A Multisensor Evaluation of the Asymmetric Convective Model, Version 2 in Eastern Texas

Although there have been a variety of planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes developed to represent the effects of turbulence in daytime convective conditions, uncertainties correlated with these schemes remain a large source of inaccuracy in meteorology and air quality model simulations. This study evaluates a new combined local and nonlocal closure PBL scheme, the Asymmetric Convective Model, version 2 (ACM2) in eastern Texas against PBL observations taken from ten radar wind profilers, a ground-based lidar, and multiple daytime radiosonde balloon launches. Comparisons are made between these observations and outputs from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model version 3.1 with the ACM2 PBL scheme option, as well as outputs from the meteorological modeling that is currently being used to develop ozone control strategies in the HGB area. Results show that the WRF-ACM2 combination is much more accurate at representing the spatial and temporal evolution of the PBL in Eastern Texas