Improving weather forecasts by updating the surface boundary conditions of a numerical weather prediction model for the Maltese Islands

Abstract

Multiple sectors of modern society have become dependent on accurate and regular weather forecasts. These allow them to make strategic and informed decisions in order to preserve and maintain their assets. Weather forecasts have also become an integral part of various systems and services, such as Decision Support Systems and Early Warning Systems, all of which play a crucial role in modern societies. Numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are used to accurately compute synoptic weather conditions. One of the most commonly used NWP atmospheric simulators is the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model (Lu, Zhong, Charney, Bian, & Liu, 2012; Evan, Alexander, & Dudhia, 2012), (Evan, Alexander, & Dudhia, 2012); Giannaros, Melas, Daglis, Keramitsoglou, & Kourtidis, 2013)). This model is a collaborative design effort between research and operational meteorological communities. It offers a state-of-theart system which is continuously maintained to represent this critical body of knowledge within the scientific community. The WRF model is freeware with a wide variety of applications and which can be transferred and downloaded onto a variety of platforms. It is often used for both research and operational applications (Skamarock, et al., 2008).