Extended Abstract (36K)13D.6
Test of the new GFDL hurricane-land coupled system for landfalling tropical cyclones
Weixing Shen, NOAA/NWS/NCEP/EMC, Camp Springs, MD; and R. Tuleya, K. Mitchell, N. Surgi, and S. Lord
The new GFDL hurricane-land coupled system was implemented and tested in the western Atlantic and Gulf Mexico basins. The land surface model is the comprehensive Noah land surface model which is presently used in the NCEP operational mesoscale Eta model. The initial land surface condition used in the hurricane system mainly comes from the Eta-based 4-D Data Assimilation System (EDAS). A technique similar to that in the hurricane-ocean coupling is used for the coupling between the movable mesh model and the land surface. The tropical cyclones tested are the landfalling tropical cyclones Bill, Claudette and Isabel for the 2003 season as well as Lili and Isidore for the 2002 season. Comparison was made to the results with a slab land surface model that is used in the current operational GFDL model. In general, the impact of Noah land surface coupling is small on landfalling storm track and intensity while its impact on precipitation can be significant. The Noah land coupling tends to reduce both the storm-induced precipitation and the precipitation in the environment, which are usually over-predicted by the current operational model. More detailed results will be presented and discussed.
Session 13D, Tropical cyclones at landfall II
Thursday, 6 May 2004, 10:15 AM-11:45 AM, Napoleon III Room
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