun

There have been significant advances in our understanding of the climate system, but two major problems still exist in modeling atmospheric response during cold seasons: (a) lack of detailed physical description of snow and frozen soil in the land-surface schemes and (b) insufficient understanding of regional climate response from the cryosphere. A multilayer snow land-surface model based on the conservations of heat and water substance inside the soil and snow is coupled to an atmospheric RCM, to investigate the effect of snow, snowmelt, and soil frost on the atmosphere during cold seasons. The coupled RCM shows much improvement in moisture and temperature simulation for March-April of 1997 compared to simple parameterizations used in GCMs. The importance of such processes in RCM simulation is more pronounced in mid-to-high latitudes during the transition period (winter–spring) affected by changes in surface energy and the hydrological cycle. The effect of including cryosphere physics through snow-albedo feedback mechanism changes the meridional temperature gradients and in turn changes the location of weather systems passing over the region. The implications from our study suggest that, to reduce the uncertainties and better assess the impacts of climate change, RCM simulations should include the detailed snow and frozen soil processes.

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 361-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. N. Walters ◽  
K. D. Williams ◽  
I. A. Boutle ◽  
A. C. Bushell ◽  
J. M. Edwards ◽  
...  

Abstract. We describe Global Atmosphere 4.0 (GA4.0) and Global Land 4.0 (GL4.0): configurations of the Met Office Unified Model and JULES (Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) community land surface model developed for use in global and regional climate research and weather prediction activities. GA4.0 and GL4.0 are based on the previous GA3.0 and GL3.0 configurations, with the inclusion of developments made by the Met Office and its collaborators during its annual development cycle. This paper provides a comprehensive technical and scientific description of GA4.0 and GL4.0 as well as details of how these differ from their predecessors. We also present the results of some initial evaluations of their performance. Overall, performance is comparable with that of GA3.0/GL3.0; the updated configurations include improvements to the science of several parametrisation schemes, however, and will form a baseline for further ongoing development.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 4113-4153 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Cai ◽  
Z.-L. Yang ◽  
J. B. Fisher ◽  
X. Zhang ◽  
M. Barlage ◽  
...  

Abstract. Climate and terrestrial biosphere models consider nitrogen an important factor in limiting plant carbon uptake, while operational environmental models view nitrogen as the leading pollutant causing eutrophication in water bodies. The community Noah land surface model with multi-parameterization options (Noah-MP) is unique in that it is the next generation land surface model for the Weather Research and Forecasting meteorological model and for the operational weather/climate models in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. In this study, we add capability to Noah-MP to simulate nitrogen dynamics by coupling the Fixation and Uptake of Nitrogen (FUN) plant model and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) soil nitrogen dynamics. This incorporates FUN's state-of-the-art concept of carbon cost theory and SWAT's strength in representing the impacts of agricultural management on the nitrogen cycle. Parameterizations for direct root and mycorrhizal-associated nitrogen uptake, leaf retranslocation, and symbiotic biological nitrogen fixation are employed from FUN, while parameterizations for nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, immobilization, volatilization, atmospheric deposition, and leaching are based on SWAT. The coupled model is then evaluated at the Kellogg Biological Station – a Long-term Ecological Research site within the U.S. Corn Belt. Results show that the model performs well in capturing the major nitrogen state/flux variables (e.g., soil nitrate and nitrate leaching). Furthermore, the addition of nitrogen dynamics improves the modeling of the carbon and water cycles (e.g., net primary productivity and evapotranspiration). The model improvement is expected to advance the capability of Noah-MP to simultaneously predict weather and water quality in fully coupled Earth system models.


2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 5085-5103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Wang ◽  
Jing Zhou ◽  
Jia Qi ◽  
Litao Sun ◽  
Kun Yang ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Arduini ◽  
Ervin Zsoter ◽  
Hannah Cloke ◽  
Elisabeth Stephens ◽  
Christel Prudhomme

<p>Snow processes, with the water stored in the snowpack and released as snowmelt, are very important components of the water balance, in particular in high latitude and mountain regions. The evolution of the snow cover and the timing of the snow melt can have major impact on river discharge. Land surface models are used in Earth System models to compute exchanges of water, energy and momentum between the atmosphere and the surface underneath, and also to compute other components of the hydrological cycle. In order to improve the snow representation, a new multi-layer snow scheme is under development in the HTESSEL land surface model of the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Integrated Forecasting System (IFS), to replace the current single-layer snow scheme used in HTESSEL. The new scheme has already been shown to improve snow and 2‐metre temperature, while in this study, the wider hydrological impact is evaluated and documented.</p><p>The analysis is done in the reanalysis context by comparing two ERA5-forced offline HTESSEL experiments. The runoff output of HTESSEL is coupled to the CaMa-Flood hydrodynamic model in order to derive river discharge. The analysis is done globally for the period between 1980-2018. The evaluation was carried out using over 1000 discharge observation time-series with varying catchment size. The hydrological response of the multi-layer snow scheme is generally positive, but in some areas the improvement is not clear and can even be negative with deteriorated signal in river discharge. Further investigation is needed to understand the complex hydrological impact of the new snow scheme, making sure it contributes to an improved description of all hydrological components of the Earth System.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 866 ◽  
pp. 108-111
Author(s):  
Theerapan Saesong ◽  
Pakpoom Ratjiranukool ◽  
Sujittra Ratjiranukool

