Evaluation of Model Simulations of Polar Lows with Satellite Data

Abstract

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations of several Polar lows observed in the Barents and Norwegian seas are evaluated using satellite data. The modeled surface wind speed (SWS) is compared to the SWS retrieved from the measurements of the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) and Advanced Scanning Microwave Radiometer (AMSR-E). The ASCAT and AMSR-E data combined with the images of the Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) were used to validate the simulated PL trajectories. A series of numerical experiments using different model setup shown that although the reanalysis dataset used to obtain initial and boundary conditions and the initialization time of simulations are the major contributing factors for the model results, the choice of combination of the parameterization schemes may also significantly influence the simulated direction of the PL trajectory and SWS estimates.