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Mesoscale Convective Systems in SCSMEX: Simulated by a Regional Climate Model and a Cloud Resolving ModelA Regional Land-Atmosphere Climate Simulation (RELACS) System is being developed and implemented at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. One of the major goals of RELACS is to use a regional scale model with improved physical processes, in particular land-related processes, to understand the role of the land surface and its interaction with convection and radiation as well as the water and energy cycles in Indo-China/ South China Sea (SCS)/China, N. America and S. America. The Penn State/NCAR MM5 atmospheric modeling system, a state of the art atmospheric numerical model designed to simulate regional weather and climate, has been successfully coupled to the Goddard Parameterization for Land-Atmosphere-C loud Exchange (PLACE) land surface model. PLACE allows for the effects of vegetation, and thus important physical processes such as evapotranspiration and interception are included. The PLACE model incorporates vegetation type and has been shown in international comparisons to accurately predict evapotranspiration and runoff over a wide variety of land surfaces. The coupling of MM5 and PLACE creates a numerical modeling system with the potential to more realistically simulate the atmosphere and land surface processes including land-sea interaction, regional circulations such as monsoons, and flash flood events. RELACS has been used to simulate the onset of the South China Sea Monsoon in 1986, 1997 and 1998. Sensitivity tests on various land surface models, cumulus parameterization schemes (CPSs), sea surface temperature (SST) variations and midlatitude influences have been performed. These tests have indicated that the land surface model has a major impact on the circulation over the S. China Sea. CPSs can effect the precipitation pattern while SST variation can effect the precipitation amounts over both land and ocean. RELACS has also been used to understand the soil-precipitation interaction and feedback associated with a flood event that occurred in and around China's Yantz River during 1998. The exact location (region) of the flooding can be effected by the soil-rainfall feedback. Also, the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model which allows for realistic moist processes as well as explicit interactions between cloud and radiation, and cloud and surface processes will be used to simulate convective systems associated with the onset of the South China Sea Monsoon in 1998. The GCE model also includes the same PLACE and radiation scheme used in the RELACS. A detailed comparison between the results from the GCE model and RELACS will be performed.
Document ID
20020061382
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Tao, W.-K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Wang, Y.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Qian, I.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Lau, W.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Shie, C.-L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Starr, David
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2002
Subject Category
Environment Pollution
Meeting Information
Meeting: INDO-US Workshop
Location: New Delhi
Country: India
Start Date: February 7, 2002
End Date: February 9, 2002
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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