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Biosphere‐atmosphere interactions over West Africa. I: Development and validation of a coupled dynamic model
Author(s) -
Wang Guiling,
Eltahjr Elfatm A. B.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49712656503
Subject(s) - biosphere , atmosphere (unit) , parametrization (atmospheric modeling) , environmental science , biosphere model , atmospheric sciences , vegetation (pathology) , climate model , atmospheric model , climatology , atmospheric models , ibis , climate change , meteorology , radiative transfer , geography , ecology , geology , physics , medicine , pathology , quantum mechanics , biology
In this study we develop a zonally symmetric, synchronously coupled biosphere‐atmosphere model including ecosystem dynamics, and apply this model to study biosphere‐atmosphere interactions in the region of West Africa. The atmospheric model is zonally symmetric, and includes representation of atmospheric dynamics, a radiation scheme, a moist convection scheme, a boundary‐layer scheme, and a cloud‐parametrization scheme. The biospheric model is the Integrated BIosphere Simulator (IBIS), which includes representation of the water, energy, momentum, and carbon balance, vegetation phenology, and vegetation dynamics. We modified the representation of canopy hydrology in IBIS to account for the impact of rainfall subgrid variability. The biospheric model and atmospheric model are separately tested against observations. The synchronously coupled model is then used to simulate the biosphere‐atmosphere system of West Africa. A study on the role of biosphere‐atmosphere interactions, including ecosystem dynamics, in the climate variability over West Africa using this model will be presented in a companion paper.