Open AccessHigh resolution modelling of valley cold pools
Author(s) -
Vosper Simon,
Carter Emilie,
Lean Humphrey,
Lock Adrian,
Clark Peter,
Webster Stuart
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl2.439
Subject(s) - terrain , grid , horizontal resolution , meteorology , environmental science , pooling , grid cell , geology , representation (politics) , climatology , geodesy , computer science , geography , cartography , artificial intelligence , politics , political science , law
The Met Office Unified Model has been adapted to run with a 100 m horizontal grid length for a region of complex terrain whose valleys are too narrow to be represented in the operational forecast (1.5 km grid length) model. Forecasts of temperatures are compared with observations from the COLd air Pooling EXperiment . The model provides a realistic representation of valley cold pools which form during stable nights, although the predictions are shown to be sensitive to vertical resolution. Reducing the vertical grid spacing near the surface results in lower night‐time temperatures and larger, more realistic, valley–hill temperature contrasts.