Configuration and Evaluation of the WRF Model for the Study of Hawaiian Regional Climate

Abstract

he Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model V3.3 has been configured for the Hawaiian Islands as a regional climate model for the region (HRCM). This paper documents the model configuration and presents a preliminary evaluation based on a continuous 1-yr simulation forced by observed boundary conditions with 3-km horizontal grid spacing in the inner nested domain. The simulated vertical structure of the temperature and humidity are compared with twice-daily radiosonde observations at two stations. Generally the trade wind inversion (TWI) height and occurrence days are well represented. The simulation over the islands is compared with observations from nine surface climatological stations and a dense network of precipitation stations. The model simulation has generally small biases in the simulated surface temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. The model realistically simulated the magnitude and geographical distribution of the mean rainfall over the Hawaiian Islands. In addition, the model simulation reproduced reasonably well the individual heavy rainfall events as seen from the time series of pentad mean rainfall averaged over island scales. Also the model reproduced the geographical variation of the mean diurnal rainfall cycle even though the observed diurnal cycle displays quite different features over different islands. Comparison with results obtained using the land surface dataset from the official release of the WRF model confirmed that the newly implemented land surface dataset generally improved the simulation of surface variables. These results demonstrate that the WRF can be a useful tool for dynamical downscaling of regional climate over the Hawaiian Islands.