Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

A Comparison Of The Localized Aviation Mos Program (Lamp) And Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (Taf) Accuracy For General Aviation, Douglas D. Boyd, Thomas A. Guinn

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

Background. For general aviation (GA) pilots, operations in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) carry an elevated risk of a fatal accident. As to whether a general aviation flight can be safely undertaken, aerodrome-specific forecasts (TAF, LAMP) provide guidance. Although LAMP forecasts are more common for GA-frequented aerodromes, nevertheless, the FAA recommends that for such aerodromes (and for which a TAF is not issued) the airman uses the TAF generated for the geographically closest airport for pre-flight weather evaluation. Herein, for non-TAF-issuing airports, the LAMP (sLAMP) predictive accuracy for visual (VFR) and instrument (IFR) flight rules flight category was determined.

Method. sLAMP …

Impact Of Hurricane Michael (2018) On Local Vertical Total Electron Content, Joanna E.S. Williams, Robert C. Tournay, H. Rose Tseng, Daniel J. Emmons Ii, Omar A. Nava

Faculty Publications

An analysis of vertical total electron content (TEC) estimates from the MIT Madrigal database is performed for the regions surrounding the eye of Hurricane Michael (2018). Absolute and detrended TEC values show a noticeable increase during the tropical cyclone (TC) relative to fluctuations at the same locations prior to the storm. Direct comparisons of TEC perturbation magnitudes to the number of lightning flashes in latitude-longitude boxes surrounding the eye of Hurricane Michael for each 5 min period of 10 October 2018 showed no visible trends. A similar comparison of the vertical TEC fluctuations with respect to the rainfall rates showed …

Drought-Induced Biomass Burning As A Source Of Black Carbon To The Central Himalaya Since 1781 Ce As Reconstructed From The Dasuopu Ice Core, Joel D. Barker, Susan Kaspari, Paulo Gabrielli, Anna Wegner, Emilie Beaudon, M. Roxana Sierra-Hernández, Lonnie Thompson

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Himalayan glaciers are melting due to atmospheric warming, with the potential to limit access to water for more than 25 % of the global population that resides in these glacier meltwater catchments. Black carbon has been implicated as a factor that is contributing to Himalayan glacier melt, but its sources and mechanisms of delivery to the Himalayas remain controversial. Here, we provide a 211-year ice core record spanning 1781–1992 CE for refractory black carbon (rBC) deposition from the Dasuopu glacier ice core that has to date provided the highest-elevation ice core record (7200 m). We report an average rBC concentration …

Data Supporting The Paper "Is The Water Vapor Supersaturation Distribution Gaussian?", Subin Thomas, Prasanth Prabhakaran, W. Cantrell, Raymond Shaw

Michigan Tech Research Data

The data in this file are from the MTU Pi Cloud Chamber and large eddy simulations. This work was supported by NSF grant AGS-1754244. Data are made available in support of the above publication by Thomas et al.. For any further use, e.g., for publication elsewhere, the authors should be contacted to ensure the appropriate use of the data and proper acknowledgment.

A New Method For Estimating The Physical Characteristics Of Martian Dust Devils, Shelly Cahoon Mann

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Critical to the future exploration of Mars is having a detailed understanding of the atmospheric environment and its potential dangers. The dust devil is one of these potential dangers. The transport of dust through saltation is believed to be the driving mechanism responsible for Martian weather patterns. The two primary mechanisms for dust transport are dust storms and dust devils. Dust devils on Mars are a frequent occurrence with one in five so called giant dust devils being large enough to leave scars on the surface that are visible from space. Due to the thin atmosphere, winds of 60 mph …

Past The Tipping Point, But With Hope Of Return: How Creating A Geoengineering Compulsory Licensing Scheme Can Incentivize Innovation, Brooke Wilson

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

This Note explores the patenting of geoengineering technologies and issues arising from the early stages of this high-risk, high-reward technology. This Note focuses on one possible solution to solving the issues surrounding the patenting of geoengineering technology: Creating a specialized compulsory licensing scheme.

