Abstract
Appropriate choice of physics options among many physics parameterizations is important when using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The responses of different physics parameterizations of the WRF model may vary due to geographical locations, the application of interest, and the temporal and spatial scales being investigated. Several studies have evaluated the performance of the WRF model in simulating the mean climate and extreme rainfall events for various regions in Australia. However, no study has explicitly evaluated the sensitivity of the WRF model in simulating heatwaves. Therefore, this study evaluates the performance of a WRF multi-physics ensemble that comprises 27 model configurations for a series of heatwave events in Melbourne, Australia. Unlike most previous studies, we not only evaluate temperature, but also wind speed and relative humidity, which are key factors influencing heatwave dynamics. No specific ensemble member for all events explicitly showed the best performance, for all the variables, considering all evaluation metrics. This study also found that the choice of planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme had largest influence, the radiation scheme had moderate influence, and the microphysics scheme had the least influence on temperature simulations. The PBL and microphysics schemes were found to be more sensitive than the radiation scheme for wind speed and relative humidity. Additionally, the study tested the role of Urban Canopy Model (UCM) and three Land Surface Models (LSMs). Although the UCM did not play significant role, the Noah-LSM showed better performance than the CLM4 and NOAH-MP LSMs in simulating the heatwave events. The study finally identifies an optimal configuration of WRF that will be a useful modelling tool for further investigations of heatwaves in Melbourne. Although our results are invariably region-specific, our results will be useful to WRF users investigating heatwave dynamics elsewhere.
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Acknowledgements
Data support by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) Australia, ECMWF (ERA-interim) data server (http://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/interim-full-daily/levtype=ml/) and University of Wyoming (atmospheric sounding data) data server (http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html) are gratefully acknowledged. Authors also acknowledge Dr. Sachindra Dhanapala Arachchige for his cooperation in this study. The creation of the ANUClim data was funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Ecosystem Modelling and Scaling Infrastructure (eMAST) Facility under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) 2013–2014 budget initiative of the Australian Government Department of Industry, the Australian Government Department of Environment in support of the National Carbon Accounting System, and the Australian National University. The comments of an anonymous reviewer helped to improve the manuscript. All this assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
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Imran, H.M., Kala, J., Ng, A.W.M. et al. An evaluation of the performance of a WRF multi-physics ensemble for heatwave events over the city of Melbourne in southeast Australia. Clim Dyn 50, 2553–2586 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-017-3758-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-017-3758-y