Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

In-Line Particulate Transport And Dispersion Modeling Using The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (Rams), John W. Englert

Theses and Dissertations

There are a number of analytical and semi-empirical models that describe the behavior of particulate matter in the atmosphere. Many of these require modification for all types of weather, dry versus wet deposition, and overall effects can be quite non-linear. Rainfall (rate, drop size, etc.), snowfall (rate, flake size, etc.), humidity, pressure, temperature, and combination of these greatly affect particle settling and washout rates. To that end, a method for tracking released constituents using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) microphysics package is developed by modifying one of the hydrometeor categories (hail) in the microphysics package. The RAMS microphysics package …

A Full-Wave Investigation Of The Use Of A ‘‘Cancellation Factor’’ In Gravity Wave–Oh Airglow Interaction Studies, Michael P. Hickey Ph.D., Yonghui Yu

Publications

Atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) perturb minor species involved in the chemical reactions of airglow emissions in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. In order to determine gravity wave fluxes and the forcing effects of gravity waves on the mean state (which are proportional to the square of the wave amplitude), it is essential that the amplitude of airglow brightness fluctuation be related to the amplitude of major gas density fluctuation in a deterministic way. This has been achieved through detailed modeling combining gravity wave dynamics described using a full-wave model with the chemistry relevant to the airglow emission of interest. …

Biophysical Mechanisms Of Larval Fish Ingress Into Chesapeake Bay, Jonathan A. Hare, Simon Thorrold, Harvey Walsh, Christian Reiss, Arnoldo Valle-Levinson, Cynthia Jones

OES Faculty Publications

Selective tidal stream transport is hypothesized as a dominant mechanism by which larvae of marine animals move through estuarine openings. For larvae moving from the shelf to estuarine habitats, selective tidal stream transport proposes that larvae are higher in the water column during flood tide and lower in the water column during ebb tide. Although a number of studies conclude that selective tidal stream transport is the mechanism responsible for larval ingress, few studies consider alternative mechanisms or consider passive explanations for tidal patterns in larval distributions. We examined the biophysical mechanisms responsible for larval ingress into Chesapeake Bay using …

An Exercise In Forecasting Loop Current And Eddy Frontal Positions In The Gulf Of Mexico, Lie-Yauw Oey, Tal Ezer, George Forristall, C. Cooper, Steven Dimarco, S. Fan

CCPO Publications

As part of a model-evaluation exercise to forecast Loop Current and Loop Current eddy frontal positions in the Gulf of Mexico, the Princeton Regional Ocean Forecast System (PROFS) is tested to forecast 14 4-week periods Aug/25/99- Sep/20/00, during which a powerful eddy, Eddy Juggernaut (Eddy-J) separated from the Loop Current and propagated southwestward. To initialize each forecast, PROFS assimilates satellite sea surface height (SSH) anomaly and temperature (SST) by projecting them into subsurface density using a surface/subsurface correlation that is a function of the satellite SSH anomaly. The closest distances of the forecast fronts from seven fixed stations in the …

Oceanic Uptake And The Global Atmospheric Acetone Budget, Christa Marandino, Warren J. De Bruyn, Scott Miller, M. J. Prather, Eric S. Saltzman

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

In this study, direct measurements of the air/ sea flux of acetone were made over the North Pacific Ocean. The results demonstrate that the net flux of acetone is into, rather than out of the oceans. The extrapolated global ocean uptake of 48 Tg yr(-1) requires a major revision of the atmospheric acetone budget. This result is consistent with a recent reevaluation of acetone photodissociation quantum yields.

Monsoon-Driven Biogeochemical Processes In The Arabian Sea, Jerry D. Wiggert, Raleigh Hood, Karl Banse, John Kindle

Faculty Publications

Although it is nominally a tropical locale, the semiannual wind reversals associated with the Monsoon system of the Arabian Sea result annually in two distinct periods of elevated biological activity. While in both cases monsoonal forcing drives surface layer nutrient enrichment that supports increased rates of primary productivity, fundamentally different entrainment mechanisms are operating in summer (Southwest) and winter (Northeast) Monsoons. Moreover, the intervening intermonsoon periods, during which the region relaxes toward oligotrophic conditions more typical of tropical environments, provide a stark contrast to the dynamic biogeochemical activity of the monsoons. The resulting spatial and temporal variability is great and …

