Regional Weather Modeling for the Paso del Norte Region: A Sensitivity Study for Determining PBL

Paso del Norte region, which comprises of City of El Paso (USA), City of Juarez (Mexico) and some adjacent cities of New Mexico State has a complex and unique topography .In this paper, the downscaling of the Weather research and forecast (WRF) model has applied to this region. Planetary boundary layer (PBL) plays an important role in air quality model and regional weather model as well. It is important for understanding air pollution development, transport and dispersion, which are integral to modeling and forecasting. In this study, we try to determine and validate the PBL with ceilometer and Numerical weather models like WRF and Hysplits. Data from a prior Radiosonde and Ozonesonde launching campaign which took place in the summer of 2017 were also used for this study. Furthermore, In the Hysplit model different meteorological data sets like Eta Data assimilation system (EDAS), Global data assimilation system (GDAS) and High-resolution rapid refresh (HRRR) were used to calculate the PBL and was inter-compared for efficiency and accuracy. In addition, this study compares different pbl scheme of Weather Research and forecast model to determine which is suitable for this complex terrain region.