Search Results
You are looking at 1 - 6 of 6 items for
- Author or Editor: Melanie A. Wetzel x
- Refine by Access: All Content x
Abstract
Satellite image datasets and regional climate model results are intercompared for evaluation of model accuracy in the simulation of cloud cover. Both monthly average and individual simulation times are analyzed. To provide a consistent comparison, satellite data are first mapped into the model's geographic projection, grid domain, and resolution. It is found that September 1988 monthly average cloud fraction results from the model simulations correspond to observations, in both spatial pattern and magnitude, with bias less than ±20% cloud fraction over the entire inland West. Agreement in the pattern of cloud fraction also is evident for monthly average cloud fraction in July, but there is a negative bias of 10%–30% cloud fraction in the model diagnosis of cloud cover. Correlations between the spatial distributions of model-derived and observed cloud fractions are found to exceed 0.80 for certain geographic regions of the West, and these correlations are largest over mountainous areas during summer. Case studies of a series of daily cloud cover demonstrate the ability of the model to simulate the effects of frontal passage on cloud distribution. The ability of the RegCM1 to simulate daily cloud fraction and diurnal cloud evolution is somewhat weak for the summer convective season. It is anticipated that a more recent version of the regional climate model may improve the simulation of summer season cloud cover, through changes in cloud parameterization and improvements in model resolution.
Abstract
Satellite image datasets and regional climate model results are intercompared for evaluation of model accuracy in the simulation of cloud cover. Both monthly average and individual simulation times are analyzed. To provide a consistent comparison, satellite data are first mapped into the model's geographic projection, grid domain, and resolution. It is found that September 1988 monthly average cloud fraction results from the model simulations correspond to observations, in both spatial pattern and magnitude, with bias less than ±20% cloud fraction over the entire inland West. Agreement in the pattern of cloud fraction also is evident for monthly average cloud fraction in July, but there is a negative bias of 10%–30% cloud fraction in the model diagnosis of cloud cover. Correlations between the spatial distributions of model-derived and observed cloud fractions are found to exceed 0.80 for certain geographic regions of the West, and these correlations are largest over mountainous areas during summer. Case studies of a series of daily cloud cover demonstrate the ability of the model to simulate the effects of frontal passage on cloud distribution. The ability of the RegCM1 to simulate daily cloud fraction and diurnal cloud evolution is somewhat weak for the summer convective season. It is anticipated that a more recent version of the regional climate model may improve the simulation of summer season cloud cover, through changes in cloud parameterization and improvements in model resolution.
The Storm Peak Laboratory (SPL), operated by the Atmospheric Sciences Center of the Desert Research Institute, is now located in a newly constructed permanent building at elevation 3210 m (10 530 ft) above mean sea level in the northwestern Colorado Rocky Mountains. The laboratory provides a site for the conduct of basic and applied research in the atmospheric sciences, hands-on instruction in meteorology for students ranging from middle school through graduate school, and high-elevation atmospheric measurement programs for various scientific groups, agencies, and private companies. This article provides a background of the history of SPL, its past and current activities, and a description of the facilities and opportunities available at the laboratory.
The Storm Peak Laboratory (SPL), operated by the Atmospheric Sciences Center of the Desert Research Institute, is now located in a newly constructed permanent building at elevation 3210 m (10 530 ft) above mean sea level in the northwestern Colorado Rocky Mountains. The laboratory provides a site for the conduct of basic and applied research in the atmospheric sciences, hands-on instruction in meteorology for students ranging from middle school through graduate school, and high-elevation atmospheric measurement programs for various scientific groups, agencies, and private companies. This article provides a background of the history of SPL, its past and current activities, and a description of the facilities and opportunities available at the laboratory.
Abstract
Digital data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Advanced very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite instrument provides multispectral images in visible near-infrared and thermal infrared wave bands, which have been utilized to develop retrieval techniques for estimating the droplet effective radius and optical depth of land-based fog. The retrieval methods are based on multiple scattering calculations that simulate the increased near-infrared absorption by fog layers with increasing droplet size and liquid water path. The AVHRR thermal window channels are utilized to remove the effects of thermal emission in the near-infrared band.
