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Abstract
This paper describes research in formulating objective weather analysis and forecasting aids for calculation by an electronic computer. Methods based upon single-station techniques for analysis of rawinsoundings are presented for computing wind shear, lapse rate, thermal advection and a parcel stability index. These quantities are useful in identifying phenomena such as fronts, troughs, the tropopause and the level of maximum wind. Average values of height, temperature, humidity and wind components are computed in six arbitrarily defined layers for purposes of representing the gross atmospheric structure. A simple computer technique for calculating kinematical values of horizontal divergence, vorticity, deformation, vertical motion and geostrophic departures from layer-averaged wind and height data at three stations is developed and demonstrated for an area comprised of the midwestern United States. For this region, the computations require only 20 min on a computer of modest speed; therefore, the magnitude of the calculations is no longer an obstacle to their routine application. Limitations of the methods are described. Our experience indicates that these computer routines are adaptable to several operational and research problems even though the multiple-station computations are subject to considerable noise. Further developments of objective techniques and possible means of suppressing noise are described.
Abstract
This paper describes research in formulating objective weather analysis and forecasting aids for calculation by an electronic computer. Methods based upon single-station techniques for analysis of rawinsoundings are presented for computing wind shear, lapse rate, thermal advection and a parcel stability index. These quantities are useful in identifying phenomena such as fronts, troughs, the tropopause and the level of maximum wind. Average values of height, temperature, humidity and wind components are computed in six arbitrarily defined layers for purposes of representing the gross atmospheric structure. A simple computer technique for calculating kinematical values of horizontal divergence, vorticity, deformation, vertical motion and geostrophic departures from layer-averaged wind and height data at three stations is developed and demonstrated for an area comprised of the midwestern United States. For this region, the computations require only 20 min on a computer of modest speed; therefore, the magnitude of the calculations is no longer an obstacle to their routine application. Limitations of the methods are described. Our experience indicates that these computer routines are adaptable to several operational and research problems even though the multiple-station computations are subject to considerable noise. Further developments of objective techniques and possible means of suppressing noise are described.
Abstract
An ERTS-1 Data Collection Platform instrumented with meteorological sensors has been operated for more than a year at 3536 m in the Front Range, Colorado.
The interface system and sensor performance are shown to operate well although the message interval is suitable only for certain types of parameter with the present interface system.
Abstract
An ERTS-1 Data Collection Platform instrumented with meteorological sensors has been operated for more than a year at 3536 m in the Front Range, Colorado.
The interface system and sensor performance are shown to operate well although the message interval is suitable only for certain types of parameter with the present interface system.
Abstract
No Abstract Available.
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Abstract
This study evaluates the influence of planetary boundary layer parameterization on short-range (0–15 h) convection initiation (CI) forecasts within convection-allowing ensembles that utilize subsynoptic-scale observations collected during the Mesoscale Predictability Experiment. Three cases, 19–20 May, 31 May–1 June, and 8–9 June 2013, are considered, each characterized by a different large-scale flow pattern. An object-based method is used to verify and analyze CI forecasts. Local mixing parameterizations have, relative to nonlocal mixing parameterizations, higher probabilities of detection but also higher false alarm ratios, such that the ensemble mean forecast skill only subtly varied between parameterizations considered. Temporal error distributions associated with matched events are approximately normal around a zero mean, suggesting little systematic timing bias. Spatial error distributions are skewed, with average mean (median) distance errors of approximately 44 km (28 km). Matched event cumulative distribution functions suggest limited forecast skill increases beyond temporal and spatial thresholds of 1 h and 100 km, respectively. Forecast skill variation is greatest between cases with smaller variation between PBL parameterizations or between individual ensemble members for a given case, implying greatest control on CI forecast skill by larger-scale features than PBL parameterization. In agreement with previous studies, local mixing parameterizations tend to produce simulated boundary layers that are too shallow, cool, and moist, while nonlocal mixing parameterizations tend to be deeper, warmer, and drier. Forecasts poorly resolve strong capping inversions across all parameterizations, which is hypothesized to result primarily from implicit numerical diffusion associated with the default finite-differencing formulation for vertical advection used herein.
