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Mesoscale Simulations of a Florida Sea Breeze Using the PLACE Land Surface Model Coupled to a 1.5-Order Turbulence ParameterizationA sophisticated land-surface model, PLACE, the Parameterization for Land Atmospheric Convective Exchange, has been coupled to a 1.5-order turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) turbulence sub-model. Both have been incorporated into the Penn State/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) mesoscale model MM5. Such model improvements should have their greatest effect in conditions where surface contrasts dominate over dynamic processes, such as the simulation of warm-season, convective events. A validation study used the newly coupled model, MM5 TKE-PLACE, to simulate the evolution of Florida sea-breeze moist convection during the Convection and Precipitation Electrification Experiment (CaPE). Overall, eight simulations tested the sensitivity of the MM5 model to combinations of the new and default model physics, and initialization of soil moisture and temperature. The TKE-PLACE model produced more realistic surface sensible heat flux, lower biases for surface variables, more realistic rainfall, and cloud cover than the default model. Of the 8 simulations with different factors (i.e., model physics or initialization), TKE-PLACE compared very well when each simulation was ranked in terms of biases of the surface variables and rainfall, and percent and root mean square of cloud cover. A factor separation analysis showed that a successful simulation required the inclusion of a multi-layered, land surface soil vegetation model, realistic initial soil moisture, and higher order closure of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). These were needed to realistically model the effect of individual, joint, and synergistic contributions from the land surface and PBL on the CAPE sea-breeze, Lake Okeechobee lake breeze, and moist convection.
Document ID
19990102922
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Lynn, Barry H.
(Columbia Univ. New York, NY United States)
Stauffer, David R.
(Pennsylvania State Univ. University Park, PA United States)
Wetzel, Peter J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Tao, Wei-Kuo
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Perlin, Natal
(Tel-Aviv Univ., Ramat-Aviv Tel-Aviv, Israel)
Baker, R. David
(Universities Space Research Association Huntsville, AL United States)
Munoz, Ricardo
(Pennsylvania State Univ. University Park, PA United States)
Boone, Aaron
(Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Greenbelt, MD United States)
Jia, Yiqin
(Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
September 3, 1999
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCC5-82
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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