Meteorology Commons^™

Operational Exploitation Of Satellite-Based Sounding Data And Numerical Weather Prediction Models For Directed Energy Applications, David C. Meier

Theses and Dissertations

The wealth of available scientific data collected by the modern constellation of meteorological satellites can be exploited in new and innovative ways, with direct benefit to directed energy applications. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) provides accurate, geolocated temperature data, which are used as the starting point for the derivation of atmospheric parameters critical to prediction of sensor or directed energy system performance. Twenty-four hour data coverage is achieved by extending the atmospheric characterization between satellite observations using Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. A technique is developed to derive wind profiles using AIRS temperature data and the accuracy of these winds …

Three-Dimensional Wind Speed And Flux Measurements Over A Rain-Fed Soybean Field Using Orthogonal And Non-Orthogonal Sonic Anemometer Designs, Taylor Thomas

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The eddy covariance method for estimating fluxes of trace gases, energy and momentum in the constant flux layer above a plant canopy fundamentally relies on accurate measurements of the vertical wind speed. This wind speed is typically measured using a three-dimensional ultrasonic anemometer. Previous studies comparing anemometers with orthogonal transducer sets to those with non-orthogonal transducer sets suggest differences in measured 3D wind speed components, particularly for a vertical component. These differences, attributed to additional flow distortion caused by the non-orthogonal transducer arrangement and support structure, directly affect fluxes of trace gases, energy and momentum. A field experiment was conducted …

Umphlett Qci 2015, Natalie A. Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Late Hard Freeze

Late Freezes Extended Growing Season

Warm Fall Delays Bird Migrations

Monitoring Water Resources Across the Basin

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

Rear-Flank Outflow Dynamics And Thermodynamics In The 10 June 2010 Last Chance, Colorado Supercell, Curtis J. Riganti

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

On 10 June 2010, the second Verification of the Origins of Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2) armada observed the non-tornadic phase of a supercell thunderstorm near Last Chance, Colorado. Tempest unmanned aircraft system (UAS) data collected in the rear-flank outflow revealed what appeared to be an elevated outflow head, turbulent wake, and a cold secondary outflow surge. Surface thermodynamic and kinematic data collected by StickNets and mobile mesonets suggested that the outflow wake may have extended to or very near the surface, perhaps cutting off the leading edge of the outflow at times. Single-Doppler data collected by the NOAA X-Pol Mobile Polarimetric …

Perceptions Of Tornadoes, Tornado Warnings, Safety Actions, And Risk: Effects On Warning Response Among Undergraduates In Nebraska, Sabrina T. Jauernic

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

Few studies show how university students perceive and respond to tornado warnings, or how they gain tornado-related knowledge. Lacking in the literature are investigations of how perceptions of tornado risk may influence actions. Using two separate surveys and two large samples of undergraduates enrolled in the University of Nebraska, the author determined significant relationships between student demographics, perceptions, and response actions. Incorrect perceptions were found, such as overpasses and southwest corners of buildings being safe, and cities being invulnerable to tornadoes. International students, especially, assumed cities were safe from tornadoes. Students had a tendency to confirm their risk instead of …

Coast-To-Interior Gradient In Recent Northwest Greenland Precipitation Trends (1952–2012), G J. Wong, E C. Osterberg, R L. Hawley, Z R. Courville, D G. Ferris, J A. Howley

Dartmouth Scholarship

The spatial and temporal variability of precipitation on the Greenland ice sheet is an essential component of surface mass balance, which has been declining in recent years with rising temperatures. We present an analysis of precipitation trends in northwest (NW) Greenland (1952–2012) using instrumental (coastal meteorological station) and proxy records (snow pits and ice cores) to characterize the precipitation gradient from the coast to the ice sheet interior. Snow-pit-derived precipitation near the coast (1950–2000) has increased (~7% decade⁻¹, p < 0.01) whereas there is no significant change observed in interior snow pits. This trend holds for 1981–2012, where calculated precipitation changes decrease in magnitude with increasing distance from the coast: 13% decade⁻¹ (2.4 mm water equivalent (w.e.) decade⁻²) at coastal Thule air base (AB), 8.6% decade⁻¹ (4.7 …

