The role of physical parameterization schemes in capturing the characteristics of extratropical cyclones over the South Pacific Ocean

The extratropical cyclone (ETC) of August 2015 in central Chile was investigated using the WRF model to analyze the sensitivity of meteorological variables to different physical parameterization schemes. This study assesses the performance of different physical schemes in the simulation of track, core pressure, mean sea level pressure, wind direction and wind speed associated with ETC over the South Pacific. The analysis uses a total of 36 models, consisting of: WSM3 and WSM6 for microphysics; MM5, ETA and MYNN for surface layer; YSU, MYJ and MYNN3 for planetary boundary layer; KF, BMJ and GF for cumulus; RRTM and RRTMG for longwave radiation; Dudhia and RRTMG for shortwave radiation; and Noah for land surface. Sensitivity experiments indicate that the cumulus, planetary boundary layer and surface layer scheme have a fundamental role in the characterization of ETC track and intensity, while the microphysics scheme plays a secondary role in determining these variables and long- and shortwave radiation do not have a significant impact. The results of this work allow the selection time of the different physical schemes to be optimized according to the ETC characteristics that are to be simulated. This data contain WRF Output, observed and proccesed data associated to wind speed, wind direction, mean sea level pressure, core pressure and track regarding to ETC.