Evaluating the different schemes for studying wind fields with WRF-LES

Abstract

A suitable forecasting tool which accounts for the mesoscale processes, local scale flows as well as the microscale effects is necessary for some applications close to the land surface. Using the Weather and Research Forecasting model (WRF) a simulation over the Maltese islands was carried out in order to predict wind flows at vertical heights up to 100 m. This project follows a previous setup of the improved WRF-LES (Large Eddy Simulation) configuration. The wind fields generated for this project have a higher spatial resolution, with a five nested simulation starting from a 24 km horizontal resolution nest and reaching a final nest having a horizontal resolution of 100 m centred over the Maltese Islands. Another addition to this project involves the optimisation of the physics schemes used by this model in order to reproduce close to surface wind flows.