Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Weather And Climate Summary And Forecast: September 2019 Report, Gregory V. Jones

Linfield University Wine Studies Reports

This report provides a summary of the weather and climate forecast for September 2019. It includes forecast information specific to the Pacific Northwest and the western United States, as well as forecast information for other portions of the United States and abroad.

Shifts In Plant Functional Composition Following Long-Term Drought In Grasslands, Robert J. Griffin‐Nolan, Dana M. Blumenthal, Scott L. Collins, Timothy E. Farkas, Ava M. Hoffman, Kevin E. Mueller, Troy W. Ocheltree, Melinda D. Smith, Kenneth D. Whitney, Alan K. Knapp

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

1. Plant traits can provide unique insights into plant performance at the community scale. Functional composition, defined by both functional diversity and community-weighted trait means (CWMs), can affect the stability of above-ground net primary production (ANPP) in response to climate extremes. Further complexity arises, however, when functional composition itself responds to environmental change. The duration of climate extremes, such as drought, is expected to increase with rising global temperatures; thus, understanding the impacts of long-term drought on functional composition and the corresponding effect that has on ecosystem function could improve predictions of ecosystem sensitivity to climate change.

2. We experimentally …

A Collection Of On-Ice Arctic Measurements 1879-2013, Ryan Avila

STAR Program Research Presentations

Ice thickness measurements have been taken in the arctic through a variety of means for a long time in order to better understand the long-term changes to sea ice. This project is focused on measurements made directly on the ice by using an auger or electromagnetic sounding which have both been shown to be highly accurate compared to other observational methods. Our first goal is to create and update an archive of sea ice data that collects smaller separated data sets in one easy to access location for other researchers to use. Our second goal is to use this data …

A Technical Overview Of The Kentucky Mesonet, Rezaul Mahmood, Megan Schargorodski, Stuart Foster, Andrew Quilligan

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

The Kentucky Mesonet is a research-grade weather and climate observing network with redundant sensors that monitors the near-surface atmosphere at 71 locations across Kentucky. The network measures temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and wind speed and direction every 5 min, with soil moisture and soil temperature measured every 30 min. In addition, it operates a camera at selected locations. All observations are transmitted via cellular modem every 5 min and become available to the general public through the World Wide Web within seconds after arrival at Kentucky Mesonet’s Network Operations Center. In between arriving at the IT …

Umphlett Qci Sept 2019, Natalie Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Soil Moisture Conditions

Delayed/Prevented Planting

Forage Production

Infrastructure

Temperature

Precipitation

Promoting Change In Common Tern (Sterna Hirundo) Nest Site Selection To Minimize Construction Related Disturbance., Peter C. Mcgowan, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Carl R. Callahan, William Schultz, Jennifer L. Wall, Diann J. Prosser

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Due to the many challenges facing waterbird populations (Jia et al. 2018, Wetlands International 2018), it has become common practice to limit disturbance to breeding colonies whenever possible to maximize reproductive success. While this may require often unpopular management techniques including beach closures (Jorgensen et al. 2015, Mayo et al. 2015) and predator removal (Neuman et al. 2004, Stocking et al. 2017), such actions are sometimes necessary for the success of the colony. However, there are instances when eliminating disturbance is not possible and birds must be attracted to a new site. A common method for attracting waterbirds to a …

Living Shorelines: Barriers And Promotion: Accomack County, Va, Amy Belcher, Rhiannon Bezore, Michelle Covi, Wie Yusuf

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

Living shorelines can offer shoreline protection for low energy shorelines as well as providing ecoservices such as purifying water, buffering against floods, and attracting wildlife. This report highlights key benefits, possible barriers and solutions, and ideas for their promotion. Recommendations for implementing living shorelines are included for Accomack County, Virginia to aid in increasing awareness and utilization of living shorelines.

