A new snow parameterization for the Météo-France climate model

Both observational studies and numerical experiments demonstrate the sensitivity of the atmosphere to variations in the extent and mass of snow cover. There is therefore a need for simple but realistic snow parameterizations in forecast and climate models. This study describes a new physically-based snow hydrology for use in the Météo-France climate model, together with the ISBA land-surface scheme. A restricted number of parameters has been added, while preserving a single surface energy budget. The ageing process of the snow pack has been introduced through prognostic equations for snow density and snow albedo. Snowmelt computation has been modified over partially snow-covered and vegetated areas. The new scheme has been validated against field measurements in stand-alone simulations forced by observed meteorological conditions. The results show a strong improvement in the model's performance, thereby suggesting that a simple one-layer snow model is able to reproduce the main physical mechanisms governing the snow pack evolution. Part II of the present study will concern the validation in a 3-D experiment within the Météo-France climate model.     

The surface energy balance of a snow cover: comparing measurements to two differentsimulation models

Summary  We compared two one-dimensional simulation models for heat and water fluxes in the soil-snow-atmosphere system with respect to their mathematical formulations of the surface heat exchange and the snow pack evolution. They were chosen as examples of a simple one-layer snow model and a more detailed multiple-layer snow model (SNTHERM). The snow models were combined with the same one-dimensional model for the heat and water balance of the underlying soil (CoupModel). Data from an arable field in central Sweden (Marsta), covering two years (1997–1999) of soil temperature, snow depth and eddy-correlation measurements were successfully compared with the models. Conditions with a snow pack deeper or shallower than 10 cm and bare soil resulted in similar discrepancies. The simulated net radiation and sensible heat flux were in good agreement with that measured during snow-covered periods, except for situations with snowmelt when the downward sensible heat flux was overestimated by 10–20 Wm⁻². The results showed that the uncertainties in parameter values were more important than the model formulation and that both models were useful in evaluating the limitations and uncertainties of the measurements. Received November 1, 1999 Revised April 20, 2000     

The coupling of the Common Land Model (CLM0) to a regional climate model (RegCM)

Summary We replace the existing land surface parameterization scheme, the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS), in a regional climate model (RegCM) with the newly developed Common Land Model (CLM0). The main improvements of CLM0 include a detailed 10-layer soil model, the distinction between soil ice and water phases, a linked photosynthesis-stomatal conductance model, a multilayer snow model, and an improved runoff parameterization. We compare the performance of CLM0 and BATS as coupled to the RegCM in a one year simulation over East Asia. We find that the RegCM/CLM0 improves the winter cold bias present in the RegCM/BATS simulation. With respect to the surface energy balance, lower CLM0 albedos allow the absorption of more solar radiation at the surface. CLM0 tends to simulate higher sensible heat and lower latent heat fluxes than its BATS counterpart. The surface water balance also changes considerably between the two land surface schemes. Compared to BATS, CLM0 precipitation is reduced overall and surface runoff is increased, thereby allowing less water to enter the soil column. Evapotranspiration is lower in CLM0 due to lower ground evaporation, which leads to a wetter surface soil in CLM0 in spite of less precipitation input. However, transpiration is greater in CLM0 than BATS, which has an overall effect of less surface storage during the summertime. Comparison with station observations indicates that CLM0 tends to improve the simulation of root zone soil water content compared to BATS. Another pronounced difference between the two schemes is that CLM0 produces lower snow amounts than BATS because of different snow models and warmer CLM0 temperatures. In this case, BATS snow cover amounts are more in line with observations. Overall, except for the snow amounts, CLM0 appears to improve the RegCM simulation of the surface energy and water budgets compared to BATS.     