Hazardous Weather Communication En Español: Challenges, Current Resources, And Future Practices, Joseph E. Trujillo-Falcón, Orlando Bermúdez, Krizia Negrón-Hernández, John Lipski, Elizabeth Leitman, Kodi Berry

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: Technical Reports and Related Materials

According to recent Census data, the Hispanic or Latino population represents nearly 1 in 5 Americans today, where 71.1% of these individuals speak Spanish at home. Despite increased efforts among the weather enterprise, establishing effective risk communication strategies for Spanish-speaking populations has been an uphill battle. No frameworks exist for translating weather information into the Spanish language, nor are there collective solutions that address this problem within the weather world. The objective of this article is threefold. First, the current translation issue in Spanish is highlighted. Through research conducted at the NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, situations are revealed where regional …

Droughtscape, Spring 2021, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Spring 2021

Investigating Decadal Changes Of Multiple Hydrological Products And Land-Cover Changes In The Mediterranean Region For 2009–2018, Wenzhao Li, Sachi Perera, Erik Linstead, Rejoice Thomas, Hesham El-Askary, Thomas Piechota, Daniele Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Land-cover change is a critical concern due to its climatic, ecological, and socioeconomic consequences. In this study, we used multiple variables including precipitation, vegetation index, surface soil moisture, and evapotranspiration obtained from different satellite sources to study their association with land-cover changes in the Mediterranean region. Both observational and modeling data were used for climatology and correlation analysis. Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System (FLDAS) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) were used to extract surface soil moisture and evapotranspiration data. Intercomparing the results of FLDAS and GLDAS suggested that FLDAS data had better …

Blowing Snow At Mcmurdo Station, Antarctica During The Aware Field Campaign: Surface And Ceilometer Observations, Nicole A. Loeb, Aaron Kennedy

Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

Blowing snow (BLSN) is an impactful process in cold climates, affecting regional thermodynamics, radiation properties, and the surface mass balance of snow. Though it has significant climatic impacts, the process is still poorly understood and not widely included in weather and climate models. In 2016, the AWARE Field Campaign saw the deployment of a large suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments to McMurdo Station, Antarctica allowing for investigation of BLSN. A ceilometer-based BLSN detection algorithm used elsewhere in Antarctica is applied to data from AWARE, yielding a BLSN frequency of 14.1% compared to 8.2% as detected by human …

Representing Methane Emissions From Wet Tropical Forest Soils Using Microbial Functional Groups Constrained By Soil Diffusivity, Debjani Sihi, Xiaofeng Xu, Mónica Salazar Ortiz, Christine S. O'Connell, Whendee L. Silver, Carla López-Lloreda, Julia M. Brenner, Ryan K. Quinn, Jana R. Phillips, Brent D. Newman, Melanie A. Mayes

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Tropical ecosystems contribute significantly to global emissions of methane (CH₄), and landscape topography influences the rate of CH₄ emissions from wet tropical forest soils. However, extreme events such as drought can alter normal topographic patterns of emissions. Here we explain the dynamics of CH₄ emissions during normal and drought conditions across a catena in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Valley soils served as the major source of CH₄ emissions in a normal precipitation year (2016), but drought recovery in 2015 resulted in dramatic pulses in CH₄ emissions from all topographic positions. Geochemical parameters …

Measurement Report: Long-Range Transport Patterns Into The Tropical Northwest Pacific During The Camp2ex Aircraft Campaign: Chemical Composition, Size Distributions, And The Impact Of Convection, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Ewan Crosbie, Michael Shook, Jeffrey S. Reid, Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza, James Bernard Simpas, Luke Ziemba, Joshua P. Digangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Phu Nguyen, F. Joseph Turk, Edward Winstead, Claire E. Robinson, Jian Wang, Jiaoshi Zhang, Yang Wang, Subin Yoon, James Flynn, Sergio L. Alvarez, Ali Behrangi, Armin Sorooshian

Physics Faculty Publications

The tropical Northwest Pacific (TNWP) is a receptor for pollution sources throughout Asia and is highly susceptible to climate change, making it imperative to understand long-range transport in this complex aerosol-meteorological environment. Measurements from the NASA Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex; 24 August to 5 October 2019) and back trajectories from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT) were used to examine transport into the TNWP from the Maritime Continent (MC), peninsular Southeast Asia (PSEA), East Asia (EA), and the West Pacific (WP). A mid-campaign monsoon shift on 20 September …

Ecological Risk Assessment Of Managed Relocation As A Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, Aviv Karasov-Olson, Mark W. Schwartz, Julian D. Olden, Sarah Skikne, Jessica J. Hellmann, Sarah Allen, Christy Brigham, Danielle Buttke, David J. Lawrence, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Gregor W. Schuurman, Melissa Trammell, Cat Hawkins Hoffman

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Changing climate and introduced species are placing an increasing number of species at risk of extinction. Increasing extinction risk is increasing calls to protect species by relocating, or translocating, them to locations with more favorable biotic or climatic conditions. Managed relocation, or assisted migration, of species entails risks to both the conservation target organisms being moved as well as the recipient ecosystems into which they are moved.

