Semi-Implicit Scheme for the DWD Lokal-Modell

Summary  The fourth generation of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models is currently under development at the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) consisting of a global grid point model (GME) and limited-area Lokal-Modell (LM). The nonhydrostatic fully compressible LM has been designed to meet high-resol ution regional fore-cast requirements at meso-β and meso-γ scales. The initial LM implementation is based on the NCAR/Penn State MM5 with the addition of a novel generalized terrain-following coordinate and rotated lat-lon grid. A fully 3D semi-implicit time-stepping scheme has been implemented by retaining the full buoyancy term instead of the approximate form found in MM5. In contrast with earlier schemes, mass-lumping is not applied to simplify the elliptic operator on an Arakawa-C/Lorenz grid. The resulting variable-coefficient elliptic problem is solved using a minimal residual Krylov iterative method with line relaxation preconditione rs. The new semi-implicit scheme is compared with a variant of the Klemp–Wilhelmson split-explicit scheme (horizontal explicit, vertical implicit) on the basis of computational efficiency and accuracy at resolutions ranging from 7 km to 400 m. Both idealized 3D mountain wave flows and naturally occuring flows are analyzed. Below the tropopause, the 3D semi-implicit scheme can be more efficient for low Mach number M ≪ 1 flows when the number of small time steps Δt _s of the split-explicit approach increases with the sound-speed Courant number. Revised October 7, 1999     

Numerical simulation of a heavy rainfall event in China during July 1998

Summary A detailed analysis associated with this case has been carried out (Zhao et al., 2001). In order to conduct further research on the meso-β scale system, which is the directly influencing system, the heavy rainfall that occurred in Wuhan (Station no.: 57494) and Huangshi (Station no.: 58407), Hubei Province during July 1998 are simulated using higher resolution and more complete initial data, after the large scale fields and rainfall areas have been simulated successfully. The simulation results indicate that there are meso-β scale weather systems which developed and dissipated near Wuhan and Huangshi during 1800 UTC 20 July to 0600 UTC 21 July and 1800 UTC 21 July to 0600 UTC 22 July in 1998, respectively. The life cycle of the meso-scale system is about 12 hours and its horizontal scale is from 100 to 200 km. These are characteristic of a typical meso-β scale system. By analyzing the vertical section of wind field and other physical variables during the mentioned-above two periods, it is found that horizontal convergence, ascending motion and positive vorticity of the middle and lower troposphere are strengthened during the heavy rainfall periods near the above mentioned two places. In addition, the wind disturbance in middle and lower troposphere may be a possible triggering mechanism for the occurrence of the meso-β weather system. A budget analysis of the meso-scale system indicates that the sources of moisture and positive vorticity are different during the different stages of the meso-scale systems. Finally, a three dimensional conceptual model of the meso-β scale systems causing the sudden heavy rainfall in Wuhan and Huangshi is suggested. Received November 4, 2001 Revised December 28, 2001     

On the role of resolution and topography in the simulation of East Asia precipitation

Summary In this paper, we investigate the role that horizontal resolution plays in the simulation of East Asia precipitation. Two sets of numerical experiments are performed using the Regional Climate Model (RegCM2) nested in one-way mode within the CSIRO global coupled atmosphere-ocean model. In the first set we use the actual RegCM2 topography at the selected model resolutions, which are 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 km. In the second set of the experiments, the same coarse CSIRO model topography is used in all simulations using the different resolutions of the first set. The results demonstrate that the simulation of East Asian precipitation improves as the horizontal resolution is increased. Moreover, it is shown that the simulations using a higher resolution along with the coarse CSIRO topography perform better than the simulations using a coarser model resolution with corresponding model topography. This suggests that over East Asia adequate spatial resolution to resolve the physical and dynamical processes is more important than topography. Lastly, the results indicate that model resolutions of 60 km or higher are needed to accurately simulate the distribution of precipitation over China and East Asia.     

