Sensitivity of Numerical Simulations to Parameterizations of Roughness for Surface Heat Fluxes at High Winds over the Sea

Abstract

A few roughness length schemes for surface sensible and latent heat fluxes have been developed to fit observations under low and moderate wind (<20 m s−1) conditions. It is not clear to what degree these schemes can be extrapolated to cases of high wind conditions (>25 m s−1). In this study, numerical experiments are carried out to reveal the sensitivity of a simulated hurricane to the roughness length schemes for heat fluxes. It is shown that great disparity exists in the response of the model-simulated hurricane to the schemes. This suggests that further research involving both theory and observations is required in order to reduce the uncertainties in numerical simulation of air–sea fluxes under high wind conditions.