Simulation performance of planetary boundary layer schemes in WRF v4.3.1 for near-surface wind over the western Sichuan Basin: a single-site assessment

Abstract. The topography of the Sichuan Basin is complex, and high-resolution wind field simulations over this region are of great significance for meteorology, air quality, and wind energy utilization. In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to investigate the performance of different planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes in simulating near-surface wind fields over the Sichuan Basin at a spatial resolution of 0.33 km. The experiment is based on multiple case studies of a selection of 28 near-surface wind events from 2021 to 2022, and a total of 112 sensitivity simulations were carried out and compared to observations by employing four commonly used PBL schemes: the Yonsei University (YSU) scheme, the Mellor–Yamada–Janjić (MYJ) scheme, the Mellor–Yamada–Nakanishi–Niino level 2 (MYNN2) scheme, and the quasi-normal scale elimination (QNSE) scheme. The results demonstrate that the wind direction can be reasonably reproduced, and its sensitivity to the PBL scheme appears to be less pronounced compared to the near-surface wind speed, though some variability is still observed. As for wind speed, the QNSE scheme had the best performance in reproducing the temporal variation out of the four schemes, while the MYJ scheme had the smallest model bias. Further cluster analysis demonstrates that the sensitivity of the PBL schemes is affected by diurnal variation and different circulation geneses. For instance, when the near-surface wind event, caused by the southward movement of strong cold air, occurred between 06:00 and 08:00 UTC, the variation and speed were well reproduced by all four PBL schemes, and the differences between them were small. However, the simulation results for strong winds occurring during midnight to the early hours of the morning exhibit poor root mean square errors but high correlation coefficients, whereas for strong wind processes happening in the early to late evening hours and for southwesterly wind processes, the opposite pattern occurs. Overall, the four schemes are better for near-surface wind simulations in daytime than at night. The results show the role of PBL schemes in wind field simulations under unstable weather conditions and provide a valuable reference for further research in the study area and surrounding areas.