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William J. Schulz Jr.
,
Richard P. Mied
, and
Charlotte M. Snow

Abstract

The authors address the propagation of continental shelf waves in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. An analytical model of the bathymetry in the region is constructed by representing the continental shelf as a gently sloping bottom, which deepens linearly with offshore distance to the place where it meets the continental slope. Seaward of that point, the bathymetry is modeled with an exponentially decaying function of distance. The linearized, barotropic equations of hydrostatic motion, subject to the long-wave approximation, yield separate shelf and slope solutions, which are matched at the shelf break to specify the eigenfunctions. The associated eigenvalues define the dispersion relations for each of the modes. Wavenumber–frequency pairs derived from NOAA sea surface height stations along the coast are plotted on the first-mode dispersion curve, and the agreement is good. The theory also shows good agreement with the wave data of D. P. Wang.

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J-P. Schulz
,
L. Dümenil
,
J. Polcher
,
C. A. Schlosser
, and
Y. Xue

Abstract

Three different land surface schemes that are designed for use in atmospheric general circulation models are compared. They were run in offline mode with identical atmospheric forcing values that were observed at Cabauw. This procedure allows one to analyze differences in the simulations that are not caused by different atmospheric conditions and to relate them to certain model characteristics. The intercomparison shows that the models produced similar results for surface temperature and total net radiation, which are also in good agreement with the observations. But they underestimate latent heat flux and overestimate sensible heat flux in summer. Differences in the components of energy and hydrological cycle as simulated by the schemes can be related to differences in model structures. The calculation of the surface temperature is of major importance, particularly on a diurnal timescale. Depending on the scheme chosen, the simulated surface temperature is closer to the observed radiative surface temperature or the observed soil temperature at a depth of a few centimeters. If a land surface scheme is going to be coupled to an atmospheric model, this needs to be considered. The simulation of the surface energy fluxes can be improved by careful calibration of the relevant parameters according to the conditions at the observational site. The stomatal resistance was found to be an essential parameter in determining the evolution of evapotranspiration for the Cabauw simulations.

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J. A. Curry
,
A. Bentamy
,
M. A. Bourassa
,
D. Bourras
,
E. F. Bradley
,
M. Brunke
,
S. Castro
,
S. H. Chou
,
C. A. Clayson
,
W. J. Emery
,
L. Eymard
,
C. W. Fairall
,
M. Kubota
,
B. Lin
,
W. Perrie
,
R. A. Reeder
,
I. A. Renfrew
,
W. B. Rossow
,
J. Schulz
,
S. R. Smith
,
P. J. Webster
,
G. A. Wick
, and
X. Zeng

High-resolution surface fluxes over the global ocean are needed to evaluate coupled atmosphere–ocean models and weather forecasting models, provide surface forcing for ocean models, understand the regional and temporal variations of the exchange of heat between the atmosphere and ocean, and provide a large-scale context for field experiments. Under the auspices of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Radiation Panel, the SEAFLUX Project has been initiated to investigate producing a high-resolution satellite-based dataset of surface turbulent fluxes over the global oceans to complement the existing products for surface radiation fluxes and precipitation. The SEAFLUX Project includes the following elements: a library of in situ data, with collocated satellite data to be used in the evaluation and improvement of global flux products; organized intercomparison projects, to evaluate and improve bulk flux models and determination from the satellite of the input parameters; and coordinated evaluation of the flux products in the context of applications, such as forcing ocean models and evaluation of coupled atmosphere–ocean models. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of the status of global ocean surface flux products, the methodology being used by SEAFLUX, and the prospects for improvement of satellite-derived flux products.

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T. H. Chen
,
A. Henderson-Sellers
,
P. C. D. Milly
,
A. J. Pitman
,
A. C. M. Beljaars
,
J. Polcher
,
F. Abramopoulos
,
A. Boone
,
S. Chang
,
F. Chen
,
Y. Dai
,
C. E. Desborough
,
R. E. Dickinson
,
L. Dümenil
,
M. Ek
,
J. R. Garratt
,
N. Gedney
,
Y. M. Gusev
,
J. Kim
,
R. Koster
,
E. A. Kowalczyk
,
K. Laval
,
J. Lean
,
D. Lettenmaier
,
X. Liang
,
J.-F. Mahfouf
,
H.-T. Mengelkamp
,
K. Mitchell
,
O. N. Nasonova
,
J. Noilhan
,
A. Robock
,
C. Rosenzweig
,
J. Schaake
,
C. A. Schlosser
,
J.-P. Schulz
,
Y. Shao
,
A. B. Shmakin
,
D. L. Verseghy
,
P. Wetzel
,
E. F. Wood
,
Y. Xue
,
Z.-L. Yang
, and
Q. Zeng