Saharan Air Layer Dust Loading: Effects On Convective Strength In Tropical Cloud Clusters, Randall J. Hergert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous factors play a role in the development and maintenance of North Atlantic tropical cyclones as they originate and cross the Main Development Region. These factors include sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), relative humidity, vertical wind shear, etc. One key player in many of these factors is the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) which has been a source for study for nearly five decades.

The interplay between dust loading within the SAL and the development of African Easterly Waves (AEWs) has been repeatedly noted in many of the studies in this field. The cumulative indirect effect of the dust on AEWs however remains …

Enhancing Quality Assurance Using Virtual Design Engineering: Case Study Of Space Shuttle Challenger, Kouroush Jenab, Scot Paterson

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Virtual Design Engineering is an emerging method of increasing quality of systems. Including Virtual Design as a part of the traditional established Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis process greatly enhances hazard and risk analysis while reducing overall costs. In this study these enhancements are explored and expanded upon to discover how overall system quality could be increased and all stakeholders could more accurately understand the hazards involved. Stakeholder misunderstanding or misapplication of hazards is of great importance to complex systems. An illustrative example of how these factors could have changed the outcome of a real-world engineering failure is provided.

Topography And Tropical Cyclone Structure Influence On Eyewall Evolution In Typhoon Sinlaku (2008), Cheng-Hsiang Chih, Kun-Hsuan Chou, Sen Chiao

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

Typhoon Sinlaku (2008) was a tropical system that affected many countries in East Asia. Besides the loss of life and economic damage, many scientific questions are associated with this system that need to be addressed. A series of numerical simulations were conducted in this study using V3.2 of the advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model to examine the impacts of different terrain conditions and vortex structures on the eyewall evolution when Sinlaku was crossing Taiwan. The sensitivity experiments using different vortex structures show that a storm of the same intensity with a larger eyewall radius …

Droughtscape, Fall 2015, Kelly Smith

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

Contents

Director’s column.

NDMC 20th anniversary 2

Employment opportunity

Third quarter 2015 climate summary

Third quarter 2015 impacts summary

Workshop in Ethiopia

San Antonio multi-hazard tournament

Healthy soil is drought buffer

U2U Award

Cost-benefit analysis for utilities managing drought

NDMC helps with rural poll questions on climate

Introducing our post-docs

South Korean visitors

Insights Into The Challenges Of Modeling The Atmospheric Boundary Layer, Esa-Matti Tastula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work approaches the topic of modeling the atmospheric boundary layer in four research projects, which are summarized below.

i) The diurnal cycles of near-surface meteorological parameters over Antarctic sea ice in six widely used atmospheric reanalyses were validated against observations from Ice Station Weddell. The station drifted from February through May 1992 and provided the most extensive set of meteorological observations ever collected in the Antarctic sea ice zone. For the radiative and turbulent surface fluxes, both the amplitude and shape of the diurnal cycles varied considerably among different reanalyses. Near-surface temperature, specific humidity, and wind speed in the …

Umphlett Qci Sept 2015, Natalie Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalie

Streamflow

Heavy Rains Continued

Positive and Negative Impacts to Agriculture

Persistent Smoke from Wildfires

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

Global Projections Of Intense Tropical Cyclone Activity For The Late Twenty-First Century From Dynamical Downscaling Of Cmip5/Rcp4.5 Scenarios, Thomas R. Knutson, Joseph J. Sirutis, Ming Zhao, Robert E. Tuleya, Morris Bender, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Gabriele Villarini, Daniel Chavas

