In this study, we focused on the improvements in the simulation of sea surface wind over the complex coastal area. MM5 model being currently used to predict sea surface wind at Korea Meteorological Administration, was used to verify the accuracy to estimate the local wind field. A case study was performed on clear days with weak wind speed(4 m/s), chosen by the analysis of observations. The model simulations were conducted in the southeastern area of Korea during the selected periods, and observational data such as AWS, buoy and QuikSCAT were used to compare with the calculated wind components to investigate if simulated wind field could follow the tendency of the real atmospheric wind field.
Results showed that current operational model, MM5, does not estimate accurately sea surface wind and the wind over the coastal area. The calculated wind speed was overestimated along the complex coastal regions but it was underestimated in islands and over the sea.
The calculated diurnal changes of wind direction could not follow well the tendency of the observed wind, especially at nighttime. In order to exceed the limitations, data assimilation with high resolution data and more specificated geographical information is expected as a next best policy to estimate accurately the environment of local marine wind field.