10.1
An improved representation of urban areas for operational weather forecasting models
Ian Harman, Met Office, Reading, Berks., United Kingdom; and P. A. Clark and M. Best
It has been shown that representing urban areas within operational mesoscale weather forecasting models is important for weather forecasts within cities. It have also been shown that a simple and computationally cheap scheme can lead to a significant improvement in the quality of the forecast. However weaknesses still exist within these simple schemes. To improve these forecasts further, changes need to be made to the simple schemes which incorporate important physical processes occurring within urban areas. These improvements should also require the minimum amount of additional input data and computational expense.
This paper will discuss the impact of an improved urban scheme that is appropriate for an operational model. It demonstrates that more than one energy balance is required within a city, but that it is possible to do this whilst retaining a simple and computationally efficient approach. Results from this new scheme will be compared to the original urban energy canopy model and conclusions about the new represented processes will be presented.
.Session 10, Urban Weather (parallel with sessions 9 and J5)
Wednesday, 25 August 2004, 1:30 PM-2:30 PM
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