New instrumentation and field sampling methods have been developed for obtaining detailed vertical profiles of fog droplet size distributions and thermodynamic conditions in fog decks. The in situ measurements derived from the field observations were employed to test the satellite retrieval techniques. Intercomparison shows a close correspondence between field observations and retrieved values of the fog droplet effective radius as well as fog optical depth. Simulated 4-km near-infrared and visible pixel data are also used to test retrievals from GOES-8. The AVHRR and GOES-8 retrievals provide a mapped database of the fog microphysical and depth parameters over the entire region of fog, which may be applied to numerical simulation of fog evolution and pollutant deposition, newcasting of fog visibility hazards, and global monitoring of fog influences on the atmosphere-surface radiation budget.
Abstract
Digital data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Advanced very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite instrument provides multispectral images in visible near-infrared and thermal infrared wave bands, which have been utilized to develop retrieval techniques for estimating the droplet effective radius and optical depth of land-based fog. The retrieval methods are based on multiple scattering calculations that simulate the increased near-infrared absorption by fog layers with increasing droplet size and liquid water path. The AVHRR thermal window channels are utilized to remove the effects of thermal emission in the near-infrared band.
New instrumentation and field sampling methods have been developed for obtaining detailed vertical profiles of fog droplet size distributions and thermodynamic conditions in fog decks. The in situ measurements derived from the field observations were employed to test the satellite retrieval techniques. Intercomparison shows a close correspondence between field observations and retrieved values of the fog droplet effective radius as well as fog optical depth. Simulated 4-km near-infrared and visible pixel data are also used to test retrievals from GOES-8. The AVHRR and GOES-8 retrievals provide a mapped database of the fog microphysical and depth parameters over the entire region of fog, which may be applied to numerical simulation of fog evolution and pollutant deposition, newcasting of fog visibility hazards, and global monitoring of fog influences on the atmosphere-surface radiation budget.
Abstract
Pollution aerosols acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) have the potential to alter warm rain clouds via the aerosol first and second indirect effects in which they modify the cloud droplet population, cloud lifetime and size, rainfall efficiency, and radiation balance from increased albedo. For constant liquid water content, an increase in CCN concentration (N CCN) tends to produce an increased concentration of droplets with smaller diameters. This reduces the collision and coalescence rate, and thus there is a local reduction in rainfall. While this process applies to warm clouds, it does not identically carry over to mixed-phase clouds in which crystal nucleation, crystal riming, crystal versus droplet fall speed, and collection efficiency play active roles in determining precipitation amount. Sulfate-based aerosols serve as very efficient cloud nuclei but are not effective as ice-forming nuclei. In clouds where precipitation formation is dominated by the ice phase, N CCN influences precipitation growth by altering the efficiency of droplet collection by ice crystals and the fall trajectories of both droplet and crystal hydrometeors. The temporal and spatial variation in both crystal and droplet populations determines the resultant snowfall efficiency and distribution. Results of numerical simulations in this study suggest that CCN can play a significant role in snowfall production by winter, mixed-phase, cloud systems when liquid and ice hydrometeors coexist. In subfreezing conditions, a precipitating ice cloud overlaying a supercooled liquid water cloud allows growth of precipitation particles via the seeder–feeder process, in which nucleated ice crystals fall through the supercooled liquid water cloud and collect droplets. Enhanced N CCN from sulfate pollution by fossil fuel emissions modifies the droplet distribution and reduces crystal riming efficiency. Reduced riming efficiency inhibits the rate of snow growth, producing lightly rimed snow crystals that fall slowly and advect farther downstream prior to surface deposition. Simulations indicate that increasing N CCN along the orographic barrier of the Park Range in north-central Colorado results in a modification of the orographic cloud such that the surface snow water equivalent amounts are reduced on the windward slopes and enhanced on the leeward slopes. The inhibition of snowfall by pollution aerosols (ISPA) effect has significant implications for water resource distribution in mountainous terrain.
