Toward Improving the Representation of Urban Processes in the HRRR Model: A Coupling of the MYNN Scheme with BEP+BEM

In order to improve forecasting over urban regions the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model has built-in functions for representing urban meteorology. Before this project however, the configurations used by NOAA’s RAP/HRRR group were incompatible with the use of urban physics, since the latter is limited to only two boundary-layer schemes within WRF. The Mellor-Yamada-Nakanishi-Niino (MYNN) boundary-layer scheme, actively developed at the Earth Systems Research Lab in Boulder, CO was not compatible with the Building Environment Parameterization coupled with a Building Energy Model (BEP+BEM) and therefore limited its potential use in operational forecasting. The main results of this work were the resolving of compatibility issues between MYNN and BEPBEM and the testing of its performance over New York City against data from ground-based remote sensing instruments.