The purpose of the telecon is to address two strategic issues:

 

I.  Standards for the Unified Noah LSM sub-driver:

 

Discussing and reaching a consensus on several strategic

characteristics of a "standard" Noah LSM sub-driver for the emerging

"Unified Noah" LSM

-- soon to be used in the various emerging LDAS's among our

collaborations (NLDAS, GLDAS/LIS, HRLDAS, AGRMET), as well as in the

various coupled atmos/Noah models among our collaborations (Eta, WRF,

GFS).

 

Key issues here are:

 

A - Reaching a final decision on how we "pass-in" parameter fields

from the Noah sub-driver to the Noah LSM itself (highest routine

SFLX).  We desire to allow a mix of both i) passing-in domain-wide

parameter fields (i.e. "maps") that are read-in by the parent model

"driver" and B) look-up tables in the manner like we use now in

subroutine REDPRM (called early in SFLX).  Present day examples of

domain-wide fields are snow-free broadband albedo and vegetation

greenness fraction.  Furture ones are likely to be fields like rooting

depth, depth to bedrock, etc.

 

B - How we pass-in solar radiation to SFLX from the sub-driver.  The

emerging consensus is to pass in the net sfc solar insolatoin and the

downward sfc solar insolation.  By passing in the net solar

insolation, we assume that the diurnal-cycle adjustment of the

reflected solar for solar zenith angle effects is available to the sub-driver (above routine

SFLX) from say the parent model radiation physics or from explicit

inclusion in the sub-driver.

 

C - How we pass in precipitation type (rainfall, snowfall, sleet,

etc). Emerging consensus here is that we pass in a scalar TP for the

total precipitation from all types and an array of precip type

fractions, FPT (N), of dimension N, where N is the number of precip

types that the parent driver is carrying and the value of FPT(1) is

the fraction of the total that is rain, FPT(2) is the fraction of

total that is snowfall, FPT(3) is the fraction of total that is sleet,

etc.  In the simplest case, the dimension N=2 (precip types limited to rainfall
and snowfall) and only the total precipitation forcing is available to the

sub-driver, and the sub-driver itself uses a simple air-temperature

criteria like 0.0 C to make a binary decision of 100 percent rainfall or

100 percent snowfall.

 

II. Discussing the status of the Unified Noah LSM, its public

release/announcement by NCAR and NCEP, its configuration management

strategy by NCAR, NCEP, NASA, AFWA, and its inclusion in

 

A - final frozen version of the NCEP Eta model is due to be

implemented at NCEP in late spring 2004 (requiring delivery of Unified

Noah by Dec 19 for beginning of concerted parallel testing, realtime and retrospective)

 

B - next public release by NCAR of the next phase of WRF physic

package options (requiring delivery of Unified Noah by ??)

 

C - LIS/GLDAS by no later than the final LIS delivery milestone of

August 04 (preferably the earlier LIS milestone of Feb 04, meaning

delivery to NASA/GSFC/HSB by Dec 19.

 

I welcome other agenda items for the teleconference, but bear in mind

I wish not to go longer than two hours.