Abstract
This study evaluates the influence of planetary boundary layer parameterization on short-range (0–15 h) convection initiation (CI) forecasts within convection-allowing ensembles that utilize subsynoptic-scale observations collected during the Mesoscale Predictability Experiment. Three cases, 19–20 May, 31 May–1 June, and 8–9 June 2013, are considered, each characterized by a different large-scale flow pattern. An object-based method is used to verify and analyze CI forecasts. Local mixing parameterizations have, relative to nonlocal mixing parameterizations, higher probabilities of detection but also higher false alarm ratios, such that the ensemble mean forecast skill only subtly varied between parameterizations considered. Temporal error distributions associated with matched events are approximately normal around a zero mean, suggesting little systematic timing bias. Spatial error distributions are skewed, with average mean (median) distance errors of approximately 44 km (28 km). Matched event cumulative distribution functions suggest limited forecast skill increases beyond temporal and spatial thresholds of 1 h and 100 km, respectively. Forecast skill variation is greatest between cases with smaller variation between PBL parameterizations or between individual ensemble members for a given case, implying greatest control on CI forecast skill by larger-scale features than PBL parameterization. In agreement with previous studies, local mixing parameterizations tend to produce simulated boundary layers that are too shallow, cool, and moist, while nonlocal mixing parameterizations tend to be deeper, warmer, and drier. Forecasts poorly resolve strong capping inversions across all parameterizations, which is hypothesized to result primarily from implicit numerical diffusion associated with the default finite-differencing formulation for vertical advection used herein.
Abstract
The effect of surface characteristics on the daytime change in the potential for development of deep convection resulting from surface flux of heat and moisture is evaluated by conceptual, scaling, and numerical modeling approaches. It is shown that deep convection depends significantly on the Bowen ratio; for smaller Bowen ratio, the thermodynamic potential for deep convection increases. The elevation and the intensity of the capping stable layer have an opposing impact on deep convection: increasing moisture accumulation through evapotranspiration was supportive but was counteracted by the enhancement of dry entrainment. Based on an approximate treatment of the effect of cloudiness on solar irradiance, it was found that development of fair weather cumulus has a secondary effect on deep convection potential. Observational and operational aspects of the influence of surface conditions on evapotranspiration and development of deep convection are presented.
Abstract
The effect of surface characteristics on the daytime change in the potential for development of deep convection resulting from surface flux of heat and moisture is evaluated by conceptual, scaling, and numerical modeling approaches. It is shown that deep convection depends significantly on the Bowen ratio; for smaller Bowen ratio, the thermodynamic potential for deep convection increases. The elevation and the intensity of the capping stable layer have an opposing impact on deep convection: increasing moisture accumulation through evapotranspiration was supportive but was counteracted by the enhancement of dry entrainment. Based on an approximate treatment of the effect of cloudiness on solar irradiance, it was found that development of fair weather cumulus has a secondary effect on deep convection potential. Observational and operational aspects of the influence of surface conditions on evapotranspiration and development of deep convection are presented.
Abstract
The surface fluxes of heat and moisture in semiarid regions are sensitive to spatial variability of soil moisture caused by convective rainfall. Under conditions typical of the Sahel, this variability may persist for several days after a storm, during which time it modifies the overlying boundary layer. A model of the land surface is used to quantify the dependence of surface fluxes of heat and moisture on antecedent rainfall amount, time since rainfall, and surface properties. Next, a coupled model of the land and atmosphere is used to characterize the boundary layer variability that results from this surface variability, and its dependence on factors including the length scale of the surface variability. Finally, two- and three-dimensional modeling of squall lines is used to examine the sensitivity of rainfall to boundary layer variability. Boundary layer variability tends to be greater for surface variability on long length scales, but squall-line rainfall shows the strongest response for anomalies on small length scales, comparable to that of the convection. As a result, the feedback between soil moisture and rainfall will be strongest at an intermediate scale.
Abstract
The surface fluxes of heat and moisture in semiarid regions are sensitive to spatial variability of soil moisture caused by convective rainfall. Under conditions typical of the Sahel, this variability may persist for several days after a storm, during which time it modifies the overlying boundary layer. A model of the land surface is used to quantify the dependence of surface fluxes of heat and moisture on antecedent rainfall amount, time since rainfall, and surface properties. Next, a coupled model of the land and atmosphere is used to characterize the boundary layer variability that results from this surface variability, and its dependence on factors including the length scale of the surface variability. Finally, two- and three-dimensional modeling of squall lines is used to examine the sensitivity of rainfall to boundary layer variability. Boundary layer variability tends to be greater for surface variability on long length scales, but squall-line rainfall shows the strongest response for anomalies on small length scales, comparable to that of the convection. As a result, the feedback between soil moisture and rainfall will be strongest at an intermediate scale.
