  Convection-permitting models (CPMs) enable the representation of
meteorological variables at horizontal high resolution spatial scales (higher
than 4 km), where convection plays a significant role. Physical schemes need to
be evaluated considering factors in the studied region such as orography and
climate variability. This study investigates the sensitivity of the WRF model
as CPM to the use of different physics schemes on Andalusia, a complex
orography region in southern Iberian Peninsula (IP). A set of 1-year WRF
simulations was completed based on two one-way nested domains: the parent
domain (d01) spanning the entire IP with 5 km spatial resolution and the nested
domain (d02) for the region of Andalusia at 1 km of spatial resolution. 12
physic schemes were examined from combinations of microphysics (MP) schemes
including THOMPSON, WRF single moment 6-class (WSM6), and WRF single moment
7-class (WSM7), and different options for the convection in d01, the Grell 3D
(G3), Grell-Freitas (GF), Kain-Fritsch (KF), and deactivated cumulus
parameterization (OFF). The simulated precipitation and 2-m temperature for the
year 2018, a very wet year, were compared with observational datasets to
determine the optimal WRF configuration, including point-to-point and
station-point comparisons at different time aggregations. In general, greater
differences were shown when comparing the results of convection schemes in d01.
Simulations completed with GF or OFF presented better performance compared to
the reference datasets. Concerning the MP, although THOMPSON showed a better
fit in high mountain areas, it generally presents a worse agreement with the
reference datasets. In terms of temperature, the results were very similar and,
therefore, the selection of the best configuration was based mainly on the
precipitation results with the WSM7-GF scheme being suitable for Andalusia
region.
