  The quality of ground based astronomical observations are significantly
affected by telluric conditions, and the search for best sites has led to the
construction of observatories at remote locations, including recent initiatives
on the high plateaus of E Antarctica where the calm, dry and cloud free
conditions during winter are recognized as amongst the best. Site selection is
an important phase of any observatory development project, and candidate sites
must be tested with specialized equipment, a process both time consuming and
costly. A potential screening of site locations before embarking on field
testing is through the use of climate models. Here, we describe the application
of the Polar version of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model to the
preliminary site suitability assessment of an unstudied region in W Antarctica.
Numerical simulations with WRF were carried out for the winter of 2011 at 3 km
and 1 km spatial resolution over a region centered on the Ellsworth mountain
range. Comparison with observations of surface wind speed and direction,
temperature and specific humidity at nine automatic weather stations indicate
that the model succeed in capturing the mean and time variability of these
variables. Credible features shown by the model include zones of high winds
over the southernmost part of the Ellsworth Mntns, a deep thermal inversion
over the Ronne-Fincher Ice Shelf and strong west to east moisture gradient
across the entire study area. Comparison of simulated cloud fraction with a
spacebourne Lidar climatology indicates that the model may underestimate cloud
occurrence, a problem that has been noted in previous studies. A simple scoring
system was applied to reveal the most promising locations. The results of this
study indicate that the WRF model is capable of providing useful guidance
during the initial site selection stage of project development.
