Numerical Simulation and Evaluation of a New Hydrological Model Coupled with GRAPES

Hydrological processes exert enormous influences on the land surface water and energy balance, and have a close relationship with human society. We have developed a new hydrological runoff parameterization called XXT to improve the performance of a coupled land surface-atmosphere modeling system. The XXT parameterization, which is based upon the Xinanjiang hydrological model and TOPMODEL, includes an optimized function of runoff calculation with a new soil moisture storage capacity distribution curve(SMSCC). We then couple XXT with the Global/Regional Assimilation Prediction System (GRAPES) and compare it to GRAPES coupled with a simple water balance model (SWB).For the model evaluation and comparison, we perform 72-h online simulations using GRAPES-XXT and GRAPES-SWB during two torrential events in August 2007 and July 2008, respectively. The results show that GRAPES can reproduce the rainfall distribution and intensity fairly well in both cases. Differences in the representation of feedback processes between surface hydrology and the atmosphere result in differences in the distributions and amounts of precipitation simulated by GRAPES-XXT and GRAPES-SWB. The runoff simulations are greatly improved by the use of XXT in place of SWB, particularly with respect to the distribution and amount of runoff. The average runoff depth is nearly doubled in the rainbelt area, and unreasonable runoff distributions simulated by GRAPES-SWB are made more realistic by the introduction of XXT. Differences in surface soil moisture between GRAPES-XXT and GRAPES-SWB show that the XXT model changes infiltration and increases surface runoff. We also evaluate river flood discharge in the Yishu River basin. The peak values of flood discharge calculated from the output of GRAPES-XXT agree more closely with observations than those calculated from the output of GRAPES-SWB.     

Implementation of a surface runoff model with Horton and Dunne mechanisms into the regional climate model RegCM_NCC

A surface runoff parameterization scheme that dynamically represents both Horton and Dunne runoff generation mechanisms within a model grid cell together with a consideration of the subgrid-scaie soil heterogeneity, is implemented into the National Climate Center regional climate model （RegCM_NCC）. The effects of the modified surface runoff scheme on RegCMANCC performance are tested with an abnormal heavy rainfall process which occurred in summer 1998. Simulated results show that the model with the original surface runoff scheme （noted as CTL） basically captures the spatial pattern of precipitation, circulation and land surface variables, but generally overestimates rainfall compared to observations. The model with the new surface runoff scheme （noted as NRM） reasonably reproduces the distribution pattern of various variables and effectively diminishes the excessive precipitation in the CTL. The processes involved in the improvement of NRM-simulated rainfall may be as follows： with the new surface runoff scheme, simulated surface runoff is larger, soil moisture and evaporation （latent heat flux） are decreased, the available water into the atmosphere is decreased; correspondingly, the atmosphere is drier and rainfall is decreased through various processes. Therefore, the implementation of the new runoff scheme into the RegCMANCC has a significant effect on results at not only the land surface, but also the overlying atmosphere.     

Testing and Improving the Performance of the Common Land Model:A Case Study for the Gobi Landscape

Land surface processes take place on the interface between the earth and atmosphere, exerting significant influences on the weather and climate. Correct modeling of these processes is important to numerical weather forecast and climate prediction. In order to obtain a more thorough understanding of the land surface processes over the Gobi landscape, we evaluated the performance of the Common Land Model(Co LM) at Dunhuang station in Gansu Province of China to determine whether the model formulation, driven by observational data, is capable of simulating surface fluxes over the underlying desert surface. In comparison with the enhanced observation data collected at Dunhuang station over the period 22–28 August 2008, the results showed that the surface albedo simulated by Co LM was larger than that in the observation, and the simulated surface temperature was lower than the observed. After the measured values were used to correct the surface albedo, the solar radiation absorbed by the ground surface was more consistent with the measurements. A new empirical relationship of the surface thermal exchange coefficient rah was used to modify the thermal aerodynamic impedance. The simulated soil surface temperature became significantly closer to the observed value, and the simulated surface sensible heat as well as net radiative fluxes were also improved.     