Review of numerical methods for nonhydrostatic weather prediction models

Summary ?Currently available computer power allows to run operational numerical weather prediction models at resolutions higher than 10 km. The aim of such high resolution modeling is the prediction of local weather, including orographically induced winds and local precipitation patterns. In this range the hydrostatic approximation is no longer valid and nonhydrostatic models have to be used instead. For several decades these models have been developed for research purposes only, but operational application is now reality. In this paper, the numerical methods used in current nonhydrostatic forecast models will be reviewed and some promising techniques in this field will be discussed. Special attention is given to aspects such as the choice of the vertical coordinate, the efficiency of algebraic solvers for semi-implicit time discretizations, and accurate and non-oscillatory advection schemes. Received July 6, 2001; revision October 12, 2001     

A MESO-α SCALE STUDY OF MEIYU FRONT HEAVY RAIN－PART I: OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES

In this paper, the data collected during the Mesoscale Weather Experiments in East China are utilized to study the meso-α scale rain-bands of meiyu front heavy rain, its structural features as well as the mechanism of its development. It has been revealed that the precipitation band during the meiyu season is in the shape of ribbon, which is parallel to the surface quasi-stationary front. Sometimes two meso-α scale rain-bands are present. The meso-α scale rain-band is associated with meso-α scale convergence line. As shown by the two dimentional disturbance circulation, calculated through band-pass filtering, the single rain-band is quite different from the double rain-bands. The former is, to some extent, akin to the frontogenctical circulation in the vicinity of the high- and low-level frontal zones; the latter features roller-like circulations at middle and low-levels with their axes parallel to the rain-bands while at higher levels they run in the opposite direction. This kind of disturbance may be caused by the symmetric instability in the moist atmosphere.     

Gravity Wave Momentum Fluxes and Surface Pressure Drags due to the Pyrénées: Variation with Numerical Model Horizontal Resolution

Summary. ?A hydrostatic numerical model is used to simulate the lee wave event IOP3 (0000 GMT to 1200 GMT 15^th October 1990) from the PYREX mountain experiment. Results from integrations at different horizontal resolutions are used to investigate the effect on surface pressure drag and the vertical flux of horizontal momentum due to orographically forced gravity waves. In particular, results showing the dependence on resolution of the partitioning between resolved and parametrized wave drag and fluxes are presented. With the model horizontal gridlength changing from 50 km to 10 km the majority of wave momentum flux changes from being parametrized to becoming resolved. More significantly, there is a change in the profile of flux with height. At 50 km resolution the largest inferred mean flow decelerations are at lower stratospheric level due to the parametrization scheme. At 10 km resolution this is shifted, with less deceleration high up and more wave deceleration lower down in the troposphere. Numerical weather prediction models are now beginning to take account of such low level drag with beneficial results. Received March 2, 1999/Revised July 15, 1999     

Validation of the “Lokal-Modell” over heterogeneous land surfaces using aircraft-based measurements of the REEEFA experiment and comparison with micro-scale simulations

Summary An aircraft-based experimental investigation of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) structure and of the energy exchange processes over heterogeneous land surfaces is presented. The measurements are used for the validation of the mesoscale atmospheric model “Lokal-Modell” (LM) of the German Weather Service with 2.8 km resolution. In addition, high-resolution simulations using the non-hydrostatic model FOOT3DK with 250 m resolution are performed in order to resolve detailed surface heterogeneities. Two special observation periods in May 1999 show comparable convective boundary layer (CBL) conditions. For one case study vertical profiles and area averages of meteorological quantities and energy fluxes are investigated in detail. The measured net radiation is highly dependent on surface albedo, and the latent heat flux exhibits a strong temporal variability in the investigation area. A reduction of this variability is possible by aggregation of multiple flight patterns. To calculate surface fluxes from aircraft measurements at low altitude, turbulent energy fluxes were extrapolated to the ground by the budget method, which turned out to be well applicable for the sensible heat flux, but not for the latent flux. The development of the ABL is well captured by the LM simulation. The comparison of spatiotemporal averages shows an underestimation of the observed net radiation, which is mainly caused by thin low-level clouds in the LM compared to observed scattered CBL clouds. The sensible heat flux is reproduced very well, while the latent flux is highly overestimated especially above forests. The realistic representation of surface heterogeneities in the investigation area in the FOOT3DK simulations leads to improvements for the energy fluxes, but an overestimation of the latent heat flux still persists. A study of upscaling effects yields more structures than the LM fields when averaged to the same scale, which are partly caused by the non-linear effects of parameter aggregation on the LM scale.     

