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High-resolution WRF simulation of cloud properties over the super typhoon Haiyan: physics parameterizations and comparison against MODIS

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Abstract

Numerical weather prediction (NWP) models can complement the satellite technology in simulating the cloud properties, especially in extreme storm events, when gathering new data becomes more than essential for accurate weather forecasting. In this study, we investigate the capability of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to realistically simulate some important cloud properties in high-resolution grids, such as cloud phase (e.g., liquid or ice) and cloud water path. The sensitivity of different combinations of physics parameterizations to the simulated cloud fields is studied. The experiment is conducted on a super typhoon event by configuring the WRF model in two domains, with two-way nesting, allowing bidirectional information exchange between the parent and the nest. In order to do the assessment, the simulated cloud fields are compared against MODIS-derived cloud properties from one overpass scene. While the simulations have been able to capture the spatial distribution of cloud properties reasonably well, produced cloud quantities such as ice water path has been significantly overestimated when compared to the MODIS optical cloud information. The microphysics parameterizations are found to be more sensitive than the planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterizations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (2009), ERA-Interim Project, http://rda.ucar.edu/datasets/ds627.0/, Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Computational and Information Systems Laboratory, Boulder, CO. The MODIS data used in this study were acquired as part of the NASA’s Earth-Sun System Division and archived and distributed by the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS). Portion of the research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Tanvir Islam

  2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Prashant K. Srivastava

  3. Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Prashant K. Srivastava

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Qiang Dai

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  1. Tanvir Islam
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  2. Prashant K. Srivastava
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  3. Qiang Dai
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Correspondence to Tanvir Islam.

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Islam, T., Srivastava, P.K. & Dai, Q. High-resolution WRF simulation of cloud properties over the super typhoon Haiyan: physics parameterizations and comparison against MODIS. Theor Appl Climatol 126, 427–435 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1575-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1575-y

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