The Impact of Spatial Resolution, Land Use, and Spinup Time on Resolving Spatial Precipitation Patterns in the Himalayas
Autor: | Bonekamp, P.N.J., Collier, S.E., Immerzeel, W.W., Hydrologie, Landscape functioning, Geocomputation and Hydrology |
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Přispěvatelé: | Hydrologie, Landscape functioning, Geocomputation and Hydrology |
Rok vydání: | 2018 |
Předmět: |
Atmospheric Science
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences undercatch WRF 0208 environmental biotechnology 02 engineering and technology 01 natural sciences Atmosphere Precipitation spatial resolution Image resolution Observations 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Land use Representation (systemics) land use 15. Life on land Atmopsheric modelling 020801 environmental engineering spinup time 13. Climate action Climatology Weather Research and Forecasting Model Environmental science Atmopsheric modelling WRF Observations undercatch spatial resolution land use spinup time |
Zdroj: | Journal of Hydrometeorology Journal of Hydrometeorology, 19(10), 1565. American Meteorological Society |
ISSN: | 1525-7541 1525-755X |
Popis: | Frequently used gridded meteorological datasets poorly represent precipitation in the Himalayas because of their relatively low spatial resolution and the associated representation of the complex topography. Dynamical downscaling using high-resolution atmospheric models may improve the accuracy and quality of the precipitation fields. However, most physical parameterization schemes are designed for a spatial resolution coarser than 1 km. In this study the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is used to determine which resolution is required to most accurately simulate monsoon and winter precipitation, 2-m temperature, and wind fields in the Nepalese Himalayas. Four model nests are set up with spatial resolutions of 25, 5, 1, and 0.5 km, respectively, and a typical 10-day period in summer and winter in 2014 are simulated. The model output is compared with observational data obtained from automatic weather stations, pluviometers, and tipping buckets in the Langtang catchment. Results show that, despite issues with the quality of the observational data due to undercatch of snowfall, the highest resolution of 500 m does provide the best match with the observations and gives the most plausible spatial distribution of precipitation. The quality of the wind and temperature fields is also improved, whereby the cold temperature bias is decreased. Our results further elucidate the performance of WRF at high resolution and demonstrate the importance of accurate surface boundary conditions and spinup time for simulating precipitation. Furthermore, they suggest that future modeling studies of High Mountain Asia should consider a subkilometer grid for accurately estimating local meteorological variability. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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