Recognizing this risk, calls have been made for practitioners interested in considering a managed relocation project to engage in a serious risk assessment prior to advancing a project. We engaged a …

Comprehensive Record Of Volcanic Eruptions In The Holocene (11,000 Years) From The Wais Divide, Antarctica Ice Core, Jihong Cole-Dai, David G. Harris, Joshua A. Kennedy, Michael Sigl, Joseph R. Mcconnell, T. J. Fudge, Lei Geng, Olivia J. Maselli, Kendrick C. Taylor, Joseph M. Souney

Ice Core and Environmental Chemistry Lab Datasets and Publications

A comprehensive record (WHV2020) of explosive volcanic eruptions in the last 11,000 years is reconstructed from the West Antarctica Ice Sheet Divide deep ice core (WDC). The chronological list of 426 large volcanic eruptions in the Southern Hemisphere and the low latitudes during the Holocene are of the highest quality of all volcanic records from ice cores, owing to the high-resolution chemical measurement of the ice core and the exceptionally accurate WDC timescale. No apparent trend is found in the frequency (number of eruptions per millennium) of volcanic eruptions, and the number of eruptions in the most recent millennium (1,000–2,000 …

Identifying Four Year Average Cloud Field Regimes From World Wide Merged Cloud Analysis Dataset By Way Of K-Means Clustering, Stewart G. Almeida

Theses and Dissertations

Joint histograms of cloud top height (CTH) and optical depth (OD) are created using the World-Wide Merged Cloud Analysis (WWMCA) dataset over a four year period (2014-2017) to identify average cloud field regimes and assess the application of utilizing the WWMCA dataset with the AFIT Sensor and Scene Emulation Tool (ASSET). Two selected regions encompassing the Florida peninsula and a portion of the Pacific Ocean off the west-central coast of South America are examined over the months of January and July. Cloud field regimes are identified by running generated hourly OD-CTH histograms through k-means clustering, with optimal cluster number ( …

Reginald Sutcliffe And The Invention Of Modern Weather Systems Science, Jonathan E. Martin

Purdue University Press Book Previews

Despite being perhaps the foremost British meteorologist of the twentieth century, Reginald Sutcliffe has been understudied and underappreciated. His impact continues to this day every time you check the weather forecast. Reginald Sutcliffe and the Invention of Modern Weather Systems Science not only details Sutcliffe’s life and ideas, but it also illuminates the impact of social movements and the larger forces that propelled him on his consequential trajectory. Less than a century ago, a forecast of the weather tomorrow was considered a practical impossibility. This book makes the case that three important advances guided the development of modern dynamic meteorology, …

Comparison Of Spatial Precipitation Forecasts With A Satellite Dataset, Andrew C. Siebels

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to analyze and compare global precipitation data from the Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2) with the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN)-Climate Data Record (CDR) to improve long term precipitation forecasting. The CFSv2 has a 0.5-degree resolution which will provide model data for precipitation forecasts. The PERSIANN-CDR is a satellite derived daily 0.25-degree dataset with 37 years of global precipitation coverage 60 N to 60 S. The 0-to-10, 15-to-25, 55-to-65, and 80-to-90 day forecast time frames will then be analyzed for accuracy, and a quantile mapping (QM) technique …

Synthetic Lightning Generation Employing Autoregressive-Moving-Average (Arma) Models, Seth R. Powers

Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the question as to whether lightning data can be generated synthetically using vector autoregressive-moving-average (VARMA) models. Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) data is used as the basis for the study. Lightning climatology is examined and compared to previous research to gain insight into the targeted areas. Individual lightning ashes are analyzed to inspect how well the process works on a smaller scale. Then, entire regions are evaluated to simulate lightning creation in a larger setting. Results suggest that the VARMA process employed is sufficient in generating synthetic lightning observations, largely dependent on the time and location of lightning …

Investigation On Spectral Characteristics Of Gravity Waves In The Mlt Using Lidar Observations At Andes, Kai Ming Huang, Hang Liu, Alan Z. Liu, Shao Dong Zhang, Chun Ming Huang, Yun Gong, Wu Han Ning

