Contributing Factors to Simulated Vertical Structure of Microscale Features in the Snake River Plain

Idaho Falls, Idaho sits on the eastern side of the Snake River Plain, a topographic depression that spans much of southern Idaho and is adjacent to much of its cities. During an anomalously warm summer of 2021, meteorological towers within of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) reservation west of agricultural land surrounding Idaho Falls observed midday sharp increases in humidity accompanying easterly shifts in wind direction, indicating a small-scale moisture boundary emanating from the cropland. Through assimilation of these tower data into mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulations, we parse the land surface factors – such as soil moisture, soil temperature, and vegetation fraction – that allow the formation of these microscale boundaries. Additionally, as those data are assimilated from the near surface, we assess the effectiveness of incorporating tower observations on simulated representation of microscale features within the depth of the boundary layer.