陆面过程模式的改进及其检验

文中对陆面过程模式 (BATS)进行了改进 ,改进后的模式能较好地模拟地表物理量的年、季和日变化 ,它有两方面的特点 :采用热扩散方程模拟 7层土壤温度 ,模拟的温度可与实测值进行比较 ;在BATS的地表径流方案中 ,考虑了空间不均匀性的一般地表径流 (GVIC)过程 ,研究结果表明 :⑴模式能很好地模拟各层土壤温度的年、季和日变化。冬季土壤温度下层高于上层 ,而在夏季上层高于下层 ,这种上下层温度的转换时间大约在 4和 10月份 ,这与实测土壤温度的年变化非常一致。较为准确地模拟了各层土壤温度日变化的时滞效应。⑵用南京和武汉站的资料 ,将BATS地表径流方案模拟的地表水分分量与GVIC方案进行比较 ,BATS地表径流方案模拟的地表水分分量 ,与总水量的平衡相差较大 ,而GVIC模拟的效果相对较好 ,地表总水量基本上与降水总量达到了平衡     

Elucidating Dominant Factors Affecting Land Surface Hydrological Simulations of the Community Land Model over China

In order to compare the impacts of the choice of land surface model(LSM) parameterization schemes, meteorological forcing, and land surface parameters on land surface hydrological simulations, and explore to what extent the quality can be improved, a series of experiments with different LSMs, forcing datasets, and parameter datasets concerning soil texture and land cover were conducted. Six simulations are run for the Chinese mainland on 0.1° × 0.1° grids from 1979 to 2008, and the simulated mon...     

A new snow parameterization for the Météo-France climate model

Both observational and numerical studies demonstrate the sensitivity of the atmosphere to variations in the extent and mass of snow cover. There is therefore a need for simple but realistic snow parameterizations in forecast and climate models. A new snow hydrology scheme has recently been developed at Météo-France for use in the ARPEGE climate model and has been successfully tested against local field measurements in stand-alone experiments. This study describes the global validation of the parameterization in a 3-year integration for the present-day climate within the T42L30 version of ARPEGE. Results are compared with those from a control simulation and with available observed climatologies, in order to assess the impact of the new snow parameterization on the simulated surface climate. The seasonal cycle of the Northern Hemisphere snow cover is clearly improved when using the new scheme. The snow pack is still slightly overestimated in winter, but its poleward retreat is better reproduced during the melting season. As a consequence, the modified GCM performs well in simulating the springtime continental heating, which may play a strong role in the simulation of the Asian summer monsoon.     

WRF模式对青藏高原那曲地区大气边界层模拟适用性研究

采用WRF（Weather Research and Forecasting）模式4种边界层参数化方案对青藏高原那曲地区边界层特征进行了数值模拟,并利用"第三次青藏高原大气科学试验"在青藏高原那曲地区5个站点的观测资料对模拟结果进行验证,分析不同参数化方案在那曲地区的适用性。研究表明,YSU、MYJ、ACM2和BouLac方案对2 m气温和地表温度的模拟偏低。BouLac方案模拟的地表温度偏差较小。通过对能量平衡各分量的对比分析发现,温度模拟偏低可能是向下长波辐射模拟偏低以及感热通量和潜热通量交换过强导致的。对于边界层风、位温和相对湿度垂直结构的模拟,局地方案的模拟效果均优于非局地方案。BouLac方案对那曲地区近地层温度、边界层内位温和相对湿度的垂直分布模拟效果较好。      

Numerical simulation of sensitivities of snow melting to spectral composition of the incoming solar radiation

