HR: 11:35h
AN: C32A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Simulating the Terrestrial Cryosphere in a Regional Climate Model
AU: * Teng, Q
EM: Qiaobin.Teng@ec.gc.ca
AF: Climate Processes Section, Climate Research Division, STB, Environment Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, Canada
AU: Mackay, M D
EM: Murray.Mackay@ec.gc.ca
AF: Climate Processes Section, Climate Research Division, STB, Environment Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, Canada
AU: Chan, E
EM: Ed.Chan@ec.gc.ca
AF: Climate Processes Section, Climate Research Division, STB, Environment Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, Canada
AB: The Canadian Regional Climate Model has been coupled with version 3 of the Canadian Land Surface Scheme. The new scheme includes a number of improvements of relevance to the terrestrial cryosphere, including the treatment of snow density, canopy interception and unloading, and turbulent exchange with the atmosphere. The impact of these improvements on the regional climate is evaluated in a 10-year simulation over western Canada. The modeled precipitation and surface air temperature were evaluated against a gridded observed monthly surface climate dataset produced by Environment Canada. In addition, the simulated snow water equivalent and snow cover fraction are compared with Special Sensor Microwave/Imager derived estimates over two contrasting surface types (boreal forest and cropland). Modeled results also suggest a link between the Pacific-North American (PNA) teleconnection pattern and the variation of snow cover over western Canada. Composite analysis shows a negative correlation between the PNA phase and snow cover over the region. Local thermo-dynamic and dynamic processes associated with this relationship are also examined.
DE: 0736 Snow (1827, 1863)
DE: 0774 Dynamics
DE: 0798 Modeling
DE: 1631 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1843, 3322)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting