The effects of lateral boundary conditions resolution for heat island studies in tropical urban of Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

Lateral boundary condition (LBC) is one of the key features included in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulation model. Nowadays, numerous LBCs were developed with various spatial (grid) and temporal resolutions for a wide range of applications. Choosing the most suitable LBCs to ensure appropriate representation of climates should be properly conducted. Thus, this paper analysed the effects of the LBC resolutions on the regional climate downscaling for heat island studies. The comparisons were made on the performance of respective LBCs to regenerate the near-surface temperature distributions within the Kuala Lumpur city. NCEP GDAS/FNL 0.25 Degree Global Tropospheric Analyses dataset with higher spatial and temporal resolution was found to perform better than the other LBC during intermonsoon season. However, both datasets were determined to give reliable representations of urban climate condition within the city as both datasets depicted close results in determining the impact of urbanization on the thermal environment.