Reevaluating the surface energy balance and soil thermal diffusion equations in the Noah multi-parameterization (Noah-MP) scheme

Abstract

The Noah multi-parameterization (Noah-MP) scheme is one of several land surface schemes implemented in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Our simulations by the WRF model with the Noah-MP scheme show that surface air temperatures in the morning and evening tend to be higher and lower, respectively, than observed, and that the temperatures at an urban station with snow cover increase little from 0 ℃ even in the daytime. The former depends on surface energy balance in the skin layer and the latter results from snow cover assumed to be uniform over a grid cell. These weaknesses are improved by considering the partial transmission of the solar radiation through the skin layer to the soil layer, the heat capacity of the vegetation canopy, and a mixture of soil layers with and without snow cover. The present scheme will contribute to an improvement of the Noah-MP scheme.