An Annual Comparison of Turbulent Heat Fluxes with Numerical Models across the Great Lakes

Session: 36. - Improving Model Predictions through Coupled System and Data Assimilation

Lindsay Fitzpatrick, Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, [email protected]
Ayumi Fujisaki, [email protected]
Philip Chu, NOAA/GLERL, [email protected]
Eric Anderson, NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), [email protected]
Greg Mann, National Weather Service, [email protected]

Abstract

Eddy covariance is a method used for direct measurement of turbulent latent and sensible heat fluxes within the surface layer of the atmosphere. The Great Lakes Evaporation Network (GLEN) measures these heat fluxes across the North American Great Lakes using fluxes towers mounted on off-shore light houses. Numerical weather and coastal forecast models have mainly been evaluated with mean meteorological values, such as water surface temperature, winds, and air temperature. Direct measurements of turbulent latent and sensible heat fluxes from GLEN will allow novel evaluation of such models in simulating heat loss and evaporation. An annual comparison of NOAA’s newest numerical forecast weather and lake models, the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) and the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM), were evaluated using observations from summer 2016 to 2017 in the across the Great Lakes. These direct measurements will lead to improvements of the models, which in the future will help increase the accuracy of evaporation and forecasts during severe weather events, such as lake effect snow. 

1. Keyword
atmosphere-lake interaction

2. Keyword
coastal processes

3. Keyword
Water level

4. Additional Keyword
heat flux

5. Additional Keyword
evaporation