Flowers Of Ice- Beauty, Symmetry, And Complexity: A Review Of The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty, John A. Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) Growing up as a child in southern England, my early memories of snow include trudging home from school with my father, gazing at the seemingly enormous snowdrifts that smoothed the hedgerows, fields and bushes, while listening to the soft “scrunch” of the snow under my Wellington boots. In the country, snow stretching as far as I could see was not a particularly uncommon sight. The quietness of the land under a foot of snow seemed eerie. I cannot remember the first time I looked at snowflakes per se; my interests as a small child were primarily in their …

Extreme Rainfall In Texas: Patterns And Predictability, John W. Nielsen-Gammon, Fuqing Zhang, Andrew M. Odins, Boksoon Myoung

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Extreme rainfall, with storm total precipitation exceeding 500 mm, occurs several times per decade in Texas. According to a compositing analysis, the large-scale weather patterns associated with extreme rainfall events involve a northward deflection of the tropical trade winds into Texas, with deep southerly winds extending into the middle troposphere. One such event, the July 2002 South-Central Texas flood, is examined in detail. This particular event was associated with a stationary upper-level trough over central Texas and northern Mexico that established a steady influx of tropical moisture from the south. While the onset of the event was triggered by destabilization …

Onset Conditions For Equatorial Spread F Determined During Equis Ii, D. L. Hysell, M. F. Larsen, C. M. Swenson, Aroh Barjatya, T. F. Wheeler, M. F. Sarango, Et.Al

Publications

An investigation into the dynamics and layer structure of the postsunset ionosphere prior to the onset of equatorial spread F (ESF) took place during the NASA EQUIS II campaign on Kwajalein Atoll on August 7 and 15, 2004. On both nights, an instrumented rocket measured plasma number density and vector electric fields to an apogee of about 450 km. Two chemical release rockets were launched both nights to measure lower thermospheric wind profiles. The Altair UHF/VHF radar was used to monitor coherent and incoherent scatter. In both experiments, strong plasma shear flow was detected. Periodic, patchy bottom-type scattering layers were …

Summertime Ozone At Mount Washington: Meteorological Controls At The Highest Peak In The Northeast, E V. Fischer, R. Talbot, Jack E. Dibb

Earth Sciences

This study examined the synoptic and regional-scale meteorological controls on summertime O₃ at Mount Washington, the highest peak (1910 m) in the northeastern United States. Analysis of air mass transport to Mount Washington was conducted for the summers of 1998–2003 using backward trajectories. Distinct patterns in air mass history were revealed using this approach that helped explain extreme variations in O₃ mixing ratios. Most enhanced (≥90th percentile) and depleted (≤10th percentile) O₃ events were short-lived and spread out over the summer months. Enhanced O₃ events at Mount Washington were generally associated with westerly transport, while depleted …

Snow Accumulation, Surface Height Change, And Firn Densification At Summit, Greenland: Insights From 2 Years Of In Situ Observation, Jack E. Dibb, Mark Fahnestock

Earth Sciences

Weekly measurements of surface height change were made at an accumulation forest of 100 stakes at Summit, Greenland, over a 2-year period (17 August 2000 to 8 August 2002). On average, the surface height relative to the stakes increased 64 (±4.8) cm in the first year and 65 (±5.3) cm in the second, identical to the average (65 ± 4.5 cm yr⁻¹) previously reported for the period 1991–1995 in a similar forest 28 km to the southwest. The continuous 2-year data set indicates that the rate of surface rise was not constant, with the summers of 2001 and …

Orographic Midlatitude Cyclone Modification: An Appalachian Study, Andrew Douglas Augustine

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forecasting weather within cyclonic systems is increasingly complicated and problematic when the cyclone is modified as it passes over a mountain range. Although much study has been devoted to orographic effects, the degree of influence exerted upon midlatitude cyclones by the undersized Appalachian Mountains has not been fully established. The fundamental goal of this research was to investigate the relationships between the orography of the Appalachian region and three inherent properties exhibited by midlatitude cyclones traversing the region including intensity, movement speed, and heading. The methodology used in this study integrates GIS within a climatological analysis. Initially, a midlatitude surface …

Rayleigh-Lidar Observations Of Mesospheric Mid-Latitude Density Climatology Above Utah State University, Eric M. Lundell, Vincent B. Wickwar