NUMERICAL SIMULATION ON THE RESPONSE OF LAND SURFACE TO SEVERE WEATHER

A coupled model of RAMS3b(Regional Atmospheric Modeling System,Version 3b)andLSPM(a land surface process model),in which some basic hydrological processes such asprecipitation,evapotranspiration.surface runoff,infiltration and bottom drainage are included,has been established.With the coupled model,we have simulated the response of soil to the severeweather process which caused the disastrous flood in north italy during 4-7.November,1994,simultaneously compared with the observation and the original RAMS3b,which has a soil andvegetation parameterization scheme(hereafter,SVP)emphasizing on the surface energy fluxes,while some hydrological processes in the soil are not described clearly.The results show that the differences between coupling LSPM and SVP exist mainly in theresponse of soil to the precipitation.The soil in the SVP never saturates under the strong input ofprecipitation,while the newly coupled model seems better,the soil has been saturated for one dayor more and causes strong surface runoff,which constitutes the flood.Further sensitivityexperiments show that the surface hydrological processes are very sensitive to the initial soilmoisture and soil type when we compared the results with a relatively dry case and sandy soil.The coupled model has potentiality for simulation on the interaction between regional climateand land surface hydrological processes,and the regional water resources research concerningdesertification,drought and flood.     

Subdaily to Seasonal Change of Surface Energy and Water Flux of the Haihe River Basin in China: Noah and Noah-MP Assessment

The land surface processes of the Noah-MP and Noah models are evaluated over four typical landscapes in the Haihe River Basin(HRB) using in-situ observations. The simulated soil temperature and moisture in the two land surface models(LSMs) is consistent with the observation, especially in the rainy season. The models reproduce the mean values and seasonality of the energy fluxes of the croplands, despite the obvious underestimated total evaporation. Noah shows the lower deep soil temperature. The net radiation is well simulated for the diurnal time scale. The daytime latent heat fluxes are always underestimated, while the sensible heat fluxes are overestimated to some degree. Compared with Noah, Noah-MP has improved daily average soil heat flux with diurnal variations. Generally, Noah-MP performs fairly well for different landscapes of the HRB. The simulated cold bias in soil temperature is possibly linked with the parameterized partition of the energy into surface fluxes. Thus, further improvement of these LSMs remains a major challenge.     

Effects of Crop Growth and Development on Land Surface Fluxes

In this study, the Crop Estimation through Resource and Environment Synthesis model (CERES3.0) was coupled into the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS), which is called BATS CERES, to represent interactions between the land surface and crop growth processes. The effects of crop growth and development on land surface processes were then studied based on numerical simulations using the land surface models. Six sensitivity experiments by BATS show that the land surface fluxes underwent substantial changes when the leaf area index was changed from 0 to 6 m2 m-2. Numerical experiments for Yucheng and Taoyuan stations reveal that the coupled model could capture not only the responses of crop growth and development to environmental conditions, but also the feedbacks to land surface processes. For quantitative evaluation of the effects of crop growth and development on surface fluxes in China, two numerical experiments were conducted over continental China: one by BATS CERES and one by the original BATS. Comparison of the two runs shows decreases of leaf area index and fractional vegetation cover when incorporating dynamic crops in land surface simulation, which lead to less canopy interception, vegetation transpiration, total evapotranspiration, top soil moisture, and more soil evaporation, surface runoff, and root zone soil moisture. These changes are accompanied by decreasing latent heat flux and increasing sensible heat flux in the cropland region. In addition, the comparison between the simulations and observations proved that incorporating the crop growth and development process into the land surface model could reduce the systematic biases of the simulated leaf area index and top soil moisture, hence improve the simulation of land surface fluxes.     