Abstract
Changes in extreme daily temperature events are examined using a perturbed physics ensemble of global model simulations under present-day and doubled CO2 climates where ensemble members differ in their representation of various physical processes. Modeling uncertainties are quantified by varying poorly constrained model parameters that control atmospheric processes and feedbacks and analyzing the ensemble spread of simulated changes. In general, uncertainty is up to 50% of projected changes in extreme heat events of the type that occur only once per year.
Large changes are seen in distributions of daily maximum temperatures for June, July, and August with significant shifts to warmer conditions. Changes in extremely hot days are shown to be significantly larger than changes in mean values in some regions. The intensity, duration, and frequency of summer heat waves are expected to be substantially greater over all continents. The largest changes are found over Europe, North and South America, and East Asia. Reductions in soil moisture, number of wet days, and nocturnal cooling are identified as significant factors responsible for the changes.
Although uncertainty associated with the magnitude of expected changes is large in places, it does not bring into question the sign or nature of the projected changes. Even with the most conservative simulations, hot extreme events are still expected to substantially increase in intensity, duration, and frequency. This ensemble, however, does not represent the full range of uncertainty associated with future projections; for example, the effects of multiple parameter perturbations are neglected, as are the effects of structural changes to the basic nature of the parameterization schemes in the model.
Abstract
Changes in extreme daily temperature events are examined using a perturbed physics ensemble of global model simulations under present-day and doubled CO2 climates where ensemble members differ in their representation of various physical processes. Modeling uncertainties are quantified by varying poorly constrained model parameters that control atmospheric processes and feedbacks and analyzing the ensemble spread of simulated changes. In general, uncertainty is up to 50% of projected changes in extreme heat events of the type that occur only once per year.
Large changes are seen in distributions of daily maximum temperatures for June, July, and August with significant shifts to warmer conditions. Changes in extremely hot days are shown to be significantly larger than changes in mean values in some regions. The intensity, duration, and frequency of summer heat waves are expected to be substantially greater over all continents. The largest changes are found over Europe, North and South America, and East Asia. Reductions in soil moisture, number of wet days, and nocturnal cooling are identified as significant factors responsible for the changes.
Although uncertainty associated with the magnitude of expected changes is large in places, it does not bring into question the sign or nature of the projected changes. Even with the most conservative simulations, hot extreme events are still expected to substantially increase in intensity, duration, and frequency. This ensemble, however, does not represent the full range of uncertainty associated with future projections; for example, the effects of multiple parameter perturbations are neglected, as are the effects of structural changes to the basic nature of the parameterization schemes in the model.
Abstract
This paper examines the accuracy of high-resolution nested mesoscale model simulations of surface climate. The nesting capabilities of the atmospheric fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University (PSU)–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) were used to create high-resolution, 5-yr climate simulations (from 1 October 1994 through 30 September 1999), starting with a coarse nest of 20 km for the western United States. During this 5-yr period, two finer-resolution nests (5 and 1.7 km) were run over the Yampa River basin in northwestern Colorado. Raw and bias-corrected daily precipitation and maximum and minimum temperature time series from the three MM5 nests were used as input to the U.S. Geological Survey’s distributed hydrologic model [the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS)] and were compared with PRMS results using measured climate station data.
The distributed capabilities of PRMS were provided by partitioning the Yampa River basin into hydrologic response units (HRUs). In addition to the classic polygon method of HRU definition, HRUs for PRMS were defined based on the three MM5 nests. This resulted in 16 datasets being tested using PRMS. The input datasets were derived using measured station data and raw and bias-corrected MM5 20-, 5-, and 1.7-km output distributed to 1) polygon HRUs and 2) 20-, 5-, and 1.7-km-gridded HRUs, respectively. Each dataset was calibrated independently, using a multiobjective, stepwise automated procedure. Final results showed a general increase in the accuracy of simulated runoff with an increase in HRU resolution. In all steps of the calibration procedure, the station-based simulations of runoff showed higher accuracy than the MM5-based simulations, although the accuracy of MM5 simulations was close to station data for the high-resolution nests. Further work is warranted in identifying the causes of the biases in MM5 local climate simulations and developing methods to remove them.
