AUTHOR=Schumacher Vanucia , Fernández Alfonso , Justino Flavio , Comin Alcimoni 

TITLE=WRF High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling of Precipitation for the Central Andes of Chile and Argentina

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Earth Science

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.00328

DOI=10.3389/feart.2020.00328

ISSN=2296-6463

ABSTRACT=This study evaluates the capabilities of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to reproduce the variability of precipitation over Central Andes of Chile and Argentina, a region characterized by complex topography. The simulation corresponds to a dynamical downscaling of ERA-Interim, in the period 1996–2015, performed with two nested grids, at 9 and 3 km horizontal resolution. Precipitation data from 62 rain gauges from Chile and Argentina were used to evaluate the performance of WRF simulations carried out at the annual and warm-cold season analysis. The results of this study indicate that WRF at 9 km and 3 km is able to reproduce the main characteristics of precipitation, seasonal and interannual variability along the study area. However, WRF at 9 km presents a wet bias in relation to observation and WRF at 3 km along the windward slopes of the Andes. Additionally, WRF at 3 km achieves better performance of precipitation as elevation increases, most likely due to the better-resolved orography.