229

Task 229

Evaluation of mesoscale model (WRF) and LIS-WRF under for various thunderstorm cases across continents

Principal Investigator(s):

A. Kumar

Sponsor(s):

C. Peters-Lidard

Last Updated:

October 26, 2012 15:25:56


Description of Problem

Goals:
(a) To evaluate NASA developed Land Information System (LIS) in WRF (LIS coupled WRF) and also evaluate LIS spin-ups soil condition. First we have to run LIS spin-up for 10 years and evaluate simulated soil moisture, soil temperature at different soil depth, latent heat flux and sensible heat flux for over Southern Great Plains region, and compare with station flux site data for verification. In second step we ran NU-WRF coupled system and performed evaluation, our study objective is to understand the impact of different microphysics schemes on land-surface process (surface and soil parameters).

Scientific Objectives and Approach

We made LIS spinups for period 01 Jan 2000 to June 2002 at two different domain resolution (6 and 2 km resolution). In second stage, NU-WRF coupled LIS is used for our case studied and conducted simulation in two-way nested run. Evaluation is done using domain averaged analysis software and also on individual flux tower sites. Our research paper is focusing on the impact of different microphysics schemes under NU-WRF-LIS coupled system.
LIS verification tool kit (LVT) is used to evaluate surface soil parameters.

(b) Self-guided research on mesoscale model evaluation and analysis: This work mostly done in my free time (weekends) and carried out with two groups: University of Washington- Prof. Robert Houze and Purdue University- Prof. Dev Niyogi. With Houze group, we are evaluating current microphysics scheme used in WRF mesoscale model and evaluating for severe thunderstorms cases over South America and West Africa. With Niyogi group, understanding then impact of soil moisture, land-surface process in regional models.

Accomplishments

For Goal (a)
• LIS spinups are done for our domain cases study over SGP region, we ran LIS at two different resolutions i.e. 6 and 2km.
• NU-WRF coupled LIS model two-way nested simulations are done.
• LIS-WRF model evaluated using MET verification package and conduct domain average analysis (2m temperature, 2m- mixing ratio, vertical temperature and moisture profiles).
• LIS-WRF simulated surface fluxes are verified using IHOP-2002, Ameriflux, ARM’s flux sites.
• LVT is used for surface evaluation.

Future Work

The NU-WRF model is ran for 13 June 2002 IHOP-2002 case and tested six microphysics schemes available in NU-WRF model. The objective is to understand the land-surface process evaluation under different cloud schemes. We focused more on quantitative analysis so the statistical domain averaged bias analysis suggest that Goddard microphysics schemes perform better than other microphysics in NU-WRF model. The temperature and mixing ratio atmospheric statistics shows that Goddard scheme simulate better than other microphysics scheme (see below Figure 1- upper panel). The land-surface feedback in response to different microphysics scheme also resolved better surface condition (see below Figure 1 – lower panel). We evaluated all other surface parameters such as surface heat fluxes, surface wind speed, ground heat flux, net radiation and found good result from Goddard scheme. Currently we are evaluating soil temperature and soil moisture, model skill score etc. We plan to submit our manuscript in March 2012.

Refereed Journal Publications

Kellner O., D. Niyogi, M. Lei, A. Kumar, 2011: The role of anomalous soil moisture on the inland reintensification of Tropical Storm Erin (2007), Natural Hazards- Tropical Cyclones of 21st Century Special Issue. DOI: 10.1007/s11069-011-9966-6.

Kishtawal C. M., D. Niyogi, A. Kumar, M. Laureano, O. Kellner, 2011: Observed sensitivity of inland decay of tropical cyclones to soil surface characteristics, Natural Hazards- Tropical Cyclones of 21st Century Special Issue, DOI: 10.1007/s11069-011-0015-2.

Kumar A., J. Done, J. Dudhia, D. Niyogi, 2011, Simulations of Cyclone Sidr in the Bay of Bengal with a high-resolution model: sensitivity to large-scale boundary forcing, Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, DOI 10.1007/s00703-011-0161-9

Niu, G.-Y., Z.-L. Yang, K. E. Mitchell, F. Chen, M. B. Ek, M. Barlage, L. Longuevergne, A. Kumar, K. Manning, D. Niyogi, E. Rosero, M. Tewari, and Y. Xia, 2011: The Community Noah Land Surface Model with Multi-Parameterization Options (Noah-MP): 1. Model Description and Evaluation with Local-scale Measurements, Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, D12, D12109,doi:10.1029/2010JD015139.

Kumar A., F. Chen, D. Niyogi, J. Alfieri, M. Ek, and K. Mitchell, 2011, Evaluation of a photosynthesis-based canopy resistance formulation in the Noah land surface model, Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 138, 263 – 284. Doi: 10.1007/s10546-010-9559-z

Other Publications and Conferences

Sujay V. Kumar, C. Peters-Lidard, J. A. Santanello Jr., K. W. Harrison, and A. Kumar. Land Surface Verification Toolkit (LVT): A Formal Benchmarking and Evaluation Framework for Land Surface Models. 90th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 26th Conference on Hydrology,

Task Figures


Fig. 1 – Temperature and mixing ratio bias analysis. Shows spatial and temporal averaged domain statistics, specifically shows temperature bias.

Fig. 2 – Temperature and mixing ratio bias analysis. Shows spatial and temporal averaged domain statistics, specifically shows mixing ratio bias (in g/Kg).

Fig. 3 – Shows three hourly domain averaged bias in temperature.

Fig. 4 – Shows mixing ratio from different microphysics schemes.