.. _wrf_suews_integration: WRF-SUEWS Coupling ================== The `WRF-SUEWS coupling project `_ integrates the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric model with SUEWS to provide detailed urban climate simulations at the mesoscale. .. warning:: **Version Compatibility**: WRF-SUEWS is currently based on an older version of SUEWS. Integration with modern SuPy workflows requires additional development work. Overview -------- **Purpose:** WRF-SUEWS combines the strengths of both models: - **WRF**: Mesoscale atmospheric dynamics, 3D meteorological fields - **SUEWS**: Detailed urban surface energy and water balance processes **Key Benefits:** - **Two-way coupling**: SUEWS provides surface fluxes to WRF, WRF provides meteorological forcing to SUEWS - **Urban-specific physics**: Detailed representation of urban surface processes within mesoscale simulations - **High-resolution urban climate**: Better representation of urban heat islands and urban meteorology - **Research applications**: Urban climate change studies, heat wave analysis, urban planning support Technical Architecture ---------------------- **Coupling Strategy:** The integration replaces WRF's default urban canopy model with SUEWS: 1. **Initialisation**: SUEWS surface parameters integrated into WRF land use data 2. **Runtime coupling**: At each timestep, WRF calls SUEWS for surface flux calculations 3. **Data exchange**: Meteorological variables and surface fluxes exchanged between models 4. **Output**: Combined WRF atmospheric fields with SUEWS surface diagnostics **Supported Features:** - **Seven surface types**: Buildings, paved surfaces, vegetation, water bodies - **Energy balance**: Complete surface energy balance including storage heat flux - **Water balance**: Urban hydrology including runoff and evapotranspiration - **Anthropogenic effects**: Human activities and building energy consumption Installation and Setup ----------------------- .. note:: **High-Performance Computing**: WRF-SUEWS is typically deployed on HPC systems due to computational requirements. The installation process requires significant technical expertise. **System Requirements:** - **Compilers**: Intel Fortran compiler (recommended), GCC support available - **Libraries**: NetCDF, HDF5, MPI libraries - **Platform**: Linux/Unix systems, tested on JASMIN HPC and Apple M1 **Installation Steps:** 1. **Clone Repository:** .. code-block:: bash git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Urban-Meteorology-Reading/WRF-SUEWS.git cd WRF-SUEWS 2. **Environment Setup:** .. code-block:: bash # Create conda environment conda env create --file=wrf_suews.yml conda activate wrf_suews 3. **Compilation:** Follow platform-specific compilation instructions in the repository documentation. Usage Workflow -------------- **1. Preprocessing (WPS):** .. code-block:: bash # Process meteorological data ./geogrid.exe # Define domain and terrain ./ungrib.exe # Extract meteorological data ./metgrid.exe # Interpolate met data to domain **2. SUEWS Configuration:** Prepare urban surface parameters: - **Land use classification**: Map urban areas to SUEWS surface types - **Surface parameters**: Building heights, vegetation fractions, surface properties - **Anthropogenic forcing**: Population density, energy consumption patterns **3. WRF-SUEWS Execution:** .. code-block:: bash # Real data preprocessing ./real.exe # WRF-SUEWS simulation mpirun -np ./wrf.exe **4. Output Analysis:** WRF-SUEWS produces standard WRF output files with additional SUEWS diagnostics: - **Atmospheric variables**: Temperature, humidity, wind fields - **Surface fluxes**: Sensible heat, latent heat, momentum flux - **Urban diagnostics**: Storage heat flux, runoff, building energy use Integration with Modern SUEWS ------------------------------ **Current Limitations:** - **Legacy SUEWS version**: Based on older SUEWS physics and interface - **No SuPy integration**: Cannot leverage modern Python workflows - **Manual configuration**: Requires extensive manual parameter setup **Future Development Opportunities:** 1. **SuPy Integration:** .. code-block:: python # Conceptual future workflow import supy as sp import wrfsuews # Configure SUEWS sites from WRF grid sites = wrfsuews.generate_suews_sites(wrf_domain, landuse_data) # Run coupled simulation wrf_output = wrfsuews.run_coupled( wrf_config="namelist.input", suews_sites=sites, start_date="2020-06-01", end_date="2020-08-31" ) 2. **Automated Parameter Generation:** - Use modern GIS tools to derive SUEWS parameters from spatial data - Integration with UMEP spatial analysis capabilities - Automated urban morphology characterisation 3. **Enhanced Output Processing:** - Native pandas/xarray integration for analysis - Automated visualisation tools - Direct integration with climate impact assessment workflows Research Applications --------------------- **Urban Heat Island Studies:** .. code-block:: python # Example analysis (conceptual) # Extract urban temperature from WRF-SUEWS output urban_temp = wrf_output.sel(landuse='urban')['T2'] rural_temp = wrf_output.sel(landuse='rural')['T2'] # Calculate UHI intensity uhi_intensity = urban_temp - rural_temp **Climate Change Assessment:** - **Scenario analysis**: Compare current vs future climate scenarios - **Heat wave analysis**: Detailed urban temperature during extreme events - **Adaptation strategies**: Evaluate green infrastructure impacts **Urban Planning Support:** - **Development scenarios**: Test different urban development patterns - **Green infrastructure**: Quantify cooling effects of urban vegetation - **Building energy**: Assess urban-scale energy consumption patterns Getting Started --------------- **For Researchers New to WRF-SUEWS:** 1. **Background Knowledge**: Familiarity with WRF and urban climate modelling essential 2. **Start Simple**: Begin with existing test cases before custom domains 3. **Computational Resources**: Ensure adequate HPC access for meaningful simulations 4. **Community Support**: Engage with WRF and SUEWS user communities **Resources:** - `WRF-SUEWS GitHub Repository `_ - `WRF User Guide `_ - :doc:`SUEWS documentation <../index>` - `JASMIN Computing Platform `_ (for UK researchers) **Contributing:** The WRF-SUEWS project welcomes contributions: - **Bug reports**: Issue tracking on GitHub - **Platform support**: Help with compilation on new systems - **Documentation**: Improve installation and usage guides - **Integration**: Work on modern SuPy integration .. note:: **Development Status**: WRF-SUEWS represents a sophisticated but complex integration. Future development should focus on simplifying the workflow and integrating with modern SUEWS/SuPy capabilities for broader adoption in the urban climate modelling community.