Comparison of WRF Model Physics Parameterizations over the MENA-CORDEX Domain

Zittis, George; Hadjinicolaou, Panos; Lelieveld, J.

doi:10.4236/ajcc.2014.35042

Cited by 50 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…WRF is a next-generation meso-scale numerical weather prediction system, which was originally designed to serve operational forecasting needs and also atmospheric research. Nevertheless, over the last years its use as a regional climate model is commonplace (Salathé et al, 2010;Chotamonsak et al, 2011;Nikulin et al, 2012;Soares et al, 2012;Warrach-Sagi et al, 2013a, 2013bZittis et al, 2014b;Katragkou et al, 2015). Regional climate modeling with WRF is not widespread in the MENA region, and most of the relevant studies focus either on Europe, Africa or the Americas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of radiation parameterization schemes on surface temperature in regional climate simulations over the MENA‐CORDEX domain

Zittis

Hadjinicolaou

2016

Intl Journal of Climatology

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We investigated the effect of radiation schemes on the performance of a climate version of the Weather, Research and Forecasting (CLWRF) model over a domain covering the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), so often called the Arab domain. The ability of the model to reproduce recent past climate conditions was tested with 30-year simulations that cover the 1981-2010 period. The model was driven by the ERA-Interim reanalyses at a horizontal resolution of 50 km. We explored the sensitivity of the model to the short-and long-wave (LW) radiation parameterizations by testing the RRTMG and CAM3 schemes in order to optimize the model performance as a contribution to the MENA-CORDEX initiative. The results have been compared with gridded surface observational data and satellite measurements for several variables, including mean, maximum and minimum 2-m air temperature, total cloud cover and surface short-and LW radiation fluxes. The model is found to capture reasonably well the inter-annual variability and the observed warming trends over the last three decades. Although we generally found that CAM3 driven simulations are relatively cooler than the RRTMG driven ones, each radiation scheme can give better results depending on the season, location and dominant land use type of each of the model's grid point. The largest discrepancies between these hindcast simulations are found over the desert part of the domain while they are found to closely agree over southern Europe.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of radiation parameterization schemes on surface temperature in regional climate simulations over the MENA‐CORDEX domain

Zittis

Hadjinicolaou

2016

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…It is noteworthy that we did not focus on sensibility test of schemes in this research. However, the quality of WRF simulations has been evaluated for the study region in some studies (e.g., Peffers 2008;Zittis et al 2014). …”

Section: Brief Description Of the Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of extreme dust events observed over two urban areas in Iran

et al. 2016

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Determination of dust loading in the atmosphere is important not only from the public health point of view, but also for regional climate changes. The present study focuses on the characteristics of two major dust events for two urban areas in Iran, Kermanshah and Tehran, over the period of 4 years from 2006 to 2009. To detect extreme dust outbreaks, various datasets including synoptic data, dust concentration, reanalysis data and numerical results of WRF and HYSPLIT models were used. The weather maps demonstrate that for these events dusts are mainly generated when wind velocity is high and humidity is low in the lower troposphere and the region is under the influence of a thermal low. The event lasts until the atmospheric stability prevails and the surface wind speed weakens. The thermal low nature of the synoptic conditions of these major events is also responsible for deep boundary layer development with its thermals affecting the vertical dust flux over the region. Trajectory studies show that the dust events originated from deserts in Iraq and Syria and transported towards Iran. The main distinction between the two types of mobilizations seems to affect the dust concentrations in the Tehran urban area.

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“…WRF-ARW version 3.5 [27] was used for a four-year simulation over the period 1998-2001; a six-month spin-up period starting from July 1997 was also added, with these four years considered as a flood period for the basin. The simulation was performed over two nested domains: the parent domain was the MENA-CORDEX region [28], which covers the Middle East and North Africa region with a horizontal spatial resolution of 0.44 degrees (~50 km), and another nested domain centered over the study area with a horizontal spatial resolution of 0.088 • (~10 km). All analyses were carried out for the two nested domains.…”

Section: Model Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of A Regional Climate Model for the Eastern Nile Basin: Terrestrial and Atmospheric Water Balance

et al. 2019

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The study of water balance is considered here as a way to assess the performance of regional climate models and examine model uncertainty and as an approach to understanding regional hydrology, especially interactions between atmospheric and hydrological processes. We studied the atmospheric and terrestrial water balance over the Eastern Nile Basin (ENB) region using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model. The model performance in simulating precipitation and surface air temperature is assessed by comparing the model output with the data from the Global Precipitation Climatology Center dataset for precipitation and from the University of Delaware for temperature. The results show that the simulated and observed values correlate well. In terms of water balance, the study region was found to be a sink for moisture, where the atmospheric convergence is negative during most of the time. Most of the precipitation originates from moisture fluxes from outside the domain, and the contribution of local evapotranspiration to precipitation is limited, with small values for the moisture recycling ratios year-round. The atmospheric moisture content does not show significant monthly or annual variation. The results indicate that the terrestrial water storage varies seasonally, with negative fluxes during most of the year, except June, July, and August, when most of the precipitation occurs.

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Comparison of WRF Model Physics Parameterizations over the MENA-CORDEX Domain

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 50 publications

References 41 publications

The effect of radiation parameterization schemes on surface temperature in regional climate simulations over the MENA‐CORDEX domain

The effect of radiation parameterization schemes on surface temperature in regional climate simulations over the MENA‐CORDEX domain

Characteristics of extreme dust events observed over two urban areas in Iran

Evaluation of A Regional Climate Model for the Eastern Nile Basin: Terrestrial and Atmospheric Water Balance

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