The SEAWIND project is part of the Spanish Strategic Action for the study of climate change impacts on the coast. The goal of this project is performing a high-resolution (15 km) regional re-forecast coupling the WRF-ARW v3.1.1 model to NCEP reanalysis1 conditions, focusing on surface wind. Before the dynamical downscaling, a set of sensitivity tests were performed in order to obtain the best WRF-ARW configuration. Here are presented the results of a sensitivity study on the horizontal and vertical resolution of the simulations. It is well known the positive role of increasing horizontal and vertical resolutions of the numerical weather simulations. The higher the resolution of the simulation, the better representation of atmospheric processes. However, it is not clear if a relation between horizontal and vertical resolution of the configuration of numerical simulations should be kept. In literature a wide spectrum of combinations of horizontal and vertical resolutions in the simulations is found. A series of 3-month length simulations on a Mediterranean domain with different combinations of horizontal and vertical resolutions were made. Results were validated to different observed and re-analysed fields in order to study the degree of improvement of each combination of vertical and horizontal resolution. The possibility of existence of a power law between horizontal and vertical resolution was also analysed. Thus, the study attempts to provide an objective way to determine the appropriate resolution of a simulation based on meteorological aspects more than on computer limitations or personal experiences.
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