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Numerical simulations of an advection fog event over Shanghai Pudong International Airport with the WRF model

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Abstract

A series of numerical simulations is conducted to understand the formation, evolution, and dissipation of an advection fog event over Shanghai Pudong International Airport (ZSPD) with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Using the current operational settings at the Meteorological Center of East China Air Traffic Management Bureau, the WRF model successfully predicts the fog event at ZSPD. Additional numerical experiments are performed to examine the physical processes associated with the fog event. The results indicate that prediction of this particular fog event is sensitive to microphysical schemes for the time of fog dissipation but not for the time of fog onset. The simulated timing of the arrival and dissipation of the fog, as well as the cloud distribution, is substantially sensitive to the planetary boundary layer and radiation (both longwave and shortwave) processes. Moreover, varying forecast lead times also produces different simulation results for the fog event regarding its onset and duration, suggesting a trade-off between more accurate initial conditions and a proper forecast lead time that allows model physical processes to spin up adequately during the fog simulation. The overall outcomes from this study imply that the complexity of physical processes and their interactions within the WRF model during fog evolution and dissipation is a key area of future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aviation Meteorological Center, Air Traffic Management Bureau, Civil Aviation Administration of China, Beijing, 100122, China

    Caiyan Lin & Zhongfeng Zhang

  2. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Zhaoxia Pu

  3. Meteorological Center, East China Air Traffic Management Bureau, Civil Aviation Administration of China, Shanghai, 200335, China

    Fengyun Wang

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  1. Caiyan Lin
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  2. Zhongfeng Zhang
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  3. Zhaoxia Pu
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  4. Fengyun Wang
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Correspondence to Caiyan Lin.

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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (4130511 and U1233138) and Safety Capability Enhancement Program of Civil Aviation Administration of China (TMSA1605).

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Lin, C., Zhang, Z., Pu, Z. et al. Numerical simulations of an advection fog event over Shanghai Pudong International Airport with the WRF model. J Meteorol Res 31, 874–889 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-017-6187-2

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