Publications

Based on observations from lidar at Andes, we study the features of gravity wave activities and their spectra in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). Case analysis shows that a quasimonochromatic inertia–gravity wave (IGW) dominates the perturbation fields, with clearly downward phase progression in the wind and temperature fields. Statistical investigation shows that the dominant waves in the MLT over Andes have the typical temporal and spatial scales of IGWs and show the preferential propagation in the meridional direction relative to in the zonal direction. The preferential propagation direction causes larger spectral peak and steeper spectral slope in the meridional …

Diurnal Cycle Of Passive Microwave Brightness Temperatures Over Land At A Global Scale, Zahra Sharifnezhad, Hamid Norouzi, Satya Prakash, Reginald Blake, Reze Khanbilvard

Publications and Research

Satellite-borne passive microwave radiometers provide brightness temperature (TB) measurements in a large spectral range which includes a number of frequency channels and generally two polarizations: horizontal and vertical. These TBs are widely used to retrieve several atmospheric and surface variables and parameters such as precipitation, soil moisture, water vapor, air temperature profile, and land surface emissivity. Since TBs are measured at different microwave frequencies with various instruments and at various incidence angles, spatial resolutions, and radiometric characteristics, a mere direct integration of them from different microwave sensors would not necessarily provide consistency. However, when appropriately harmonized, they can provide a …

From Hector Mine M7.1 To Ridgecrest M7.1 Earthquake. A Look From A 20-Year Perspective, Sergey Pulinets, Marina Tsidilina, Dimitar Ouzounov, Dmitry Davidenko

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The paper provides a comparative analysis of precursory phenomena in the ionosphere and atmosphere for two strong earthquakes of the same magnitude M7.1 that happened in the same region (North-East from Los Angeles) within a time span of 20 years, the Hector Mine and Ridgecrest earthquakes. Regardless of the similarity of their location (South-Eastern California, near 160 km one from another), there was one essential difference: the Hector Mine earthquake happened during geomagnetically disturbed conditions (essential in the sense of ionospheric precursors identification). In contrast, the quiet geomagnetic conditions characterized the period around the time of the Ridgecrest earthquake. The …

Monthly And Seasonal Rainfall Concentrations And Predictability In Tanzania, Pasvolo Mwinuka, Christian Uiso, Ladslaus Chang’A, Mwingereza Kumwenda

Tanzania Journal of Science

This study aimed at determining the monthly and seasonal rainfall concentration, predictability and the changes in rainfall seasons in Tanzania. Rainfall predictability was determined using Colwell’s indices, Rainfall Concentration Index (RCI) and Coefficient of Variation (CV). Results showed that rainfall in December–February (DJF), January–March (JFM) and February–April (FMA) has predictability due to constancy of 60%, RCI ≤ 9 and CV < 0.4 in Lake zone, Central zone, Southern Coast zone, Western and Southern Highlands zone. Rainfall in October to December (OND) was reliable in the Island zone, North-Eastern highlands zone and Northern coast zone with an average predictability due to constancy of 65%. In the Lake zone, all seasons (DJF, JFM, FMA, MAM, OND and DJFMAM) had uniform rainfall distribution (RCI = 8.7, CV = 0.35) and predictability due to constancy of 80% which leads to the conclusion that Lake Zone has unimodal rainfall distribution. Rainfall predictability in Tanzania has a West-East gradient. The western zones had an average predictability due to constancy of 68%. In general, rainfall in Tanzania is observed to be highly variable; only 20% of the predictability is concerned with reliability in the rainfall occurrence within the seasons and 80% is due to seasonality. Keywords: Rainfall concentration index; predictability; coefficient of variation; seasonality; constancy.

Air Quality Over Major Cities Of Saudi Arabia During Hajj Periods Of 2019 And 2020, Ashraf Farahat, Akshansha Chauhan, Mohammed Al Otaibi, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Mecca and Madinah are two holy cities where millions of people in general, visit throughout the years, during Hajj (Muslim's pilgrimage) time number of people visit these holy cities from different parts of the world is very high. However, the Government of Saudi Arabia only allowed 1000 pilgrims during the 2020 Hajj especially when the world is suffering from COVID-19. In the present paper, a detailed analysis of air quality parameters available from ground measurements have been carried over major cities of Saudi Arabia, Mecca, Madinah, and Jeddah from June to September 2019 and 2020. At Mecca and Jeddah, PM …

