Based on the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, a scheme was developed to calculate surface roughness length. Surface roughness length over the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the winter season was then estimated using the scheme and eddy covariance measurement data. Comparisons of estimated and measured wind speeds show that the scheme is feasible to calculate surface roughness length. The estimated roughness lengths at the measurement site during unfrozen,frozen and melted periods are 3.23×10-3, 2.27×10-3 and 1.92×10-3 m, respectively. Surface roughness length demonstrates a deceasing trend with time during the winter season. Thereby, setting the roughness length to be a constant value in numerical models could lead to certain degree of simulation errors. The variation of surface roughness length may be caused by the change in land surface characteristic.
In this paper,we introduced parameterizations of the salinity effects(on heat capacity,thermal conductivity,freezing point and saturated vapor pressure) in a lake scheme integrated in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with the Community Land Model(WRF-CLM). This was done to improve temperature simulation over and in a saline lake and to test the contributions of salinity effects on various water properties via sensitivity experiments. The modified lake scheme consists of the lake module in the CLM model,which is the land component of the WRF-CLM model. The Great Salt Lake(GSL) in the USA was selected as the study area. The simulation was performed from September 3,2001 to September 30,2002. Our results show that the modif ied WRF-CLM model that includes the lake scheme considering salinity effects can reasonably simulate temperature over and in the GSL. This model had much greater accuracy than neglecting salinity effects,particularly in a very cold event when that effect alters the freezing point. The salinity effect on saturated vapor pressure can reduce latent heat flux over the lake and make it slightly warmer. The salinity effect on heat capacity can also make lake temperature prone to changes. However,the salinity effect on thermal conductivity was found insignificant in our simulations.
This study investigates the impact of rain snow threshold (RST) temperatures on snow depth simulation using the Community Land Model (CLM) and the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-coupled with the CLM and hereafter referred to as WRF CLM), and the difference in impacts. Simulations were performed from 17 December 1994 to 30 May 1995 in the French Alps. Results showed that both the CLM and the WRF CLM were able to represent a fair simulation of snow depth with actual terrain height and 2.5℃ RST temperature. When six RST methods were applied to the simulation using WRF CLM, the simulated snow depth was the closest to observations using 2.5℃ RST temperature, followed by that with Pipes', USACE, Kienzle's, Dai's, and 0℃ RST temperature methods. In the case of using CLM, simulated snow depth was the closest to the observation with Dai's method, followed by with USACE, Pipes', 2.5℃ RST temperature, Kienzle's, and 0℃ RST temperature method. The snow depth simulation using the WRF CLM was comparatively sensitive to changes in RST temperatures, because the RST temperature was not only the factor to partition snow and rainfall. In addition, the simulated snow related to RST temperature could induce a significant feedback by influencing the meteorological variables forcing the land surface model in WRF CLM. In comparison, the above variables did not change with changes in RST in CLM. Impacts of RST temperatures on snow depth simulation could also be influenced by the patterns of temperature and precipitation, spatial resolution, and input terrain heights.