Abstract
This paper examines the accuracy of high-resolution nested mesoscale model simulations of surface climate. The nesting capabilities of the atmospheric fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University (PSU)–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) were used to create high-resolution, 5-yr climate simulations (from 1 October 1994 through 30 September 1999), starting with a coarse nest of 20 km for the western United States. During this 5-yr period, two finer-resolution nests (5 and 1.7 km) were run over the Yampa River basin in northwestern Colorado. Raw and bias-corrected daily precipitation and maximum and minimum temperature time series from the three MM5 nests were used as input to the U.S. Geological Survey’s distributed hydrologic model [the Precipitation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS)] and were compared with PRMS results using measured climate station data.
The distributed capabilities of PRMS were provided by partitioning the Yampa River basin into hydrologic response units (HRUs). In addition to the classic polygon method of HRU definition, HRUs for PRMS were defined based on the three MM5 nests. This resulted in 16 datasets being tested using PRMS. The input datasets were derived using measured station data and raw and bias-corrected MM5 20-, 5-, and 1.7-km output distributed to 1) polygon HRUs and 2) 20-, 5-, and 1.7-km-gridded HRUs, respectively. Each dataset was calibrated independently, using a multiobjective, stepwise automated procedure. Final results showed a general increase in the accuracy of simulated runoff with an increase in HRU resolution. In all steps of the calibration procedure, the station-based simulations of runoff showed higher accuracy than the MM5-based simulations, although the accuracy of MM5 simulations was close to station data for the high-resolution nests. Further work is warranted in identifying the causes of the biases in MM5 local climate simulations and developing methods to remove them.
Abstract
This study applies a multiphase, multiple-rheology, scalable, and extensible geofluid model to the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). The model is driven by monthly atmospheric forcing from global climate model simulations. Novel features of the model, referred to as the scalable and extensible geofluid modeling system (SEGMENT-Ice), include using the full Navier–Stokes equations to account for nonlocal dynamic balance and its influence on ice flow, and a granular sliding layer between the bottom ice layer and the lithosphere layer to provide a mechanism for possible large-scale surges in a warmer future climate (granular basal layer is for certain specific regions, though). Monthly climate of SEGMENT-Ice allows an investigation of detailed features such as seasonal melt area extent (SME) over Greenland. The model reproduced reasonably well the annual maximum SME and total ice mass lost rate when compared observations from the Special Sensing Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) over the past few decades.
The SEGMENT-Ice simulations are driven by projections from two relatively high-resolution climate models, the NCAR Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3) and the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate 3.2, high-resolution version [MIROC3.2(hires)], under a realistic twenty-first-century greenhouse gas emission scenario. They suggest that the surface flow would be enhanced over the entire GrIS owing to a reduction of ice viscosity as the temperature increases, despite the small change in the ice surface topography over the interior of Greenland. With increased surface flow speed, strain heating induces more rapid heating in the ice at levels deeper than due to diffusion alone. Basal sliding, especially for granular sediments, provides an efficient mechanism for fast-glacier acceleration and enhanced mass loss. This mechanism, absent from other models, provides a rapid dynamic response to climate change. Net mass loss estimates from the new model should reach ~220 km3 yr−1 by 2100, significantly higher than estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report 4 (AR4) of ~50–100 km3 yr−1. By 2100, the perennial frozen surface area decreases up to ~60%, to ~7 × 105 km2, indicating a massive expansion of the ablation zone. Ice mass change patterns, particularly along the periphery, are very similar between the two climate models.
Abstract
This study applies a multiphase, multiple-rheology, scalable, and extensible geofluid model to the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). The model is driven by monthly atmospheric forcing from global climate model simulations. Novel features of the model, referred to as the scalable and extensible geofluid modeling system (SEGMENT-Ice), include using the full Navier–Stokes equations to account for nonlocal dynamic balance and its influence on ice flow, and a granular sliding layer between the bottom ice layer and the lithosphere layer to provide a mechanism for possible large-scale surges in a warmer future climate (granular basal layer is for certain specific regions, though). Monthly climate of SEGMENT-Ice allows an investigation of detailed features such as seasonal melt area extent (SME) over Greenland. The model reproduced reasonably well the annual maximum SME and total ice mass lost rate when compared observations from the Special Sensing Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) over the past few decades.
