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2011

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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology

Identifying Changes In Climatic Trends And The Fingerprints Of Landuse And Landcover Changes In The High Plains Of The Usa, Denis Mutiibwa Jul 2011

Identifying Changes In Climatic Trends And The Fingerprints Of Landuse And Landcover Changes In The High Plains Of The Usa, Denis Mutiibwa

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations and Theses

Human activities such as conversion of natural ecosystem to croplands and urban-centers, deforestation and afforestation impact biophysical properties of land surface such as albedo, energy balance, and surface roughness. Alterations in these properties affect the heat and moisture exchanges between the land surface and atmospheric boundary layer. The objectives of this research were; (i) to quantitatively identify the High plains’ regional climate change in temperatures over the period 1895 to 2006, (ii) detect the signatures of anthropogenic forcing of LULC changes on the regional climate change of the High Plains, and (iii) examine the trends in evolving regional latent heat …


Spatial Patterns Of Drought Triggers And Indicators, Joseph P. Robine May 2011

Spatial Patterns Of Drought Triggers And Indicators, Joseph P. Robine

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Drought is a reoccurring phenomenon with widespread economic, social, and environmental impacts. Unlike other disasters, a drought cannot be easily detected. In addition, droughts are widespread and develop slowly over time making it difficult to detect its onset and monitor its severity and impacts. To assist in monitoring the severity and spatial extent of droughts, drought managers frequently use indicators and triggers. Drought indicators are meteorological or hydrological variables or indices that quantify or describe the level of drought severity. A drought trigger is a value of an indicator that initiates management and response actions. Despite the clear importance of …


Trends Of Wind And Wind Power Over The Coterminous United States, Eric M. Holt Mar 2011

Trends Of Wind And Wind Power Over The Coterminous United States, Eric M. Holt

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The trends of wind and wind power at a typical wind turbine hub height (80 m) are analyzed using the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) dataset for 1979-2009. Based upon the wind speeds at NARR’s vertical layers right above and below the 80 m level, the wind speeds at 80 m are estimated using two methods assuming the wind profile respectively as linear and power-law distribution with respect to the altitude in the lower boundary layer. Furthermore, we calculate the following variables at 80 m that are needed for the estimation and interpretation of wind power: the air density, zonal …


In Situ Checks Of Sonic Anemometer Temperature Calibration, David Cook, Michael Negale Mar 2011

In Situ Checks Of Sonic Anemometer Temperature Calibration, David Cook, Michael Negale

Physics Student Research

The temperature calibration of the Gill Instruments WindMaster Pro sonic anemometer used in the ARM SGP ECOR systems is actually a curve, but is approximated with a linear fit for field use. The original calibrations were performed in a temperature-controlled chamber. The linear fit slope is only applied to the calculation of sensible heat flux and not to the reported temperature. The linear fit results in an underestimate of sensible heat flux during cold ambient temperatures and an overestimate during hot ambient temperatures. In situ calibrations performed using five years of ARM SGP data reveal how poorly the temperature is …


Climate Modeling: From Global Climate Models To Regional Climate Applications, John F. Mejia, Darko Koracin Feb 2011

Climate Modeling: From Global Climate Models To Regional Climate Applications, John F. Mejia, Darko Koracin

Climate Change Seminar Series (NNE)

- Establish a sustainable Global/Regional Climate Modeling team that is capable of simulating regional climate and predicting future hydrological resources - Develop a necessary computer facility for regional climate modeling and links to model and measurements data bases - Educate future scientists in this area of climate research


Nonlinear Behaviour Of Sea Surface Waves Based On Low-Gradient Phase-Only Scattering Effects, Jonathan Blackledge, Eugene Coyle, Derek Kearney Jan 2011

Nonlinear Behaviour Of Sea Surface Waves Based On Low-Gradient Phase-Only Scattering Effects, Jonathan Blackledge, Eugene Coyle, Derek Kearney

Conference papers

Nonlinear sea waves generated by the wind, including freak waves, are considered to be phenomena that can be modelled using the nonlinear (cubic) Schrodinger equation, for example. However, there is a problem with this approach which is that sea surface waves, driven by wind speeds of varying strength, must be considered to be composed of two distinct types, namely, linear waves and nonlinear waves. In this paper, we consider a different approach to modelling ‘nonlinear’ waves that is based on a solution to the linear wave equation under a low-gradient, phase-only condition. This approach is entirely compatible with the fluid …


State Of The Climate In 2010, Jessica Blunden, Derek S. Arndt, Molly O. Baringer Jan 2011

State Of The Climate In 2010, Jessica Blunden, Derek S. Arndt, Molly O. Baringer

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Several large-scale climate patterns influenced climate conditions and weather patterns across the globe during 2010. The transition from a warm El Niño phase at the beginning of the year to a cool La Niña phase by July contributed to many notable events, ranging from record wetness across much of Australia to historically low Eastern Pacific basin and near-record high North Atlantic basin hurricane activity. The remaining five main hurricane basins experienced below- to well-below-normal tropical cyclone activity. The negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation was a major driver of Northern Hemisphere temperature patterns during 2009/10 winter and again in late …