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A warm-season comparison of WRF coupled to the CLM4.0, Noah-MP, and Bucket hydrology land surface schemes over the central USA

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Abstract

In climate modeling studies, there is a need to choose a suitable land surface model (LSM) while adhering to available resources. In this study, the viability of three LSM options (Community Land Model version 4.0 [CLM4.0], Noah-MP, and the five-layer thermal diffusion [Bucket] scheme) in the Weather Research and Forecasting model version 3.6 (WRF3.6) was examined for the warm season in a domain centered on the central USA. Model output was compared to Parameter-elevation Relationships on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) data, a gridded observational dataset including mean monthly temperature and total monthly precipitation. Model output temperature, precipitation, latent heat (LH) flux, sensible heat (SH) flux, and soil water content (SWC) were compared to observations from sites in the Central and Southern Great Plains region. An overall warm bias was found in CLM4.0 and Noah-MP, with a cool bias of larger magnitude in the Bucket model. These three LSMs produced similar patterns of wet and dry biases. Model output of SWC and LH/SH fluxes were compared to observations, and did not show a consistent bias. Both sophisticated LSMs appear to be viable options for simulating the effects of land use change in the central USA.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge high-performance computing support from Yellowstone (ark:/85065/d7wd3xhc) provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s (NCAR’s) Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL), sponsored by the National Science Foundation. We also acknowledge the Holland Computing Center at the University of Nebraska, which receives support from the Nebraska Research Initiative, for the use of computing resources. The authors thank three anonymous reviewers and Cindy Hays for substantial contributions to the project.

Funding

Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. AGS-1355916).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 306 Bessey Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0340, USA

    Matthew S. Van Den Broeke, Jose Abraham Torres Alavez, Robert Oglesby & Qi Hu

  2. NOAA/National Weather Service, Spokane, WA, USA

    Andrew Kalin

  3. School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Robert Oglesby & Qi Hu

  4. Daugherty Water for Food Institute, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Robert Oglesby

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  1. Matthew S. Van Den Broeke
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  5. Qi Hu
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Correspondence to Matthew S. Van Den Broeke.

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Van Den Broeke, M.S., Kalin, A., Alavez, J.A.T. et al. A warm-season comparison of WRF coupled to the CLM4.0, Noah-MP, and Bucket hydrology land surface schemes over the central USA. Theor Appl Climatol 134, 801–816 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-017-2301-8

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