The SEGMENT-Ice simulations are driven by projections from two relatively high-resolution climate models, the NCAR Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3) and the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate 3.2, high-resolution version [MIROC3.2(hires)], under a realistic twenty-first-century greenhouse gas emission scenario. They suggest that the surface flow would be enhanced over the entire GrIS owing to a reduction of ice viscosity as the temperature increases, despite the small change in the ice surface topography over the interior of Greenland. With increased surface flow speed, strain heating induces more rapid heating in the ice at levels deeper than due to diffusion alone. Basal sliding, especially for granular sediments, provides an efficient mechanism for fast-glacier acceleration and enhanced mass loss. This mechanism, absent from other models, provides a rapid dynamic response to climate change. Net mass loss estimates from the new model should reach ~220 km3 yr−1 by 2100, significantly higher than estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report 4 (AR4) of ~50–100 km3 yr−1. By 2100, the perennial frozen surface area decreases up to ~60%, to ~7 × 105 km2, indicating a massive expansion of the ablation zone. Ice mass change patterns, particularly along the periphery, are very similar between the two climate models.
Abstract
This study tests the hypothesis that assimilating mid- to upper-tropospheric, meso-α- to synoptic-scale observations collected in upstream, preconvective environments is insufficient to improve short-range ensemble convection initiation (CI) forecast skill over the set of cases considered by the 2013 Mesoscale Predictability Experiment (MPEX) because of a limited influence upon the lower-tropospheric phenomena that modulate CI occurrence, timing, and location. The ensemble Kalman filter implementation within the Data Assimilation Research Testbed as coupled to the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is used to initialize two nearly identical 30-member ensembles of short-range forecasts for each case: one initial condition set that incorporates MPEX dropsonde observations and one that excludes these observations. All forecasts for a given mission begin at 1500 UTC and are integrated for 15 h on a convection-permitting grid encompassing much of the conterminous United States. Forecast verification is conducted probabilistically using fractions skill score and deterministically using a 2 × 2 contingency table approach at multiple neighborhood sizes and spatiotemporal event-matching thresholds to assess forecast skill and support hypothesis testing. The probabilistic verification represents the first of its kind for numerical CI forecasts. Forecasts without MPEX observations have high fractions skill score and probabilities of detection on the meso-α scale but exhibit a considerable high bias for forecast CI event count. Assimilating MPEX observations has a negligible impact upon forecast skill for the cases considered, independent of verification metric, as the MPEX observations result in only subtle differences primarily manifest in the position and intensity of atmospheric features responsible for focusing and/or triggering deep, moist convection.
Abstract
This study tests the hypothesis that assimilating mid- to upper-tropospheric, meso-α- to synoptic-scale observations collected in upstream, preconvective environments is insufficient to improve short-range ensemble convection initiation (CI) forecast skill over the set of cases considered by the 2013 Mesoscale Predictability Experiment (MPEX) because of a limited influence upon the lower-tropospheric phenomena that modulate CI occurrence, timing, and location. The ensemble Kalman filter implementation within the Data Assimilation Research Testbed as coupled to the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is used to initialize two nearly identical 30-member ensembles of short-range forecasts for each case: one initial condition set that incorporates MPEX dropsonde observations and one that excludes these observations. All forecasts for a given mission begin at 1500 UTC and are integrated for 15 h on a convection-permitting grid encompassing much of the conterminous United States. Forecast verification is conducted probabilistically using fractions skill score and deterministically using a 2 × 2 contingency table approach at multiple neighborhood sizes and spatiotemporal event-matching thresholds to assess forecast skill and support hypothesis testing. The probabilistic verification represents the first of its kind for numerical CI forecasts. Forecasts without MPEX observations have high fractions skill score and probabilities of detection on the meso-α scale but exhibit a considerable high bias for forecast CI event count. Assimilating MPEX observations has a negligible impact upon forecast skill for the cases considered, independent of verification metric, as the MPEX observations result in only subtle differences primarily manifest in the position and intensity of atmospheric features responsible for focusing and/or triggering deep, moist convection.
