ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-11-2127-2011 Evaluation of urban surface parameterizations in the WRF model using measurements during the Texas Air Quality Study 2006 field campaign Lee S.-H. 1 2 Kim S.-W. 1 2 Angevine W. M. 1 2 Bianco L. 1 2 McKeen S. A. 1 2 Senff C. J. 1 2 Trainer M. 2 Tucker S. C. 1 2 3 Zamora R. J. 2 Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA now at: Ball Aerospace and Technologies, Corporation, Boulder, Colorado, USA 09 03 2011 11 5 2127 2143 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/2127/2011/acp-11-2127-2011.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/2127/2011/acp-11-2127-2011.pdf

The performance of different urban surface parameterizations in the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) in simulating urban boundary layer (UBL) was investigated using extensive measurements during the Texas Air Quality Study 2006 field campaign. The extensive field measurements collected on surface (meteorological, wind profiler, energy balance flux) sites, a research aircraft, and a research vessel characterized 3-dimensional atmospheric boundary layer structures over the Houston-Galveston Bay area, providing a unique opportunity for the evaluation of the physical parameterizations. The model simulations were performed over the Houston metropolitan area for a summertime period (12–17 August) using a bulk urban parameterization in the Noah land surface model (original LSM), a modified LSM, and a single-layer urban canopy model (UCM). The UCM simulation compared quite well with the observations over the Houston urban areas, reducing the systematic model biases in the original LSM simulation by 1–2 °C in near-surface air temperature and by 200–400 m in UBL height, on average. A more realistic turbulent (sensible and latent heat) energy partitioning contributed to the improvements in the UCM simulation. The original LSM significantly overestimated the sensible heat flux (~200 W m<sup>−2</sup>) over the urban areas, resulting in warmer and higher UBL. The modified LSM slightly reduced warm and high biases in near-surface air temperature (0.5–1 °C) and UBL height (~100 m) as a result of the effects of urban vegetation. The relatively strong thermal contrast between the Houston area and the water bodies (Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico) in the LSM simulations enhanced the sea/bay breezes, but the model performance in predicting local wind fields was similar among the simulations in terms of statistical evaluations. These results suggest that a proper surface representation (e.g. urban vegetation, surface morphology) and explicit parameterizations of urban physical processes are required for accurate urban atmospheric numerical modeling.

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