Use of Usgs-provided Data to Improve Weather and Climate Simulations

This paper utilizes United States Geological Survey (USGS) data to investigate the influence of landscape structure on atmospheric circulations. The procedure to insert this data in the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) is described. Simulations are presented for a monthly simulation of summer weather in the United States, for case studies of cumulonimbus convection along a dryline in the Great Plains of the U.S. and over northern Georgia, and for pollutant dispersal in South Carolina. These results demonstrate the significant role that landscape, including its spatial heterogeneity, has on weather and climate. Environmental policy-makers need to consider this feedback to weather and climate, rather than just assuming the atmosphere is an external factor to such issues as ecosystem management and water resource management. This feedback between the atmosphere and the land surface needs to be considered on all spatial scales from the plot scale to the global scale. This includes studies being performed at the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites that have been established throughout the United States. This paper also demonstrates the value of the USGS data in weather and climate simulations.