scholarly journals Investigating the Effect of Urbanization on Weather Using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model: A Case of Metro Manila, Philippines

Environments ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jervie Oliveros ◽  
Edgar Vallar ◽  
Maria Galvez

The effect of urbanization of Metro Manila, particularly on the amount of sensible heat flux, rainfall and temperature of selected urban and rural areas, was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Version 3.4.1 (WRFV3.4.1) model. National Center for Environmental Prediction - Final (NCEP-FNL) grib1 data from 2000 to 2010 were used as inputs into the model for meteorological data. The Mann–Kendall trend test (M–K test) was utilized to verify the significance of the trends while Sen’s slope estimator was used to quantify the measured trends. Results showed that, on average, the sensible heat flux of Metro Manila is about 1.5 × 108 Jm−2 higher than in selected areas outside Metro Manila. The occurrence of an urban heat island (UHI) effect was detected in Metro Manila by comparing the difference in the minimum and maximum temperatures. For the selected urban and rural areas, the minimum and maximum temperature differences (relative to Metro Manila) are around 0.4 to 2.4 °C and 0.83 to 2.3 °C, respectively. Metro Manila recorded higher 11-year average values of rainfall during the summer season (8% to 64%), rainy season (15% to 305%), and transition season (8% to 232%) when compared with selected areas from 25 to 100 km from Manila. These results show that the sensible heat flux, temperature and rainfall in Metro Manila is affected by Metro Manila’s urbanization.

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (14) ◽  
pp. 5141-5156 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Burakowski ◽  
S. V. Ollinger ◽  
G. B. Bonan ◽  
C. P. Wake ◽  
J. E. Dibb ◽  
...  

Abstract The New England region of the northeastern United States has a land use history characterized by forest clearing for agriculture and other uses during European colonization and subsequent reforestation following widespread farm abandonment. Despite these broad changes, the potential influence on local and regional climate has received relatively little attention. This study investigated wintertime (December through March) climate impacts of reforestation in New England using a high-resolution (4 km) multiphysics ensemble of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model. In general, the conversion from mid-1800s cropland/grassland to forest led to warming, but results were sensitive to physics parameterizations. The 2-m maximum temperature (T2max) was most sensitive to choice of land surface model, 2-m minimum temperature (T2min) was sensitive to radiation scheme, and all ensemble members simulated precipitation poorly. Reforestation experiments suggest that conversion of mid-1800s cropland/grassland to present-day forest warmed T2max +0.5 to +3 K, with weaker warming during a warm, dry winter compared to a cold, snowy winter. Warmer T2max over forests was primarily the result of increased absorbed shortwave radiation and increased sensible heat flux compared to cropland/grassland. At night, T2min warmed +0.2 to +1.5 K where deciduous broadleaf forest replaced cropland/grassland, a result of decreased ground heat flux. By contrast, T2min of evergreen needleleaf forest cooled –0.5 to –2.1 K, primarily owing to increased ground heat flux and decreased sensible heat flux.


Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 350
Author(s):  
Huoqing Li ◽  
Hailiang Zhang ◽  
Ali Mamtimin ◽  
Shuiyong Fan ◽  
Chenxiang Ju

The USGS (United States Geological Survey) land-use data used in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model have become obsolete as they are unable to accurately represent actual underlying surface features. Therefore, this study developed a new multi-satellite remote-sensing land-use dataset based on the latest GLC2015 (Global Land Cover, 2015) land-use data, which had 300 m spatial resolution. The new data were used to update the default USGS land-use dataset. Based on observational data from national meteorological observing stations in Xinjiang, northwest China, a comparison of the old USGS and new GLC2015 land-use datasets in the WRF model was performed for July 2018, where the simulated variables included the sensible heat flux (SHF), latent heat flux (LHF), surface skin temperature (Tsk), two-meter air temperature (T2), wind speed (Winds), specific humidity (Q2) and relative humidity (RH). The results indicated that there were significant differences between the two datasets. For example, our statistical verification results found via in situ observations made by the MET (model evaluation tools) illustrated that the bias of T2 decreased by 2.54%, the root mean square error (RMSE) decreased by 1.48%, the bias of Winds decreased by 10.46%, and the RMSE decreased by 6.77% when using the new dataset, and the new parameter values performed a net positive effect on land–atmosphere interactions. These results suggested that the GLC2015 land-use dataset developed in this study was useful in terms of improving the performance of the WRF model in the summer months.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2179-2187 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Haghroosta ◽  
W. R. Ismail ◽  
P. Ghafarian ◽  
S. M. Barekati

Abstract. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model includes various configuration options related to physics parameters, which can affect the performance of the model. In this study, numerical experiments were conducted to determine the best combination of physics parameterization schemes for the simulation of sea surface temperatures, latent heat flux, sensible heat flux, precipitation rate, and wind speed that characterized typhoons. Through these experiments, several physics parameterization options within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were exhaustively tested for typhoon Noul, which originated in the South China Sea in November 2008. The model domain consisted of one coarse domain and one nested domain. The resolution of the coarse domain was 30 km, and that of the nested domain was 10 km. In this study, model simulation results were compared with the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data set. Comparisons between predicted and control data were made through the use of standard statistical measurements. The results facilitated the determination of the best combination of options suitable for predicting each physics parameter. Then, the suggested best combinations were examined for seven other typhoons and the solutions were confirmed. Finally, the best combination was compared with other introduced combinations for wind-speed prediction for typhoon Washi in 2011. The contribution of this study is to have attention to the heat fluxes besides the other parameters. The outcomes showed that the suggested combinations are comparable with the ones in the literature.