Snow albedo is an important factor influencing the snow surface energy budget and snow melting, yet uncertainties remain in the calculation of spectrally resolved snow surface albedo because the spectral composition (visible versus near infrared) of the incident solar radiation is seldom available. The influence of the spectral composition of the incoming solar radiation on the snow surface albedo, snow surface energy budget, and final snow ablation is investigated through sensitivity experiments of four snow seasons at two open sites in the Alps by using a multi-layer Snow-Atmosphere-Soil-Transfer scheme (SAST). Since the snow albedo in the near infrared (NIR) spectral band is significantly lower than that in the visible (VIS) band, and almost the entire NIR part of the solar radiation is absorbed in the top layer of the snow pack, given a fixed amount of incoming solar radiation, a lower VIS/NIR ratio implies that more NIR radiation is reaching the ground surface and more is absorbed by the top layer of the snow pack, therefore, speeding up the snow melting and increasing the surface runoff, although a lesser part of the solar radiation in the visible band is transmitted into and trapped by the sub-layer of the snow pack. The above VIS/NIR ratio effect of the incoming solar radiation can result in a couple of days difference in the timing of snow ablation and it becomes more significant in late spring when the total solar radiation is intensified with seasonal evolution. Snow aging also slightly intensifies this VIS/NIR ratio effect.     

Impact of the snow cover scheme on snow distribution and energy budget modeling over the Tibetan Plateau

This paper presents the impact of two snow cover schemes (NY07 and SL12) in the Community Land Model version 4.5 (CLM4.5) on the snow distribution and surface energy budget over the Tibetan Plateau. The simulated snow cover fraction (SCF), snow depth, and snow cover days were evaluated against in situ snow depth observations and a satellite-based snow cover product and snow depth dataset. The results show that the SL12 scheme, which considers snow accumulation and snowmelt processes separately, has a higher overall accuracy (81.8%) than the NY07 (75.8%). The newer scheme performs better in the prediction of overall accuracy compared with the NY07; however, SL12 yields a 15.1% underestimation rate while NY07 overestimated the SCF with a 15.2% overestimation rate. Both two schemes capture the distribution of the maximum snow depth well but show large positive biases in the average value through all periods (3.37, 3.15, and 1.48 cm for NY07; 3.91, 3.52, and 1.17 cm for SL12) and overestimate snow cover days compared with the satellite-based product and in situ observations. Higher altitudes show larger root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) in the simulations of snow depth and snow cover days during the snow-free period. Moreover, the surface energy flux estimations from the SL12 scheme are generally superior to the simulation from NY07 when evaluated against ground-based observations, in particular for net radiation and sensible heat flux. This study has great implications for further improvement of the subgrid-scale snow variations over the Tibetan Plateau.     

Water balance modelling in the Baltic Sea drainage basin – analysis of meteorological and hydrological approaches

Summary Efforts to understand and simulate the global climate in numerical models have led to regional studies of the energy and water balance. The Baltic Basin provides a continental scale test basin where meteorology, oceanography and hydrology all can meet. Using a simple conceptual approach, a large-scale hydrological model of the water balance of the total Baltic Sea Drainage Basin (HBV-Baltic) was used to simulate the basinwide water balance components for the present climate and to evaluate the land surface components of atmospheric climate models. It has been used extensively in co-operative BALTEX (The Baltic Sea Experiment) research and within SWECLIM (Swedish Regional Climate Modelling Programme) to support continued regional climate model development. This helps to identify inconsistencies in both meteorological and hydrological models. One result is that compensating errors are evident in the snow routines of the atmospheric models studied. The use of HBV-Baltic has greatly improved the dialogue between hydrological and meteorological modellers within the Baltic Basin research community. It is concluded that conceptual hydrological models, although far from being complete, play an important role in the realm of continental scale hydrological modelling. Atmospheric models benefit from the experience of hydrological modellers in developing simpler, yet more effective land surface parameterisations. This basic modelling tool for simulating the large-scale water balance of the Baltic Sea drainage basin is the only existing hydrological model that covers the entire basin and will continue to be used until more detailed models can be successfully applied at this scale. Received November 24, 2000 Revised April 4, 2001     