The Tensile Root Strength Of Spartina Patens Varies With Soil Texture And Atrazine Concentration, Lauris O. Hollis, R. Eugene Turner

Faculty Publications

The widely used agricultural herbicide atrazine enters wetlands and may potentially affect wetland plants that provide critical reinforcement of soil strength and contribute to ecosystem stability in ways that may vary among soil types. We conducted greenhouse experiments using four levels of atrazine doses and three different soil textures to test for differences between control and experimental treatments and interactive effects of soil texture and atrazine exposure by using the tensile root strength of the coastal wetland emergent macrophyte Spartina patens as the response variable. The tensile root strength of S. patens was not affected after 50days of atrazine exposure …

The Distribution, Fractionation, And Application Of The 210po/210pb System: Insights From Three Geotraces Transects, Yi Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The sinking flux of particles is an important pathway for the removal of carbon and other elements from the surface ocean via the biological pump. The ²¹⁰Po/²¹⁰Pb disequilibrium method can be used to study particle export at high spatial resolution over the time scale of months. The distribution of ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb activity was measured during two GEOTRACES transects of the North Atlantic and one GEOTRACES transect of the eastern tropical South Pacific. This dissertation aimed to advance the knowledge and improve methods of the application of the ²¹⁰Po/²¹⁰Pb pair to quantify …

Abrupt Climate Transitions, Christine J. Ramadhin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Earth’s climate system displays a long history of nonlinear abrupt transitions which have resulted in significant ecosystem disruption and are recorded in the geologic data. Today significant anthropogenic changes are occurring in many Earth systems that seem to be pushing these toward critical thresholds. Thus, increasing the possibility of a transition to alternative states which can have unfavorable consequences. Therefore, it becomes compelling to forecast when and how these transitions will occur so that decision-makers can devise appropriate strategies to avoid or cope with the effects of a changeover to a new alternative state. However, due to the highly …

Wind Flow Dynamics Over Complex Terrain, Eric Kutter

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Understanding the exchange of energy, moisture, and trace gases between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere over complex terrain is a fundamental goal in achieving a complete model of global or regional climate. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide is often a crucial input into climate models, and is also used as a means of validating regional model outputs. Calculations obtained from eddy flux tower data provide some of the best quality sources of NEE values; however, the standard formulation of the eddy covariance method is incomplete in terrain that includes common features such as hills, forests, cities, or …

Measurement And Characterization Of Infrasound From A Tornado Producing Storm, Brian R. Elbing, Christopher E. Petrin, Matthew Van Den Broeke

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A hail-producing supercell on 11 May 2017 produced a small tornado near Perkins, Oklahoma (35.97, –97.04) at 2013 UTC. Two infrasound microphones with a 59-m separation and a regional Doppler radar station were located 18.7 and 70 km from the tornado, respectively. Elevated infrasound levels were observed starting 7min before the verified tornado. Infrasound data below ~5Hz was contaminated with wind noise, but in the 5–50 Hz band the infrasound was independent of wind speed with a bearing angle that was consistent with the movement of the storm core that produced the tornado. During the tornado, a 75 dB peak …

2019 September - Tennessee Monthly Climate Report, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

No abstract provided.

Drivers And Impacts Of Water Level Fluctuations In The Mississippi River Delta: Implications For Delta Restoration, Matthew Hiatt, John W. Day, Robert V. Rohli, John Andrew Nyman

Faculty Publications

This review synthesizes the knowledge regarding the environmental forces affecting water level variability in the coastal waters of the Mississippi River delta and relates these fluctuations to planned river diversions. Water level fluctuations vary significantly across temporal and spatial scales, and are subject to influences from river flow, tides, vegetation, atmospheric forcing, climate change, and anthropogenic activities. Human impacts have strongly affected water level variability in the Mississippi River delta and other deltas worldwide. Collectively, the research reviewed in this article is important for enhancing environmental, economic, and social resilience and sustainability by assessing, mitigating, and adapting to geophysical changes …

Life's Passion For Odu Alum Is To Be "Water's Voice", Joe Garvey

News Items

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Potential Toxicological Effects Of Marine Plastics And Associated Organic And Inorganic Toxic Compounds On Six Commercially Significant Fishery Species, Nicole Marie Jackson

