Doctoral student Sampath Weerappulli at the PALM Conference 2026

From February 23 to 26, 2026, the third PALM model conference took place at the headquarters of the German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach.  The conference brings together developers and users of the PALM (Parallelized Large-Eddy Simulation Model) meteorological model system, a three-dimensional numerical flow model for simulating turbulent processes in the atmosphere, to discuss current advances in model development, validation, data generation, and research applications. More than 100 people attended this year's event, including over 50 researchers who presented their latest work. The conference thus once again provided a central platform for scientific exchange within the international PALM community.

Doctoral student Sampath Weerappulli (project F3, photo above) presented the current status of his project under the topic "Effects of wind turbines on microclimate and soil moisture under different stability regimes using LES". His research focuses on investigating the effects of wind turbines using the PALM model system. The conference provided a valuable opportunity to receive direct feedback from experts working with the same modeling system. The constructive discussions and suggestions he received will support the next phase of his simulations and help to further improve computational efficiency and model performance.

Prof. Matthias Mauder, main supervisor of the F3 project and holder of the Chair of Meteorology at TU Dresden, also attended the conference, along with other doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers from the Chair. A special highlight of the event was the presentation of the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Committee on Boundary Layers and Turbulence of the American Meteorological Society to Prof. Dr. Siegfried Raasch. The award was presented during the conference by Prof. Mauder on behalf of the American Meteorological Society.

The PALM Model Conference once again demonstrated the strength of scientific exchange and provided important impetus for current and future research activities within the Boysen-TU Dresden-Research Training Group.

© Michael Kügler (DWD)