the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Evaluating wind profiles in a numerical weather prediction model with Doppler lidar
Pyry Samuel Sebastian Pentikäinen
Ewan James O'Connor
Pablo Ortiz-Amezcua
Abstract. We use Doppler lidar wind profiles from six locations around the globe to evaluate the wind profile forecasts in the boundary layer generated by the operational global integrated forecast system (IFS) from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The six locations selected cover a variety of surfaces with different characteristics (rural, marine, mountainous urban, coastal urban).
We first validated the Doppler lidar observations at four locations by comparison with collocated radiosonde profiles to ensure that the Doppler lidar observations were of sufficient quality. The two observation types agree well, with the mean absolute error (MAE) in wind speed almost always less than 1 ms-1. Large deviations in the wind direction were usually seen only for low wind speeds, and is due to the wind direction uncertainty increasing rapidly as the wind speed tends to zero.
Time-height composites of the wind evaluation with one-hour resolution were generated and evaluation of the model winds showed that the IFS model performs best over marine and coastal locations, where the mean absolute wind vector error was usually less than 3 ms-1 at all heights within the boundary layer. Larger errors were seen in locations where the surface was more complex, especially in the wind direction. For example, in Granada, which is near a high mountain range, the IFS model failed to capture a commonly occurring mountain breeze, which is highly dependent on the sub grid-size terrain features that are not resolved by the model. The uncertainty in the wind forecasts increased with forecast lead time, but no increase in the bias was seen.
At one location, we conditionally performed the wind evaluation based on the presence or absence of a low-level-jet diagnosed from the Doppler lidar observations. The model was able to reproduce the presence of the low-level-jet but the wind speed maximum was about 2 ms-1 lower than observed. This is attributed to the effective vertical resolution of the model being too coarse to create the strong gradients in wind speed observed.
Our results show that Doppler lidar is a suitable instrument for evaluating the boundary layer wind profiles in atmospheric models.
Pyry Samuel Sebastian Pentikäinen et al.
Status: closed
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RC1: 'Comment on gmd-2022-150', Stefano Letizia, 03 Aug 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://gmd.copernicus.org/preprints/gmd-2022-150/gmd-2022-150-RC1-supplement.pdf
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EC1: 'Comment on gmd-2022-150', Nicola Bodini, 16 Aug 2022
Dear authors,
Unfortunately, after checking your manuscript, it has come to our attention that it does not comply with our Code and Data Policy (https://www.geoscientific-model-development.net/policies/code_and_data_policy.html).
Specifically, you have not archived your code. Please, publish your code following the above-mentioned instructions (note you need to list a license for the code you will publish), and reply to this comment with the relevant information (link and DOI) as soon as possible, as it should be available for the Discussions stage.
Thank you,
Nicola Bodini
GMD Topical Editor
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2022-150-EC1 -
RC2: 'Comment on gmd-2022-150', Eleni Marinou, 23 Aug 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://gmd.copernicus.org/preprints/gmd-2022-150/gmd-2022-150-RC2-supplement.pdf
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AC1: 'Response to referees comments', Pyry Pentikainen, 29 Sep 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://gmd.copernicus.org/preprints/gmd-2022-150/gmd-2022-150-AC1-supplement.pdf
Status: closed
-
RC1: 'Comment on gmd-2022-150', Stefano Letizia, 03 Aug 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://gmd.copernicus.org/preprints/gmd-2022-150/gmd-2022-150-RC1-supplement.pdf
-
EC1: 'Comment on gmd-2022-150', Nicola Bodini, 16 Aug 2022
Dear authors,
Unfortunately, after checking your manuscript, it has come to our attention that it does not comply with our Code and Data Policy (https://www.geoscientific-model-development.net/policies/code_and_data_policy.html).
Specifically, you have not archived your code. Please, publish your code following the above-mentioned instructions (note you need to list a license for the code you will publish), and reply to this comment with the relevant information (link and DOI) as soon as possible, as it should be available for the Discussions stage.
Thank you,
Nicola Bodini
GMD Topical Editor
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2022-150-EC1 -
RC2: 'Comment on gmd-2022-150', Eleni Marinou, 23 Aug 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://gmd.copernicus.org/preprints/gmd-2022-150/gmd-2022-150-RC2-supplement.pdf
-
AC1: 'Response to referees comments', Pyry Pentikainen, 29 Sep 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://gmd.copernicus.org/preprints/gmd-2022-150/gmd-2022-150-AC1-supplement.pdf
Pyry Samuel Sebastian Pentikäinen et al.
Data sets
Doppler lidar wind profiles from Kumpula Finnish Meteorological Institute https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6628968
Doppler lidar wind profiles from Granada University of Granada IISTA-CEAMA https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6628923
Doppler Lidar Horizontal Wind Profiles (DLPROFWIND4NEWS) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility https://doi.org/10.5439/1178582
NWP model data (ECMWF IFS) Ewan O'Connor https://doi.org/10.23728/fmi-b2share.b14b1df4a83f4c7dbb54badc2eef607a
Balloon-Borne Sounding System (SONDEWNPN) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility https://doi.org/10.5439/1021460
Pyry Samuel Sebastian Pentikäinen et al.
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