The Performance of a Scale-Aware Nonlocal PBL Scheme for the Subkilometer Simulation of a Deep CBL over the Taklimakan Desert

Although realistic representation of the convective boundary layer (CBL) in the desert region in Northwest China is important for weather forecasts and climate simulations, evaluations of the performance of various planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes in simulating the CBL in the region are rare. In this study, the performance of a scale-aware PBL scheme newly implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in simulating the CBL in the Taklimakan desert is evaluated based on a comparison with both the WRF-LES simulations and observations, with the focus on scale dependencies of the simulations compared to the conventional PBL scheme. A series of simulations are performed with a scale-aware PBL scheme (Shin-Hong) and the conventional PBL scheme (YSU) for a deep CBL observed at Tazhong station in the central Taklimakan on 1 July 2016. The CBL was over 5000 m deep with wider and deeper rolls than in a shallow boundary layer. The results showed that the vertical structure simulated with the Shin-Hong scheme was closer to that in both the WRF-LES (large-eddy-simulation) and observations than that simulated with the YSU. The simulation with the scale-aware scheme reproduced cellular rolls similar to those in the WRF-LES, while the conventional PBL scheme struggled to trigger intense convective cells rather than cellular rolls. The results strongly suggest that the scale-aware nonlocal PBL scheme can be used to adequately reproduce the scale and evolution of the observed rolls in the deep CBL in Taklimakan desert at subkilometer resolutions.