Verification of the WRF-ARW Eclipse Model Using Observations from the 14 October 2023 and 8 April 2024 Solar Eclipses

As a part of the NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, 19 teams conducted hourly radiosonde launches along the paths of annularity and totality for the 14 October 2023 and 8 April 2024 solar eclipses, respectively. In total, each team completed 30-hourly launches, starting 24 hours before the peak of the eclipse and ending six hours after, collecting atmospheric profiles of temperature, dewpoint, pressure, wind speed and direction up to ~30,000 m asl. Each team operated a surface weather station at their launch site collecting 2-meter temperature, relative humidity, pressure, solar irradiance, and wind speed and direction at 2-second intervals.

The data collected at three for each eclipse was used to verify the accuracy of the WRF-ARW eclipse model in predicting the atmospheric response to the annular and total solar eclipses. Additionally, several planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes were tested for their influence on forecast skill of the lower troposphere during the eclipses. Analyses include the comparison of atmospheric profiles of temperature and dewpoint and timeseries of surface variables, such as temperature and wind speed and direction.