TITLE:
Comparison of WRF Model Physics Parameterizations over the MENA-CORDEX Domain
AUTHORS:
George Zittis, Panos Hadjinicolaou, Jos Lelieveld
KEYWORDS:
WRF, Physics Parameterizations, Regional Climate Modeling, Sensitivity, MENA, CORDEX
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Climate Change,
Vol.3 No.5,
December
31,
2014
ABSTRACT: We
investigated the performance of 12 different physics configurations of the
climate version of the Weather, Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model over the
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) domain. Possible combinations among two
Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL), three Cumulus (CUM) and two Microphysics (MIC)
schemes were tested. The 2-year simulations (December 1988-November 1990) have
been compared with gridded observational data and station measurements for
several variables, including total precipitation and maximum and minimum 2-meter
air temperature. An objective ranking method of the 12 different simulations
and the selection procedure of the best performing configuration for the MENA
domain are based on several statistical metrics and carried out for relevant
sub-domains and individual stations. The setup for cloud microphysics is found
to have the strongest impact on temperature biases while precipitation is most
sensitive to the cumulus parameterization scheme and mainly in the tropics.