西天山气象因子对融雪期积雪深度影响通径分析

积雪深度的变化受到多种气象因子共同影响。基于天山积雪雪崩站观测的水文气象资料,通过数理统计、标准化处理、通径分析等方法探索气象因子之间的相互作用对积雪深度变化的影响。研究结果表明:融雪期大气温度、净辐射、相对湿度等6个气象因子对积雪深度变化的影响程度不同,净辐射与积雪深度相关程度最高。气象因子之间有着不同程度的相互联系,相对湿度与降水之间的相关系数高达0.854,相对湿度与降水之间有着密切的联系。直接通径系数反映独立气象因子对积雪深度的直接影响程度,间接通径系数反映独立气象因子在其他气象因子的影响下对积雪深度的间接影响程度。根据积雪深度决定系数绝对值的大小可以得到,对积雪深度变化贡献力由大到小的气象因子依次为:净辐射、地表温度、大气温度、降水、相对湿度、风速;积雪深度的剩余系数为0.353,说明除了本研究的6个气象因子以外还存在着其他影响积雪深度变化的因素。     

Modelling spatially distributed snowmelt and meltwater runoff in a small Arctic catchment with a hydrology land‐surface scheme (WATCLASS)

Abstract

The fully distributed hydrology land‐surface scheme WATCLASS is used to simulate spring snowmelt runoff in a small Arctic basin, Trail Valley Creek, dominated by open tundra and shrub tundra vegetation. The model calculates snowmelt rates from a full surface energy balance, and a three‐layer soil model is used to simulate the infiltration into and the exchange of heat and moisture within the ground. The generated meltwater is delivered to the stream channel network by overland flow, interflow, and baseflow and subsequently routed out of the catchment. Subgrid spatial variability is handled by the model through the use of grouped response units (GRUs). The GRUs in WATCLASS are chosen according to vegetation land cover.

Five spring snowmelt periods with a variety of initial end‐of‐winter snow cover and melt conditions were simulated and compared with observed runoff data. In a second step, the model's ability to simulate spatially variable snow covered area (SCA) within the basin was tested by comparing model predictions to remotely sensed SCA. WATCLASS was able to predict runoff volumes (on average within 15% over five years of modelling) as well as timing of snowmelt and meltwater runoff for open tundra fairly accurately. However, the model underestimated melt in the energetically more complex shrub tundra areas of the basin. Furthermore, the observed high spatial variability of the SCA at a 1‐km resolution was not captured well by the model.

Several recommendations are made to improve model performance in Arctic basins, including a more realistic implementation of the gradual deepening of the thawed layer during the spring, and the use of topographic information in the definition of land cover classes for the GRU approach.     

基于常规气象资料融雪模式的建立及应用

以能量平衡方程为基础,考虑太阳短波辐射、大气和地面的长波辐射、潜热、感热传输以及下垫面的热传导等能量之间的平衡,建立了利用常规气象观测资料预测雪面温度和积雪深度变化的融雪模型。利用2009年1—3月以及2009年12月—2010年1月在湖北恩施雷达站的积雪观测数据进行模拟和验证,结果表明：该模型对于雪面温度和积雪深度都有较好的模拟效果。当下垫面导热系数λg〈0.5时,下垫面对雪深的影响很小;当λg≥0.5时,积雪融化速度随λg的增大而加快,说明下垫面的热传导是影响积雪深度变化的主要因素之一。     

Simulation of snow processes beneath a boreal scots pine canopy

A physically-based multi-layer snow model Snow-Atmosphere-Soil-Transfer scheme(SAST)and a land surface model Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme(BATS)were employed to investigate how boreal forests influence snow accumulation and ablation under the canopy.Mass balance and energetics of snow beneath a Scots pine canopy in Finland at different stages of the 2003-2004 and 2004 2005 snow seasons are analyzed.For the fairly dense Scots pine forest,drop-off of the canopy-intercepted snow contributes,in some cases,twice as much to the underlying snowpack as the direct throughfall of snow.During early winter snow melting,downward turbulent sensible and condensation heat fluxes play a dominant role together with downward net longwave radiation.In the final stage of snow ablation in middle spring,downward net all- wave radiation dominates the snow melting.Although the downward sensible heat flux is comparable to the net solar radiation during this period,evaporative cooling of the melting snow surface makes the turbulent heat flux weaker than net radiation.Sensitivities of snow processes to leaf area index(LAI)indicate that a denser canopy speeds up early winter snowmelt,but also suppresses melting later in the snow season. Higher LAI increases the interception of snowfall,therefore reduces snow accumulation under the canopy during the snow season;this effect and the enhancement of downward longwave radiation by denser foliage outweighs the increased attenuation of solar radiation,resulting in earlier snow ablation under a denser canopy.The difference in sensitivities to LAI in two snow seasons implies that the impact of canopy density on the underlying snowpack is modulated by interannual variations of climate regimes.     

