Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Environmental Prediction In Canadian Cities, James Voogt

Geography & Environment Presentations

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape- Fall 2011, Kelly Smith

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

Drought Preparedness Community Options

Drought Likely to Persist, Intensify Across South

Database Will Help Planners Find Options

Impacts: Ag Losses, Fire, Water Restrictions

NDMC Welcomes International Visitors

New Drought Impact Reporter Online

Sim-Drought, Available Now at Select Agencies

Global Satellite Images For Aviation Operations, Frederick R. Mosher, James Block

Applied Aviation Sciences - Daytona Beach

Flight planning and flight following dispatch operations require information on potential flight hazards. Hazards such as thunderstorms, turbulence, icing, fog, volcanic ash, etc., are potential problems which are not always forecast adequately by numerical models. Satellite images are used to monitor the weather conditions causing existing flight hazards, as well as being used to identify the development of new hazards.

Droughtscape- Summer 2011, Kelly Smith

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

New NDMC Website

Drought May Improve in Southeast and Southwest

Impacts Summary: Fire, Crop Loss and More

International Activities

NDMC Launches Ranch Planning Tool

Serving Data to Order

Workshop Builds Drought Planning Community

A Diagnostic Examination Of The Eastern Ontario And Western Quebec Wintertime Convection Event Of 28 January 2010, Shawn M. Milrad, John R. Gyakum, Eyad H. Atallah, Jennifer F. Smith

Publications

The priority of an operational forecast center is to issue watches, warnings, and advisories to notify the public about the inherent risks and dangers of a particular event. Occasionally, events occur that do not meet advisory or warning criteria, but still have a substantial impact on human life and property. Short-lived snow bursts are a prime example of such a phenomenon. While these events are typically characterized by small snow accumulations, they often cause very low visibilities and rapidly deteriorating road conditions, both of which are a major hazard to motorists. On the afternoon of 28 January 2010, two such …

Building A Sustainable Network Of Drought Communities, Deborah J. Bathke, Nicole Wall, Jeff Nothwehr, Kelly Helm Smith, Donna L. Woudenberg, Tonya K. Bernadt, Crystal Bergman, Joseph P. Robine, Michael Hayes, Mark Svoboda, Lisa Darby, Roger S. Pulwarty, The National Drought Mitigation Center, The National Integrated Drought Information System Program Office

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Personnel Publications

The first step in managing large-scale (national) collaborations and networks is to consider and address how a group and a potential partnership may match up (Luther, 2005). To explore this concept and many other collaborative concepts, the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) hosted a workshop, “Building a Sustainable Network of Drought Communities,” which was facilitated by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) in Chicago, IL, June 8-9, 2011.

The workshop explored current examples of good communication and lessons learned within the realm of drought planning in order to address a future NIDIS Engaging Preparedness Communities (EPC) working group that …

Evaluating Changes And Estimating Seasonal Precipitation For Colorado River Basin Using Stochastic Non-Parametric Disaggregation Technique, Ajay Kalra, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Precipitation estimation is an important and challenging task in hydrology because of high variability and changing climate. This research involves (1) analyzing changes (trend and step) in seasonal precipitation and (2) estimating seasonal precipitation by disaggregating water year precipitation using a k-nearest neighbor (KNN) nonparametric technique for 29 climate divisions encompassing the Colorado River Basin. Water year precipitation data from 1900 to 2008 are subdivided into four seasons (i.e., autumn, winter, spring, and summer). Two statistical tests (Mann-Kendall and Spearman’s rho) are used to evaluate trend changes, and a rank sum test is used to identify the step change in …

Drought-Ready Communities: A Guide To Community Drought Preparedness, Mark D. Svoboda, Kelly Smith, Melissa Widhalm, Donna Louise Woudenberg, Cody L. Knutson, Meghan Sittler, Jim Angel, Mike Spinar, Mark Shafer, Renee Mcpherson, Heather Lazrus

National Drought Mitigation Center: Publications

Table of Contents

Introduction to Drought-Ready Communities........................................................ 4

Section 1. Getting Started: Invite the Community to Participate, Commit to the Process...................... 7

1.1 Establish a leadership team that includes individuals with responsibility for monitoring, communication, and implementation .............................................. 7

