Peter J. Wetzel

The Project for Intercomparison of Land-surface Parameterization / / Schemes PILPS Phase 2 c Red-Arkansas River basin experiment: 1. Experiment description and summary intercomparisons

Abstract Sixteen land-surface schemes participating in the Project for the Intercomparison of Land-surface Schemes (PILPS) Phase 2(c) were run using 10 years (1979–1988) of forcing data for the Red–Arkansas River basins in the Southern Great Plains region of the United States. Forcing data (precipitation, incoming radiation and surface meteorology) and land-surface characteristics (soil and vegetation parameters) were provided to each of the participating schemes. Two groups of runs are presented. (1) Calibration–validation runs, using data from six small catchments distributed across the modeling domain. These runs were designed to test the ability of the schemes to transfer information about model parameters to other catchments and to the computational grid boxes. (2) Base-runs, using data for 1979–1988, designed to evaluate the ability of the schemes to reproduce measured energy and water fluxes over multiple seasonal cycles across a climatically diverse, continental-scale basin. All schemes completed the base-runs but five schemes chose not to calibrate. Observational data (from 1980–1986) including daily river flows and monthly basin total evaporation estimated through an atmospheric budget analysis, were used to evaluate model performance. In general, the results are consistent with earlier PILPS experiments in terms of differences among models in predicted water and energy fluxes. The mean annual net radiation varied between 80 and 105 W m −2 (excluding one model). The mean annual Bowen ratio varied from 0.52 to 1.73 (also excluding one model) as compared to the data-estimated value of 0.92. The run-off ratios varied from a low of 0.02 to a high of 0.41, as compared to an observed value of 0.15. In general, those schemes that did not calibrate performed worse, not only on the validation catchments, but also at the scale of the entire modeling domain. This suggests that further PILPS experiments on the value of calibration need to be carried out.

The project for intercomparison of land-surface parameterization schemes (PILPS) phase 2(c) Red-Arkansas River basin experiment: 3. Spatial and temporal analysis of water fluxes

The energy components of sixteen Soil-Vegetation Atmospheric Transfer (SVAT) schemes were analyzed and intercompared using 10 years of surface meteorological and radiative forcing data from the Red-Arkansas River basin in the Southern Great Plains of the United States. Comparisons of simulated surface energy fluxes among models showed that the net radiation and surface temperature generally had the best agreement among the schemes. On an average (annual and monthly) basis, the estimated latent heat fluxes agreed (to within approximate estimation errors) with the latent heat fluxes derived from a radiosonde-based atmospheric budget method for slightly more than half of the schemes. The sensible heat fluxes had larger differences among the schemes than did the latent heat fluxes, and the model-simulated ground heat fluxes had large variations among the schemes. The spatial patterns of the model-computed net radiation and surface temperature were generally similar among the schemes, and appear reasonable and consistent with observations of related variables, such as surface air temperature. The spatial mean patterns of latent and sensible heat fluxes were less similar than for net radiation, and the spatial patterns of the ground heat flux vary greatly among the 16 schemes. Generally, there is less similarity among the models in the temporal (interannual) variability of surface fluxes and temperature than there is in the mean fields, even for schemes with similar mean fields.

Evapotranspiration from nonuniform surfaces: a first approach for short-term numerical weather prediction

Abstract Natural land surfaces are rarely homogeneous over the resolvable scales of numerical weather prediction models. Therefore, these models must somehow account for the subgrid variability in processes that are nonlinealy dependent on surface characteristics. Because of its complex dependence on soil moisture and vegetation, the flux of latent heat is an acutely nonlinear process, involving variables which can vary widely over very short distances. Thus, if the effects of subgrid-scale surface variability are significant, they should appear most prominently in the prediction of evapotranspiration. In this paper, a simple, explicit model for the computation of grid-cell-average evapotranspiration is presented and tested. The model incorporates a statistical distribution of soil moisture on the subgrid scale, the variance of which is obtained from observed distributions of soil moisture and precipitation. Distributions are also assumed for other surface and vegetation characteristics Water-stressed and...

Simulations of a Boreal Grassland Hydrology at Valdai, Russia: PILPS Phase 2(d)

The Project for the Intercomparison of Land-Surface Parameterization Schemes (PILPS) aims to improve understanding and modeling of land surface processes. PILPS phase 2(d) uses a set of meteorological and hydrological data spanning 18 yr (1966‐83) from a grassland catchment at the Valdai water-balance research site in Russia. A suite of stand-alone simulations is performed by 21 land surface schemes (LSSs) to explore the LSSs’ sensitivity to downward longwave radiative forcing, timescales of simulated hydrologic variability, and biases resulting from single-year simulations that use recursive spinup. These simulations are the first in PILPS to investigate the performance of LSSs at a site with a well-defined seasonal snow cover and frozen soil. Considerable model scatter for the control simulations exists. However, nearly all the LSS scatter in simulated root-zone soil moisture is contained within the spatial variability observed inside the catchment. In addition, all models show a considerable sensitivity to longwave forcing for the simulation of the snowpack, which during the spring melt affects runoff, meltwater infiltration, and subsequent evapotranspiration. A greater sensitivity of the ablation, compared to the accumulation, of the winter snowpack to the choice of snow parameterization is found. Sensitivity simulations starting at prescribed conditions with no spinup demonstrate that the treatment of frozen soil (moisture) processes can affect the long-term variability of the models. The single-year recursive runs show large biases, compared to the corresponding year of the control run, that can persist through the entire year and underscore the importance of performing multiyear simulations.

