Sensitivity study of PBL schemes and soil initialization using the WRF-BEP-BEM model over a Mediterranean coastal city

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...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Segura Barrero, Ricard|||0000-0003-1048-1875, Badia, Alba|||0000-0003-0906-8258, Ventura, Sergi|||0000-0003-2529-209X, Gilabert, Joan|||0000-0002-8718-1312, Martilli, Alberto|||0000-0002-7795-5871, Villalba, Gara|||0000-0001-6392-0902
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:251948
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/251948
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100982
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Heat wave
Urban parameterization
WRF BEP BEM
Boundary layer
Urban morphology
Descripción
Sumario: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