Impact of MODIS Surface Temperature Forcing on Warm Season Precipitation Simulations in WRF
Location
ECC 216
Event Website
http://water.usu.edu/
Start Date
4-3-2012 3:50 PM
End Date
4-3-2012 3:55 PM
Description
We simulated climate over the continuous United States for years 1969 – 1999 at 50km resolution using the Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) model forcing with National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis I (R1) data. Realistic simulations were generated for the West during the winter months. However, our simulations produced large dry biases across the Southeast and Midwest from late Spring through Summer. It is found that more than 1°C cold biases in air temperatures near the surface occur over the Gulf of Mexico and the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. These cold biases result in a more stable boundary layer than observations, severely limiting vertical transport of moisture with dry biases in specific humidity in the lower part of the atmosphere. This is consistent with the simulated dry biases in the Southeast and Midwest as the Gulf of Mexico is a major moisture source for these regions. In this study, we force WRF with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite-derived surface temperature over the contiguous United States for the year 2006 to explore how surface thermal processes affect precipitation in the Southeast and Midwest. The simulated nearsurface air temperature and precipitation are compared with observations and the simulations from WRF without integration of satellite data.
Impact of MODIS Surface Temperature Forcing on Warm Season Precipitation Simulations in WRF
ECC 216
We simulated climate over the continuous United States for years 1969 – 1999 at 50km resolution using the Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) model forcing with National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis I (R1) data. Realistic simulations were generated for the West during the winter months. However, our simulations produced large dry biases across the Southeast and Midwest from late Spring through Summer. It is found that more than 1°C cold biases in air temperatures near the surface occur over the Gulf of Mexico and the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. These cold biases result in a more stable boundary layer than observations, severely limiting vertical transport of moisture with dry biases in specific humidity in the lower part of the atmosphere. This is consistent with the simulated dry biases in the Southeast and Midwest as the Gulf of Mexico is a major moisture source for these regions. In this study, we force WRF with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite-derived surface temperature over the contiguous United States for the year 2006 to explore how surface thermal processes affect precipitation in the Southeast and Midwest. The simulated nearsurface air temperature and precipitation are compared with observations and the simulations from WRF without integration of satellite data.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2012/Posters/26