Search Results
You are looking at 11 - 13 of 13 items for
- Author or Editor: W. James Shuttleworth x
- Refine by Access: All Content x
Abstract
This study investigates the extent to which assimilating high-resolution remotely sensed cloud cover into the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) provides an improved regional diagnosis of downward short- and longwave surface radiation fluxes and precipitation. An automatic procedure was developed to derive high-resolution (4 km × 4 km) fields of fractional cloud cover from visible band Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data using a tracking procedure to determine the clear-sky composite image. Initial studies, in which RAMS surface shortwave radiation fluxes were replaced by estimates obtained by applying satellite-derived cloud cover in the University of Maryland Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment's Surface Radiation Budget (UMD GEWEX/SRB) model, revealed problems associated with inconsistencies between the revised solar radiation fields and the RAMS-calculated incoming longwave radiation and precipitation fields. Consequently, in this study, the relationship between cloud albedo, optical depth, and water/ice content used in the UMD GEWEX/SRB model was applied instead to provide estimates of whole-column cloud water/ice that were ingested into RAMS. This potentially enhances the realism of the modeled short- and longwave radiation and precipitation. The ingested cloud image took the horizontal distribution of clouds from the satellite image but derives its vertical distribution from the fields simulated by RAMS in the time step immediately prior to assimilation. The resulting image was ingested every minute, with linear interpolation used to derive the 1-min cloud images between 15-min GOES samples. Comparisons were made between modeled and observed data taken from the Arizona Meteorological Network (AZMET) weather station network in southern Arizona for model runs with and without cloud ingestion. Cloud ingestion was found to substantially improve the ability of the RAMS model to capture temporal and spatial variations in surface fields associated with cloud cover. An initial test suggests that cloud ingestion enhanced RAMS short-term forecast ability.
Abstract
This study investigates the extent to which assimilating high-resolution remotely sensed cloud cover into the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) provides an improved regional diagnosis of downward short- and longwave surface radiation fluxes and precipitation. An automatic procedure was developed to derive high-resolution (4 km × 4 km) fields of fractional cloud cover from visible band Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data using a tracking procedure to determine the clear-sky composite image. Initial studies, in which RAMS surface shortwave radiation fluxes were replaced by estimates obtained by applying satellite-derived cloud cover in the University of Maryland Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment's Surface Radiation Budget (UMD GEWEX/SRB) model, revealed problems associated with inconsistencies between the revised solar radiation fields and the RAMS-calculated incoming longwave radiation and precipitation fields. Consequently, in this study, the relationship between cloud albedo, optical depth, and water/ice content used in the UMD GEWEX/SRB model was applied instead to provide estimates of whole-column cloud water/ice that were ingested into RAMS. This potentially enhances the realism of the modeled short- and longwave radiation and precipitation. The ingested cloud image took the horizontal distribution of clouds from the satellite image but derives its vertical distribution from the fields simulated by RAMS in the time step immediately prior to assimilation. The resulting image was ingested every minute, with linear interpolation used to derive the 1-min cloud images between 15-min GOES samples. Comparisons were made between modeled and observed data taken from the Arizona Meteorological Network (AZMET) weather station network in southern Arizona for model runs with and without cloud ingestion. Cloud ingestion was found to substantially improve the ability of the RAMS model to capture temporal and spatial variations in surface fields associated with cloud cover. An initial test suggests that cloud ingestion enhanced RAMS short-term forecast ability.
Abstract
This paper describes the operation and calibration of the simple biosphere model (SiB) of Sellers et al. using micrometeorological and hydrological measurements taken in and above tropical forest in the central Amazon basin. The paper provides:
(i) an overview of the philosophy, structure and assumptions used in the model with particular reference to the tropical forest;
(ii) a review of the experimental systems and procedures used to obtain the field data; and
(iii) a specification of the physiological parameterization required in the model to provide an adequate average description of the data.
In the course of this study, it was found that some of the existing literature on stomatal behavior for tropical tropical species is inconsistent with the observed behavior of the complete canopy in Amazonia and that the rainfall interception store of the canopy is considerably smaller than originally specified in SiB. Also the turbulent transfer model used in SiB was modified to account for the effects of height-varying foliage density. Finally, it was demonstrated that there is a distinct annual cycle in the biophysical properties of the forest canopy which influences the partitioning of energy into sensible and latent heat fluxes.
Abstract
This paper describes the operation and calibration of the simple biosphere model (SiB) of Sellers et al. using micrometeorological and hydrological measurements taken in and above tropical forest in the central Amazon basin. The paper provides:
(i) an overview of the philosophy, structure and assumptions used in the model with particular reference to the tropical forest;
(ii) a review of the experimental systems and procedures used to obtain the field data; and
(iii) a specification of the physiological parameterization required in the model to provide an adequate average description of the data.
In the course of this study, it was found that some of the existing literature on stomatal behavior for tropical tropical species is inconsistent with the observed behavior of the complete canopy in Amazonia and that the rainfall interception store of the canopy is considerably smaller than originally specified in SiB. Also the turbulent transfer model used in SiB was modified to account for the effects of height-varying foliage density. Finally, it was demonstrated that there is a distinct annual cycle in the biophysical properties of the forest canopy which influences the partitioning of energy into sensible and latent heat fluxes.
Abstract
Analyses of rainfall characteristics and their linkage to physiographic features are made from the North American monsoon experiment (NAME) Event Rain Gauge Network (NERN) in northwest Mexico. The findings are based on the network configuration for the 2002 and 2003 warm seasons. Despite the relatively short record used, a clearer structure of core-region monsoon rainfall is beginning to emerge. In agreement with earlier, coarser-scale studies, the seasonal precipitation maximum overlies the western slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental but does not strictly parallel a particular elevation band. It is shown that the distance to the Gulf of California and, potentially, the configuration of the terrain profile may also play an important role in determining where the axis of maximum precipitation lies. The diurnal cycles of precipitation frequency and intensity are shown to have distinct relationships to terrain elevation that are qualitatively similar to those observed over the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in the central-western United States. The relationship between precipitation and gulf surge events occurring during the summer of 2003 is also explored.
Abstract
Analyses of rainfall characteristics and their linkage to physiographic features are made from the North American monsoon experiment (NAME) Event Rain Gauge Network (NERN) in northwest Mexico. The findings are based on the network configuration for the 2002 and 2003 warm seasons. Despite the relatively short record used, a clearer structure of core-region monsoon rainfall is beginning to emerge. In agreement with earlier, coarser-scale studies, the seasonal precipitation maximum overlies the western slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental but does not strictly parallel a particular elevation band. It is shown that the distance to the Gulf of California and, potentially, the configuration of the terrain profile may also play an important role in determining where the axis of maximum precipitation lies. The diurnal cycles of precipitation frequency and intensity are shown to have distinct relationships to terrain elevation that are qualitatively similar to those observed over the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in the central-western United States. The relationship between precipitation and gulf surge events occurring during the summer of 2003 is also explored.
