An Observation-Based Investigation of Nudging in WRF for Downscaling Surface Climate Information to 12-km Grid Spacing

Abstract

AbstractPrevious research has demonstrated the ability to use the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) and contemporary dynamical downscaling methods to refine global climate modeling results to a horizontal grid spacing of 36 km. Environmental managers and urban planners have expressed the need for even finer resolution in projections of surface-level weather to take into account local geophysical and urbanization patterns. In this study, WRF as previously applied at 36-km grid spacing is used with 12-km grid spacing with one-way nesting to simulate the year 2006 over the central and eastern United States. The results at both resolutions are compared with hourly observations of surface air temperature, humidity, and wind speed. The 12- and 36-km simulations are also compared with precipitation data from three separate observation and analysis systems. The results show some additional accuracy with the refinement to 12-km horizontal grid spacing, but only when some form of interior nudging is applied. A positive bias in precipitation found previously in the 36-km results becomes worse in the 12-km simulation, especially without the application of interior nudging. Model sensitivity testing shows that 12-km grid spacing can further improve accuracy for certain meteorological variables when alternate physics options are employed. However, the strong positive bias found for both surface-level water vapor and precipitation suggests that WRF as configured here may have an unbalanced hydrologic cycle that is returning moisture from land and/or water bodies to the atmosphere too quickly.