A Mesoscale Analysis Method for Surface Potential Temperature in Mountainous and Coastal Terrain

Abstract

Abstract A technique is developed to anisotropically spread surface observations in steep valleys. The goal is to create an improved objective analysis for the lowest, terrain-following numerical weather prediction (NWP) model level in mountainous terrain. The method is a mother–daughter (MD) approach, where the amount of information transferred from one grid point (the mother) to all neighboring grid points (the daughters) depends on elevation differences. The daughters become mothers and further share information with their neighboring grid points. This iterative method allows information to follow valleys around ridges, while reducing spread over the ridge top. The method is further refined to account for land–sea anisotropy. This approach is tested in the objective analyses of surface potential temperatures over the steep mountainous and coastal terrain of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Analysis results are compared with other existing schemes using the Advanced Regional Prediction System Data Assimilation System (ADAS). It is found that the MD approach outperforms the other schemes over mountainous and coastal terrain.