Comparative Evaluation of High Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction Models COSMO-WRF

The COSMO-Model is a nonhydrostatic limited-area atmospheric prediction model, designed for both operational numerical weather prediction and various scientific applications on the meso − β and meso − γ scale. The COSMO-Model is based on the primitive thermohydrodynamical equations describing compressible flow in a moist atmosphere. Model equations are formulated in rotated geographical coordinates and a generalized terrain following height coordinate. A variety of physical processes are taken into account by parameterization schemes. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the comparative evaluation of the quality of high resolution weather forecasts from numerical weather prediction models COSMO 2.8km (Consortium for Small Scale Modelling) and WRF - 3km (Weather Research and Forecast model). The numerical weather prediction model COSMO - 2.8km is currently being run at the National Meteorological Administration once a day, at 00 UTC. WRF is a non-hidrostatic numerical weather prediction model developed by NCEP (National Centre for Environmental Prediction) in collaboration with the international meteorological comunity. In order to compare the performance of the two models, the WRF model was implemented at the 3km resolution and integrated with 00 UTC data for a test period. The integration domains of the two models cover the entire Romanian territory (COSMO-2.8km 361 × 291 grid points and WRF-3km 261 × 191 grid points, see figure 1).