HCNSO Student Capstones

Marine plastics are a global issue which has garnered significant support for mitigation efforts in recent history. Research on the prevalence of plastic polymers in the marine environment has also come to the forefront of the scientific community, however studies on the toxicological impacts of their presence remains to be a little studied matter to date. In this study an intensive critical review of existing data was conducted to compile profiles (including: stability ranks, sorption capacities, organic and inorganic toxic constituent concentrations, bioaccumulations scores per constituent, biomagnification scores per constituent, and totaled threat scores out of five) for the three …

Odu Launches Open Seas Technology Innovation Hub, News @ Odu

News Items

No abstract provided.

Sea Surface Roughness Observed By High Resolution Radar, Atsushi G. Fujimura, Susanne Lehner, Alexander Soloviev, Xiaofeng Li

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Changes in the sea surface roughness are usually associated with a change in the sea surface wind field. This interaction has been exploited to measure the sea surface wind speed by scatterometry. A number of features on the sea surface associated with changes in roughness can be observed by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) because of the change in Bragg backscatter of the radar signal by damping of the resonant ocean capillary waves. With various radar frequencies, resolutions, and modes of polarization, sea surface features have been analyzed in numerous campaigns, bringing various datasets together, thus allowing for new insights in …

Sub-Tidal Hydrodynamics Of The Multi-Inlet Lake Pontchartrain Estuary Influenced By Mississippi River Diversion And Wind Associated With Atmospheric Fronts, Wei Huang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In-situ observations and a Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) are used to investigate the cold front induced sub-tidal hydrodynamics of Lake Pontchartrain, a semi-enclosed low-salinity estuary with multiple inlets connecting to the open ocean. Observations show that the sub-tidal hydrodynamic responses are highly correlated with the meteorological parameters during cold front events. Model results indicate that, under barotropic conditions, the remote wind effect has the greatest contribution to the overall water level variation, while the local wind stress during cold front events determines the slope for the water level inside the estuary. An examination of a quasi-steady state force …

Studying The Impact On Urban Health Over The Greater Delta Region In Egypt Due To Aerosol Variability Using Optical Characteristics From Satellite Observations And Ground-Based Aeronet Measurements, Wenzhao Li, Elham Ali, Islam Abou Al-Magd, Moustafa Mohamed Mourad, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

This research addresses the aerosol characteristics and variability over Cairo and the Greater Delta region over the last 20 years using an integrative multi-sensor approach of remotely sensed and PM10 ground data. The accuracy of these satellite aerosol products is also evaluated and compared through cross-validation against ground observations from the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) project measured at local stations. The results show the validity of using Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on the Terra and Aqua platforms for quantitative aerosol optical depth (AOD) assessment as compared to Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), Sea-viewingWide Field-of-view …

Philanthropic Gifts And New Partnerships Highlight President Broderick's 12th State Of The University Address, Noell Saunders

News Items

No abstract provided.

Observations Of Internal Waves Generated By An Anticyclonic Eddy: A Case Study In The Ice Edge Region Of The Greenland Sea, O. M. Johannessen, S. Sandven, I. P. Chunchuzov, R. A. Shuchman

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Internal waves in the ocean play an important role in turbulence generation due to wave-breaking processes and mixing of the ocean. Airborne radar images of internal waves and ocean eddies north of Svalbard suggested that ocean eddies could generate internal waves. Here, we test this hypothesis using data from a dedicated internal wave experiment in the Greenland Sea. Internal waves with dominant frequencies of 1–3 cycles per hour and amplitudes up to 15 m were observed using three thermistor chains suspended from a drifting array conveniently placed on the ice in a triangle with sides of several km. Analysis shows …

Global Sinusoidal Seasonality In Precipitation Isotopes, Scott T. Allen, Scott Jasechko, Wouter R. Berghuijs, Jeffrey M. Welker, Gregory R. Goldsmith, James W. Kirchner