Simulating evapotranspiration in a semi-arid environment

Summary In this work, simulations with the mesoscale meteorological model FOOT3DK for a semi-arid research site in southern morocco are presented. The main aim of this study is to introduce two different ways to improve the soil moisture distribution towards a more realistic pattern. One of them resembles the availability of groundwater resources below the lower boundary of the soil part of the model, the other one resembles irrigation practices in the region. Additionally, we introduce a newly derived land use/land cover data set obtained from analysis of LANDSAT data and compare the simulation results to those obtained with the USGS GLCC data. To evaluate the results with the refinements in soil moisture and land use/land cover, we focus on evapotranspiration, as the quantity which is most tentative to the changes in soil moisture and is an important part of the local hydrological cycle. To evaluate the importance of sub-grid scale surface heterogeneity in soil moisture and land use/land cover, we present simulations with enhanced surface resolution. Simulation results are compared to point measurements at different sites in the research area for validation.The results show, that a deep groundwater table and irrigation of parts of the research area can be represented by the methods we used. Simulated transpiration is overestimated compared to measured values, but this is due to the maximum approach used in this work. Finer tuning of the artificial enhancement of soil moisture with the two methods presented here are expected to lead to realistic distributions of evapotranspiration and related quantities, therewith drastically enhancing simulation accuracy for this site. As uncertainties of soil moisture distribution and restricted representation of soil moisture dynamics in meteorological models is a common problem especially for arid and semi-arid sites, we expect our results to be useful for meteorological simulations in other arid or semi-arid areas as well.     

River discharge and freshwater runoff to the Barents Sea under present and future climate conditions

River discharge forms a major freshwater input into the Arctic Ocean, and as such it has the potential to influence the oceanic circulation. As the hydrology of Arctic river basins is dominated by cryospheric processes such as snow accumulation and snowmelt, it may also be highly sensitive to a change in climate. Estimating the water balance of these river basins is therefore important, but it is complicated by the sparseness of observations and the large uncertainties related to the measurement of snowfalls. This study aims at simulating the water balance of the Barents Sea drainage basin in Northern Europe under present and future climate conditions. We used a regional climate model to drive a large-scale hydrological model of the area. Using simulated precipitation derived from a climate model led to an overestimation of the annual discharge in most river basins, but not in all. Under the B2 scenario of climate change, the model simulated a 25% increase in freshwater runoff, which is proportionally larger than the projected precipitation increase. As the snow season is 30–50 day shorter, the spring discharge peak is shifted by about 2–3 weeks, but the hydrological regime of the rivers remains dominated by snowmelt.     

Validation of the Canadian land surface scheme (class) for a subarctic open woodland

Abstract

This study reports on testing of the peatland version of the Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS) for simulating the energy balance of subarctic open woodland terrain. Model results are compared against several years of measured data from a site near Churchill, Manitoba. In contrast to most forest environments, the floor of the open forest plays a large role in total ecosystem energy exchange. This behaviour presents a significant challenge for land surface models like CLASS and their simplified treatment of vegetation canopies.