Impacts of Soil Moisture on the Numerical Simulation of a Post-Landfall Storm

Surface heat and moisture fluxes are important to the evolution of a tropical storm after its landfall. Soil moisture is one of the essential components that influence surface heating and moisture fluxes. In this study, the impact of soil moisture on a pre-landfall numerical simulation of Tropical Storm Bill(2015), which had a much longer lifespan over land, is investigated by using the research version of the NCEP Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting(HWRF) model. It is found that increased soil moisture with SLAB scheme before storm's landfall tends to produce a weaker storm after landfall and has negative impacts on storm track simulation. Further diagnoses with different land surface schemes and sensitivity experiments indicate that the increase in soil moisture inside the storm corresponds to a strengthened vertical mixing within the storm boundary layer, which is conducive to the decay of storm and has negative impacts on storm evolution. In addition, surface diabatic heating effects over the storm environment are also found to be an important positive contribution to the storm evolution over land, but their impacts are not so substantial as boundary layer vertical mixing inside the storm. The overall results highlight the importance and uncertainty of soil moisture in numerical model simulations of landfalling hurricanes and their further evolution over land.     

Effects of Topographic Slopes on Hydrological Proecsses and Climate

Based on previous research results on river re-distribution models, a modification on the effects of topographic slopes for a runoff parameterization was proposed and implemented to the NCAR＇s land sur face model (LSM). This modification has two aspects: firstly, the topographic slopes cause outflows from higher topography and inflows into the lower topography points; secondly, topographic slopes also cause decrease of infiltration at higher topography and increases of infiltration at lower topography. Then changes in infiltration result in changes in soil moisture, surface fluxes and then in surface temperature, and eventual ly in the upper atmosphere and the climate. This mechanism is very clearly demonstrated in the point bud gets analysis at the Andes Mountains vicinities. Analysis from a regional scale perspective in the Mackenzie GEWEX Study (MAGS) area, the focus of the ongoing Canadian GEWEX program, shows that the modi fied runoff parameterization does bring significant changes in the regional surface climate. More important ly, detailed analysis from a global perspective shows many encouraging improvements introduced by the modified LSM over the original model in simulating basic atmospheric climate properties such as thermodynamic features (temperature and humidity). All of these improvements in the atmospheric climate simulation illustrate that the inclusion of topographic effects in the LSM can force the AGCM to produce a more realistic model climate.     

SEASONAL CHANGES OF SOIL MOISTURE INDUCED BY INCREASED CO2 AS SIMULATED BY THE ATMOSPHERIC GENERAL CIRCULATION AND MIXED LAYER OCEAN MODEL

The atmospheric general circulation model coupled to the mixed layer ocean model has been used to simulate thechanges of the global soil moisture.Comparing the simulated results with observations,it is shown that the model is ca-pable of doing sensitive experiments about the carbon dioxide change.The 2×CO_2/1×CO_2 comparison shows that there are the obvious changes of the soil moisture in the global forfour seasons.There are the wet soil moisture in the lower latitudes of both hemispheres and dry soil moisture in the mid-dle latitudes of both hemispheres for four seasons.The dry soil moisture in summer and wet in other seasons are foundin the northern higher latitudes.The analyses of the physical feedbacks responsible for the CO_2-induced changes of soil moisture show that the bud-gets of the surface water and heat are the important factors.     

Soil moisture retrieval from satellite images and its application to heavy rainfall simulation in eastern China

The soil water index (SWI) from satellite remote sensing and the observational soil moisture from agricultural meteorological stations in eastern China are used to retrieve soil moisture. The analysis of correlation coefficient (CORR), root-mean-square-error (RMSE) and bias (BIAS) shows that the retrieved soil moisture is convincible and close to the observation. The method can overcome the difficulties in soil moisture observation on a large scale and the retrieved soil moisture may reflect the distribution of the real soil moisture objectively. The retrieved soil moisture is used as an initial scheme to replace initial conditions of soil moisture (NCEP) in the model MM5V3 to simulate the heavy rainfall in 1998. Three heavy rainfall processes during 13–14 June, 18–22 June, and 21–26 July 1998 in the Yangtze River valley are analyzed. The first two processes show that the intensity and location of simulated precipitation from SWI are better than those from NCEP and closer to the observed values. The simulated heavy rainfall for 21–26 July shows that the update of soil moisture initial conditions can improve the model’s performance. The relationship between soil moisture and rainfall may explain that the stronger rainfall intensity for SWI in the Yangtze River valley is the result of the greater simulated soil moisture from SWI prior to the heavy rainfall date than that from NCEP, and leads to the decline of temperature in the corresponding area in the heavy rainfall days. Detailed analysis of the heavy rainfall on 13–14 June shows that both land-atmosphere interactions and atmospheric circulation were responsible for the heavy rainfall, and it shows how the SWI simulation improves the simulation. The development of mesoscale systems plays an important role in the simulation regarding the change of initial soil moisture for SWI.     

