## 2 Materials and Methods
### Meteorological Grid  
The meteorological data reflecting the conditions prevailing at area surface were obtained from the surface stations located in Krakow and four neighboring cities: Katowice, Tarnow, Nowy Sacz, and Bielsko-Biala. The following meteorological parameters obtained from these stations were used, recorded with the resolution of one hour: wind speed, wind direction, ceiling height, opaque sky cover, air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, and type (code) of precipitation were acquired from the resources of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory [46], and then accordingly processed and formatted by means of the SMERGE pre-processor.  
Radiosonde surveys were also used, obtained from three aerological stations, located in Poprad (Slovakia), Wroclaw and Legionowo (Poland). The measurement data of this type, depending on the time interval and location of the station, are characterized by a varying time resolution. The intervals between various measurements can amount to 6, 8 and 12 h. During each measurement, the following meteorological parameters are recorded: pressure, temperature, wind direction, and wind speed.  
Figure 2: Comparison of the spatial variability of the land cover methods specified for grids of different resolutions: (**a**) 100 m; (**b**) 250 m; (**c**) 500 m; and (**d**) 1000 m.  
The data from the aerological stations were obtained from the database of the NOAA National Climatic Data Center [47]. They were subsequently processed and formatted using the READ62 pre-processor. This program also extrapolated the missing observational data to a pressure level specified by the user.  
On the basis of the prepared meteorological and geophysical data, the meteorological and microclimatic parameter grids were established, with the use of the CALMET diagnostic model. The calculations were made for the meteorological data for 2012. During the calculation process, the following additional factors affecting the wind direction and speed were taken into account: a kinematic effect of terrain, slope flows and blocking effects. After considering the aforementioned effects, the model additionally carries out the procedure of minimizing the discrepancies in three dimensions to eliminate, e.g., the opposite wind flow.  
According to the previous assumptions in the analyzed calculation area, four meteorological parameter grids were created, with the resolutions of 100, 250, 500 and 1000 m. Eight vertical layers were defined at the following heights: 20, 40, 80, 160, 300, 600, 1000 and 1500 m. Because the aerological stations are located more than 200 km from the calculation area, it was decided to include the vertical function of the wind field extrapolation with the use of the similarity theory on the basis of the data from the surface stations. Additionally, the silence extrapolation function was turned off and for each vertical layer the following BIAS variable values were adopted: \(-1\), \(-0.8\), \(-0.6\), \(-0.5\), \(-0.4\), \(-0.3\), \(-0.2\), and \(-0.1\); in this case, negative BIAS variable values mean a reduction in weight of the data of the wind field, originating from the aerological station.  
Figure 3: Comparison of elevation maps specified for grids of different resolutions: (**a**) 100 m; (**b**) 250 m; (**c**) 500 m; and (**d**) 1000 m.