Coupling of Integrated Biosphere Simulator to Regional Climate Model version 3

Presented in this thesis is a description of the coupling of Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) to Regional Climate Model version 3 (RegCM3), and an assessment of the coupled model (RegCM3-IBIS). RegCM3 is a 3-dimensional, primitive equation limited area model used throughout the world for seasonal predictability and regional climate studies. IBIS is a dynamic global vegetation model that includes representations of land surface processes, canopy physiology, vegetation phenology, terrestrial biogeochemistry, and vegetation dynamics. A single subroutine was created that allows RegCM3 to use IBIS instead of Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme 1 e (BATS 1 e) for surface physics calculations. In addition to coupling the two models, a revised initialization scheme was implemented for RegCM3-IBIS, including an IBIS specific prescription of vegetation and soil types, as well as a new scheme for initializing soil moisture, soil ice, and soil temperature based on simulations using the offline version of IBIS. A series of six 1-year numerical experiments were completed to assess the ability of RegCM3-IBIS to simulate the energy and water budgets, as well as surface temperature.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Winter, Jonathan (Jonathan Mark)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Elfaith A.B. Eltahir.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34272

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34272