Evaluation of the Weather Research and Forecasting model in simulating fire weather for the south-west of Western Australia
Jatin Kala
A C , Alyce Sala Tenna A , Daniel Rudloff A B , Julia Andrys A , Ole Rieke A B and Thomas J. Lyons A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Environmental and Conservation Sciences and Centre for Climate Impacted Terrestrial Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
B Climate Physics: Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Kiel – Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel 24118, Germany.
C Corresponding author. Email: J.Kala@murdoch.edu.au
International Journal of Wildland Fire 29(9) 779-792 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF19111
Submitted: 23 July 2019 Accepted: 29 April 2020 Published: 21 May 2020
Abstract
The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to simulate fire weather for the south-west of Western Australia (SWWA) over multiple decades at a 5-km resolution using lateral boundary conditions from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA)-Interim reanalysis. Simulations were compared with observations at Australian Bureau of Meteorology meteorological stations and the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) was used to quantify fire weather. Results showed that, overall, the WRF reproduced the annual cumulative FFDI at most stations reasonably well, with most biases in the FFDI ranging between –600 and 600. Biases were highest at stations within the metropolitan region. The WRF simulated the geographical gradients in the FFDI across the domain well. The source of errors in the FFDI varied markedly between the different stations, with no one particular variable able to account for the errors at all stations. Overall, this study shows that the WRF is a useful model for simulating fire weather for SWWA, one of the most fire-prone regions in Australia.
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