2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 1341-1353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hanna ◽  
Edson Marciotto ◽  
Rex Britter

AbstractSurface energy fluxes, at averaging times from 10 min to 1 h, are needed as inputs to most state-of-the-art dispersion models. The sensible heat flux is a major priority, because it is combined with the momentum flux to estimate the stability, the wind profile, and the turbulence intensities. Because of recent concerns about dispersion in built-up downtown areas of large cities, there is a need to estimate sensible heat flux in the midst of tall buildings. In this paper, the authors work with some high-quality and relevant but arguably underutilized data. The results of analysis of urban heat flux components from 10 locations in suburban and built-up downtown areas in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, during the Joint Urban 2003 (JU2003) field experiment are presented here. At street level in the downtown area, in the midst of tall skyscrapers, the ground heat flux and the sensible heat flux are relatively large and the latent heat flux is relatively small when compared with concurrent fluxes observed in the upwind suburban areas. In confirmation of measurements in other cities, the sensible heat flux in the downtown area is observed to be slightly positive (10–20 W m−2) at night, indicating nearly neutral or slightly unstable conditions. Also in agreement with observations in other cities is that the ground heat flux in the downtown area has a magnitude that is 3 or 4 times that in suburban or rural areas. These results should permit improved parameterizations of sensible heat fluxes in the urban downtown area with tall buildings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 4967-4981
Author(s):  
Lian Liu ◽  
Yaoming Ma ◽  
Massimo Menenti ◽  
Rongmingzhu Su ◽  
Nan Yao ◽  
...  

Abstract. Snow albedo is important to the land surface energy balance and to the water cycle. During snowfall and subsequent snowmelt, snow albedo is usually parameterized as functions of snow-related variables in land surface models. However, the default snow albedo scheme in the widely used Noah land surface model shows evident shortcomings in land–atmosphere interaction estimates during snow events on the Tibetan Plateau. Here, we demonstrate that our improved snow albedo scheme performs well after including snow depth as an additional factor. By coupling the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and Noah models, this study comprehensively evaluates the performance of the improved snow albedo scheme in simulating eight snow events on the Tibetan Plateau. The modeling results are compared with WRF run with the default Noah scheme and in situ observations. The improved snow albedo scheme significantly outperforms the default Noah scheme in relation to air temperature, albedo and sensible heat flux estimates by alleviating cold bias estimates, albedo overestimates and sensible heat flux underestimates, respectively. This in turn contributes to more accurate reproductions of snow event evolution. The averaged root mean square error (RMSE) relative reductions (and relative increase in correlation coefficients) for air temperature, albedo, sensible heat flux and snow depth reach 27 % (5 %), 32 % (69 %), 13 % (17 %) and 21 % (108 %), respectively. These results demonstrate the strong potential of our improved snow albedo parameterization scheme for snow event simulations on the Tibetan Plateau. Our study provides a theoretical reference for researchers committed to further improving the snow albedo parameterization scheme.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 861-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Christiaan Kalverla ◽  
Gert-Jan Duine ◽  
Gert-Jan Steeneveld ◽  
Thierry Hedde

AbstractIn the winter of 2012/13, the Katabatic Winds and Stability over Cadarache for the Dispersion of Effluents (KASCADE) observational campaign was carried out in southeastern France to characterize the wind and thermodynamic structure of the (stable) planetary boundary layer (PBL). Data were collected with two micrometeorological towers, a sodar, a tethered balloon, and radiosoundings. Here, this dataset is used to evaluate the representation of the boundary layer in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. In general, it is found that diurnal temperature range (DTR) is largely underestimated, there is a strong negative bias in both longwave radiation components, and evapotranspiration is overestimated. An illustrative case is subjected to a thorough model-physics evaluation. First, five PBL parameterization schemes and two land surface schemes are employed. A marginal sensitivity to PBL parameterization is found, and the sophisticated Noah land surface model represents the extremes in skin temperature better than does a more simple thermal diffusion scheme. In a second stage, sensitivity tests for land surface–atmosphere coupling (through parameterization of z0h/z0m), initial soil moisture content, and radiation parameterization were performed. Relatively strong surface coupling and low soil moisture content result in a larger sensible heat flux, deeper PBL, and larger DTR. The larger sensible heat flux is not supported by the observations, however. It turns out that, for the selected case, a combination of subsidence and warm-air advection is not accurately simulated, but this inaccuracy cannot fully explain the discrepancies found in the WRF simulations. The results of the sensitivity analysis reiterate the important role of initial soil moisture values.


1990 ◽  
Vol 36 (123) ◽  
pp. 217-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger J. Braithwaite ◽  
Ole B. Olesen

AbstractDaily ice ablation on two outlet glaciers from the Greenland ice sheet, Nordbogletscher (1979–83) and Qamanârssûp sermia (1980–86), is related to air temperature by a linear regression equation. Analysis of this ablation-temperature equation with the help of a simple energy-balance model shows that sensible-heat flux has the greatest temperature response and accounts for about one-half of the temperature response of ablation. Net radiation accounts for about one-quarter of the temperature response of ablation, and latent-heat flux and errors account for the remainder. The temperature response of sensible-heat flux at QQamanârssûp sermia is greater than at Nordbogletscher mainly due to higher average wind speeds. The association of high winds with high temperatures during Föhn events further increases sensible-heat flux. The energy-balance model shows that ablation from a snow surface is only about half that from an ice surface at the same air temperature.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document