Model and Observation forSurface-Atmosphere Interactions
Scientific Objectives. Surface fluxes are the second leading cause of errors in weather and climate prediction models (WGNE, February 2019). One of the major difficulties, both for measurement and for numerical representation, is inherent to an extremely widespread characteristic of the earth’s surface: the surface is heterogeneous from several points of view (roughness, vegetation, soil conditions and characteristics, etc. ). Surface heterogeneities can be very different in horizontal size and each type will have different impacts on the atmosphere. A major obstacle concerns precisely heterogeneous surfaces that combine a wide range of sizes ranging from a few tens of meters to several tens of kilometers (Bou-Zeid, 2020), as is the case for the Paris region. How to correctly measure surface-atmosphere exchanges in this context and correctly represent these heterogeneities in precision weather and climate models are the two challenges that will be addressed by the MOSAI project.
Measurement plan.
Labs and institutes.
Project website: