Compressible EULAG Dynamical Core in COSMO: Convective-Scale Alpine Weather Forecasts

This paper presents the semi-implicit compressible EULAG as a new dynamical core for convective-scale numerical weather prediction. The core is implemented within the infrastructure of the operational model of the Consortium for Small-Scale Modeling (COSMO), forming the NWP COSMO-EULAG model (CE). This regional high-resolution implementation of the dynamical core complements its global implementation in the Finite-Volume Module of ECMWF’s Integrated Forecasting System. The paper documents the first operational-like application of the dynamical core for realistic weather forecasts. After discussing the formulation of the core and its coupling with the host model, the paper considers several high-resolution prognostic experiments over complex Alpine orography. Standard verification experiments examine the sensitivity of the CE forecast to the choice of the advection routine and assess the forecast skills against those of the default COSMO Runge–Kutta dynamical core at 2.2-km grid size showing a general improvement. The skills are also compared using satellite observations for a weak-flow convective Alpine weather case study, showing favorable results. Additional validation of the new CE framework for partly convection-resolving forecasts using 1.1-, 0.55-, 0.22-, and 0.1-km grids, designed to challenge its numerics and test the dynamics–physics coupling, demonstrates its high robustness in simulating multiphase flows over complex mountain terrain, with slopes reaching 85°, and the flow’s realistic representation.