Satellite-based data: ISCCP, GPCP. Project Title: Understanding the coupling of surface, boundary layer, cloud and radiative processes in the Global Water and Energy Cycle Project team: Alan K. Betts (akbetts@aol.com) and Mike Bosilovich (michael.bosilovich@nasa.gov ) Project status: Year 1 & 2 complete – see Betts (2007) and Betts et al. (2007) Year 3 – focus is MERRA 2004 and ERA-interim 1989-2000 Betts, A. K. (2007), Coupling of water vapor convergence, clouds, precipitation, and land-surface processes, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D10108, doi:10.1029/2006JD008191. Betts, A.K., M.A.F. Silva Dias, G. Fisch, C. von Randow, J.C.P. Cohen, R.da Silva, D.R. Fitzjarrald (2007), The Amazonian Boundary layer and mesoscale circulations. Chapter B3 in Amazonia and Global Change. In review. ftp://members.aol.com/akbetts/Amazon-B3-Bettsetal.pdf Science issue: Evaluating the coupling of land-surface, boundary-layer, cloud and radiative processes in MERRA. Approach: Analyze output from MERRA on daily and seasonal timescales and compare with data, ERA40 and ERA- Interim Satellite-based data: ISCCP, GPCP. Other data: Fluxnet, surface analyses Models: MERRA, ECMWF reanalyses Study Period: 1979-present NEWS linkages: (pull, push, collaborate, external) Bosilovich – MERRA output MERRA team – understanding of land-surface coupling Discussions with Rossow on LANDFLUX Discussions with Kato on tropical cloud analyses Collaboration with Martin Koehler, ECMWF Major Result to go in lower left side: Figures should not be too complex or busy – this example is probably the limit of acceptable complexity. Comparison of land-surface coupling in MERRA (Mar-Oct 2004) with ERA-40. Top is pressure height to LCL and bottom is effective cloud albedo, stratified by precipitation rate Updated: Oct. 25, 007