WRF Large-Eddy Simulation Data from Realtime Runs Used to Support UAS Operations during LAPSE-RATE

Realtime micro-scale weather simulations were performed to support UAV (Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle) flights during the ISARRA Lower Atmospheric Process Studies at Elevation – Remotely-piloted Aircraft Team Experiment (LAPSE-RATE) field deployment. These simulations were performed by driving a nested grid configuration of the Weather Research and Forecasting model with its innermost mesh being run at 111 m grid spacing. The innermost grid was nested within a grid with 1 km grid spacing. The outermost grid being driven using operational forecast models data as described below. While the MYNN2 PBL scheme is used to parameterize turbulence in the 1 km grid, the PBL scheme is turned off within the 111 m grid, thus, allowing large-scale turbulent eddies to be resolved by WRF primitive equations. Details of the model configuration and data formats are given in Pinto et al. (2021).

LAPSE-RATE took place in the San Luis Valley of Colorado during July of 2018. Goals of LAPSE-RATE were to sample the finescale evolution of the boundary layer and associated sub-mesoscale flows across a sub-alpine desert valley using a combination of surface-based instrumentation and in situ data collected using numerous, low-flying small UAVs. The realtime simulations were produced twice per day in order to support mission planning and UAVs flight operations. The simulation used for next-day planning was run using forcing data from NCEP's Global Forecast System (GFS) while the simulation available each morning of the experiment to support in flight operations was run using data from the NCEP High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR), Version 3. Both simulations were valid between 04:00 and 16:00 MDT. The dataset consists of two sets of files: 3D grids and high temporal resolution time series and profiles for a select group of grid points. The 3D grids consist of all relevant basic state parameters (p,T,U,RH) and diagnostics (e.g., sub-grid scale TKE, ceiling height, visibility) that have been interpolated to flight levels AGL using the Unified Post-Processor (UPP). The UPP was used to de-stagger the mass and wind fields, interpolate forecast data to flight levels AGL and to compute diagnostics such as visibility, ceiling height, and radar reflectivity. Point data were stored for select grid points coincident with 3 fixed observation sites set up during LAPSE-RATE (i.e., Sagauche, Moffat and Leach Airfield). The 3D grid files are stored every 10 min, while grid point data have a time resolution of 0.666 and 6 seconds for the 111 m grid spacing domain and 1 km grid spacing domain, respectively.

Please see the README files for more details describing the dataset.

Pinto, J. O., A. A. Jensen, P. A. Jiménez, T. Hertneky, D. Muñoz-Esparza, A. Dumont, and M. Steiner, 2021: Realtime WRF-LES simulations during 2018 LAPSE-RATE. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, in press, doi:10.5194/essd-2020-242.