Overview

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is a state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction system that is highly configurable and suitable for a broad range of weather applications. Given the numerous options available, it is important to rigorously test configurations to assess the performance of select configurations for specific applications. To assess the performance of the new schemes, the Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) peformed testing and evaluation with the Advanced Research WRF (ARW) dynamic core (Skamarock et al. 2008) over several physics suites, at the request of the sponsor, the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA).

AFWA has interest in improvements in specific physics options (e.g., planetary boundary layer (PBL), surface layer, and radiation schemes). One configuration was based on AFWA's operational configuration, which now provides a baseline for testing and evaluating new options available in the WRF system. One comparison configuration consisted of substituting AFWA's current operational PBL and surface layer schemes with the Quasi-Normal Scale Elimination (QNSE; Sukoriansky et al. 2005) schemes; this testing was performed with WRF v3.1.1 in late 2009 and again with WRF v3.2.1 in late 2010. In late 2011, another comparision configuration was run with WRF v3.3.1 and consisted of substituting AFWA's current operational long-wave and short-wave schemes with the updated Rapid Radiative Transfer Model (RRTMG; Iacono et al. 2008) radiation schemes.