HRRR landcover?

[helenflynnn]

Hi, I am using HRRR in a physics-based snow model (see application in Meyer et al., 2023). What I am struggling to understand is what landcover information HRRR uses to calculate things like shortwave, longwave and thermal components of the energy balance. Some models use datasets like LANDFIRE to get a landcover classification and then use that parameter to make other calculations. What does HRRR use?

I've seen some things about where HRRR gets soil type, but I am more concerned with vegetation-based cover classes (forest, meadow, desert, etc).

[EricJames-NOAA]

Hi @helenflynnn, sorry for the late response.

HRRR uses 15" MODIS land use information. The classes are specified as follows:

21,1, 'ALBEDO Z0 LEMI PC SHDFAC IFOR RS RGL HS SNUP LAI MAXALB'
1 .12, .80, .950, .55, .70, 1, 125., 30., 47.35, 0.08, 6.40, 52., 'Evergreen Needleleaf Forest'
2, .12, .80, .950, .55, .95, 2, 150., 30., 41.69, 0.08, 6.48, 35., 'Evergreen Broadleaf Forest'
3, .14, .80, .940, .55, .70, 4, 150., 30., 47.35, 0.08, 5.16, 54., 'Deciduous Needleleaf Forest'
4, .16, .80, .930, .55, .80, 3, 100., 30., 54.53, 0.08, 3.31, 58., 'Deciduous Broadleaf Forest'
5, .13, .80, .940, .55, .80, 2, 125., 30., 51.93, 0.08, 5.50, 53., 'Mixed Forests'
6, .22, .10, .930, .40, .70, 4, 300., 100., 42.00, 0.03, 3.66, 60., 'Closed Shrublands'
7, .20, .10, .880, .40, .70, 4, 170., 100., 39.18, 0.035, 2.60, 65., 'Open Shrublands'
8, .20, .30, .930, .40, .70, 5, 300., 100., 42.00, 0.03, 3.66, 60., 'Woody Savannas'
9, .20, .15, .920, .40, .50, 5, 70., 65., 54.53, 0.04, 3.66, 50., 'Savannas'
10, .19, .075, .920, .40, .80, 5, 40., 100., 36.35, 0.04, 2.90, 70., 'Grasslands'
11 .14, .30, .950, .40, .60, 4, 70., 65., 55.97 0.015 5.72, 59., 'Permanent wetlands'
12, .18, .20, .935, .40, .80, 7, 40., 100., 36.25, 0.04, 5.68, 66., 'Croplands'
13, .18, .50, .880, .40, .10, 9, 200., 999., 999.0, 0.04, 1.00, 46., 'Urban and Built-Up'
14 .16, .30, .920, .40, .80, 7, 40., 100., 36.25, 0.04, 4.29, 68., 'cropland/natural vegetation mosaic'
15, .55, .011, .980, .00, .00, 9, 999., 999., 999.0, 0.02, 0.01, 82., 'Snow and Ice'
16, .25, .065, .850, .30, .01, 5, 999., 999., 999.0, 0.02, 0.75, 75., 'Barren or Sparsely Vegetated'
17, .08, .0001, .980, .00, .00, 9, 100., 30., 51.75, 0.01, 0.01, 70., 'Water'
18, .15, .15, .930, .40, .60, 5, 150., 100., 42.00, 0.025, 3.35, 55., 'Wooded Tundra'
19, .15, .075, .920, .40, .60, 5, 150., 100., 42.00, 0.025, 3.35, 60., 'Mixed Tundra'
20, .15, .06, .900, .30, .30, 5, 200., 100., 42.00, 0.02, 3.35, 75., 'Barren Tundra'
21, .08, .0001, .980, .00, .00, 9, 100., 30., 51.75, 0.01, 0.01, 70., 'Lakes'

HRRR also uses 30" MODIS albedo, 30" BNU soil classification, and real-time VIIRS green vegetation fraction.

Hopefully this helps.

Thanks,
Eric

[helenflynnn]

Hi @EricJames-NOAA, thanks for the response. Could you provide a link to where I can access this data? I'm able to find the basic classes but not all the associated values. Thanks.

[EricJames-NOAA]

@helenflynnn you can find more information here:

https://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/wrf_users_guide/build/html/wps.html#land-use-and-soil-categories-in-the-static-data

And you can download data here:

https://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/download/get_sources_wps_geog.html

Thanks
Eric