Simulations of summer energy balance for seven years encompassing a wide range of meteorological conditions produced consistent results. Root mean square errors for sensible and latent heat fluxes fell between 11 and 28 W m^?2. CLASS consistently underestimated slightly the daily latent heat flux and overestimated the sensible heat flux, average mean bias errors being ‐7.6 and 9.1 W m^?2, respectively. The soil heat flux was less well represented. In general, CLASS was able to capture the diurnal and seasonal behaviour of the measured fluxes under a range of conditions with reasonable accuracy.

In a full year simulation, CLASS reproduced the annual variations in energy balance with some discrepancies associated with snow accumulation and ablation periods. The model performance was sensitive to both snow density and specification of the surface cover. Recommendations for improving the model for subarctic woodlands and terrain types with similar features are discussed.     

Impact Of Snow Drift On The Antarctic Ice Sheet Surface Mass Balance: Possible Sensitivity To Snow-Surface Properties

A mesoscale atmospheric numerical model is coupled with a physically based snow-pack model and with a snow-drift model. The snow model is verified for the French Alps by comparing its simulations to observations performed at the Col de Porte in the Chartreuse Massif. The snow erosion threshold depends on snow-pack properties such as density, dendricity, sphericity and particle size. The atmospheric turbulence scheme is modified in order to take into account stabilization effects due to airborne blown snow particles. In particular, vertically integrated stability functions for the stable boundary layer are completed by including the threshold friction velocity for snow erosion. The snow-drift model is calibrated by simulating the conditions observed during the Byrd snow project, held in West Antarctica in 1962. Finally, sensitivity experiments to the snow-surface properties show the importance of their accurate representation when modelling the contribution of deflation to the Antarctic surface mass balance.     

The albedo of temperate and boreal forest and the Northern Hemisphere climate: a sensitivity experiment using the LMD GCM

A deforestation experiment is performed using the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique Atmospheric General Circulation Model (LMD GCM) to determine the climatic role of the largest vegetation formation in the Northern Hemisphere, localized mostly north of latitude 45°N, which is called the temperate and boreal forest. For this purpose, an iterative albedo scheme based on vegetation type, snow age, snowfall rate and area of snow cover, is developed for snow-covered surfaces. The results show a cooling of Northern Hemisphere soil and an increase in the snow cover when the forest is removed, as found by previous similar experiments.In our study this cooling is related to different causes, depending on the season. It is linked to modifications in the soil radiative properties, like surface albedo, due to the disappearance of forest, and consequently, to a greater exposure of the snow-covered soil underneath. It is also related to alterations in the hydrological cycle, observed mainly in summer and autumn at middle latitudes. The model shows a strong sensitivity to the coupled surface albedo — soil temperature — fractional snow cover response in the spring. A later and longer snowmelt season is also detected.This study adds to our understanding of climatic variation on longer time scales, since it is widely accepted that the formation and disappearance of different vegetation formations is closely related to climatic evolution patterns, in particular on the time scale of the glacial oscillations.     

Improvement of a soil-atmosphere-transfer model for the simulation of bare soil surface energy balances in semiarid areas

A soil-atmosphere-transfer model (SATM) was evaluated using observational data from the Tongyu Cropland Station and Audubon Research Ranch in semiarid areas, where the land cover was nearly bare soil during the simulation period. Simulations by the SATM at both sites were conducted using the new and original surface thermal roughness length parameterization schemes, respectively. Comparisons of simulations and observations have demonstrated that using the new surface thermal roughness length scheme in this model made sound improvements in the simulation of soil surface temperatures, sensible heat fluxes and net radiation fluxes in the daytime at both sites, compared to the original scheme, because the new scheme produced a larger aerodynamic resistance for turbulent heat transfer in the daytime. With respect to latent heat fluxes, the improvement was not as obvious as that attained for soil surface temperature since the soil water content in the surface layer in a semiarid area is a more important factor than surface soil temperature in controlling evaporation rate. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the new surface thermal roughness length parameterization scheme could improve the ability of the SATM to simulate bare soil surface energy budget with latent heat flux component being innegligible in semiarid areas.