Continental vegetation as a dynamic component of a global climate model: a preliminary assessment

A simplified vegetation distribution prediction scheme is used in combination with the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS) and coupled to a version of the NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM1) which includes a mixed-layer ocean. Employed in an off-line mode as a diagnostic tool, the scheme predicts a slightly darker and slightly rougher continental surface than when BATS' prescribed vegetation classes are used. The impact of tropical deforestation on regional climates, and hence on diagnosed vegetation, differs between South America and S.E. Asia. In the Amazon, the climatic effects of removing all the tropical forest are so marked that in only one of the 18 deforested grid elements could the new climate sustain tropical forest vegetation whereas in S.E. Asia in seven of the 9 deforested elements the climate could continue to support tropical forest. Following these off-line tests, the simple vegetation scheme has been coupled to the GCM as an interactive (or two-way) submodel for a test integration lasting 5.6 yr. It is found to be a stable component of the global climate system, producing only ~ 3% (absolute) interannual changes in the predicted percentages of continental vegetation, together with globally-averaged continental temperature increases of up to + 1.5 °C and evaporation increases of 0 to 5 W m^–2 and no discernible trends over the 67 months of integration. On the other hand, this interactive land biosphere causes regional-scale temperature differences of ± 10 °C and commensurate disturbances in other climatic parameters. Tuning, similar to the q-flux schemes used for ocean models, could improve the simulation of the present-day surface climate but, in the longer term, it will be important to focus on predicting the characteristics of the continental surface rather than simple vegetation classes. The coupling scheme will also have to allow for vegetation responses occurring over longer timescales so that the coupled system is buffered from sudden shocks.     

Numerical analysis of a thermotopographically-induced mesoscale circulation in a mountain basin using a non-hydrostatic model

Summary The boundary-layer wind field during weak synoptic conditions is largely controlled by the nature of the landscape. Mesoscale (sub-synoptic) circulations result from horizontal gradients of sensible heat flux due to variation in local topography, variation in surface-cover, and discontinuities such as land-sea contrasts. Such flows are usually referred to as thermally-driven circulations, and are diurnal in nature and often predictable. In this paper we use a state-of-the-art non-hydrostatic computer model to shed light on the physical mechanisms that drive a persistent easterly wind that develops in the afternoon in the Mackenzie Basin, New Zealand. The easterly – Canterbury Plains Breeze (CPB) – is observed early in the afternoon and is often intense, with mean wind speeds reaching up to 12 m s⁻¹. Although computer modelling in mountainous terrain is extremely challenging, the model is able to simulate this circulation satisfactorily. To further investigate the mechanisms that generate the Canterbury Plains Breeze, two additional idealized model experiments are performed. With each experiment, the effects of the synoptic scale wind and the ocean around the South Island, New Zealand were successively removed. The results show that contrary to previous suggestions, the Canterbury Plains Breeze is not an intrusion of the coastal sea breeze or the Canterbury north-easterly, but can be generated by heating of the basin alone. This conclusion highlights the importance of mountain basins and saddles in controlling near-surface wind regimes in complex terrain.     