Abstract

In the Project for Intercomparison of Land-Surface Parameterization Schemes phase 2a experiment, meteorological data for the year 1987 from Cabauw, the Netherlands, were used as inputs to 23 land-surface flux schemes designed for use in climate and weather models. Schemes were evaluated by comparing their outputs with long-term measurements of surface sensible heat fluxes into the atmosphere and the ground, and of upward longwave radiation and total net radiative fluxes, and also comparing them with latent heat fluxes derived from a surface energy balance. Tuning of schemes by use of the observed flux data was not permitted. On an annual basis, the predicted surface radiative temperature exhibits a range of 2 K across schemes, consistent with the range of about 10 W m−2 in predicted surface net radiation. Most modeled values of monthly net radiation differ from the observations by less than the estimated maximum monthly observational error (±10 W m−2). However, modeled radiative surface temperature appears to have a systematic positive bias in most schemes; this might be explained by an error in assumed emissivity and by models’ neglect of canopy thermal heterogeneity. Annual means of sensible and latent heat fluxes, into which net radiation is partitioned, have ranges across schemes of30 W m−2 and 25 W m−2, respectively. Annual totals of evapotranspiration and runoff, into which the precipitation is partitioned, both have ranges of 315 mm. These ranges in annual heat and water fluxes were approximately halved upon exclusion of the three schemes that have no stomatal resistance under non-water-stressed conditions. Many schemes tend to underestimate latent heat flux and overestimate sensible heat flux in summer, with a reverse tendency in winter. For six schemes, root-mean-square deviations of predictions from monthly observations are less than the estimated upper bounds on observation errors (5 W m−2 for sensible heat flux and 10 W m−2 for latent heat flux). Actual runoff at the site is believed to be dominated by vertical drainage to groundwater, but several schemes produced significant amounts of runoff as overland flow or interflow. There is a range across schemes of 184 mm (40% of total pore volume) in the simulated annual mean root-zone soil moisture. Unfortunately, no measurements of soil moisture were available for model evaluation. A theoretical analysis suggested that differences in boundary conditions used in various schemes are not sufficient to explain the large variance in soil moisture. However, many of the extreme values of soil moisture could be explained in terms of the particulars of experimental setup or excessive evapotranspiration.

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Z. Su
,
W. Timmermans
,
Y. Zeng
,
J. Schulz
,
V. O. John
,
R. A. Roebeling
,
P. Poli
,
D. Tan
,
F. Kaspar
,
A. K. Kaiser-Weiss
,
E. Swinnen
,
C. Toté
,
H. Gregow
,
T. Manninen
,
A. Riihelä
,
J.-C. Calvet
,
Y. Ma
, and
J. Wen

Abstract

The Coordinating Earth Observation Data Validation for Reanalysis for Climate Services project (CORE-CLIMAX) aimed to substantiate how Copernicus observations and products can contribute to climate change analyses. CORE-CLIMAX assessed the European capability to provide climate data records (CDRs) of essential climate variables (ECVs), prepared a structured process to derive CDRs, developed a harmonized approach for validating essential climate variable CDRs, identified the integration of CDRs into the reanalysis chain, and formulated a process to compare the results of different reanalysis techniques. With respect to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the systematic application and further development of the CORE-CLIMAX system maturity matrix (SMM) and the spinoff application performance metric (APM) were strongly endorsed to be involved in future implementations of C3S. We concluded that many of the current CDRs are not yet sufficiently mature to be used in reanalysis or applied in climate studies. Thus, the production of consistent high-resolution data records remains a challenge that needs more research urgently. Extending ECVs to close climate cycle budgets (e.g., essential water variables) is a next step linking CDRs to sectoral applications.

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Weiqing Qu
,
A. Henderson-Sellers
,
A. J. Pitman
,
T. H. Chen
,
F. Abramopoulos
,
A. Boone
,
S. Chang
,
F. Chen
,
Y. Dai
,
R. E. Dickinson
,
L. Dümenil
,
M. Ek
,
N. Gedney
,
Y. M. Gusev
,
J. Kim
,
R. Koster
,
E. A. Kowalczyk
,
J. Lean
,
D. Lettenmaier
,
X. Liang
,
J.-F. Mahfouf
,
H.-T. Mengelkamp
,
K. Mitchell
,
O. N. Nasonova
,
J. Noilhan
,
A. Robock
,
C. Rosenzweig
,
J. Schaake
,
C. A. Schlosser
,
J.-P. Schulz
,
A. B. Shmakin
,
D. L. Verseghy
,
P. Wetzel
,
E. F. Wood
,
Z.-L. Yang
, and
Q. Zeng

