Articles | Volume 19, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-5139-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-5139-2026
Development and technical paper
 | 
15 Jun 2026
Development and technical paper |  | 15 Jun 2026

A local terrain smoothing approach for stabilizing microscale and high-resolution mesoscale simulations: a case study using FastEddy® (v3.0) and WRF (v4.6.0)

Eloisa Raluy-López, Domingo Muñoz-Esparza, and Juan Pedro Montávez

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Cited articles

Arnold, D., Morton, D., Schicker, I., Seibert, P., Rotach, M. W., Horvath, K., Dudhia, J., Satomura, T., Müller, M., Zängl, G., Takemi, T., Serafin, S., Schmidli, J., and Schneider, S.: High Resolution Modelling in Complex Terrain: Report on the HiRCoT 2012 Workshop, Vienna, 21–23 February 2012, BOKU-Met Report 21, Institut für Meteorologie, Department Wasser–Atmosphäre–Umwelt, Universität für Bodenkultur, Vienna, Vienna, Austria, http://www.boku.ac.at/met/report/BOKU-Met_Report_21_online.pdf (last access: June 2025), 2012. a, b, c
Bonafè, G., Bacer, S., Gallai, I., and Montanari, F.: Global soil type dataset for WRF-ARW model, based on HWSD version 2, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10907096, 2024. a
Bouëdec, E. L., Chemel, C., and Staquet, C.: Dealing with steep slopes when modeling stable boundary-layer flow in Alpine terrain, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 151, e4835, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4835, 2025. a
Cannon, F., Carvalho, L. M. V., Jones, C., Norris, J., Bookhagen, B., and Kiladis, G. N.: Effects of topographic smoothing on the simulation of winter precipitation in High Mountain Asia, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122, 1456–1474, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD026038, 2017. a
Chen, F. and Dudhia, J.: Coupling an Advanced Land Surface–Hydrology Model with the Penn State–NCAR MM5 Modeling System. Part I: Model Implementation and Sensitivity, Mon. Weather Rev., 129, 569–585, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(2001)129<0569:CAALSH>2.0.CO;2, 2001. a
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Short summary
High-resolution atmospheric simulations can become numerically unstable over steep terrain. Traditional terrain smoothing approaches modify the domain globally, reducing terrain detail. We developed a local smoothing method that improves simulation stability while only modifying steep-slope points, helping to retain the benefits of high-resolution modeling. Tested in a mesoscale and a microscale atmospheric model, it is computationally efficient, easy to implement, and adaptable to other models.
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