The effects of precipitation schemes and horizontal resolution on the major rainband in typhoon Flo (1990) predicted by the MRI mesoscale nonhydrostatic model

Summary ?This paper describes a numerical study of the major spiral rainband in typhoon Flo (1990) using the Meteorological Research Institute Mesoscale Nonhydrostatic Model (MRI-NHM). The effects of precipitation schemes and horizontal resolution on the representation of the simulated rainband are discussed. Dynamic and thermodynamic structures of the simulated major rainband to the north of the storm center are well represented in the model with a 5 km horizontal resolution. The structures are consistent with observational results reported for other tropical cyclones. Among the realistic features are: a cold pool and convergence on the inner side of the band; convergence above low-level inflow layers; and the outward slope of the updraft with height. The band is caused by the motion of the storm through its surroundings where horizontal wind has vertical shear. The simulation of the structure and precipitation pattern associated with the major rainband depends on the precipitation scheme rather than the horizontal resolution. The band appears more realistic when using explicit cloud microphysics as a precipitation scheme, rather than moist convective adjustment. This result is attributable to the difference in scheme triggering. In the simulation with moist convective adjustment, the elimination of vertical instability in low-level atmosphere is excessive, suppressing band formation. The overall structure of the band is also more realistic in the simulation using explicit cloud microphysics, because a cold pool exists in the lower layers and the vertical axis of upward flow tilts outward. This result suggests that prediction will partly depend on variables associated with cloud microphysics, such as the mixing ratio of cloud water. The horizontal grid distance, which varied between 5 and 20 km, quantitatively influenced the rainfall amount, although the large-scale band structure remained unchanged. The rainfall amount increased as the grid interval was reduced from 20 to 10-km but decreased as the interval was further reduced from 10 to 5 km. Received March 20, 2001; revised August 20, 2001     

Cyclone track prediction by a quasi-Lagrangian limited area model

Summary. ?Cyclone track predictions in the Indian seas (Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea) with a quasi-Lagrangian model (QLM) have been attempted. QLM has a horizontal resolution of 40 km and 16 sigma levels in the vertical. It is integrated in a domain of about 4400 × 4400 km². A new initialization procedure to provide initial fields for running the model has been designed. The initialization procedure consists of updating the global model forecasts, used as first guess, provided by the National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), New Delhi. A new version of IMD’s operational optimum interpolation scheme has been created to suit the QLM grid structure. Lateral boundary conditions are computed from the extended forecasts of NCMRWF. The track forecasts in each case show a reasonable skill of the forecast model in predicting the direction of movement within acceptable limits of forecast errors, which are comparable to some of the best models operated by advanced NWP centers of the world. Even the recurving storms are well predicted. Evolution of the vertical motion fields are also studied which reveal some interesting features, which are described in detail in the text. The composited vertical motion fields are projected against observed rainfall distribution, which show a good spatial correspondence. Received August 9, 2001; revised March 12, 2002; accepted June 17, 2002 Published online: May 8, 2003     

Numerical Simulation of Intense Precipitation Events South of the Alps: Sensitivity to Initial Conditions and Horizontal Resolution

Summary  In this paper we describe the results of several numerical experiments performed with the limited area model LAMBO, based on a 1989 version of the NCEP (National Center for Environmental Prediction) ETA model, operational at ARPA-SMR since 1993. The experiments have been designed to assess the impact of different horizontal resolutions and initial conditions on the quality and detail of the forecast, especially as regards the precipitation field in the case of severe flood events. For initial conditions we developed a mesoscale data assimilation scheme, based on the nudging technique. The scheme makes use of upper air and surface meteorological observations to modify ECMWF (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast) operational analyses, used as first-guess fields, in order to better describe smaller scales features, mainly in the lower troposphere. Three flood cases in the Alpine and Mediterranean regions have been simulated with LAMBO, using a horizontal grid spacing of 15 and 5 km and starting either from ECMWF initialised analysis or from the result of our mesoscale analysis procedure. The results show that increasing the resolution generally improves the forecast, bringing the precipitation peaks in the flooded areas close to the observed values without producing many spurious precipitation patterns. The use of mesoscale analysis produces a more realistic representation of precipitation patterns giving a further improvement to the forecast of precipitation. Furthermore, when simulations are started from mesoscale analysis, some model-simulated thermodynamic indices show greater vertical instability just in the regions where strongest precipitation occurred. Received March 2, 1999/Revised May 30, 1999     

