Akor et al. (2025) Impact of Cloud Microphysics Schemes and Boundary Conditions on Modeled Snowpack in the Central Idaho Rocky Mountains, USA

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Water Resources Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-28
• Authors: Stanley Akor, Alejandro N. Flores, William Rudisill, Anna Bergstrom, J. P. McNamara
• DOI: 10.1029/2025wr040710

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study investigates how the choice of cloud microphysics parameterization and lateral boundary conditions in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model impacts hydrometeorological forcings and snow conditions in mountainous regions, revealing significant variability in precipitation, radiation, and snow metrics due to these configuration choices.

Objective

• To investigate the impact of cloud microphysics parameterization and lateral boundary conditions in convection-permitting WRF configurations on modeled hydrometeorological forcings and associated snow conditions in a mountainous region of the western United States.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Convection-permitting scales, specifically 4 km grid spacing.
• Temporal Scale: Not explicitly defined, but covers periods relevant for annual snow metrics and snow disappearance dates.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.
• Data sources:
  • ERA5 (reanalysis data for lateral boundary conditions)
  • CFSRv2 (reanalysis data for lateral boundary conditions)
  • Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) stations (observations for accumulated precipitation, snow water equivalent, and snow depth)
  • Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (satellite data for annual snow fraction and snow disappearance date)

Main Results

• The selection of lateral boundary conditions and cloud microphysics schemes in WRF introduces substantial variability in simulated surface hydrometeorological conditions, with precipitation and radiation identified as key influencing factors.
• Relative bias in simulated precipitation across experiments, compared to SNOTEL averages, ranged from -18.15% to +15.48%.
• These precipitation biases led to discrepancies in modeled snow conditions:
  • Relative bias in snow water equivalent ranged from -39.84% to +10.72% compared to SNOTEL averages.
  • Relative bias in snow depth ranged from -37.72% to +0.32% compared to SNOTEL averages.
• Comparisons with MODIS data revealed a consistent overestimation of annual snow fraction and snow disappearance date (SDD) at higher elevations, indicating snow persisting longer than observed by MODIS.

Contributions

• Highlights the critical importance of WRF model configuration choices, specifically cloud microphysics parameterizations and lateral boundary conditions, for accurately simulating hydrometeorological forcings and improving hydrologic predictions in complex mountainous terrain.

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Akor2025Impact,
  author = {Akor, Stanley and Flores, Alejandro N. and Rudisill, William and Bergstrom, Anna and McNamara, J. P.},
  title = {Impact of Cloud Microphysics Schemes and Boundary Conditions on Modeled Snowpack in the Central Idaho Rocky Mountains, USA},
  journal = {Water Resources Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1029/2025wr040710},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025wr040710}
}