Statistical Analysis And Comparison Of Optical Classification Of Atmospheric Aerosol Lidar Data, Mohammed Alqawba, Norou Diawara, Kwasi G. Afrifa, Mohamed I. Elbakary, Mecit Cetin, Khan Iftekharuddin

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

In this article, we present a new study for the analysis and classification of atmospheric aerosols in remote sensing LIDAR data. Information on particle size and associated properties are extracted from these remote sensing atmospheric data which are collected by a ground-based LIDAR system. This study first considers optical LIDAR parameter-based classification methods for clustering and classification of different types of harmful aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Since accurate methods for aerosol prediction behaviors are based upon observed data, computational approaches must overcome design limitations, and consider appropriate calibration and estimation accuracy. Consequently, two statistical methods based on generalized linear …

Impacts Of Hurricane Maria On Land And Convection Modification Over Puerto Rico, Nathan Hosannah, Prathap Ramamurthy, J. Marti, Jonathan Munoz, Jorge E. González

Publications and Research

Hurricane Maria drastically altered the landscape across the island of Puerto Rico. This article investigates modifications to surface-atmospheric interactions due to Hurricane Maria induced land damage and the associated impacts on local convective dynamics. Herein, we employed LANDSAT-8 image mosaics to quantify the hurricane induced land modification. Results of the analysis indicate that the island suffered significant forest damage—much of which registered as a 28.35% increase in barren land and a 10.85% increase in pasture. Smaller changes included a decrease in cultivated agricultural land cover by 0.76%, along with wetland and water increases of 0.62% and 0.25%, respectively. Pre and …

Optical And Physicochemical Properties Of Atmospherically Processed Brown Carbon Using Novel First-Principle Instrumentation, Benjamin Sumlin

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Atmospheric processing of brown carbon (BrC) – a class of spherical, internally-mixed, light-absorbing organic aerosol – emitted from smoldering biomass combustion is an understudied phenomenon with implications for climate science, air quality models, and satellite retrieval algorithms. BrC aerosols have received significant attention as a strong contributor to atmospheric light absorption in the shorter visible wavelengths and a driver of UV photochemistry. Their complex refractive indices (m=n+ik), size distributions, and carbon oxidation states dictate their optical properties, atmospheric residence times, and chemical interactions, respectively. There is currently a gap in our understanding of these fundamental particle properties and their evolution …

Bioscatter Transport By Tropical Cyclones: Insights From 10 Years In The Atlantic Basin, Matthew S. Van Den Broeke

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Tropical cyclones (TCs) can transport birds and insects near their center of circulation. In this study, we examined the maximum altitude, area and density of the radar-derived bioscatter signature across a set of 42 TC centers of circulation sampled from 2011 to 2020. All TC events contained at least one time when a bioscatter signature was present. More intense hurricanes with closed eyes typically had taller and denser bioscatter signatures, and sometimes larger areas dominated by bioscatter. This indicated a larger number of organisms within the circulation of more intense hurricanes, supporting the speculation that those storms were most likely …

The Impact Of Initial Snow Conditions On The Numerical Weather Simulation Of A Northern Rockies Atmospheric River, William Rudisill, Alejandro Flores, James Mcnamara

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Snow’s thermal and radiative properties strongly impact the land surface energy balance and thus the atmosphere above it. Land surface snow information is poorly known in mountainous regions. Few studies have examined the impact of initial land surface snow conditions in high-resolution, convection-permitting numerical weather prediction models during the midlatitude cool season. The extent to which land surface snow influences atmospheric energy transport and subsequent surface meteorological states is tested using a high-resolution (1 km) configuration of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, for both calm conditions and weather characteristic of a warm late March atmospheric river. A set …

Odu Professors Study Gulf Stream Decline, News @ Odu

News Items

No abstract provided.

Carbon Dioxide And Particulate Matter Concentration On Hampton Roads Air Quality, Gregory Hubbard

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Hampton Roads has been a maritime crossroads for the last 400 years. Industrialization has impacted the coastal region for the last 250 years. The expansion of the Port of Virginia in 2019 has created dense traffic in the region resulting in impacts to air quality. Two waste products that affect humans are particulate matter and carbon dioxide. Both respective emissions can cause adverse effects on humans, such as asthma, some lung cancers, and other respiratory distress. Scientists and health practitioners are studying the effects of particulate matter on human health. Hampton Roads, in particular, because of its unique location on …