Sensitivity study of PBL schemes and soil initialization using the WRF-BEP-BEM model over a Mediterranean coastal city
Segura Barrero, Ricard (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Badia, Alba (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Ventura, Sergi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Gilabert, Joan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Martilli, Alberto (Centro de Investigación en Energía, Medio Ambiente y Tecnología)
Villalba, Gara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	Due to increased urbanization and global warming, cities are experiencing more heat wave (HW) events that cause extreme heat stress. To mitigate such effects, a better understanding of the impact of urban morphology on the boundary layer development is needed. This study investigates the sensitivity of mesoscale simulations using the WRF model coupled with the building effect parameterization and the building energy model (BEP-BEM) at a 1-km resolution to 1) soil moisture initializations; 2) the inclusion of site-specific urban morphology parameters; and 3) the planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme. A HW episode that occurred in the metropolitan area of Barcelona serves as the case study. We find that the use of a high-resolution land data assimilation system (HRLDAS) to initialize soil properties results in larger temperature diurnal range, but it did not improve the performance of simulated temperatures compared to using low-resolution ERA5 data. The inclusion of site-specific urban parameters improved the representation of urban fractions, reducing the night-time overprediction of 2-m temperatures compared to using default urban parameters. Overall, the Bougeault-Lacarrere (BouLac) scheme represents the PBL-height noontime observations better than the Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) scheme. This was related to a better representation of daytime near-surface temperatures by the BouLac scheme compared to the MYJ scheme.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M European Commission 818002 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca SGR-01412 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MDM-2015-0552
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Heat wave ; Urban parameterization ; WRF BEP BEM ; Boundary layer ; Urban morphology
Published in:	Urban climate, Vol. 39 (September 2021) , art. 100982, ISSN 2212-0955

DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100982

24 p, 13.8 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Sustainability and Environmental Protection (Sostenipra)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles