Initialization of the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model with land surface data from the land information system (LIS)

The Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) uses the WRF model to provide meteorological support for military and other national programs. WRF requires soil temperature and moisture for multiple layers, snow depth and water content, and plant canopy water among its inputs. At AFWA this has in the past been provided by the AGRMET system which ingested AFWA input data and ran the NOAH land surface model to produce the inputs for WRF. Recently AFWA replaced AGRMET with National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Land Information System (LIS). LIS is framework which encompasses many land surface models, assimilation techniques, and data ingest options. In addition, LIS is capable of generating land surface data on user defined grids. For the initial implementation at AFWA, LIS is running the NOAH land surface model on a cylindrical equidistant projection at 25km resolution. AGRMET data had been available at roughly 50km resolution. Verification statistics for WRF initialized with LIS and with AGRMET are discussed in this presentation.