GLACE: The Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment. Part I: Overview

GLACE: The Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment. Part I: Overview

The Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (GLACE) is a model intercomparison study focusing on a typically neglected yet critical element of numerical weather and climate modeling: land–atmosphere coupling strength, or the degree to which anomalies in land surface state (e.g., soil moisture) ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hydrometeorology 2006-08, Vol.7 (4), p.590-610
Main Authors: Koster, Randal D., Guo, Zhichang, Dirmeyer, Paul A., Bonan, Gordon, Chan, Edmond, Cox, Peter, Davies, Harvey, Gordon, C. T., Kanae, Shinjiro, Kowalczyk, Eva, Lawrence, David, Liu, Ping, Lu, Cheng-Hsuan, Malyshev, Sergey, McAvaney, Bryant, Mitchell, Ken, Mocko, David, Oki, Taikan, Oleson, Keith W., Pitman, Andrew, Sud, Y. C., Taylor, Christopher M., Verseghy, Diana, Vasic, Ratko, Xue, Yongkang, Yamada, Tomohito
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Atmospheric models
Atmospheric moisture
Climate models
Global climate models
Hydrometeorology
Modeling
Precipitation
Simulations
Soil temperature regimes
Soil water
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Summary:The Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (GLACE) is a model intercomparison study focusing on a typically neglected yet critical element of numerical weather and climate modeling: land–atmosphere coupling strength, or the degree to which anomalies in land surface state (e.g., soil moisture) can affect rainfall generation and other atmospheric processes. The 12 AGCM groups participating in GLACE performed a series of simple numerical experiments that allow the objective quantification of this element for boreal summer. The derived coupling strengths vary widely. Some similarity, however, is found in the spatial patterns generated by the models, with enough similarity to pinpoint multimodel “hot spots” of land–atmosphere coupling. For boreal summer, such hot spots for precipitation and temperature are found over large regions of Africa, central North America, and India; a hot spot for temperature is also found over eastern China. The design of the GLACE simulations are described in full detail so that any interested modeling group can repeat them easily and thereby place their model’s coupling strength within the broad range of those documented here.
ISSN:1525-755X
1525-7541