Monthly Precipitation and Local Time of Precipitation Frequency Maximum over West Africa

1. NEWS FY07 Latest Updates:NASA Model and Observation Products for the Study of Land Atmosphere Coupling and its Impact on Water and Energy Cycles PIs: C. D. Peters-Lidard (NASA/GSFC), W-K. Tao (NASA/GSFC) J. Santanello, Jr. (UMCP/ESSIC), S. Kumar (UMBC/GEST), B. Shen (UMCP/ESSIC), J. Chern (UMBC/GEST), M. Bosilovich (NASA/GSFC), M. Rodell (NASA/GSFC), J. Geiger (NASA/GSFC), W. Lau (NASA/GSFC)

2. Geographical distribution of the local solar time (LST) of non-drizzle precipitation frequency maximum over West Africa in summer 1999 as simulated with the Goddard MMF (upper panel) and the fvGCM (middle panel) and as observed by the TRMM TMI (bottom panel). Blank regions indicate no precipitation. Monthly Precipitation and Local Time of Precipitation Frequency Maximum over West Africa The GSFC Multiscale Modeling Framework (MMF), which is a cloud resolving model embedded within a general circulation model, captures TRMM-observed surface precipitation and its diurnal variation. TRMM TMI TRMM Combined MMF fvGCM MMF fvGCM TRMM Monthly precipitation rates (mm/day) over West Africa for September 1999 from TRMM observations (TMI, top-left, and Combined, top-right) and simulations from the Goddard MMF (lower-left panel) and the fvGCM (lower-right panel).

3. bi 5-Layer RUC Noah A Modeling and Observational Framework for Diagnosing Local Land-Atmosphere Coupling on Diurnal Time Scales Overarching Goal: • To accurately understand, model, and predict the role of Local Coupling (LoCo) of land–atmosphere interactions in the evolution of land-atmosphere and Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) fluxes and state variables. International Linkages: • The NEWS-sponsored framework will be used to support WCRP-GEWEX studies of factors controlling LoCo. Noah Land Surface Model CLM2 Land Surface Model a) b) 00Z Noah bs CLM2 • = MRF • = YSU • = MYJ 12Z • = MRF • = YSU • = MYJ ---- = Observed bs = Sfc. Bowen ratiobi = Entrainment Bowen ratio LIS-WRF – Oct 23-26 1999 CASES99 Experiment Figure 1: Diurnal evolution (12-00Z) of 2m-potential temperature vs. 2m-specific humidity simulated by LIS-WRF during dry soil moisture conditions in the Southern Great Plains using the a) Noah and b) CLM2 land surface models with the MRF, YSU, and MYJ PBL schemes Figure 2: Evaporative fraction vs. PBL height simulated by LIS-WRF using each PBL-LSM pair along with that observed The degree of coupling between the land surface and PBL must be represented accurately in models, but remains largely unexplored and undiagnosed due to the complex interactions and feedback processes (such as entrainment) present across a range of scales. Here, the land-atmosphere coupling strength for a given PBL-land surface scheme pair can be assessed using mixing diagrams (q vs. q; Fig.1). The diurnal evolution of each q vs. q curve is integrative of and a direct function of the surface Bowen ratio and the entrainment rate, which can then be quantified using a vector diagram approach. Variability in the coupling strength of each model pair is also reflected in the equilibrium between Evaporative Fraction and PBL Height (Fig. 2). When compared with observations across a full range of conditions, the degree of coupling determines the potential growth of the PBL in relation to surface fluxes of moisture and heat, and when compared with observations indicates the range and accuracy of LoCo within each model.