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Quantifying seasonal variations in precipitation δ²H and δ¹⁸O is important for many stable isotope applications, including inferring plant water sources and streamflow ages. Our objective is to develop a data product that concisely quantifies the seasonality of stable isotope ratios in precipitation. We fit sine curves defined by amplitude, phase, and offset parameters to quantify annual precipitation isotope cycles at 653 meteorological stations on all seven continents. At most of these stations, including in tropical and subtropical regions, sine curves can represent the seasonal cycles in precipitation isotopes. Additionally, the amplitude, phase, and offset parameters of …

Climatological Changes: Meteorological Parameters Affecting The Spatial Redistribution Of U.S. Tornadoes, Ashley Dicks

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Climatological changes in the environments of key meteorological parameters that affect Significant Tornado Days (SigTorDs) have been determined for two active tornado regions defined as Box α and Box β, centered, respectively, over Oklahoma and Alabama and their respective environs. The North American Regional Reanalysis data was selected for 1980–2013, providing two successive 17-year periods corresponding to the last 34 years of previous research findings that focused on the aforementioned regions. This data record also corresponds to an increasing surface air temperature trend for the continental United States. Period I (1980–1996) and Period II (1997–2013) defined the years of changing …

Integrated Numerical Model For The Simulation Of The T.S. Taipei Oil Spill, Cheng-Di Dong, Thi-Hong-Hanh Nguyen, Tien-Hung Hou, Chia-Cheng Tsai

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In this study, two freely available models, the hydrodynamic model Princeton Ocean Model (POM) and the oil spill model OpenOil, are integrated to simulate the T.S. Taipei oil spill that occurred on March 10, 2016. In these models, the amount of oil spilled into the sea is distributed among a large number of small and equal mass particles. Meteorological data such as wind velocity, air surface temperature, and current data from the POM are used as inputs. The Lagrangian particle traction with prescribed advection and reaction is used to model the spilled oil. The results are compared with in-situ observations …

Toward Improved Understanding Of Black And Brown Carbon Radiative Impacts Over South Asia, Apoorva Pandey

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Atmospheric aerosols directly affect the Earth’s radiative budget by absorbing and scattering solar radiation. Carbonaceous aerosols constitute 20-90% of the global aerosol mass burden and are recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as important drivers of direct radiative forcing (DRF). Aerosol radiative impacts have been implicated in regional atmospheric warming in South Asia: changing Indian monsoon patterns, and accelerating melting of the Himalayan glaciers. There are systematic global discrepancies between estimates of aerosol absorption optical depths derived from observations and those from climate models. Over South Asia, models predict six times lower aerosol absorption than ground-based observations, leading …

Extensive Soot Compaction By Cloud Processing From Laboratory And Field Observations, Janarjan Bhandari, Swarup China, Kamal Kant Chandrakar, Greg Kinney, Will Cantrell, Raymond Shaw, Lynn Mazzoleni, Giulia Girotto, Noopur Sharma, Kyle Gorkowski, Stefania Gilardoni, Stefano Decesari, Maria Cristina Facchini, Nicola Zanca, Giulia Pavese, Francesco Esposito, Manvendra K Dubey, Allison C Aiken, Rajan K Chakrabarty, Hans Moosmüller, Timothy B Onasch, Rahul A Zaveri, Barbara V Scarnato, Paulo Fialho, Claudio Mazzoleni

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Soot particles form during combustion of carbonaceous materials and impact climate and air quality. When freshly emitted, they are typically fractal-like aggregates. After atmospheric aging, they can act as cloud condensation nuclei, and water condensation or evaporation restructure them to more compact aggregates, affecting their optical, aerodynamic, and surface properties. Here we survey the morphology of ambient soot particles from various locations and different environmental and aging conditions. We used electron microscopy and show extensive soot compaction after cloud processing. We further performed laboratory experiments to simulate atmospheric cloud processing under controlled conditions. We find that soot particles sampled after …

