Wind field numerical simulation in forested regions of complex terrain: A mesoscale study using WRF

The increasing human activity in forested regions requires a better understanding of the wind conditions. This paper aims to improve the wind simulation in forested regions of complex terrain, and thereby to investigate the effect of forest on wind characteristics. Considering the complexity of the surface, simulations were carried out covering different parameterization schemes sets using Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). The results indicate that Noah-MP scheme and YSU scheme are recommended for a mesoscale wind simulation in forested regions of complex terrain. Moreover, due to the complexities of land surface with seasonally-varied roughness length (RL) and leaf area index (LAI), localized LAIs and RLs would significantly improve wind field simulation. Comparisons demonstrated that the modified RLs, which can reshape the wind speed distribution, have greater impact than LAI on the wind field simulation in the near-surface level. The findings can be further exploited in the wind damage assessment for the infrastructures, as well as wind power assessment in forested regions.