Abstract
Pollution aerosols acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) have the potential to alter warm rain clouds via the aerosol first and second indirect effects in which they modify the cloud droplet population, cloud lifetime and size, rainfall efficiency, and radiation balance from increased albedo. For constant liquid water content, an increase in CCN concentration (N CCN) tends to produce an increased concentration of droplets with smaller diameters. This reduces the collision and coalescence rate, and thus there is a local reduction in rainfall. While this process applies to warm clouds, it does not identically carry over to mixed-phase clouds in which crystal nucleation, crystal riming, crystal versus droplet fall speed, and collection efficiency play active roles in determining precipitation amount. Sulfate-based aerosols serve as very efficient cloud nuclei but are not effective as ice-forming nuclei. In clouds where precipitation formation is dominated by the ice phase, N CCN influences precipitation growth by altering the efficiency of droplet collection by ice crystals and the fall trajectories of both droplet and crystal hydrometeors. The temporal and spatial variation in both crystal and droplet populations determines the resultant snowfall efficiency and distribution. Results of numerical simulations in this study suggest that CCN can play a significant role in snowfall production by winter, mixed-phase, cloud systems when liquid and ice hydrometeors coexist. In subfreezing conditions, a precipitating ice cloud overlaying a supercooled liquid water cloud allows growth of precipitation particles via the seeder–feeder process, in which nucleated ice crystals fall through the supercooled liquid water cloud and collect droplets. Enhanced N CCN from sulfate pollution by fossil fuel emissions modifies the droplet distribution and reduces crystal riming efficiency. Reduced riming efficiency inhibits the rate of snow growth, producing lightly rimed snow crystals that fall slowly and advect farther downstream prior to surface deposition. Simulations indicate that increasing N CCN along the orographic barrier of the Park Range in north-central Colorado results in a modification of the orographic cloud such that the surface snow water equivalent amounts are reduced on the windward slopes and enhanced on the leeward slopes. The inhibition of snowfall by pollution aerosols (ISPA) effect has significant implications for water resource distribution in mountainous terrain.
Abstract
A field project was carried out offshore of central Oregon during August 1999 to evaluate mesoscale model simulations of coastal stratiform cloud layers. Procedures for mapping cloud physical parameters such as cloud optical depth, droplet effective radius, and liquid water path retrieved from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Imager multichannel data were developed and implemented. Aircraft measurements by the University of Wyoming provided in situ verification for the satellite retrieval parameters and for the forecast model simulations of the U.S. Navy's nonhydrostatic mesoscale prediction system, the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS). Case studies show that the satellite retrieval methods are valid within the range of uncertainty associated with aircraft measurements of the microphysical parameters and demonstrate how the gridded cloud parameters retrieved from satellite data can be utilized for mesoscale model verification. Satellite-derived products with applications to forecasting, such as temporal trends and composites of droplet size and liquid water path, are also discussed.
Abstract
A field project was carried out offshore of central Oregon during August 1999 to evaluate mesoscale model simulations of coastal stratiform cloud layers. Procedures for mapping cloud physical parameters such as cloud optical depth, droplet effective radius, and liquid water path retrieved from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Imager multichannel data were developed and implemented. Aircraft measurements by the University of Wyoming provided in situ verification for the satellite retrieval parameters and for the forecast model simulations of the U.S. Navy's nonhydrostatic mesoscale prediction system, the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS). Case studies show that the satellite retrieval methods are valid within the range of uncertainty associated with aircraft measurements of the microphysical parameters and demonstrate how the gridded cloud parameters retrieved from satellite data can be utilized for mesoscale model verification. Satellite-derived products with applications to forecasting, such as temporal trends and composites of droplet size and liquid water path, are also discussed.
An education-oriented workshop for college faculty in the atmospheric and related sciences was held in Boulder, Colorado, during June 1997 by three programs of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. The objective of this workshop was to provide faculty with hands-on training in the use of Web-based instructional methods for specific application to the teaching of satellite remote sensing in their subject areas. More than 150 faculty and associated scientists participated, and postworkshop evaluation showed it to have been a very successful integration of information and activities related to computer-based instruction, educational principles, and scientific lectures.
An education-oriented workshop for college faculty in the atmospheric and related sciences was held in Boulder, Colorado, during June 1997 by three programs of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. The objective of this workshop was to provide faculty with hands-on training in the use of Web-based instructional methods for specific application to the teaching of satellite remote sensing in their subject areas. More than 150 faculty and associated scientists participated, and postworkshop evaluation showed it to have been a very successful integration of information and activities related to computer-based instruction, educational principles, and scientific lectures.