Summer dryness in a warmer climate: a process study with a regional climate model

Earlier GCM studies have expressed the concern that an enhancement of greenhouse warming might increase the occurrence of summer droughts in mid-latitudes, especially in southern Europe and central North America. This could represent a severe threat for agriculture in the regions concerned, where summer is the main growing season. These predictions must however be considered as uncertain, since most studies featuring enhanced summer dryness in mid-latitudes use very simple representations of the land-surface processes ("bucket" models), despite their key importance for the issue considered. The current study uses a regional climate model including a land-surface scheme of intermediate complexity to investigate the sensitivity of the summer climate to enhanced greenhouse warming over the American Midwest. A surrogate climate change scenario is used for the simulation of a warmer climate. The control runs are driven at the lateral boundaries and the sea surface by reanalysis data and observations, respectively. The warmer climate experiments are forced by a modified set of initial and lateral boundary conditions. The modifications consist of a uniform 3 K temperature increase and an attendant increase of specific humidity (unchanged relative humidity). This strategy maintains a similar dynamical forcing in the warmer climate experiments, thus allowing to investigate thermodynamical impacts of climate change in comparative isolation. The atmospheric CO ₂ concentration of the sensitivity experiments is set to four times its pre-industrial value. The simulations are conducted from March 15 to October 1st, for 4 years corresponding to drought (1988), normal (1986, 1990) and flood (1993) conditions. The numerical experiments do not present any great enhancement of summer drying under warmer climatic conditions. First, the overall changes in the hydrological cycle (especially evapotranspiration) are of small magnitude despite the strong forcing applied. Second, precipitation increases in spring lead to higher soil water recharge during this season, compensating for the enhanced soil moisture depletion occurring later in the year. Additional simulations replacing the plant control on transpiration with a bucket-type formulation presented increased soil drying in 1988, the drought year. This suggests that vegetation control on transpiration might play an important part in counteracting an enhancement of summer drying when soil water gets limited. Though further aspects of this issue would need investigating, our results underline the importance of land-surface processes in climate integrations and suggest that the risk of enhanced summer dryness in the region studied might be less acute than previously assumed, provided the North American general circulation does not change markedly with global warming.     

一次台风前部龙卷的多普勒天气雷达分析

通过分析2004年8月25日发生在浙江省宁波市的一次台风前部龙卷发生发展的环境特征, 发现该龙卷发生在台风前部风切变区里, 尽管当时涡度、散度等物理量对于深对流发展不是非常有利, 但下湿中干、强的垂直风切变及地形条件等还是有利于局地弱龙卷的产生; 在宁波新一代天气雷达产品上表现为强的钩状回波, 速度场上有相邻的正负速度中心及强的组合切变值等。通过多个反射率产品、剖面产品等综合分析了该风暴的三维结构, 初步了解此类弱龙卷的发生机理, 为以后的预报提供一些经验。     

Effects of a Fence on Pollutant Dispersion in a Boundary Layer Exposed to a Rural-to-Urban Transition

Simultaneous particle-image velocimetry and laser-induced fluorescence combined with large-eddy simulations are used to investigate the flow and pollutant dispersion behaviour in a rural-to-urban roughness transition. The urban roughness is characterized by an array of cubical obstacles in an aligned arrangement. A plane fence is added one obstacle height h upstream of the urban roughness elements, with three different fence heights considered. A smooth-wall turbulent boundary layer with a depth of 10h is used as the approaching flow, and a passive tracer is released from a uniform line source 1h upstream of the fence. A shear layer is formed at the top of the fence, which increases in strength for the higher fence cases, resulting in a deeper internal boundary layer (IBL). It is found that the mean flow for the rural-to-urban transition can be described by means of a mixing-length model provided that the transitional effects are accounted for. The mixing-length formulation for sparse urban canopies, as found in the literature, is extended to take into account the blockage effect in dense canopies. Additionally, the average mean concentration field is found to scale with the IBL depth and the bulk velocity in the IBL.     