Numerical Weather Model called The Weather Research and Forecasting model, WRF, developed by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is adapted to be regional climate model. The model is run to perform the daily mean air surface temperatures over northern Thailand in 2010. Boundery dataset provided by National Centers for Environmental Prediction, NCEP FNL, (Final) Operational Global Analysis data which are on 10 x 10. The simulated temperatures by WRF with four land surface options, i.e., no land surface scheme (option 0), thermal diffusion (option 1), Noah land-surface (option 2) and RUC land-surface (option 3) were compared against observational data from Thai Meteorological Department (TMD). Preliminary analysis indicated WRF simulations with Noah scheme were able to reproduce the most reliable daily mean temperatures over northern Thailand.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 441-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Wang-Erlandsson ◽  
R. J. van der Ent ◽  
L. J. Gordon ◽  
H. H. G. Savenije

Abstract. Moisture recycling, the contribution of terrestrial evaporation to precipitation, has important implications for both water and land management. Although terrestrial evaporation consists of different fluxes (i.e. transpiration, vegetation interception, floor interception, soil moisture evaporation, and open-water evaporation), moisture recycling (terrestrial evaporation–precipitation feedback) studies have up to now only analysed their combined total. This paper constitutes the first of two companion papers that investigate the characteristics and roles of different evaporation fluxes for land–atmosphere interactions. Here, we investigate the temporal characteristics of partitioned evaporation on land and present STEAM (Simple Terrestrial Evaporation to Atmosphere Model) – a hydrological land-surface model developed to provide inputs to moisture tracking. STEAM estimates a mean global terrestrial evaporation of 73 900 km3 year-1, of which 59% is transpiration. Despite a relatively simple model structure, validation shows that STEAM produces realistic evaporative partitioning and hydrological fluxes that compare well with other global estimates over different locations, seasons, and land-use types. Using STEAM output, we show that the terrestrial residence timescale of transpiration (days to months) has larger inter-seasonal variation and is substantially longer than that of interception (hours). Most transpiration occurs several hours or days after a rain event, whereas interception is immediate. In agreement with previous research, our simulations suggest that the vegetation's ability to transpire by retaining and accessing soil moisture at greater depth is critical for sustained evaporation during the dry season. We conclude that the differences in temporal characteristics between evaporation fluxes are substantial and reasonably can cause differences in moisture recycling, which is investigated more in the companion paper (van der Ent et al., 2014, hereafter Part 2).


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 1807-1819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Zhang ◽  
Qiuhong Tang ◽  
Deliang Chen

Abstract Evidence has suggested a wetting trend over part of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in recent decades, although there are large uncertainties in this trend due to sparse observations. Examining the change in the moisture source for precipitation over a region in the TP with the most obvious increasing precipitation trend may help understand the precipitation change. This study applied the modified Water Accounting Model with two atmospheric reanalyses, ground-observed precipitation, and evaporation from a land surface model to investigate the change in moisture source of the precipitation over the targeted region. The study estimated that on average more than 69% and more than 21% of the moisture supply to precipitation over the targeted region came from land and ocean, respectively. The moisture transports from the west of the TP by the westerlies and from the southwest by the Indian summer monsoon likely contributed the most to precipitation over the targeted region. The moisture from inside the region may have contributed about 18% of the total precipitation. Most of the increased moisture supply to the precipitation during 1979–2013 was attributed to the enhanced influx from the southwest and the local moisture supply. The precipitation recycling ratio over the targeted region increased significantly, suggesting an intensified hydrological cycle. Further analysis at monthly scale and with wet–dry-year composites indicates that the increased moisture contribution was mainly from the southwest and the targeted region during May and September. The enhanced water vapor transport from the Indian Ocean during July and September and the intensified local hydrological recycling seem to be the primary reasons behind the recent precipitation increase over the targeted region.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 2813-2881 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. N. Walters ◽  
K. D. Williams ◽  
I. A. Boutle ◽  
A. C. Bushell ◽  
J. M. Edwards ◽  
...  

Abstract. We describe Global Atmosphere 4.0 (GA4.0) and Global Land 4.0 (GL4.0): configurations of the Met Office Unified Model and JULES community land surface model developed for use in global and regional climate research and weather prediction activities. GA4.0 and GL4.0 are based on the previous GA3.0 and GL3.0 configurations, with the inclusion of developments made by the Met Office and its collaborators during its annual development cycle. This paper provides a comprehensive technical and scientific description of GA4.0 and GL4.0 as well as details of how these differ from their predecessors. We also present the results of some initial evaluations of their performance. These show that, overall, performance is comparable with that of GA3.0/GL3.0; the updated configurations do, however, include improvements to the science of several parametrization schemes and will form a baseline for further ongoing development.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1163-1205 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Tian ◽  
X. Li ◽  
X.-S. Wang ◽  
B. X. Hu

Abstract. The water and energy cycles interact, making them generally closely related. Land surface models (LSMs) can describe the water and energy cycles of the land surface, but their description of the subsurface water processes is oversimplified, and lateral groundwater flow is ignored. Groundwater models (GWMs) well describe the dynamic movement of subsurface water flow, but they cannot depict the physical mechanism of the evapotranspiration (ET) process in detail. In this study, a coupled model of groundwater with simple biosphere (GWSiB) is developed based on the full coupling of a typical land surface model (SiB2) and a three-dimensional variably saturated groundwater model (AquiferFlow). In this model, the infiltration, ET and energy transfer are simulated by SiB2 via the soil moisture results given by the groundwater flow model. The infiltration and ET results are applied iteratively to drive the groundwater flow model. The developed model is then applied to study water cycle processes in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin in the northwest of China. The model is validated through data collected at three stations in the study area. The stations are located in a shallow groundwater depth zone, a deeper groundwater depth zone and an agricultural irrigation area. The study results show that the coupled model can well depict the land surface and groundwater interaction and can more comprehensively and accurately simulate the water and energy cycles compared with uncoupled models.


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