Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF)

The WRF has multiple applications through scales ranging from tens of meters to global. For atmospheric research, the simulations with WRF can be in real time or idealized, with or without data assimilation and in addition the coupling with other models. This model uses the minimum of physical components, incident radiation, boundary conditions, soil surface parametrization, convective parametrization, an eddy diffusion scheme and microphysical options (Skamarock et al, 2005). Within the framework of the National Laboratory for Coastal Resilience (LANRESC) and the project "Coastal Observatory for studies of resilience to climate change", within the CONACYT Chairs Call, the study of the "Effects of climate change on the variability of the wind on the coast of Yucatan" was proposed. Which aim is to study the impact of climate change on atmospheric dynamics on the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. The dynamics of the area are mainly dominated by mesoscale atmospheric processes (Nortes) and local processes (sea breezes). Therefore, it is required the use of numerical models of high spatial and temporal resolution that allow to characterize the atmospheric dynamics in the events that happen along the year.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Financial support was provided by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT) through Cátedras-CONACyT program (Coastal Observatory for studies of resilience to climate change-1146).
The National Coastal Resilience Laboratory (LN-293354), and the SENER-CONACyT-201441.
The Institute of Engineering - Engineering Laboratory and Coastal Processes, UNAM.

REFERENCES:
Skamarock W.C., J.B. Klemp, J. Dudhia, D.O. Gill, D.M. Barker, W. Wang and J.G. Powers. 2005. “A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 2”. NCAR Technical Note NCAR/TN-468+STR. National Center for Atmospheric Research. 88 pp.


EXPERIMENT # 1

Model configuration for NCSAL project.
Three nested grids with 33, 11 and 3 km spatial resolution in a domain of 4.32°S, 32.25°N, 101.07°W and 68.9°E. The simulation time is of 25 days hindcast (03/24/2014 -18/04/2014) with 30 vertical levels. The initial and boundary conditions that were used are the ERA-Interim (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts)(http://www.ecmwf.int) reanalysis database, which has a 0.75° x 0.75° spatial resolution and a 6 hrs temporal resolution. The top atmosphere was fixed at 50 mb and the dynamics and microphysics parameterizations were established according to the most used and standardized mesoscale model processes in the literature. The simulation output are every 3 hrs.

EXPERIMENT # 2

Three nested grids with 33, 11 and 3 km spatial resolution in a domain of 4.32°S, 32.25°N, 101.07°W and 68.9°E. The simulation time is of 39 years hindcast (1985-2015) with 30 vertical levels. The initial and boundary conditions that were used are the ERA-Interim (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts)(http://www.ecmwf.int) reanalysis database, which has a 0.75° x 0.75° spatial resolution and a 6 hrs temporal resolution. The top atmosphere was fixed at 50 mb and the dynamics and microphysics parameterizations were established according to the most used and standardized mesoscale model processes in the literature. The simulation output are every 3 hrs for the 33 km grid and hourly for 11 and 3 km grid.

EXPERIMENT # 3

Three nested grids with 33, 11 and 3 km spatial resolution in a domain of 4.32°S, 32.25°N, 101.07°W and 68.9°E. The simulation time is of 30 years forecast (2070-2100) with 30 vertical levels. The initial and boundary conditions that were used are from the WCRP’s (World Climate Research Programme’s) downscaled CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) Climate and Hydrology Projections del Multi-Model Dataset Archive at PCMDI (Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison). The top atmosphere was fixed at 50 mb and the dynamics and microphysics parameterizations were established according to the most used and standardized mesoscale model processes in the literature. The simulation output are every 3 hrs.