Alpine cloud climatology using long-term NOAA-AVHRR satellite data

Summary  Three different climates have been identified by our evaluation of AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) data using APOLLO (AVHRR Processing scheme Over Land, Clouds and Ocean) for a five-years cloud climatology of the Alpine region. The cloud cover data from four layers were spatially averaged in boxes of 15 km by 14 km. The study area only covers 540 km by 560 km, but contains regions with moderate, Alpine and Mediterranean climate. Data from the period July 1989 until December 1996 have been considered. The temporal resolution is one scene per day, the early afternoon pass, yielding monthly means of satellite derived cloud coverages 5% to 10% above the daily mean compared to conventional surface observation. At non-vegetated sites the cloudiness is sometimes significantly overestimated. Averaging high resolution cloud data seems to be superior to low resolution measurements of cloud properties and averaging is favourable in topographical homogeneous regions only. The annual course of cloud cover reveals typical regional features as foehn or temporal singularities as the so-called Christmas thaw. The cloud cover maps in spatially high resolution show local luff/lee features which outline the orography. Less cloud cover is found over the Alps than over the forelands in winter, an accumulation of thick cirrus is found over the High Alps and an accumulation of thin cirrus north of the Alps. Received December 17, 1999 Revised July 18, 2000     

LLM – a nonhydrostatic model applied to high-resolving simulations of turbulent fluxes over heterogeneous terrain

Summary ?At the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) an internal project named LITFASS was running to determine the representative turbulent fluxes of heat and momentum over heterogeneous land surfaces by observation and simulation. The project took advantage of the infrastructure of the Research Division at the DWD, where model research capacity is combined with the measurements made at and around the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg. The paper describes the simulation component of the LITFASS-project. It consists of a high-resolving model, derived from the new operational non-hydrostatic, compressible Lokal-Modell (LM), which is denoted LLM (LITFASS-Lokal-Modell). The integration area covers the lower atmosphere in the vertical up to 3000 m with 39 model layers. The horizontal size of the integration area with 145 × 145 grid points (horizontal mesh width Δs = 96.5 m) corresponds to a typical grid box of a meso-scale model. The LLM has to operate under real meteorological conditions. Therefore, the LLM is driven by time-dependent measured vertical profiles of wind, temperature and humidity and surface-based measurements (of radiation, precipitation, soil properties) supported by satellite information. The profiles are available for a great variety of weather situations occurring during the simulation period (1–20 June 1998). First model results from extended 24 hour-integrations against different kinds of measurements are discussed. They reveal the LLM to become a promising validation instrument, from which a systematic, sustainable validation system can be established beyond LITFASS for improving parameterization schemes in the NWP models of the DWD. Received July 18, 2001; revised March 15, 2002; accepted May 30, 2002     

Present climate simulation over Korea with a regional climate model using a one-way double-nested system

Summary This study investigates the capability of the regional climate model RegCM3 to simulate surface air temperature and precipitation over the Korean Peninsula. The model is run in one-way double nested mode, with a 60 km grid point spacing “mother” domain encompassing the eastern regions of Asia and a 20 km grid point spacing nested domain covering the Korean Peninsula. The simulation spans the three-year period of 1 October 2000 through 30 September 2003 and the boundary conditions needed to run the mother domain experiment are provided from the NCEP reanalysis of observations. The model results are compared with a high density station observation dataset to examine the fine scale structure of the surface climate signal. The model shows a good performance in capturing both the sign and magnitude of the seasonal and inter-annual variations of the surface variables both over East Asia as a whole and over the Korean Peninsula in the nested system. Some persistent biases are however present. Surface temperature is systematically underestimated, especially over mountainous regions in the warm season. This feature may be due to the relatively coarse representation of the Korean topography. The simulated precipitation over the mother domain successfully reproduces the broad spatial pattern of observed precipitation over East Asia along with its seasonal evolution. On the other hand, fine scale details from the nested results show a varying level of quality for the different individual years. Because of the better resolved topographic forcing, the increased resolution of the nested model improves the spatial agreement with the fine scale observation fields for temperature and cold season precipitation. For summer monsoon precipitation the simulation of individual monsoon convective events and tropical storms is however more important than the topographic forcing, and therefore the performance of the nested system is more case-dependent.     

High-Resolution Non-Hydrostatic Simulations of Flash-Flood Episodes with Grid-Nesting and Ice-Phase Parameterization

Summary ?Simulations of two heavy rainfall events south of the Alps have been conducted with a non-hydrostatic model at horizontal resolutions ranging from 40 to 2.5 km. Emphasis is placed on the assessment of two recent model developments: a detailed explicit mixed phase microphysical scheme and a two-way interactive grid nesting method. In the high-resolution simulations, the impact of the ice phase was found to be quite substantial, accelerating the propagation of the surface front and modifying the spatial distribution of the rainfall. Simulations carried out with two-way interactive grid nesting yielded more realistic overall precipitation patterns, particularly at the finest horizontal resolution. Received March 22, 1999/Revised June 28, 1999     

