Data · dataset · 2026
Evaluation of Urban Canopy Models against near-surface measurements in Houston during a strong frontal passage
Listed in National Center for Atmospheric Research
Urban canopy models (UCMs) in mesoscale numerical weather prediction models need evaluation to understand biases in urban environments under a range of conditions.
Description
The authors evaluate a new drag formula in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model's multilayer UCM, the Building Effect Parameterization combined with the Building Energy Model (BEP+BEM), against both in-situ measurements in the urban environment as well as simulations with a simple bulk scheme and BEP+BEM using the old drag formula.
The new drag formula varies with building packing density, while the old drag formula is constant. The case study is a strong cold frontal passage that occurred in Houston during the winter of 2017, causing high winds. It is found that both BEP+BEM simulations have lower peak wind speeds, consistent with near-surface measurements, while the bulk simulation has winds that are too strong.
Read the rest (1 more)
The constant-drag BEP+BEM simulation has a near-zero wind speed bias, while the new-drag simulation has a negative bias. Although the focus is on the impact of drag on the urban wind speeds, both BEP+BEM simulations have larger negative biases in the near-surface temperature than the bulk-scheme simulation. Reasons for the different performances are discussed.
Links
Get the data
- Publisher page n2t.org/ark:/85065/d73r0xps ↗
documentation · download · from data ucar edu
Where it is published
- data.ucar.edu /dataset/evaluation-of-urban-canopy-models-against-near-surface… ↗
National Center for Atmospheric Research dataset page
landing page · from data ucar edu
Catalogue records · 1
- CKAN API data.ucar.edu/api/3/action/package_show?id=33761888-4ec7-40b3-94dd-b6a1a1416… ↗
metadata API · from data ucar edu
Topics
- From keywords
- Earth & Environmental Science · Ocean & Atmospheric Science
- Inferred from text
- Hydrology 75% · Simulation 75%
Provenance · 1 source records, 9 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Center for Atmospheric Research | 33761888-4ec7-40b3-94dd-b6a1a14169d7 | 10 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| concepts[field].anzsrc:group:3707 | enrichment · data ucar edu | taxonomy-embedding@1.1.0 | title+keywords+description (75%) |
| concepts[field].local:field:earth-environmental | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:ocean-atmospheric | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[method].local:method:simulation | enrichment · data ucar edu | keyword-concept-rules@1.0.0 | title+description (75%) |
| created_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /notes |
| publication_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /title |
| updated_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 |