1.2 Identify stakeholders or groups in the community that may need additional resources to participate in the Drought-Ready Communities process .................... 8

1.3 Include government agencies and regulators ....................................... 9

1.4 Develop a contact list ................................................................ 9

1.5 Gather community perceptions of drought .................................................. 10

Section 2. Information Gathering: Understand Water Sources and Uses, Develop a Drought History . 11

2.1 …

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 …

Verification Of The Cobb Snowfall Forecasting Algorithm, Josh Barnwell

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

Forecasting storm total snow accumulation is one of the most difficult aspects of meteorological forecasting. The forecaster has to interpret three main variables in order to forecast snowfall accurately. These forecasting variables are the duration of the snowfall, the amount of liquid water the storm will produce, and the snow density or snow ratio. With the advancement of computer models in recent history, the need for a quick and easy interpretation of these variables has grown, and to improve on previous forecasting techniques’ disadvantages with including the three snow forecasting variables. The Cobb Method snowfall forecasting algorithm utilizes model data …

Droughtscape- Spring 2011, Kelly Smith

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

Register Now

Forecasters Say Dryness in TX and SW to Continue

Drought Planning, The Game: Coming Soon

Ding Takes New Post

South and Southwest Lose Crops, Fight Fires

Drought Monitor Authors Review Enhanced GIS Tools and New Processes

Comparisons Of Vcsel And Airs/Amsu-A On Water Vapor And Temperature In Hippo#1, Minghui Diao, Mark Zondlo, Loayeh Jumbah, Justin Sheffield, Eric Wood

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

No abstract available.

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 …

The Weather And Climate Of West Virginia, Kevin Law, H. Michael Mogil

Geography Faculty Research

West Virginia is a geographically small state with a distinctive climate. The article describes the climatological patterns of the state plus describes some historical weather events.

Crop Updates 2011 - Nutrition, Precision Agriculture & Climate And Forecasting, Deb Archdeacon, Andrew Gulliver, David Cullen, Qifu Ma, Richard Bell, Ross Brennan, Craig Scanlan, Wen Chen, Geoff Anderson, Mike Bolland, Peter Rees, Sandy Alexander, Frank D'Emden, Stephen Davies, Breanne Best, Louise Barton, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Ralph Kiese, Daniel Murphy, Peter Newman, Roger Mandel, Roger Lawes, Michael Robertson, Derk Bakker, Jeremy Lemon, Alison Lacey, John Paul Collins, Glen Riethmuller, Fiona H. Evans, David Stephens, Caroline Peek, Tim Scanlon

Crop Updates

This session covers sixteen papers from different authors:

Nutrition

1. Balance® used in conventional cropping practice with half of the upfront fertiliser rate can sustain crop yield and build soil biological fertility, Deb Archdeacon1, Andrew Gulliver2 and David Cullen2, 1Agronomica, Wellington Mill, WA, 2Custom Composts, Nambeelup, WA

2. Effects of potassium (K) supply on plant growth, potassium uptake and grain Yield in wheat grown in grey sand, Qifu Ma1, Richard Bell1, Ross Brennan2 and Craig Scanlan2, 1School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, 2Department of Agriculture and Food

3. Improving fertiliser management: redefining the …

Slides: Adapting To Climate Change: Lessons Learnt From The Australian Water Experience, Will Fargher

Conversation with Water Management Reps from Colorado and Australia: "Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned from Australia" (February 14)

Presenter: Will Fargher, National Water Commission, Australian Government

18 slides [4 have titles only and are missing images]

Slides: Environmental Water In Australia, Chris Arnott

Conversation with Water Management Reps from Colorado and Australia: "Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned from Australia" (February 14)

Presenter: Chris Arnott, Managing Director, Alluvium Consulting

30 slides

The Effect Of Zonally Asymmetric Ozone Heating On The Northern Hemisphere Winter Polar Stratosphere, J. P. Mccormack, T. R. Nathan, E. C. Cordero

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

[1] Previous modeling studies have found significant differences in winter extratropical stratospheric temperatures depending on the presence or absence of zonally asymmetric ozone heating (ZAOH), yet the physical mechanism causing these differences has not been fully explained. The present study describes the effect of ZAOH on the dynamics of the Northern Hemisphere extratropical stratosphere using an ensemble of free-running atmospheric general circulation model simulations over the 1 December - 31 March period. We find that the simulations including ZAOH produce a significantly warmer and weaker stratospheric polar vortex in mid-February due to more frequent major stratospheric sudden warmings compared to …

