Université de Fribourg

Soil moisture impacts on convective indices and precipitation over complex terrain

Barthlott, Christian ; Hauck, Christian ; Schädler, Gerd ; Kalthoff, Norbert ; Kottmeier, Christoph

In: Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 2011, vol. 20, no. 2, p. 185-197

The impact of soil moisture on convective precipitation, convective indices, surface energy balance components, and near-surface meteorological variables is analysed for seven intensive observation periods of the Convective and Orographically induced Precipitation Study (COPS) conducted in summer 2007 using a non-hydrostatic limited-area atmospheric prediction model. The control runs are compared...

Université de Fribourg

Soil moisture variability and its influence on convective precipitation over complex terrain

Hauck, Christian ; Barthlott, Christian ; Krauss, Liane ; Kalthoff, Norbert

In: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 2011, vol. 137, no. S1, p. 42-56

Soil moisture monitoring data from the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS) 2007 are combined with operational and high-resolution simulations with the weather forecast system GME/COSMO-DE to analyse the discrepancies between observed and modelled soil moisture fields and their potential impacts on convective precipitation forecasts. We use data from the newly...