Initial Results of Modeling Winds in the Kittitas Valley with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC 140
Start Date
16-5-2013
End Date
16-5-2013
Abstract
The purpose of this project was to analyze the characteristic late spring and early summer Ellensburg evening wind and identify conditions associated with it. Previous research published by Doran and Zhong proposed that these typical Ellensburg winds are caused by the creation of a deep mixing layer building up on the west side of the Cascades when there is a large temperature difference between eastern and western Washington. In order to accomplish the analysis, the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) was selected for modeling and computation. WRF was installed on a CWU workstation and initial models of Kittitas Valley weather were created. It was then realized that in order to understand the model's output fully, it would be necessary to use a graphical display program to interpret the results. NCAR Graphics Command Language (NCL) was chosen as the best program to meet this need. NCL was built on one of the computers in the Physics Department and there are plans to put it on a Linux thumb drive. The entire process of obtaining input data, performing modeling with WRF and interpreting the results with NCL has now been completed for multiple test cases. Throughout the endeavor, the difficulty in identifying, acquiring, and implementing resources has changed the goal of the project to setting up WRF and NCL for future research projects and performing “proof of concept” model runs using WRF and NCL for Ellensburg wind conditions.
Recommended Citation
Wenger, David, "Initial Results of Modeling Winds in the Kittitas Valley with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model" (2013). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 139.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2013/oralpresentations/139
Additional Mentoring Department
Physics
Initial Results of Modeling Winds in the Kittitas Valley with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model
SURC 140
The purpose of this project was to analyze the characteristic late spring and early summer Ellensburg evening wind and identify conditions associated with it. Previous research published by Doran and Zhong proposed that these typical Ellensburg winds are caused by the creation of a deep mixing layer building up on the west side of the Cascades when there is a large temperature difference between eastern and western Washington. In order to accomplish the analysis, the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) was selected for modeling and computation. WRF was installed on a CWU workstation and initial models of Kittitas Valley weather were created. It was then realized that in order to understand the model's output fully, it would be necessary to use a graphical display program to interpret the results. NCAR Graphics Command Language (NCL) was chosen as the best program to meet this need. NCL was built on one of the computers in the Physics Department and there are plans to put it on a Linux thumb drive. The entire process of obtaining input data, performing modeling with WRF and interpreting the results with NCL has now been completed for multiple test cases. Throughout the endeavor, the difficulty in identifying, acquiring, and implementing resources has changed the goal of the project to setting up WRF and NCL for future research projects and performing “proof of concept” model runs using WRF and NCL for Ellensburg wind conditions.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Michael Braunstein