4. Publications Atlas, R., O. Reale, B.-W. Shen, S.-J. Lin, J.-D. Chern, W. Putman, T. Lee, K.-S. Yeh, M. Bosilovich, and J. Radakovich, 2005: Hurricane forecasting with the high-resolution NASA finite-volume General Circulation Model, Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L03801, doi:10.1029/2004GL021513. Biswas, R., M. J. Aftosmis, C. Kiris, and B.-W. Shen, 2007: Petascale Computing: Impact on Future NASA Missions. Petascale Computing: Architectures and Algorithms (D. Bader, ed.), Chapman and Hall / CRC Press, (in press). Kumar et al. An Integrated High Resolution Hydrometeorogical Modeling Testbed using LIS and WRF, Environmental Modeling and Software, (in press). Kumar et al. A Land Surface Data Assimilation Framework using the Land Information System: Description and Applications, Special Issue in Advances in Water Resources (submitted). Shen, B.-W., W.-K. Tao, R. Atlas, J.-D. Chern, S.-J. Lin, 2007: Multiscale Simulations of a Mei-Yu Front accompanied by a Drifting Meso-cyclone with a Global Mesoscale Model, (in preparation). Shen, B.-W., R. Atlas, O. Oreale, S.-J Lin, J.-D. Chern, J. Chang, C. Henze, and J.-L. Li, 2006b: Hurricane Forecasts with a Global Mesoscale-Resolving Model: Preliminary Results with Hurricane Katrina (2005), Geophys. Res. Lett., L13813, doi:10.1029/2006GL026143. Shen, B.-W., R. Atlas, J.-D. Chern, O. Reale, S.-J. Lin, T. Lee, and J. Change 2006a: The 0.125 degree Finite Volume General Mesoscale Circulation Model: Preliminary simulations of mesoscale vortices. Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L05801, doi:10.1029/2005GL024594.

5. Conference Talks Atlas, R., S.-J. Lin, B.-W. Shen, O. Reale, and K.-S. Yeh: 2007: Improving Hurricane Prediction through Innovative Global Modeling. Springer. EXTENDING THE HORIZONS: International Impacts of Computing, Optimization and Decision Technologies. Presented as Plenary Address by the 1st author. Kumar et al., A Generic Interoperable Hydrologic Data Assimilation Framework using the Land Information System, American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall meeting, 11-15 December 2006, San Francisco, CA. Kumar et al., Evaluation of the influence of fine scale land surface representation on convective processes using the coupled LIS-WRF system, 21th Conference on Hydrology, 87th American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting, 14-18 Jan, 2007, San Antonio, TX. Kumar et al., An Integrated System for Sequential Hydrologic Data Assimilation using the Land Information System, AGU 2007 Joint Assembly, 22-25 May, 2007, Acapulco, Mexico. Peters-Lidard, C. D., J. A. Santanello, S. V. Kumar, J. L. Eastman, Land Atmosphere Coupling: Soil Moisture, Vegetation and the Boundary Layer, AGU Fall meeting, 11-15 Dec 2006, San Francisco, CA. Santanello, J. A., and M. A. Friedl, Estimation of Convective Planetary Boundary Layer Evolution and Land-Atmosphere Interactions from MODIS and AIRS, 21th Conference on Hydrology, 87th AMS Annual Meeting, 14-18 Jan, 2007, San Antonio, TX. Santanello, J. A., C. Peters-Lidard, S. Kumar, and J. Geiger, A modeling and observational framework for diagnosing local land-atmosphere coupling on diurnal time scales. European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2007 General Assembly, 15-20 April, 2007, Vienna, Austria. Shen, B.-W., W.-K. Tao, R. Atlas, T. Lee, O. Reale, J.-D. Chern, S.-J. Lin, J. Chang, C. Henze, J.-L. Li, Hurricane Forecasts with a Global Mesoscale-resolving Model on the NASA Columbia Supercomputer, AGU 2006 Fall Meeting, 11-15 December 2006, San Francisco, CA.

6. Connections Forged with other Research Communities • Active collaborations (with NSIT, other NEWS projects, etc.) : • Paul Houser/GMU (NSIT, WCSN, GLASS LoCo) • Bill Lapenta, Jonathan Case/MSFC (NSIT, SPORT) • Mike Bosilovich/GSFC (NEWS, temperature assimilation, CEOP) • Matt Rodell/GSFC (NEWS, snow assimilation, GLDAS) • Randy Koster, Rolf Reichle/GSFC (NEWS, GLASS GLACE) • John Janowiak, Bob Joyce/NOAA CPC • Important outside linkages/resources (outside the NEWS team) : • GEWEX GLASS Panel (Paul Dirmeyer/COLA, Bart van den Hurk/KNMI) • GEWEX GABLS (Bert Holtslag/Waginingen Univ.) • GEWEX GCSS (Wei-Kuo Tao et al./GSFC) • GEWEX GMPP (Jan Polcher/LMD) • DoE ARM/CART, CLASIC (Mark Miller/BNL) • CUAHSI NCHS (Norm Miller/LBL) • CEOP, AMMA