A comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the WRF model for air quality applications over the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Meteorological inputs play a vital role on regional air quality modelling. An extensive sensitivity analysis of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was performed, in the framework of the Integrated Assessment Modelling System for the Iberian Peninsula (SIMCA) project. Up to 23 alternative model configurations, including Planetary Boundary Layer schemes, Microphysics, Land-surface models, Radiation schemes, Sea Surface Temperature and Four-Dimensional Data Assimilation were tested in a 3 km spatial resolution domain. Model results for the most significant meteorological variables, were assessed through a series of common statistics. The physics options identified to produce better results (Yonsei University Planetary Boundary Layer, WRF Single-Moment 6-cIass microphysics, Noah Land-surface model, Eta Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory longwave radiation and MM5 shortwave radiation schemes) along with other relevant user settings (time-varying Sea Surface Temperature and combined grid-observational nudging) where included in a "best case" configuration. This setup was tested and found to produce more accurate estimation of temperature, wind and humidity fields at surface level than any other configuration for the two episodes simulated. Planetary Boundary Layer height predictions showed a reasonable agreement with estimations derived from routine atmospheric soundings. Although some seasonal and geographical differences were observed, the model showed an acceptable behaviour overall. Despite being useful to define the most appropriate setup of the WRF model for air quality modelling over the Iberian Peninsula, this study provides a general overview of WRF sensitivity and can constitute a reference for future mesoscale meteorological modelling exercises.

Improvement in the accuracy of back trajectories using WRF to identify pollen sources in southern Iberian Peninsula

“…2). Two-way nesting has been used in several studies in IP, as Borge et al (2008) or Carvalho et al (2012). The model domain (D1) had a 27-km spatial resolution, and it covered western Europe, from the south of France to the north of Africa and a longitude from the western Mediterranean to the Canary Islands.…”

Performance Evaluation of the Boundary-Layer Height from Lidar and the Weather Research and Forecasting Model at an Urban Coastal Site in the North-East Iberian Peninsula

“…In areas surrounding the Mediterranean region the two primary meteorological models used in earlier efforts were the fifth generation Penn State-NCAR mesoscale model (MM5) model Bossioli et al 2009) and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model (Borge et al 2008;Pichelli et al 2014). Overall, it has been determined that no PBL scheme is superior to the others under all conditions, and each scheme has strengths and weaknesses.…”

Evaluation of the Sensitivity of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model to Parameterization Schemes for Regional Climates of Europe over the Period 1990–95

“…The first of these is its use with different global climate models (GCMs) in an attempt to determine long-term trends in the climate of a given region (e.g., Caldwell et al 2009;Zhang et al 2009;Salathé et al 2010). An alternative and sometimes complementary application of WRF is to increase the resolution beyond that available from the GCM (or reanalysis data) for a particular geographic region and often with a particular state variable or local phenomenon in mind (e.g., Borge et al 2008;Flaounas et al 2010;Evans and McCabe 2010;Mercader et al 2010;Prabha et al 2011). Salathé et al (2010) compared two 100-yr regional climate simulations for the State of Washington using WRF.…”