Posters

Data from Rayleigh lidars have been used extensively to derive temperatures in the mesospheric region of the atmosphere. However, these data have not been used extensively in a similar way to derive neutral densities. We report on one such mid-latitude, density climatology between 45 and ~90 km, based on nearly 600 good nights of observations carried out since 1993 at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) at Utah State University (41.7°N 111.8°W). They produce relative density profiles that are then normalized at 45 km to an empirical model, in this case the MSISe00 model. Despite this normalization, significant differences are found …

Ship-Based Nitric Acid Measurements In The Gulf Of Maine During New England Air Quality Study 2002, Jack E. Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Sallie I. Whitlow, Marcy Vozzella, Eric Williams, Brian M. Lerner

Earth Sciences

Gas phase nitric acid (HNO₃) was measured at 5-min resolution on board the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessel Ronald H. Brown during the second leg (29 July to 10 August) of the New England Air Quality Study (NEAQS) 2002 cruise. A primary objective of the cruise was to improve understanding of the oxidation of NO_x in, and removal of the oxidation products from, the polluted marine boundary layer east of northeastern North America. For the first 9 days of this leg the ship remained north of Cape Cod, and the cruise track did not …

Three-Dimensional Simulations Of Inorganic Aerosol Distributions In East Asia During Spring 2001, Youhua Tang, Gregory R. Carmichael, John H. Seinfeld, Donald Dabdub, Rodney J. Weber, B J. Huebert, A D. Clarke, Sergio A. Guazzotti, David A. Sodeman, Kimberly A. Prather, Itsushi Uno, Jung -Hun Woo, James J. Yienger, David G. Streets, Patricia K. Quinn, James E. Johnson, Chul-Han Song, Vicki H. Grassian, Adrian Sandu, R. Talbot, Jack E. Dibb

Earth Sciences

In this paper, aerosol composition and size distributions in east Asia are simulated using a comprehensive chemical transport model. Three-dimensional aerosol simulations for the TRACE-P and ACE-Asia periods are performed and used to help interpret actual observations. The regional chemical transport model, STEM-2K3, which includes the on-line gas-aerosol thermodynamic module SCAPE II, and explicitly considers chemical aging of dust, is used in the analysis. The model is found to represent many of the important observed features. The Asian outflow during March and April of 2001 is heavily polluted with high aerosol loadings. Under conditions of low dust loading, SO_{2 …}

A Major Regional Air Pollution Event In The Northeastern United States Caused By Extensive Forest Fires In Quebec, Canada, Linsey J. Debell, Jack E. Dibb, R. Talbot, J W. Munger, E V. Fischer, Steve Frolking

Earth Sciences

During early July 2002, wildfires burned ∼1 × 10⁶ ha of forest in Quebec, Canada. The resultant smoke plume was seen in satellite images blanketing the U.S. east coast. Concurrently, extremely high CO mixing ratios were observed at the Atmospheric Investigation, Regional Modeling, Analysis and Prediction (AIRMAP) network sites in New Hampshire and at the Harvard Forest Environmental Measurement Site (HFEMS) in Massachusetts. The CO enhancements were on the order of 525–1025 ppbv above low mixing ratio conditions on surrounding days. A biomass burning source for the event was confirmed by concomitant enhancements in aerosol K⁺, NH …

An Earlier Lidar Observation Of A Noctilucent Cloud Above Logan, Utah (41.7°N), Joshua P. Herron, Vincent B. Wickwar

Posters

The Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) Rayleigh-scatter lidar has been operated for 11 years on the Utah State University (USU) campus (41.7o N 111.8o W). During the morning of 22 June 1995 a noctilucent cloud (NLC) was observed with the lidar well away from the twilight periods when NLCs are visible. It lasted for approximately one hour. This observation and a second in 1999 [Wickwar et al., 2002] are very significant because they show the penetration of NLCs equatorward of 50°, which may have important implications for global change. Temperature profiles calculated at hourly intervals were at least 20 …

Evaluating Spatial Variability Of Precipitation In Kentucky With Exploratory Data Analysis, Daniel Taylor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Spatial variability of precipitation is examined over the state of Kentucky and surrounding areas. The study focuses on the analysis of monthly precipitation totals from the period of 1961-2000. The purpose of the study is to develop a set of indices to represent the spatial variability of the study area for a given month. Various exploratory data analysis methods such as variography, kriging, and cluster analysis were used. The study attempts to quantify the second order (local) effects of the spatial variation of precipitation as a means to provide insight into the prediction of precipitation randomness. This task can be …