Effects of Spatial Variations of Soil Moisture and Vegetation on the Evolution of a Prestorm Environment: A Numerical Case Study

Abstract To study the effects of spatial variations of soil moisture and coverage coverage on the evolution of a prestorm environment, the Goddard mesoscale model (GMASS) was modified to incorporate a simple evapo-transpiration model that requires them two parameters. Soil moisture was estimated from an antecedent precipitation index. Relative fractional vegetation coverage was estimated from a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The case study, 3–4 June 1980, is of particular interest because of the development of a tornado producing convective complex near Grand Island, Nebraska during a period of relatively weak synoptic-scale forcing. Three model simulators are compared. The first had no spatial variations in either sail moisture or vegetation; the second had soil moisture variability but no vegetation; and in the third, the observed variabilities of both soil moisture and vegetation are simulated. The modeled of effects spatial variations of vegetation and soil moisture include the enhance...

Effects of frozen soil on soil temperature, spring infiltration, and runoff: results from the PILPS 2(d) experiment at Valdai, Russia

The Project for Intercomparison of Land-Surface Parameterization Schemes phase 2(d) experiment at Valdai, Russia, offers a unique opportunity to evaluate land surface schemes, especially snow and frozen soil parameterizations. Here, the ability of the 21 schemes that participated in the experiment to correctly simulate the thermal and hydrological properties of the soil on several different timescales was examined. Using observed vertical profiles of soil temperature and soil moisture, the impact of frozen soil schemes in the land surface models on the soil temperature and soil moisture simulations was evaluated. It was found that when soil-water freezing is explicitly included in a model, it improves the simulation of soil temperature and its variability at seasonal and interannual scales. Although change of thermal conductivity of the soil also affects soil temperature simulation, this effect is rather weak. The impact of frozen soil on soil moisture is inconclusive in this experiment due to the particular climate at Valdai, where the top 1mo fsoil is very close to saturation during winter and the range for soil moisture changes at the time of snowmelt is very limited. The results also imply that inclusion of explicit snow processes in the models would contribute to substantially improved simulations. More sophisticated snow models based on snow physics tend to produce better snow simulations, especially of snow ablation. Hysteresis of snowcover fraction as a function of snow depth is observed at the catchment but not in any of the models.

A parameterization for land-atmosphere-cloud-exchange (PLACE): Documentation and testing of a detailed process model of the partly cloudy boundary layer over heterogeneous land

Abstract This paper presents a general description of, and demonstrates the capabilities of, the Parameterization for Land–Atmosphere–Cloud Exchange (PLACE). The PLACE model is a detailed process model of the partly cloudy atmospheric boundary layer and underlying heterogeneous land surfaces. In its development, particular attention has been given to three of the models subprocesses: the prediction of boundary layer cloud amount, the treatment of surface and soil subgrid heterogeneity, and the liquid water budget. The model includes a three-parameter nonprecipitating cumulus model that feeds back to the surface and boundary layer through radiative effects. Surface heterogeneity in the PLACE model is treated both statistically and by resolving explicit subgrid patches. The model maintains a vertical column of liquid water that is divided into seven reservoirs, from the surface interception store down to bedrock. Five single-day demonstration cases are presented, in which the PLACE model was initialized, r...

A Study of Landscape-Generated Deep Moist Convection

Abstract A two-dimensional version of a cloud-resolving model was used to study the generation of deep moist convection over heterogeneous landscapes. Alternating patches of dry and wet soil were simulated for various profiles of background wind. Results suggested a significant, systematic impact of patch length and background wind on moist convection. Rainfall occurred most intensely along sea-breeze-like fronts, which formed at patch boundaries. Total accumulated rainfall—as the average over simulations with the same patch size but with different background wind profiles—was largest for a patch length of 128 km. This patch length was similar in size to a local radius of deformation (ro = HN/ω). The deposition of rainfall generated a much different distribution of soil moisture after one day of model simulation. This new distribution, however, was far from equilibrium, as the landscape still consisted of a number of wet and dry soil patches. The cloud structure of moist convection was also examined using...

Value of Incorporating Satellite-Derived Land Cover Data in MM5/PLACE for Simulating Surface Temperatures

Abstract The Parameterization for Land–Atmosphere–Cloud Exchange (PLACE) module is used within the Fifth-Generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) to determine the importance of individual land surface parameters in simulating surface temperatures. Sensitivity tests indicate that soil moisture and the coverage and thickness of green vegetation [as manifested by the values of fractional green vegetation coverage (fVEG) and leaf area index (LAI)] have a large effect on the magnitudes of surface sensible heat fluxes. The combined influence of LAI and fVEG is larger than the influence of soil moisture on the partitioning of the surface energy budget. Values for fVEG, albedo, and LAI, derived from 1-km-resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer data, are inserted into PLACE, and changes in model-simulated 1.5-m air temperatures in Oklahoma during July of 1997 are documented. Use of the land cover data provides a clear improvement in afterno...

A long-lived mesoscale convective complex. I - The mountain-generated component

Abstract Using data collected during Colorado State Universitys South Park Area Cumulus Experiment in 1977, a sequence of multi-scale convective events leading to the formation of a mesoscale convective complex is described. In the first phase, surface-based cool advection in the elevated mountain basin delayed the full transition of the morning boundary layer into a deep mixed layer until well after convective instability was reached over the adjacent ridges. The second phase was earmarked by the formation of convective precipitation echoes at “hot spots” over the high mountain terrain. Two groups of cells then propagated. eastward across the mountain basin, forming a line of discrete cells which moved across the foothills toward the High Plains. The cells further intensified at the. foothills/High Plains interface and formed a still larger, north-south line of thunderstorms. In the third phase, this north–south line of thunderstorms evolved into an expanding meso-β-scale convective cluster as it contin...