Assessment of Observational Environments of the Automated Synoptic Observing Systems in Korea Using a CFD Model

  In this study, we analyzed the observation environments of the automated synoptic observing systems (ASOSs) using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, focusing on the observational environments of air temperatures, wind speeds, and wind directions. The computational domain sizes are 2000 m × 2000 m × 750 m, and the grid sizes are 10 m × 10 m × 5 m in the x-, y-, and z- directions, respectively. We conducted the simulations for eight inflow directions (northerly, northeasterly, easterly, southeasterly, southerly, southwesterly, westerly, northwesterly) using the ASOS-observation wind speeds and air temperatures averaged in August from 2010 to 2019. We analyzed the effects of the surrounding buildings and terrains on the meteorological observations of the ASOSs, by comparing the wind speeds, wind directions, and air temperatures simulated at the ASOSs with those of inflows. The results showed that the meteorological observation environments were quite dependent on whether there existed the obstacles and surface heating on their surfaces at the observation altitude of the ASOSs.