Sensitivity Assessment of WRF Parameterizations over Europe

Abstract

Evaluation of the performance of the parameterization schemes used in the WRF model is assessed for temperature and precipitation over Europe at 36 km by 36 km grid resolution using gridded data from the ECA & D 0.25° regular grid. Simulations are performed for a winter (i.e., January 2015) and a summer (i.e., July 2015) month using the two way nesting approach. A step-wise decision approach is followed, beginning with 18 simulations for the various microphysics schemes followed by 45 more, concerning all of the model’s PBL, Cumulus, Long-wave, Short-wave and Land Surface schemes. The best performing scheme at each step is chosen by integrating the entropy weighting method ‘Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution’ (TOPSIS). The concluding scheme set consists of the Mansell-Ziegler-Bruning microphysics scheme, the Bougeault-Lacarrere PBL scheme, the Kain-Fritsch cumulus scheme, the RRTMG scheme for short-wave, the New Goddard for long-wave radiation and a seasonal-variable sensitive option for the Land Surface scheme.

Keywords

• WRF
• parameterizations
• sensitivity
• microphysics
• PBL
• Cumulus
• Long-wave
• short-wave
• Europe