Application of a High-Resolution Terrain Dataset to the MPAS Mesh: An Interpolation Study

As geospatial terrain data becomes more precise, the ability to utilize high-resolution terrain datasets in weather modeling frameworks for regional-scale forecasting applications becomes increasingly important. This work supports future advancements in weather-informed decision support by investigating terrain initialization sensitivity in the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) NWP system to high-resolution (<1 km) land-surface input datasets. Incorporating <1 km resolution land surface data into MPAS has the potential to impact the accuracy of weather-informed decision support tools, but the effects of the interpolation of the data onto the native MPAS mesh are not well understood. This presentation provides an overview of results where we interpolate 100-m TanDEM-X DTED1 elevation data onto the MPAS mesh. We quantify the difference between interpolated values within a bounded domain over central Colorado when MPAS is initialized with the standard 1km GTOPO30 elevation data and the higher-resolution 100m TDT-DTED1 elevation data. Differences between the initialized datasets capture the effect high-resolution input data could have on terrain-driven weather event simulations. Future efforts will work to quantify the impact of high-resolution geospatial terrain data when used in MPAS simulations for terrain-driven weather events.

Distribution A: Approved for public release. POC: DLL-CEERD-GRL-OTD@usace.army.mil