A cold air lake formation in a basin — a simulation with a mesoscale numerical model

Summary A formation of a cold air lake in a basin is studied with a mesometeorological model.A dynamic Boussinesq hydrostatic mesoscale numerical model is developed in a staggered orthogonal grid with a horizontal resolution of 1 km and with a varying vertical grid. The topography is presented in a block shape so that computation levels are horizontal.The mesometeorological model is tested in three idealized topography cases (a valley, a single mountain, a basin) and test results are discussed.In an alpine basin surrounded by mountains and plateaus the air is supposed to be stagnant at the beginning of the night. Due to differences in radiation cooling an inversion layer is formed in the basin and local wind circulation is studied by model simulations.With 14 Figures     

Energy transfer in a fluid with a uniform density gradient

Energy transfer via resonance in a stratified fluid with a constant Brunt–Väisälä frequency is studied through the Manley–Rowe relation and direct numerical simulations. The objectives of this study are two-fold. One is to determine if there is a limitation on the lengthscale of small-scale waves to which primary energy can be effectively transferred. The other is to study factors affecting the growth of parametric subharmonic instability. Resonantly interacting modes are classified into three groups: local sum modes, quasi-subharmonic modes and remote parametric subharmonic instability modes (characterized by interaction with very small-scale waves). The latter two involve energy transfer from a primary wave to secondary waves with half the frequency. Most energy transfer is through local sum resonant modes and quasi-subharmonic modes. Energy cannot effectively transfer to higher wavenumber modes since dynamical systems are altered as wavenumbers of excited modes increase. In the remote modes, the solution is sinusoidal with high angular frequency and very small energy capacity. As a consequence, these modes are inactive in energy transfer despite their high energy growth rates. Effects of non-uniform white noise amplitude and primary mode propagation angle on the quasi-subharmonic modes are also investigated. Implications for energy transfer in the ocean are discussed.     

邯郸地区一次登陆台风大暴雨过程观测分析

受登陆台风"海棠"减弱后低压与东移锋面云系的共同影响,2005年7月21日夜间到23日早晨邯郸地区出现了大范围的暴雨天气。本文从天气形势、水汽输送特征、云系演变特征和大气不稳定条件等方面进行分析,探讨了这次登陆台风暴雨天气的成因。结果表明,台风低压、稳定少变的副热带高压以及500 hPa低槽相互作用,共同造成了这次暴雨天气过程,高纬弱冷空气南下,与台风携带的暖湿空气相遇,加之太行山地形的影响,造成暖湿空气抬升,使得冀南地区产生中尺度对流云团,进而发生强降水。地面自动站以及加密站风场资料分析指出,低空偏北风与偏东风之间的中尺度辐合线对暴雨发生有重要作用,其出现的时间和位置决定了中尺度暴雨天气的发生时间和位置。在水汽输送方面,西部山区的暴雨区水汽主要来源于南海和东海,而东部平原地区的大暴雨,其水汽主要来源于南海。简单的层结分析表明,暴雨区上空存在对流不稳定和对称不稳定共存的现象,两者共同为系统发展和暴雨发生提供了不稳定条件。     

Sectoral approaches for a post-2012 climate regime: a taxonomy

Sectoral approaches have been gaining currency in the international climate debate as a possible remedy to the shortfalls of the Kyoto Protocol. Proponents argue that a sector-based architecture can more easily invite the participation of developing countries, address competitiveness issues, and enable immediate emissions reductions. However, given the numerous proposals, much confusion remains as to what sectoral approaches actually are. This article provides a simple, yet comprehensive, taxonomy of the various proposals for sectoral approaches. Based on the dual criteria of content and actors, three such types are identified and described: government targets and timetables; industry targets and timetables; and transnational technology cooperation. For each of these types, existing proposals and ongoing initiatives are discussed. In a second step, the article analyses the political landscape in which sectoral approaches are being debated, identifying the interests of their key advocates as well as the concerns of their critics. The Japanese government and energy-intensive manufacturing industries represent the main proponents of sectoral approaches to address the problems of carbon leakage and economic competitiveness. Developing countries, on the other hand, are wary of attempts to impose emissions reduction targets on their economies through sectoral target-setting. They, therefore, interpret sectoral approaches as sector-based forms of technology cooperation and technology transfer.