Application of the NCAR FastEddy® microscale model to a lake breeze front

This study investigates how urban environments influence boundary layer processes during the passage of a Great Salt Lake breeze using a multi-scale modeling system, NCAR's WRF-Coupled GPU-accelerated FastEddy (R) (FE) model. Motivated by the need for sub-10 m scale decision support tools for uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), the FE model was used to simulate turbulent flows around urban structures at 5 m horizontal resolution with a 9 km x 9 km domain centered on the Salt Lake City International Airport. FE was one-way nested within a 1 km resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) domain spanning 400 x 400 km. Focused on the late morning lake breeze on 3 June 2022, an FE simulation was compared with WRF outputs and validated using surface and radar observations. The FE simulation revealed low sensible heat flux and cool near-surface temperatures, attributed to a relatively low specification of thermal roughness suitable for previously tested FE applications. Lake breeze characteristics were minimally affected, as FE effectively resolved interactions between the lake breeze and urban-induced turbulent eddies, providing insights into fine-scale boundary layer processes. FE's GPU acceleration ensured efficient simulations, underscoring its potential for aiding decision support in UAS operations in complex urban environments.

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Author B. M. Welch
J. D. Horel
Sauer, Jeremy
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2024-07-06T00:00:00
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Topic Category geoscientificInformation
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Metadata Date 2025-07-10T20:00:25.837676
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:27403
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation B. M. Welch, J. D. Horel, Sauer, Jeremy. (2024). Application of the NCAR FastEddy® microscale model to a lake breeze front. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d77s7t18. Accessed 02 August 2025.

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