Seastar: A Mission To Study Ocean Submesoscale Dynamics And Small-Scale Atmosphere-Ocean Processes In Coastal, Shelf And Polar Seas, Christine Gommenginger, Bertrand Chapron, Andy Hogg, Christian Buckingham, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Leif Eriksson, Francois Soulat, Clement Ubelmann, Francisco Ocampo-Torres, Bruno Buongiorno Nardelli, David Griffin, Paco Lopez-Dekker, Per Knudsen, Ole Andersen, Lars Stenseng, Neil Stapleton, William Perrie, Nelson Violante-Carvalho, Johannes Schulz-Stellenfleth, David Woolf, Jordi Isern-Fontanet, Fabrice Ardhuin, Patrice Klein, Alexis Mouche, Ananda Pascual, Xavier Capet, Daniele Hauser, Ad Stoffelen, Rosemary Morrow, Lotfi Aouf, Øyvind Breivik, Lee-Leung Fu, Johnny A. Johannessen, Yevgeny Aksenov, Lucy Bricheno, Joel Hirschi, Adrien C. H. Martin, Adrian P. Martin, George Nurser, Jeff Polton, Judith Wolf, Harald Johnsen, Alexander Soloviev, Gregg A. Jacobs, Fabrice Collard, Steve Groom, Vladimir Kudryavtsev, John Wilkin, Victor Navarro, Alex Babanin, Matthew Martin, John Siddorn, Andrew Saulter, Tom Rippeth, Bill Emery, Nikolai Maximenko, Roland Romeiser, Hans Graber, Aida Alvera Azcarate, Chris W. Hughes, Doug Vandemark, Jose Da Silva, Peter Jan Van Leeuwen, Alberto Naveira-Garabato, Johannes Gemmrich, Amala Mahadevan, Jose Marquez, Yvonne Munro, Sam Doody, Geoff Burbidge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

High-resolution satellite images of ocean color and sea surface temperature reveal an abundance of ocean fronts, vortices and filaments at scales below 10 km but measurements of ocean surface dynamics at these scales are rare. There is increasing recognition of the role played by small scale ocean processes in ocean-atmosphere coupling, upper-ocean mixing and ocean vertical transports, with advanced numerical models and in situ observations highlighting fundamental changes in dynamics when scales reach 1 km. Numerous scientific publications highlight the global impact of small oceanic scales on marine ecosystems, operational forecasts and long-term climate projections through strong ageostrophic circulations, large …

Comparison Between Fluid Simulation With Test Particles And 1 Hybrid Simulation For The Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability, Xuanye Ma, Katariina Nykyri, Brandon L. Burkholder, Rachel C. Rice, Peter A. Delamere, Bishwa Neupane

Publications

A quantitative investigation of plasma transport rate via the Kelvin‐Helmholtz (KH) instability can improve our understanding of solar‐wind‐magnetosphere coupling processes. Simulation studies provide a broad range of transport rates by using different measurements based on different initial conditions and under different plasma descriptions, which makes cross literature comparison difficult. In this study, the KH instability under similar initial and boundary conditions (i.e., applicable to the Earth's magnetopause environment) is simulated by Hall magnetohydrodynamics with test particles and hybrid simulations. Both simulations give similar particle mixing rates. However, plasma is mainly transported through a few big magnetic islands caused by KH‐driven …

Configuration Files And Input Data Used For Radar Simulations Described In "The Cloud Resolving Model Radar Simulator (Cr-Sim) Version 3.2: Description And Applications Of A Virtual Observatory", Mariko Oue, Toshihisa Matsui, Pavlos Kollias

SoMAS Research Data

Ground-based observatories use multi-sensor observations to characterize cloud and precipitation properties. A challenge is how to design strategies to best use these observations to understand the atmosphere and evaluate atmospheric numerical prediction models. We have developed the Cloud resolving model Radar SIMulator (CR-SIM), which uses output from high-resolution atmospheric models to emulate multi-wavelength, zenith-pointing, and scanning radar observables and multi-sensor (multi-radar and radar-lidar) integrated products. Here, we publish configuration files used for radar simulations using CR-SIM and atmospheric simulation outputs from the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model, which were used as inputs for the radar simulations.