Comparison between wind speed observed at 100m height and wind speeds simulated by the WRF and MAR models

In the context of FLEXIPAC project funded by "RELIABLE" program of Walloon Region (Belgium), the Laboratory of Climatology and Topoclimatology (LCT) of the University of Liège (Belgium) aims to adjust the WRF regional model (v.3.4.) forced by ERA-Interim model. Our analysis shows that wind speeds at 100m height simulated by WRF are systematically overestimated compared to wind speeds extracted from wind productions of two wind farms.
In order to identify this problem, four comparisons were performed in this contribution. Firstly, we compare WRF model with reanalysis based forcing model. Secondly, we compare two WRF simulations, where one of them has a more precise spatial resolution. Thirdly, we smooth WRF outputs in time (6-hr running mean) in order to study the accuracy of the 30-min variability generated by WRF model. Finally, we comp compare the WRF model with the MAR (v3.3.) regional model using the same forcing at its lateral boundaries. This last one seems to suggest that the MAR model better simulates wind speeds at 10m and at 100m than WRF model and then that wind speed underestimation by WRF is well linked to the WRF physics itself.