Calibration and Use of Site-Specific Urban Weather Observations Data using Microscale Modeling

We propose to develop a capability to correct and calibrate intra-urban sited meteorological stations data for subsequent use by NWP, ATD and force protection models. This new capability will provide a number of related innovations, including: a standalone software capability to assist in the siting of meteorological stations in urban areas; the development of sensor-centralized vertical profiles to be passed to NWP and other models; the incorporation of rapidly generated, high-resolution wind and turbulence fields into synthetic natural environments for high-resolution CBRN/E urban dispersion modeling; and the development of correlations between less trusted intra-urban sites to accepted “truth” meteorological stations readings. By performing constrained optimizations using pre-computed, Computational Fluid Dynamics generated wind and turbulence field libraries, this new technique will construct mass, momentum and energy conserving, high-resolution, microscale wind and turbulence fields that satisfy the meteorological sensor data readings in a “best-fit” framework. Phase I will develop the wind library and optimization procedures, evaluate the approach using urban area field test data, explore uses of the best-fit wind fields, and develop an integration plan for incorporation of the approach into existing and next generation consequence assessment models in Phase II and III.