Impact of horizontal resolution on seasonal integrations

 The effects of changing horizontal resolution are studied using ensembles of seasonal simulations made by a relatively recent version of the ECMWF model. The model is integrated at T63, T_L159 and T_L319 spectral resolutions. The last corresponds approximately to a 0.56° latitude-longitude grid and may be considered, by climate modelling standards, as very high resolution. Though, on average, no dramatically large differences in ensemble mean quantities are found between the three resolutions, some monotonic (systematic) differences with increasing resolution are evident. Whilst the better representation of orography with increasing resolution accounts for many differences between the resolutions considered, not all variations can be associated with changes in local orographic features. The existence of systematic changes with resolution indicates that the development of numerical models, especially physical parametrizations, should be carried out simultaneously at various resolutions. The study indicates that the highest model resolution does not always give the best results in terms of verification. In addition, reanalysis parameters that are mainly driven by model physics may not be optimal for the verification in such resolution studies. Received: 11 August 2000 / Accepted: 13 February 2001     

Development of the water budget for three extra-tropicalcyclones with intense rainfall over Europe

Summary  Three cyclones developing between 28 August and 6 September 1995 were studied with respect to the temporal evolution of their water budget components. The cyclones were simulated with the regional model REMO. Water budget values were determined from hourly model output for circle areas with 500 km radius around the pressure minimum. The results show a maximum liquid water path of about 0.12 kg m⁻² and a maximum ice water path of 0.16 kg m⁻². In the vertical cloud structure the medium cloud layer disappears at the end of the life cycle for all three cyclones. The release of precipitation onto the Baltic Sea drainage basin is different for each cyclone. It lies between 13 and 22 · 10¹² kg. This is about 50% of the total precipitation in the whole area for the strongest cyclone and 65% for the others. The P — E (precipitation minus evaporation) is 15 · 10¹² kg for two of the cyclones and 10 · 10¹² kg for the third one. Received August 7, 2000 Revised March 19, 2001     

Resolution effects on regional climate model simulations of seasonal precipitation over Europe

We analyze a set of nine regional climate model simulations for the period 1961–2000 performed at 25 and 50 km horizontal grid spacing over a European domain in order to determine the effects of horizontal resolution on the simulation of precipitation. All of the models represent the seasonal mean spatial patterns and amount of precipitation fairly well. Most models exhibit a tendency to over-predict precipitation, resulting in a domain-average total bias for the ensemble mean of about 20% in winter (DJF) and less than 10% in summer (JJA) at both resolutions, although this bias could be artificially enhanced by the lack of a gauge correction in the observations. A majority of the models show increased precipitation at 25 km relative to 50 km over the oceans and inland seas in DJF, JJA, and ANN (annual average), although the response is strongest during JJA. The ratio of convective precipitation to total precipitation decreases over land for most models at 25 km. In addition, there is an increase in interannual variability in many of the models at 25 km grid spacing. Comparison with gridded observations indicates that a majority of models show improved skill in simulating both the spatial pattern and temporal evolution of precipitation at 25 km compared to 50 km during the summer months, but not in winter or on an annual mean basis. Model skill at higher resolution in simulating the spatial and temporal character of seasonal precipitation is found especially for Great Britain. This geographic dependence of the increased skill suggests that observed data of sufficient density are necessary to capture fine-scale climate signals. As climate models increase their horizontal resolution, it is thus a key priority to produce high quality fine scale observations for model evaluation.     