Improved Verification And Analysis Of National Weather Service Point Forecast Matrices, Paul Fajman

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

Verification is the process of determining the quality of forecast information. Office and personal forecast verifications are significantly lacking throughout the National Weather Service for many reasons. The primary reasons are that verification is time consuming, tedious, and monotonous. This research attempted to ease that process by creating new computer procedures to automate the verification process. The new procedures were tested using two years of forecasting data from November 2007 to November 2009 from the Omaha/Valley Weather Forecasting Office to serve as a framework for future verifications. Point Forecast Matrices (PFM) produced by the National Weather Service twice daily and …

Droughtscape- Winter 2011, Kelly Smith

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

Register for the U.S. Drought Monitor Forum

La Niña Brings Southeast, Southwest Drought

International Efforts

Drought Returns in 2010

Impacts Emerge “Before” Summer Drought in East

October-December Quarterly Impacts Summary

Climate Adaptation for Local Government

NDMC Elicits Missouri River Basin Recollections

Woudenberg Coordinates Educational Booklet

Ace-Fts Measurements Of Trace Species In The Characterization Of Biomass Burning Plumes, K. A. Tereszchuk, G. González Abad, C. Clerbaux, D. Hurtmans, P.-F. Coheur, P. F. Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

To further our understanding of the effects of biomass burning emissions on atmospheric composition, we report measurements of trace species in biomass burning plumes made by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) instrument on the SCISAT-1 satellite. An extensive set of 15 molecules, C₂H₂, C₂H₆, CH₃OH, CH₄, CO, H₂CO, HCN, HCOOH, HNO₃, NO, NO₂, N₂O₅, O-3, OCS and SF₆ are used in our analysis. Even though most biomass burning smoke is typically confined to the …

Evaluation Of Satellite-Retrieved Extreme Precipitation Rates Across The Central United States, A. Aghakoucak, A. Behrangi, S. Sorooshian, K. Hsu, Eyal Amitai

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Water resources management, forecasting, and decision making require reliable estimates of precipitation. Extreme precipitation events are of particular importance because of their severe impact on the economy, the environment, and the society. In recent years, the emergence of various satellite-retrieved precipitation products with high spatial resolutions and global coverage have resulted in new sources of uninterrupted precipitation estimates. However, satellite-based estimates are not well integrated into operational and decision-making applications because of a lack of information regarding the associated uncertainties and reliability of these products. In this study, four satellite-derived precipitation products (CMORPH, PERSIANN, TMPA-RT, and TMPA-V6) are evaluated with …

Influence Of Karst Landscape On Planetary Boundary Layer Atmosphere: A Weather Research And Forecasting (Wrf) Model–Based Investigation, Ronnie Leeper, Rezaul Mamood, Arturo I. Quintanar

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Personnel Publications

Karst hydrology provides a unique set of surface and subsurface hydrological components that affect soil moisture variability. Over karst topography, surface moisture moves rapidly below ground via sink holes, vertical shafts, and sinking streams, reducing surface runoff and moisture infiltration into the soil. In addition, subsurface cave blockage or rapid snowmelt over karst can lead to surface flooding. Moreover, regions dominated by karst may exhibit either drier or wetter soils when compared to nonkarst landscape. However, because of the lack of both observational soil moisture datasets to initialize simulations and regional land surface models (LSMs) that include explicit karst hydrological …

Aerosol Climatology Over Nile Delta Based On Modis, Misr And Omi Satellite Data, H. S. Marey, J. C. Gille, Hesham El-Askary, E. A. Shalaby, Mohamed El Raey

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Since 1999 Cairo and the Nile delta region have suffered from air pollution episodes called the “black cloud” during the fall season. These have been attributed to either burning of agriculture waste or long-range transport of desert dust. Here we present a detailed analysis of the optical and microphysical aerosol properties, based on satellite data. Monthly mean values of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm were examined for the 10 yr period from 2000–2009. Significant monthly variability is observed in the AOD with maxima in April or May (_0.5) and October (_0.45), and a …