An Objective Methodology for Configuring and Down-Selecting an NWP Ensemble for Low-Level Wind Prediction

AbstractEnsembles of numerical weather prediction (NWP) model predictions are used for a variety of forecasting applications. Such ensembles quantify the uncertainty of the prediction because the spread in the ensemble predictions is correlated to forecast uncertainty. For atmospheric transport and dispersion and wind energy applications in particular, the NWP ensemble spread should accurately represent uncertainty in the low-level mean wind. To adequately sample the probability density function (PDF) of the forecast atmospheric state, it is necessary to account for several sources of uncertainty. Limited computational resources constrain the size of ensembles, so choices must be made about which members to include. No known objective methodology exists to guide users in choosing which combinations of physics parameterizations to include in an NWP ensemble, however. This study presents such a methodology.The authors build an NWP ensemble using the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting Model (...

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