Competition Number: 310359
The Climate Variability and Predictability (CVP) program supports advances in the development and application of Earth system models and analyses across NOAA for the purpose of building resilience to climate impacts, predicting and projecting change from years to decades in the future, and improving our understanding of and ability to simulate the Earth system.
In this FY23 DRSA NOFO, CVP is soliciting targeted proposals for the following competition: Identify and understand key land-atmosphere processes that influence coupled-model precipitation biases in the continental United States. CVP seeks to improve understanding of physical and dynamic mechanisms over land and their associated changes in extreme weather in the continental United States (CONUS) now and in a changing climate. Through this competition, an expected outcome is to close the gap between models and observations by using existing observations in a coupled model framework to explore the following priority processes: orographic processes, processes important for land-air interactions (e.g., the land-atmosphere transition zone such as upper soil, vegetation, and atmospheric boundary layer),and other land-atmosphere processes, local and/or remote, that influence extreme precipitation events. Common phenomena that affect CONSUS events are tropical storms, extratropical cyclones, atmospheric rivers, and mesoscale convective systems (MCS).
The CVP Program is interested in a process-based approach to identifying and understanding key land-surface processes, land-atmosphere interactions that influence biases and systematic errors in the simulation of CONUS precipitation at the S2S timescales through data analysis, and global or regional modeling experiments. This includes examining how these processes impact/cause model biases and how model biases can be reduced by different approaches. Experimental approaches include but are not limited to: studies of increased model resolution in a coupled model framework, using observations to improve physical parameterizations of unresolved processes, and/or developing new knowledge or theories about processes and multiscale process interactions.
Projects that are most appropriate for the call generally fall in or near the “basic research” or “applied research” levels of technical maturity, i.e., Readiness Levels (RLs) of 1 or 2 RL during the duration of the project. (See details on the NAO 216-105B Policy on Research and Development Transitions).
Collaborations and partnerships with NOAA laboratories, cooperative institutes, and centers are encouraged but not required. Additionally, the use of NOAA models (SPEAR, S-SHiELD, X-SHiELD, UFS, and others) is encouraged but not required. If appropriate, use of observations from NOAA-funded field campaigns and modeling projects is encouraged but not required.
The outcome of this competition is to identify and understand where improvements to precipitation prediction can be made. Precipitation prediction supports better forecasting and leads to mitigation of severe impacts of precipitation events. These projects will support the goal of getting NOAA to a future in which it delivers a comprehensive suite of precipitation predictions over various timescales and with high fidelity.