Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0
<p>The coupling between soil, vegetation and atmosphere is thought to be crucial in the development and intensification of weather extremes, especially meteorological droughts, heat waves and severe storms. Therefore, understanding the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2019-05-01
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| Series: | Geoscientific Model Development |
| Online Access: | https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/12/2139/2019/gmd-12-2139-2019.pdf |
| _version_ | 1811270436141400064 |
|---|---|
| author | H. Wouters I. Y. Petrova C. C. van Heerwaarden J. Vilà-Guerau de Arellano A. J. Teuling V. Meulenberg J. A. Santanello D. G. Miralles |
| author_facet | H. Wouters I. Y. Petrova C. C. van Heerwaarden J. Vilà-Guerau de Arellano A. J. Teuling V. Meulenberg J. A. Santanello D. G. Miralles |
| author_sort | H. Wouters |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>The coupling between soil, vegetation and atmosphere is thought to be crucial
in the development and intensification of weather extremes, especially
meteorological droughts, heat waves and severe storms. Therefore, understanding
the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and the role of
land–atmosphere feedbacks is necessary for earlier warnings,
better climate projection and timely societal adaptation. However, this
understanding is hampered by the difficulties of attributing cause–effect
relationships from complex coupled models and the irregular space–time
distribution of in situ observations of the land–atmosphere system.
As such, there is a need for simple deterministic appraisals that
systematically discriminate land–atmosphere interactions from observed weather
phenomena over large domains and climatological time spans. Here, we present a
new interactive data platform to study the behavior of the ABL and
land–atmosphere interactions based on worldwide weather balloon soundings and an ABL model. This
software tool – referred to as CLASS4GL (<span class="uri">http://class4gl.eu</span>, last access: 27 May 2018) – is developed with the objectives of (a) mining appropriate global observational data from <span class="inline-formula">∼15</span> million weather balloon
soundings since 1981 and combining them with satellite and reanalysis data and (b) constraining and initializing a numerical model of the daytime
evolution of the ABL that serves as a tool to interpret these observations
mechanistically and deterministically.
As a result, it fully automizes extensive global
model experiments to assess the effects of land and
atmospheric conditions on the ABL evolution as observed in different
climate regions around the world.
The suitability of the set of
observations, model formulations and global parameters employed by
CLASS4GL is extensively validated. In most cases, the framework is able to
realistically reproduce the observed daytime response of the mixed-layer height,
potential temperature and specific humidity from the balloon soundings. In this
extensive global validation exercise, a bias of 10.1 m h<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>, <span class="inline-formula">−0.036</span> K h<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> and 0.06 g kg<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> h<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> is found for the
morning-to-afternoon evolution of the mixed-layer height, potential temperature
and specific humidity. The virtual tool is in continuous development and
aims to foster a better process understanding of the drivers of the
ABL evolution and their global distribution, particularly during
the onset and amplification of weather extremes. Finally, it can also be
used to scrutinize the representation of land–atmosphere feedbacks and
ABL dynamics in Earth system models, numerical weather prediction
models, atmospheric reanalysis and satellite retrievals, with the
ultimate goal of improving local climate projections, providing earlier
warning of extreme weather and fostering a more effective development of
climate adaptation strategies. The tool can be easily downloaded via
<span class="uri">http://class4gl.eu</span> (last access: 27 May 2018) and is open source.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T22:01:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9aee5defead142bcb405407b347e78d6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1991-959X 1991-9603 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T22:01:50Z |
| publishDate | 2019-05-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geoscientific Model Development |
| spelling | doaj.art-9aee5defead142bcb405407b347e78d62022-12-22T03:15:05ZengCopernicus PublicationsGeoscientific Model Development1991-959X1991-96032019-05-01122139215310.5194/gmd-12-2139-2019Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0H. Wouters0I. Y. Petrova1C. C. van Heerwaarden2J. Vilà-Guerau de Arellano3A. J. Teuling4V. Meulenberg5J. A. Santanello6D. G. Miralles7Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, BelgiumLaboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, BelgiumMeteorology and Air Quality Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the NetherlandsMeteorology and Air Quality Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the NetherlandsHydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the NetherlandsMeteorology and Air Quality Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the NetherlandsHydrological Sciences Laboratory (617), Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD, USALaboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium<p>The coupling between soil, vegetation and atmosphere is thought to be crucial in the development and intensification of weather extremes, especially meteorological droughts, heat waves and severe storms. Therefore, understanding the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and the role of land–atmosphere feedbacks is necessary for earlier warnings, better climate projection and timely societal adaptation. However, this understanding is hampered by the difficulties of attributing cause–effect relationships from complex coupled models and the irregular space–time distribution of in situ observations of the land–atmosphere system. As such, there is a need for simple deterministic appraisals that systematically discriminate land–atmosphere interactions from observed weather phenomena over large domains and climatological time spans. Here, we present a new interactive data platform to study the behavior of the ABL and land–atmosphere interactions based on worldwide weather balloon soundings and an ABL model. This software tool – referred to as CLASS4GL (<span class="uri">http://class4gl.eu</span>, last access: 27 May 2018) – is developed with the objectives of (a) mining appropriate global observational data from <span class="inline-formula">∼15</span> million weather balloon soundings since 1981 and combining them with satellite and reanalysis data and (b) constraining and initializing a numerical model of the daytime evolution of the ABL that serves as a tool to interpret these observations mechanistically and deterministically. As a result, it fully automizes extensive global model experiments to assess the effects of land and atmospheric conditions on the ABL evolution as observed in different climate regions around the world. The suitability of the set of observations, model formulations and global parameters employed by CLASS4GL is extensively validated. In most cases, the framework is able to realistically reproduce the observed daytime response of the mixed-layer height, potential temperature and specific humidity from the balloon soundings. In this extensive global validation exercise, a bias of 10.1 m h<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>, <span class="inline-formula">−0.036</span> K h<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> and 0.06 g kg<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> h<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> is found for the morning-to-afternoon evolution of the mixed-layer height, potential temperature and specific humidity. The virtual tool is in continuous development and aims to foster a better process understanding of the drivers of the ABL evolution and their global distribution, particularly during the onset and amplification of weather extremes. Finally, it can also be used to scrutinize the representation of land–atmosphere feedbacks and ABL dynamics in Earth system models, numerical weather prediction models, atmospheric reanalysis and satellite retrievals, with the ultimate goal of improving local climate projections, providing earlier warning of extreme weather and fostering a more effective development of climate adaptation strategies. The tool can be easily downloaded via <span class="uri">http://class4gl.eu</span> (last access: 27 May 2018) and is open source.</p>https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/12/2139/2019/gmd-12-2139-2019.pdf |
| spellingShingle | H. Wouters I. Y. Petrova C. C. van Heerwaarden J. Vilà-Guerau de Arellano A. J. Teuling V. Meulenberg J. A. Santanello D. G. Miralles Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0 Geoscientific Model Development |
| title | Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0 |
| title_full | Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0 |
| title_fullStr | Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0 |
| title_short | Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0 |
| title_sort | atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide class4gl v1 0 |
| url | https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/12/2139/2019/gmd-12-2139-2019.pdf |
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