Abstract

In the PILPS Phase 2a experiment, 23 land-surface schemes were compared in an off-line control experiment using observed meteorological data from Cabauw, the Netherlands. Two simple sensitivity experiments were also undertaken in which the observed surface air temperature was artificially increased or decreased by 2 K while all other factors remained as observed. On the annual timescale, all schemes show similar responses to these perturbations in latent, sensible heat flux, and other key variables. For the 2-K increase in temperature, surface temperatures and latent heat fluxes all increase while net radiation, sensible heat fluxes, and soil moistures all decrease. The results are reversed for a 2-K temperature decrease. The changes in sensible heat fluxes and, especially, the changes in the latent heat fluxes are not linearly related to the change of temperature. Theoretically, the nonlinear relationship between air temperature and the latent heat flux is evident and due to the convex relationship between air temperature and saturation vapor pressure. A simple test shows that, the effect of the change of air temperature on the atmospheric stratification aside, this nonlinear relationship is shown in the form that the increase of the latent heat flux for a 2-K temperature increase is larger than its decrease for a 2-K temperature decrease. However, the results from the Cabauw sensitivity experiments show that the increase of the latent heat flux in the +2-K experiment is smaller than the decrease of the latent heat flux in the −2-K experiment (we refer to this as the asymmetry). The analysis in this paper shows that this inconsistency between the theoretical relationship and the Cabauw sensitivity experiments results (or the asymmetry) is due to (i) the involvement of the β g formulation, which is a function of a series stress factors that limited the evaporation and whose values change in the ±2-K experiments, leading to strong modifications of the latent heat flux; (ii) the change of the drag coefficient induced by the changes in stratification due to the imposed air temperature changes (±2 K) in parameterizations of latent heat flux common in current land-surface schemes. Among all stress factors involved in the β g formulation, the soil moisture stress in the +2-K experiment induced by the increased evaporation is the main factor that contributes to the asymmetry.

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Keith A. Browning
,
Alan M. Blyth
,
Peter A. Clark
,
Ulrich Corsmeier
,
Cyril J. Morcrette
,
Judith L. Agnew
,
Sue P. Ballard
,
Dave Bamber
,
Christian Barthlott
,
Lindsay J. Bennett
,
Karl M. Beswick
,
Mark Bitter
,
Karen E. Bozier
,
Barbara J. Brooks
,
Chris G. Collier
,
Fay Davies
,
Bernhard Deny
,
Mark A. Dixon
,
Thomas Feuerle
,
Richard M. Forbes
,
Catherine Gaffard
,
Malcolm D. Gray
,
Rolf Hankers
,
Tim J. Hewison
,
Norbert Kalthoff
,
Samiro Khodayar
,
Martin Kohler
,
Christoph Kottmeier
,
Stephan Kraut
,
Michael Kunz
,
Darcy N. Ladd
,
Humphrey W. Lean
,
Jürgen Lenfant
,
Zhihong Li
,
John Marsham
,
James McGregor
,
Stephan D. Mobbs
,
John Nicol
,
Emily Norton
,
Douglas J. Parker
,
Felicity Perry
,
Markus Ramatschi
,
Hugo M. A. Ricketts
,
Nigel M. Roberts
,
Andrew Russell
,
Helmut Schulz
,
Elizabeth C. Slack
,
Geraint Vaughan
,
Joe Waight
,
David P. Wareing
,
Robert J. Watson
,
Ann R. Webb
, and
Andreas Wieser

The Convective Storm Initiation Project (CSIP) is an international project to understand precisely where, when, and how convective clouds form and develop into showers in the mainly maritime environment of southern England. A major aim of CSIP is to compare the results of the very high resolution Met Office weather forecasting model with detailed observations of the early stages of convective clouds and to use the newly gained understanding to improve the predictions of the model.

A large array of ground-based instruments plus two instrumented aircraft, from the U.K. National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and the German Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK), Karlsruhe, were deployed in southern England, over an area centered on the meteorological radars at Chilbolton, during the summers of 2004 and 2005. In addition to a variety of ground-based remote-sensing instruments, numerous rawinsondes were released at one- to two-hourly intervals from six closely spaced sites. The Met Office weather radar network and Meteosat satellite imagery were used to provide context for the observations made by the instruments deployed during CSIP.

This article presents an overview of the CSIP field campaign and examples from CSIP of the types of convective initiation phenomena that are typical in the United Kingdom. It shows the way in which certain kinds of observational data are able to reveal these phenomena and gives an explanation of how the analyses of data from the field campaign will be used in the development of an improved very high resolution NWP model for operational use.

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