Open source QGIS toolkit for the Advanced Research WRF modelling system

TL;DR

GIS4WRF is an open-source QGIS plugin that simplifies the setup, configuration, and visualization of the Advanced Research WRF model, making atmospheric research more accessible and efficient.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive, cross-platform QGIS plugin that integrates WRF workflows, reducing interdisciplinary skill requirements and streamlining pre-processing and visualization tasks.

Findings

Simplifies WRF model setup and configuration.

Provides cross-platform compatibility with binary distributions.

Enhances user workflow with integrated data processing and visualization.

Abstract

The Advanced Research WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model is a popular atmospheric model used for research and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP). However, despite its popularity, its set-up and configuration often demand several interdisciplinary skills that go beyond the understanding of physical processes. Pre-processing tasks, such as importing custom high-resolution datasets in the WRF Pre-processing System (WPS), still require a considerable effort from the user. We present GIS4WRF, a free, open-source, and cross-platform QGIS Python plug-in to help scientists and practitioners with their Advanced Research WRF modelling workflows. GIS4WRF incorporates new and existing tools for data-processing, configuration, simulation, and visualization into a single graphical environment, and offers WRF-CMake binary distributions for Windows, macOS, and Linux. We highlight its main features and provide useful insights into several key approaches and techniques used in its development. We end with two example applications highlighting the contributions of GIS4WRF in simplifying several WRF-related tasks.