GC43F-04
WFIP2 – The Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project: Observing Systems And Case Studies

Thursday, 17 December 2015: 14:25
2022-2024 (Moscone West)
James M Wilczak1, Joel Cline2, Robert M Banta3, Leon Benjamin3, Stan Benjamin3, Larry K Berg4, Laura Bianco3, Jim Bickford5, Alan Brewer6, Aditya Choukulkar7, Kirk Clawson8, Andrew Clifton9, David R. Cook10, Irina Djalalova6, Harindra Fernando11, Katja Friedrich12, Jaymes Kenyon6, Branko Kosovic13, Clark W King1, Melinda Marquis6, James R McCaa14, Kathleen McCaffrey6, Joseph B Olson12, Yelena L Pichugina15, Justin Sharp, William J Shaw4, Kyle Wade5, Sonia Wharton17, Julie K Lundquist18, Kathleen O Lantz3 and Charles N. Long19, (1)NOAA Boulder, Earth Systems Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Department of Energy Washington DC, Washington, DC, United States, (3)NOAA Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, United States, (5)Vaisala Inc., Louisville, CO, United States, (6)NOAA, Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States, (7)NOAA, Boulder, CO, United States, (8)NOAA air resources laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, United States, (9)National Renewable Energy Lab, Golden, CO, United States, (10)Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, United States, (11)University of Notre Dame,, Notre Dame, IN, United States, (12)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (13)National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States, (14)3TIER, Vaisala, Seattle, WA, United States, (15)Colorado University/NOAA/ESRL, Boulder, CO, United States, (16)Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, United States, (17)U. of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (18)Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
The second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2) is a DOE and NOAA funded public-private partnership whose goal is to improve NWP model forecast skill for turbine-height winds in regions with complex terrain. WFIP2 partners include DOE National Laboratories (PNNL, ANL, NREL, LLNL), NOAA Laboratories (ESRL, ARL), Vaisala Inc., NCAR, the University of Notre Dame and University of Colorado, and the Bonneville Power Administration. A core element of WFIP2 is an 18 month field program located in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the Columbia River Gorge and Basin in eastern Oregon and Washington states, with instrument deployment occurring in the summer and autumn of 2015. The approach taken is to collect an extensive set of new meteorological observations, especially within the atmospheric boundary layer, use these to observe and understand relevant atmospheric processes, develop and test new model physical parameterization schemes, and ultimately transfer these improved models to NOAA/NWS operations and to the wider meteorological community. Observing systems that will be deployed for WFIP2 include:

  • 11 wind profiling radars

  • 17 sodars

  • 5 wind profiling lidars

  • 4 scanning lidars

  • 4 radiometers

  • 10 microbarographs

  • ceilometer

  • 28 sonic anemometers

    Numerical models that are being used for WFIP2 are WRF-based models including the NOAA RAP (Rapid Refresh) and High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR), as well as the NAM and GFS. Science issues that are being addressed include gap flow, mountain waves, mountain wakes, convective storm outflows, the mix-out of stable cold pools, and boundary layer turbulence profiling. An overview of WFIP2 will be given with an emphasis on the suite of instrumentation deployed and their observational capabilities. Several case studies of interesting meteorological events from the first several months of the field program will be presented, including comparisons with model forecasts.

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