WRF Simulations to Investigate Processes Across Scales (WRFSCALE)

Scientific aspects ranging from boundary layer research and land modification experiments to the investigation of a high-impact weather situation in southwestern Germany were addressed with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model from the km-scale down to the turbulence-permitting scale. Case study simulations in as different regions as the central United States, the United Arab Emirates and southwestern Germany were performed to investigate the evolution of the convective boundary layer or a severe thunderstorm. The multi-nested WRF setup, driven by the operational analysis of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), high-resolution terrain, and land cover data sets simulated a realistic evolution of the internal turbulent structure of the boundary layer including the transitions between daytime and nighttime conditions. Land modification simulations in the United Arab Emirates demonstrated that plantations as small as 10 \(\,\times \,\) 10 \(\textrm{km}^2\) could modify the weather pattern in this area in a way that more precipitation reaches the desert.