The North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME) is an internationally coordinated process study aimed at determining the sources and limits of predictability of warm-season precipitation over North America. The scientific objectives of NAME are to promote a better understanding and more realistic simulation of warm-season convective processes in complex terrain, intraseasonal variability of the monsoon, and the response of the warm-season atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns to slowly varying, potentially predictable surface boundary conditions.
During the summer of 2004, the NAME community implemented an international (United States, Mexico, Central America), multiagency (NOAA, NASA, NSF, USDA) field experiment called NAME 2004. This article presents early results from the NAME 2004 campaign and describes how the NAME modeling community will leverage the NAME 2004 data to accelerate improvements in warm-season precipitation forecasts for North America.
NOAA/NCEP/Climate Prediction Center, Camp Springs, Maryland
NCAR, Boulder, Colorado
University of Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
Servicio Meteorólégico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico
Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, Oklahoma
UCAR/JOSS, Boulder, Colorado
NOAA/ETL, Boulder, Colorado
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
ARS/USDA, Beltsville, Maryland
NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua, Jiutepec, Mexico
Centro de Investigacíon Cientifica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Ensenada, Mexico
NOAA/NWS, Tucson, Arizona
University of Colorado and NOAA/ETL, Boulder, Colorado
University of Colorado, and NOAA/AL, Boulder, Colorado
RSMAS, University of Miami, Miami Florida