The Multi-Scale Structure of the Australian Cool Changes

Summary In Southern Australia summertime deep cold fronts are frequently preceded by a shallow cold frontal line connected to a prefrontal lower tropospheric trough. The advance of this line defines a “cool change” which in many cases causes severe weather events. The goal of this paper is to analyze the multi-scale structure of these cool changes using aircraft observations and synoptic-scale analyses. The aircraft measurements on cross-frontal tracks of horizontal lengths of up to 300 km are performed with an average resolution of 3 to 4 m along the track. Thus a multi-scale analysis from micro-scale events up to the synoptic-scale phenomena can be presented. All flights and thus all meso- and micro-scale analyses are performed over water only. The obviously very different characteristics of the cool change structure elements over land are not investigated. The synoptic analyses for one very typical case show a prefrontal trough as characterized by its position in relation to the main deep cold front, its source region in Western Australia and its extent to the southeast. Fields of strong wind shear, temperature gradients, vertical wind and Q-vectors are displayed. The meso-β-scale x, z-cross-sections derived from two aircraft missions (data of the second one in brackets) show: a shallow cold front with a 160 (60) km wide transition zone in which the near surface potential temperature drops rather steadily by 9 °C (20 °C); a shallow feeder flow topped by a strong inversion with a vertical gradient of potential temperature up to 5 °C/100 m between the top of the feeder flow at 400 (200) m and 1500 (700) m; a cross-frontal circulation expressed by the ageostrophic wind components u _ϕ,subscale and w with a center at 1200 m over the frontal edge of the feeder flow (for one mission only); a strong shear of the along-frontal wind component v _ϕ with a large increase of the negative v _ϕ-values with height, which very well fits to the synoptic-scale view of the wave structure of the geostrophic wind (well-known from the upper level synoptic charts) at different heights; a jet core of this along-frontal wind in the center of the cross-frontal circulation, again for one mission only. A very striking example of a micro-scale event is an approximately 1 km wide head of a frontal squall line. It shows dramatic changes of all meteorological parameters. The event is displayed in a horizontal domain of 4 km with full resolution (∼ 4 m). Derivatives of the measured parameters in the cross-frontal direction add information to the space series of the parameters themselves. Deformation frontogenesis of potential temperature and specific humidity show very large values on the scale resolved here. Fortunately the squall line could be sampled again at the same height, but in a somewhat degenerated state 1? h later. Received September 3, 1999 Revised December 14, 1999     

Characterizing the severe turbulence environments associated with commercial aviation accidents. A real-time turbulence model (RTTM) designed for the operational prediction of hazardous aviation turbulence environments

Summary In this paper, we will focus on the real-time prediction of environments that are predisposed to producing moderate-severe (hazardous) aviation turbulence. We will describe the numerical model and its postprocessing system that is designed for said prediction of environments predisposed to severe aviation turbulence as well as presenting numerous examples of its utility. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that simple hydrostatic precursor circulations organize regions of preferred wave breaking and turbulence at the nonhydrostatic scales of motion. This will be demonstrated with a hydrostatic numerical modeling system, which can be run in real time on a very inexpensive university computer workstation employing simple forecast indices. The forecast system is designed to efficiently support forecasters who are directing research aircraft to measure the environment immediately surrounding turbulence. The numerical model is MASS version 5.13, which is integrated over three different grid matrices in real-time on a university workstation in support of NASA-Langley’s B-757 turbulence research flight missions. The model horizontal resolutions are 60, 30, and 15 km and the grids are centered over the region of operational NASA-Langley B-757 turbulence flight missions. The postprocessing system includes several turbulence-related products including four turbulence forecasting indices, winds, streamlines, turbulence kinetic energy, and Richardson numbers. Additionally there are convective products including precipitation, cloud height, cloud mass fluxes, lifted index, and K-index. Furthermore, soundings, sounding parameters, and Froude number plots are also provided. The horizontal cross section plot products are provided from 16,000–46,000 feet in 2,000 feet intervals. Products are available every three hours at the 60 and 30 km grid interval and every 1.5 hours at the 15 km grid interval. The model is initialized from the NWS ETA analyses and integrated two times a day.     

THE EFFECT OF MODEL HORIZONTAL RESOLUTION ON THE PRECIPITATION OF RAMMASUN

This paper investigates the effect of horizontal resolution on the precipitation of the super typhoon Rammasun (1409). The experiment uses WRF (V3.4) model with resolutions of 15 km, 9 km and 3 km. The results suggest that the simulated Rammasun rain band shapes and distributions at different horizontal resolutions are nearly the same. When the resolution is increased from 15 km to 9 km and then to 3 km, heavy precipitation is observed to spread in all directions from a concentrated distribution, especially when the resolution is increased from 9 km to 3 km. The 6h and 1h heavy precipitations also show a more significant comma-shape distribution. Moreover, the water vapor distribution shows the same characteristics as the heavy precipitation with a notably enhanced ascending movement and a decreased height of the strongest ascending movement. Of the three resolutions, the precipitation distribution simulated at 3 km resolution is the closest to the observed distribution; however, there is still a noticeable difference between the simulated precipitation and the actual observation. With the absence of the convection parameterization in the model, the precipitation distributions simulated at 9 km and 3 km resolutions demonstrate the same features as when the KF convection parameterization is applied. However, the simulated precipitations at these two resolutions are smaller than those obtained with the KF scheme. Meanwhile the difference between the simulated precipitations at these two resolutions is also smaller than that in the latter case. In general, when KF scheme is applied to the model, the simulation effect of Rammasun precipitation is better than that obtained without the convection parameterization scheme.