Incorporation of MODIS landcover data to improve land surface parameterization in the COAMPS numerical weather prediction model

The vegetation and soil properties at the land surface exert significant influence over short-term weather forecasts of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. The Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) derives the necessary land surface properties from the USGS 1-km global land-use/land-cover (LULC) database, which is based on historical AVHRR data. A methodology has been developed to incorporate the LULC data, derived from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors, into the COAMPS model, running on nested domains - centered over Mississippi Gulf Coast