Abstract
We evaluated the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model in simulating the boundary-layer structure at an urban site in Seoul on two clear summer days against observations made using a ceilometer, a Doppler wind lidar, and a microwave radiometer. The planetary boundary-layer height (PBLH) was estimated from two different methods using observations: the ceilometer-based method (CBM) and bulk Richardson number method (BRM). The maximum PBLH was well captured by the model but PBLH was underestimated in the late afternoon and evening. To examine the cause for underestimation of PBLH in the evening, we compared the wind and virtual potential temperature structure between the simulation and observations. The model captured the timing of the sea breeze well, but it considerably overestimated the intensity of the simulated sea breeze, resulting in an overestimated cold advection by a sea breeze. The effect of the overestimated cold advection on evening PBLH was greater when the sea breeze arrived in the late afternoon and hence the vertical extent of the sea breeze was shallow. This study underscores the importance of accurately simulating the sea breeze for PBLH prediction in the evening, over the inland urban areas under sea breeze penetration.
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Data Availability
Observed data can be provided upon request; for further inquiries contact (Moon-Soo Park, ngeograph2@gmail.com).
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) of the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) as “Water Management Research Program” (79615). The ceilometer, microwave radiometer, wind lidar, and surface meteorological tower data were jointly provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration (Weather Information Service Engine) and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments on this study.
Funding
The Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) of the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) as “Water Management Research Program” (79615).
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Young-Hee Lee: Organize the research paper, write manuscript and perform data analysis.
Moon-Soo Park: Take charge of tower and remote sensing measurements and estimate PBLH using ceilometer data.
Yuna Choi: Perform model and analysis of modeling results.
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Lee, YH., Park, MS. & Choi, Y. Planetary Boundary-Layer Structure at an Inland Urban Site under Sea Breeze Penetration. Asia-Pacific J Atmos Sci 57, 701–715 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-020-00222-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-020-00222-1