WRFv3.0 ARW PS:8.1.1.2.3.2.3
WRFv3.0 ARW PS:8.1.1.2.3.2.3
- Code
- Domain
- Model
- Initialization
- Cases
- Verification
Codes Employed
The components of the end-to-end forecast system used for this test included:
• WRF Preprocessing System (WPS) (v3.0)
• WRF-ARW model (v3.0)
• WRF Post Processor (WPP) (v3.0)
• NCEP Verification System
• NCAR Command Language (NCL) for graphics generation
• Statistical programming language, R, to perform aggregations
and compute confidence intervals
Domain Configuration
• Contiguous U.S. (CONUS) domain with roughly 13-km grid
spacing (selected such that it fits within the RUC13 domain)
Click thumbnail for larger image.
• 400 x 304 gridpoints, for a total of 121,600 horizontal gridpoints
• 50 vertical levels (51 sigma entries)
• Lambert-Conformal map projection
Sample Namelists
Physics Suite
Microphysics: | Thompson |
Radiation (LW/SW): | RRTM/Dudhia |
Surface Layer: | Janjic |
Land Surface: | RUC |
PBL: | Mellor-Yamada-Janjic |
Convection: | Grell-Devenyi Ensemble |
Other run-time settings
• Long timestep = 72 s; Acoustic timestep = 18 s
• Calls to the boundary layer, microphysics and cumulus
parameterization were made every time step
• Calls to radiation were made every 30 minutes
• Sample namelist.input
Initial and Boundary Conditions
• Initial conditions (ICs): Rapid Update Cycle (RUC13) model
• Lateral Boundary Conditions (LBCs): North American
Mesoscale Model (NAM212)
(Note: For the retrospective period used, the forecast
component of the NAM was the Eta model.)
• Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Initialization: NCEPs daily,
real-time SST product
Cases Run
• Forecast Dates: 25 March - 25 April 2006
• Initializations: 00 and 12 UTC every day
• Forecast Length: 24 hours; output files generated every 3
hours
The following cases did not successfully complete the entire end-to-end process due to the reason stated:
• 20060329 12 UTC - missing RFC analysis
• 20060402 00 UTC - corrupt RUC input
• 20060413 00 UTC - missing NAM input
• 20060417 12 UTC - missing RUC input
• 20060418 00 UTC - missing RUC input
• 20060423 00 UTC - missing RFC analysis
• 20060423 12 UTC - missing RFC analysis and RUC prepbufr
Verification
The NCEP Verification System is comprised of:
• Surface and Upper Air Verification System (grid-to-point
comparison)
• Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) Verification
System (grid-to-grid comparison)
From these, model verification partial sums (aggregated by geographical region using the mean) were generated and objective model verification statistics were then computed using the statistical programming language, R. Confidence intervals (CIs), at the 99% level, were applied to each of the variables using the appropriate statistical method.
Objective verification statistics generated included:
• Bias-corrected Root Mean Square Error (BCRMSE) and Mean
Error (Bias) for:
• Surface Temperature (2 m), Relative Humidity (2 m) and
Winds (10 m)
• Upper Air Temperature, Relative Humidity and Winds
• Equitable Threat Score (ETS) and Frequency Bias (FBias) for:
• 3-hr and 24-hr Precipitation Accumulation intervals
Verification results were computed for select spatial aggregations, including the entire CONUS (G164), CONUS-West (G165), and CONUS-East (G166) domains.
Descriptions of the verification metrics computed can be found in Appendix B of the WRF-RR Vertical Levels Final Report.