Addition of multilayer urban canopy models to a nonlocal planetary boundary layer parameterization and evaluation using ideal and real cases

The multilayer urban canopy models (UCMs) building effect parameterization (BEP) and BEP + building energy model (BEM; a building energy model integrated in BEP) are added to the Yonsei University (YSU) planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. The additions allow for the first analysis of the detailed effects of buildings on the urban boundary layer in a nonlocal closure scheme. The modified YSU PBL parameterization is compared with the other 1.5-order local PBL parameterizations that predict turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), Mellor–Yamada–Janjić and Bougeault– Lacarerre, using both ideal and real cases. The ideal-case evaluation confirms that BEP and BEP+BEM produce the expected results in the YSU PBL parameterization because the simulations are qualitatively similar to the TKE-based PBL parameterizations in which the multilayer UCMs have long existed. The modified YSU PBL parameterization is further evaluated for a real case. Similar to the ideal case, there are larger differences among the different UCMs (simple bulk scheme, BEP, and BEP+BEM) than across the PBL parameterizations when the UCM is held fixed. Based on evaluation against urban near-surface wind and temperature observations for this case, the BEP and BEP+BEM simulations are superior to the simple bulk scheme for each PBL parameterization.