Improving Meteorological and Hydrological Predictions of the Semi-Arid Southwestern U.S. Using TERRA Satellite Land Surface Data

(GC01-72)

Project Description

The semi-arid southwest United States is among the fastest growing regions of the country. Because of the higher sensitivity of the region to disruptions of natural water supply brought about by climatic variability and anthropogenic factors, reliable hydro-meteorological predictions with the uncertainties clearly quantified are urgently needed. The objectives of this proposal are to study the variability of rainfall in the arid/semi-arid southwestern United States using satellite observational data and model simulations, and to improve the prediction of the North American warm season precipitation.

Our strategy for the study is to:

(1) quantify and improve the quality of the PERSIAN rainfall products and use the quality-controlled data to document important all-aspect features of the North American Monsoon (NAM) and
(2) apply the mesoscale model (RAMS, and MM5) in conjunction with the assimilation of TERRA/MODIS surface products to simulate the monsoon convective processes over the ocean-land interface, and identify the sensitive factors in the region from the ocean and/or land surface to the formation of monsoon rainfall.