Lucas Harris1, Linjiong Zhou1,2, Shian-Jiann Lin1, Jan-Huey Chen1,3, Xi Chen1,2, Kun Gao1,2, Matthew Morin1,3, Shannon Rees1,3, Yongqiang Sun1,2, Mingjing Tong1,4, Baoqiang Xiang1,3, Morris Bender1,2, Rusty Benson1, Kai-Yuan Cheng1,2, Spencer Clark1,5, Oliver Elbert1,5, Andrew Hazelton1,2*, J. Jacob Huff1,3, Alex Kaltenbaugh1,3, Zhi Liang1, Timothy Marchok1, Hyeyum Hailey Shin1,3, and William Stern1
1NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey.
2Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System, Program in Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
3University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado.
4SAIC, Princeton, New Jersey.
5Vulcan, Inc., Seattle, Washington.
Corresponding author: Lucas Harris (lucas.harris@noaa.gov)
*Current affiliation: NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, Florida.
Key Points:
Abstract
We present the System for High-resolution prediction on Earth-to-Local Domains (SHiELD), an atmosphere model coupling the nonhydrostatic FV3 Dynamical Core to a physics suite originally taken from the Global Forecast System. SHiELD is designed to demonstrate new capabilities within its components, explore new model applications, and to answer scientific questions through these new functionalities. A variety of configurations are presented, including short-to-medium-range and subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) prediction, global-to-regional convective-scale hurricane and contiguous US precipitation forecasts, and global cloud-resolving modeling. Advances within SHiELD can be seamlessly transitioned into other Unified Forecast System (UFS) or FV3-based models, including operational implementations of the UFS.
Continued development of SHiELD has shown improvement upon existing models. The flagship 13-km SHiELD demonstrates steadily improved large-scale prediction skill and precipitation prediction skill. SHiELD and the coarser-resolution S-SHiELD demonstrate a superior diurnal cycle compared to existing climate models; the latter also demonstrates 28 days of useful prediction skill for the Madden-Julian Oscillation. The global-to-regional nested configurations T-SHiELD (tropical Atlantic) and C-SHiELD (contiguous United States) shows significant improvement in hurricane structure from a new tracer advection scheme and promise for medium-range prediction of convective storms, respectively.