A Nonparametric Method For Separating Photosynthesis And Respiration Components In Co2 Flux Measurements, Chuixiang Yi, Runze Li, Peter S. Backwin, Ankur Desai, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Sean P. Burns, Andrew A. Turnipseed, Steven C. Wofsy, J. William Munger, Kell Wilson, Russell K. Monson

Publications and Research

Future climate change is expected to affect ecosystem-atmosphere CO₂ exchange, particularly through the influence of temperature. To date, however, few studies have shown that differences in the response of net ecosystem CO₂ exchange (NEE) to temperature among ecosystems can be explained by differences in the photosynthetic and respiratory processes that compose NEE. Using a new nonparametric statistical model, we analyzed data from four forest ecosystems. We observed that differences among forests in their ability to assimilate CO₂ as a function of temperature were attributable to consistent differences in the temperature dependence of photosynthesis and respiration. This observation …

Extratropical Transition Of Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclones. Part Ii: Midlatitude Circulation Characteristics, Mark R. Sinclair

Applied Aviation Sciences - Prescott

This second of two papers on extratropical transition (ET) over the southwest Pacific Ocean focuses on the variability of ET. A climatology of ET onset based on a previously described objective technique shows that ET commences 158 of latitude nearer the equator on average than similar cases from the Northern Hemisphere. Characteristic midlatitude circulation patterns accompanying ET near 308S are identified by means of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of 50 storms. The first eigenvector pattern, explaining nearly half the circulation variability, expresses relaxed and enhanced pressure gradients south of the storm that define composites similar to ‘‘cradled’’ and ‘‘captured’’ …

A Comparison Of Similar Aerosol Measurements Made On The Nasa P3-B, Dc-8, And Nsf C-130 Aircraft During Trace-P And Ace-Asia, K G. Moore, A D. Clarke, V Kapustin, Cameron Mcnaughton, B E. Anderson, E L. Winstead, R J. Weber, Y Ma, Y N. Lee, R. Talbot, Jack E. Dibb, T Anderson, S Dougherty, D Covert, D Rogers

Earth Sciences

Two major aircraft experiments occurred off the Pacific coast of Asia during spring 2001: the NASA sponsored Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Aerosol Characterization Experiment-Asia (ACE-Asia). Both experiments studied emissions from the Asian continent (biomass burning, urban/industrial pollution, and dust). TRACE-P focused on trace gases and aerosol during March/April and was based primarily in Hong Kong and Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, and involved two aircraft: the NASA DC-8 and the NASA P3-B. ACE-Asia focused on aerosol and radiation during April/May and was based in Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, …

Carbonyl Sulfide And Carbon Disulfide: Large-Scale Distributions Over The Western Pacific And Emissions From Asia During Trace-P, Nicola J. Blake, David G. Streets, Jung -Hun Woo, Isobel J. Simpson, Jonathan Green, Simone Meinardi, Kazuyuki Kita, E L. Atlas, H Fuelberg, Glen Sachse, Melody A. Avery, S Vay, R. Talbot, Jack E. Dibb, A R. Bandy, D C. Thornton, F Sherwood Rowland, D R. Blake

Earth Sciences

An extensive set of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) and carbon disulfide (CS₂) observations were made as part of the NASA Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) project, which took place in the early spring 2001. TRACE-P sampling focused on the western Pacific region but in total included the geographic region 110°E to 290°E longitude, 5°N to 50°N latitude, and 0–12 km altitude. Substantial OCS and CS₂ enhancements were observed for a great many air masses of Chinese and Japanese origin during TRACE-P. Over the western Pacific, mean mixing ratios of long-lived OCS and shorter-lived CS_{2 …}

Intercomparisons Of Airborne Measurements Of Aerosol Ionic Chemical Composition During Trace-P And Ace-Asia, Y Ma, R J. Weber, K Maxwell-Meier, D A. Orsini, Y-N Lee, B J. Huebert, S G. Howell, T H. Bertram, R. Talbot, Jack E. Dibb, Eric Scheuer

Earth Sciences

As part of the two field studies, Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) and the Asian Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-Asia), the inorganic chemical composition of tropospheric aerosols was measured over the western Pacific from three separate aircraft using various methods. Comparisons are made between the rapid online techniques of the particle into liquid sampler (PILS) for measurement of a suite of fine particle a mist chamber/ion chromatograph (MC/IC) measurement of fine sulfate, and the longer time-integrated filter and micro-orifice impactor (MOI) measurements. Comparisons between identical PILS on two separate aircraft flying in formation showed that they were highly …

Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (Alo) Ten-Year Mesospheric Temperature Climatology, Joshua P. Herron, Vincent B. Wickwar

Posters

The Rayleigh-scatter lidar at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) on the Utah State University (USU) (41.7°N, 111.8°W) campus has been in operation since 1993. The temperature database now contains over ten years of Rayleigh-scatter temperatures. A multi-year temperature climatology has been calculated from these observations along with the RMS and interannual variability. These temperatures and the climatology are currently being used in a number of mesospheric studies, including mesospheric inversion layers, tides, planetary waves, cyclical variations, trends, longitudinal comparisons, and validation studies.

