EMD-WRF South Africa

Illustration of the Data Coverage of the EMD-WRF South Africa Dataset

Introduction and Model Domain

EMD-WRF South Africa is a high resolution mesoscale dataset modelled and provided by EMD International A/S. The dataset covers South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho as well as part of Namibia and Botswana. The model domain for EMD-WRF South Africa is shown in the figure to the right.

Please Note:

• This dataset is no longer updated; last available data is august 2019.
• It is feely available to windPRO users with an active service subscription (see below).
• If you need updated mesoscale data from within this region, please consider the EMD-WRF On-Demand Service

Dataset Description

The mesoscale model is run at a spatial resolution of 0.029°x0.029°, approximately 3x3 km, and with hourly temporal resolution. ERA Interim data from ECMWF (http://www.ecmwf.int) is the global boundary data. The timespan of the data is back to 1994 and up until the latest available boundary data (see below for the Release Schedule). Data access is via WindPRO’s user friendly interface to the on-line data.

Release Schedule

This dataset is not updated anymore, as its source data (the ERA-Interim data) is no longer available. The dataset used to recieve monthly updates, with approximately 3 months delay defined by ERA Interim's availability and computational efforts regarding EMD's high-performance computer clusters.

Usage Note: The EMD-WRF South Africa(ERA-Interim) dataset is discontinued at the end of 2019

2020-02-20: The last month with ERA-Interim data was august 2019 as ECMWF has discontinued this dataset and has replaced it with the ERA5 Data. EMD has ceased to update the EMD-WRF South Africa (ERA-Interim) dataset as the source data is no longer available.

Validation

The model-setup has been validated through various internal investigations on masts spatially distributed in the modelling area.
The findings (the correlations) are summarized in the datasheet available (here).
In addition, the EMD-WRF modelling setup has been evaluated in a number of external benchmarks.
We have a separate EMD-WRF Benchmark Wiki-Page that holds links to those investigations.

Required modules/licenses

To access the EMD-WRF South Africa mesoscale data the following licenses/modules are required in your WindPRO setup:

• BASIS
• METEO

When the license fee for the modules aboce has been paid, you then have access to the full dataset without further cost. The price is available from the price-list on the EMD-homepage. Downloading of data is unrestricted for licenced users, however, a "fair use" policy applies. Unlicenced users may download three months of data from any point, however, multiple downloads are not allowed from the same point.

Visit EMD online ordering to purchase the needed licences.

Dataset Parameters

A large quantity of useful parameters are available directly in WindPRO to aid in your analysis.
The different parameters in the EMD-WRF South Africa dataset that are available from within WindPRO are shown in the table below.

Table: Overview of EMD-WRF South Africa Dataset Parameters (3 km grid).

Parameter	Unit	Description	Type
time		UTC time stamp
psfc	Pa	Pressure at site	Instantaneous
msl	Pa	Pressure at mean sea level	Instantaneous
wSpeed.x	m/s	Wind speeds at different physical levels (x). Heights (x): 10m, 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 200m	Instantaneous
wDir.x	deg	Wind speeds at different physical levels (x). Heights (x): 10m, 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 200m	Instantaneous
wSpeed.0-30mb	m/s	Wind speeds at pressure level 0-30mb.	Instantaneous
wDir.0-30mb	deg	Wind speeds at pressure levels 0-30mb.	Instantaneous
wSpeed.850hpa	m/s	Wind speeds at pressure level 850hPa.	Instantaneous
wDir.850hpa	deg	Wind speeds at pressure levels 850hPa.	Instantaneous
temperature.x	celcius	Temperatures at different heights (x) Heights (x): 2m and 100m	Instantaneous
waterTemp	celcius	Water temperature	Instantaneous
soilTemp.0-10cm	celcius	The temperature in the upper 10 cm of the soil	Instantaneous
relHumidity.2	%	Relative humidity in height 2m above ground level	Instantaneous
snowDepth	m	Snow depth (if present)	Instantaneous
vis.s	m	Visibility at surface	Instantaneous
sensHeatFlux.s	w/m2	Sensible Heat Flux at surface	Instantaneous
totPrecip.s	kg/m^2	Total Precipitation at surface	1h Accumulated
downShortWaveFlux.s	w/m2	Downward shortwave irradiance at surface	1h Average
totalCloudCover.a	%	Total cloud cover in atmosphere	1h Average
convCloudCover.a	%	Convective cloud cover in atmosphere	1h Average
Data below this line are not shown in a default import of EMD-WRF South Africa data, but can be made available by clicking on the "+" button in the lower left corner of the import table.
4LFTX	K	N/A
rmol	1/m	Inverse Monin-Obukhov-Length
znt	m	Rougnhess length
sqrtTKE.x	m/s	Wind speed given as standard deviation in m/s. Derived from the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Results available in different physical levels. Heights (x): 10m, 25m, 50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 200m	Instantaneous
cloudWater.100	mg/kg	Parameter intended for estimating probability of icing.	Instantaneous
cloudIce.100	mg/kg	Parameter intended for estimating probability of icing.	Instantaneous

Attribution

If data from this dataset is used within any private or public disseminations, then EMD and its data providers must be acknowledged.

Source: 
EMD-WRF South Africa - Copyright (C) - EMD International A/S, 2019. Distribution through EMD and windPRO.
This dataset uses ERA-Iterim which is being developed through the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).