The atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) depth was observed by airborne lidar and balloon soundings during the Southern Great Plains 1997 field study (SGP97). This paper is Part I of a two-part case study examining the relationship of surface heterogeneity to observed ABL structure. Part I focuses on observations. During two days (12-13 July 1997) following rain, midday convective ABL depth varied by as much as 1.5 km across 400 km, even with moderate winds. Variability in ABL depth was driven primarily by the spatial variation in surface buoyancy flux as measured from short towers and aircraft within the SGP97 domain. Strong correlation was found between time-integrated buoyancy flux and airborne remotely sensed surface soil moisture for the two case-study days, but only a weak correlation was found between surface energy fluxes and vegetation greenness as measured by satellite. A simple prognostic one-dimensional ABL model was applied to test to what extent the soil moisture spatial heterogeneity explained the variation in north-south ABL depth across the SGP97 domain. The model was able to better predict mean ABL depth and variations on horizontal scales of approximately 100 km using observed soil moisture instead of constant soil moisture. Subsidence, advection, convergence/divergence and spatial variability of temperature inversion strength also contributed to ABL depth variations. In Part II, assimilation of high-resolution soil moisture into a three-dimensional mesoscale model (MM5) is discussed and shown to improve predictions of ABL structure. These results have implications for ABL models and the influence of soil moisture on mesoscale meteorology.
We investigate the effect of the assimilation of surface and boundary-layer mass-field observations on the planetary boundary layer (PBL) within a one-dimensional (1D) version of the non-hydrostatic Fifth-Generation Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5). We focus on the vertical extent and effects of mass-field nudging within the PBL based on surface observations, and the added value of assimilating column mass observations within the PBL. Model experiments for dynamic initialization and dynamic analysis are conducted and composited for 29 May, 6 June, and 7 June 2002 during the International H 2 O Project (IHOP) over the Southern Great Plains, U.S.A. Advantages are found when the data assimilation uses the innovation (the difference between the modelled value and the observed value) calculated by comparing the surface mass-field observation to the model value at the 2-m observation height rather than at the lowest model level. It is shown that this innovation can be applied throughout the model-diagnosed PBL via nudging during free-convective conditions because of the wellmixed nature of the PBL. However, in stable conditions, due to decreased vertical mixing the surface innovation may be best applied only in a shallow layer adjacent to the surface. Surface air-temperature innovations were also applied to the top soil-layer temperature to minimize disruption to the surface energy balance. In combination with the surface observations, the use of within-PBL mass-field data assimilation improves the simulated PBL structure.
The objective of the study is to evaluate operational mesoscale meteorological model atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) outputs for use in the Hazard Prediction Assessment Capability (HPAC)/Second-Order Closure Integrated Puff (SCIPUFF) transport and dispersion model. HPAC uses the meteorological models' routine simulations of surface buoyancy flux, winds, and mixing depth to derive the profiles of ABL turbulence. The Fifth-Generation Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) and the Weather Research and Forecast-Nonhydrostatic Mesoscale Model (WRF-NMM) ABL outputs and the HPAC ABL parameterisations are compared with observations during the International H2O Project (IHOP). The meteorological models' configurations are not specially designed research versions for this study but rather are intended to be representative of what may be used operationally and thus have relatively coarse lowest vertical layer thicknesses of 59 and 36 m, respectively. The meteorological models' simulations of mixing depth are in good agreement (±20%) with observations on most afternoons. Wind speed errors of 1 or 2 m s −1 are found, typical of those found in other studies, with larger errors occurring when the simulated centre of a low-pressure system is misplaced in time or space. The hourly variation of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is well-simulated during the daytime, although there is a meteorological model underprediction bias of about 20-40%. 123 286 S. R. Hanna et al.At night, WRF-NMM shows fair agreement with observations, and MM5 sometimes produces a very small default TKE value because of the stable boundary-layer parameterisation that is used. The HPAC TKE parameterisation is usually a factor of 5-10 high at night, primarily due to the fact that the meteorological model wind-speed output is at a height of 30 m for MM5 and 18 m for WRF-NMM, which is often well above the stable mixing depth. It is concluded that, before meteorological model TKE fields can be confidently used by HPAC, it would help to improve vertical resolution near the surface, say to 10 m or less, and it would be good to improve the ABL parameterisations for shallow stable conditions.Keywords Dispersion models · Evaluation of models · International H2O project (IHOP) · Mesoscale meteorological models · Surface fluxes of heat and momentum · Turbulent kinetic energy
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