Examples Of Alo Results, Vincent B. Wickwar, Joshua P. Herron, Karen M. Nelson, Troy A. Wynn, Kristina Thomas, Eric M. Lundell

Presentations

No abstract provided.

A Recommendation For An Enhanced Fujita Scale (Ef-Scale)

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Background

National Weather Service (NWS) personnel who are responsible for rating tornadoes have expressed frustrations in applying the Fujita Scale in a consistent and accurate manner. Weak links in a structural system or a slow-moving storm sometimes lead to an overrating of a tornado event. Several technical articles suggest that wind speeds associated with some descriptions of damage are too high. For example, a 260 mph wind speed is not required to completely destroy a well constructed house and blow away the debris. The damage occurs at significantly lower wind speeds. Minor et al. (1977) and Phan and Simiu (2003) …

A 700 Year Record Of Southern Hemisphere Extratropical Climate Variability, Paul A. Mayewski, Kirk A. Maasch, James W.C. White, Eric J. Steig, E A. Meyerson, Ian D. Goodwin, Vin Morgan, Tas D. Van Ommen, Mark Aj Curran, Joseph M. Souney Jr, K Kreutz

All Materials

Annually dated ice cores from West and East Antarctica provide proxies for past changes in atmospheric circulation over Antarctica and portions of the Southern Ocean, temperature in coastal West and East Antarctica, and the frequency of South Polar penetration of El Niño events. During the period AD 1700–1850, atmospheric circulation over the Antarctic and at least portions of the Southern Hemisphere underwent a mode switch departing from the out-of-phase alternation of multi-decadal long phases of EOF1 and EOF2 modes of the 850 hPa field over the Southern Hemisphere (as defined in the recent record by Thompson and Wallace, 2000; Thompson …

Derivation Of A Self-Consistent Auroral Oval Model Using The Auroral Boundary Index, Keith A. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The position and intensity of the auroral oval has many implications for the Air Force from determining the effects of incoming electron flux on DoD systems to modeling the ionosphere to exploit current HF communications capabilities. The auroral morphology is a good indicator of the level at which space weather and its near-Earth consequences are occurring, and thus it is important to develop an auroral prediction model. However, since no purely physics-based models exist to describe the temporal and spatial evolution of the auroral zone, space weather practitioners and researchers are forced to produce statistical representations, “organized” by some relevant …

Estimating Equatorial F-Region Daytime Vertical E X B Drift Velocities From Ground-Based Magnetometer Measurements In The Philippine Longitude Sector, Shauna M. Kinkela

Theses and Dissertations

Ionospheric disturbances can severely impact Department of Defense (DoD) systems, such as radar. satellite. and navigation technologies. Forecasting disturbances and describing the Earth's ionosphere, in turn, relies upon innovative computer-based models that gather input parameters from ground and space-borne observations and empirical models for ionospheric drivers. Equatorial E x B drift velocities are significant input parameters that go into many ionospheric models, because they help describe vertical plasma motions near the magnetic equator. Previous work by Anderson, et al 2002 has demonstrated the ability to derive Peruvian longitude sector, daytime vertical E x B drifts from ground-based magnetometer data. The …

Comparative Study On The Use Of Coherent Radar-Derived Electric Fields Vs. Statistical Electric Fields For The Initialization Of A High-Latitude Ionospheric Model, Christopher M. Hogue

Theses and Dissertations

The structure and time development of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system have significant impacts on the Air Force and its mission. Specifically, an accurate knowledge of ionospheric plasma densities is important for the operation of many Air Force systems. This research analyzes plasma density structure development through comparing two distinct electric field models. The two models compared here are a commonly used statistical model created by Heppner and Maynard 1987, and a more recently developed model using real-time coherent radar measurements from the SuperDARN radar network. Ionospheric simulations were run using Utah State University s Time-Dependent Ionospheric Model (TDIM) with the two …