Exploring regional LFRic simulations for Australian case studies
Ian White, Charmaine Franklin, Vinod Kumar, Belinda Roux
The Bureau of Meteorology is testing the next-generation regional model (LFRic) to assess its performance under Australian conditions. This effort supports the development of a research-ready regional configuration that integrates the latest science from the third version of the Regional Atmosphere and Land (RAL3) configuration, with the LFRic infrastructure and the GungHo dynamical core; all key components of the UK Met Office’s Next Generation Modelling System.
This presentation will highlight some key results from the Bureau’s early assessment of RAL3-LFRic for both the Melbourne and Darwin domains run at 1.5km horizontal resolution. This is performed as part of a broader collaboration with the Met Office. Significant technical work has enabled side-by-side comparisons between RAL3-LFRic, and the current Met Office Unified Model also configured with RAL3 (RAL3-UM). An important focus has been on understanding model behaviour and performance in capturing Australian weather conditions. Case studies run and analysed include high-impact weather events that have occurred over Australia in recent years: tropical cyclone Tiffany in 2022, a frontal system that brought widespread heavy rainfall and damaging winds in June 2021, and heat waves in 2020 and 2025. Such case studies provide the basis for evaluating the readiness of RAL3-LFRic for Australian applications.
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