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Coupling Terrestrial and Atmospheric Water Dynamics to Improve Prediction in a Changing Environment
Lyon, Steve W. ; Dominguez, Francina ; Gochis, David J. ; Brunsell, Nathaniel A. ; Castro, Christopher ; Chow, Fotini K. ; Fan, Ying ; Fuka, Daniel ; Hong, Yang ; Kucera, Paul A. ... show 10 more
Lyon, Steve W.
Dominguez, Francina
Gochis, David J.
Brunsell, Nathaniel A.
Castro, Christopher
Chow, Fotini K.
Fan, Ying
Fuka, Daniel
Hong, Yang
Kucera, Paul A.
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Abstract
Fluxes across the land surface directly influence
predictions of ecological processes, atmospheric
dynamics, and terrestrial hydrology. However, many
simplifications are made in numerical models when
considering terrestrial hydrology from the viewpoint
of the atmosphere and vice versa. While this may be
a necessity in the current generation of operational
models used for forecasting, it can create obstacles
to the advancement of process understanding. These
simplifications can limit the numerical prediction
capabilities with respect to how water partitions
itself throughout all phases of the water cycle. The
feedbacks between terrestrial and atmospheric water
dynamics are not well understood or represented by
the current generation of operational land-surface
and atmospheric models. This can lead to erroneous
spatial patterns and anomalous temporal persistence
in land–atmosphere exchanges and atmospheric
water cycle predictions. Cross-disciplinary efforts
are needed not only to identify but also to quantify
feedbacks between terrestrial and atmospheric water
at appropriate spatiotemporal scales. This is especially
true as today’s young scientists set their sights on improving
process understanding and prediction skill
from both research and operational models used to
describe such linked systems.In recognition of these challenges, a junior faculty
and early career scientist forum was recently held at the
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in
Boulder, Colorado, with the intent of identifying and
characterizing feedback interactions and their attendant
spatial and temporal scales—important for coupling
terrestrial and atmospheric water dynamics. The
primary focus of this forum is on improved process
understanding, rather than operational products, as
the possibility of incorporating more realistic physics
into operational models is computationally prohibitive.
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Date
2008-09
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American Meteorological Society
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Lyon, S., F. Dominguez, D. Gochis, N. Brunsell, C. Castro, F. Chow, D. Fuka, Y. Hong, P. Kucera, S. Nesbitt, Y. Fan, N. Salzmann, J. Schmidli, P. Snyder, A. Teuling, T. Twine, G. Lee, S. Levis, J. Lundquist, G. Salvucci, A. Sealy, T. Walter: 2008, Coupling terrestrial and atmospheric water dynamics to improve prediction in a changing environment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 89, 1275-1279. http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/2008BAMS2547.1