CCPO Publications

Global projections of intense tropical cyclone activity are derived from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM; 50-km grid) and the GFDL hurricane model using a two-stage downscaling procedure. First, tropical cyclone genesis is simulated globally using HiRAM. Each storm is then downscaled into the GFDL hurricane model, with horizontal grid spacing near the storm of 6 km, including ocean coupling (e.g., "cold wake" generation). Simulations are performed using observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) (1980-2008) for a "control run" with 20 repeating seasonal cycles and for a late-twenty-first-century projection using an altered SST seasonal cycle obtained …

Medium-Range Forecast Of The Arctic Sea-Ice Cover Using The Satellite Observation Data, Kimura Noriaki

ShipArc 2015 Conference

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Applicable Methods For The Safety Navigation Of Ship Within Tropical Cyclone Environment In South China Sea, Sanwei Zhai

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Aviation Bird Hazard In Nexrad Dual Polarization Weather Radar Confirmed By Visual Observations, Bradley M. Muller, Frederick R. Mosher, Christopher G. Herbster, Anthony T. Brickhouse

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Birds represent a significant hazard to flying aircraft as illustrated by the “Miracle on the Hudson” encounter in 2009 between U.S. Airways Flight 1549 and a flock of Canada Geese, forcing the flight to ditch in the river. Birds are common in the skies over Florida during the spring migration season, and often appear in the National Weather Service’s (NWS) NEXRAD weather radar imagery as an easily recognizable signature known as a “roost ring.” This paper presents a NEXRAD roost ring case in central Florida in a rare instance where the signatures were confirmed by visual observations of the birds. …

Flooding In The Media, Jeremy Wheeler

July 24, 2015: Communicating Frequent Flooding

No abstract provided.

Flood Risk Communications - An Emergency Management Perspective, Robb Braidwood

July 24, 2015: Communicating Frequent Flooding

No abstract provided.

Communicating Coastal Flood Risk & Impacts, Jeff Orrock

July 24, 2015: Communicating Frequent Flooding

No abstract provided.

Comparisons Of Cirrus Cloud Properties Between Polluted And Pristine Air Based On In-Situ Observations From The Nasa Attrex, Nsf Hippo And Eu Inca Campaigns, Minghui Diao, Jorgen Jensen

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

Cirrus clouds, covering about 30% of the Earth’s surface area, play an important role in the climate and weather systems. Cirrus cloud radiative forcing (cooling or warming) is influenced by their microphysical (e.g., ice crystal number concentration and size distribution) and macroscopic (e.g., spatial extent) properties. Currently it is still unclear how the formation of cirrus clouds and their microphysical properties are influenced by anthropogenic emissions. In this work, we use in-situ observations from three flight campaigns to compare the cirrus cloud properties between polluted and pristine regions. Our dataset includes: (1) the NASA Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment (ATTREX) campaign …

Bio-Fuel Alternatives In South African Airways (Saa) Operations - Is It An Effective Response To Vulnerability Over Carbon Taxes And Penalty?, Daniel Kwasi Adjekum

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The paper did a comparative analysis of the carbon emission and European Union Emission Trading Surcharges (EU ETS) of South African Airways (SAA) current fleet that used aviation jet A1 fuel and the same fleet if it had used a 25% bio-fuel ‘drop in’ for the European routes within the first quarter of the 2014 flying year (FY 14). Operational data in terms of the flight scheduled, aircraft type, total time enroute, route stage length, passenger estimates were obtained through SAA’s flight operations website. An independent t–test was conducted to compare means of the emissions. The mean carbon dioxide …

Modeling Gross Primary Production Of Maize And Soybean Croplands Using Light Quality, Temperature, Water Stress, And Phenology, Anthony L. Nguy-Robertson, Andrew E. Suyker, Xiangming Xiao

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Vegetation productivity metrics, such as gross primary production (GPP) may be determined from the efficiency with which light is converted into photosynthates, or light use efficiency (ϵ). Therefore, accurate measurements and modeling of ϵ is important for estimating GPP in each ecosystem. Previous studies have quantified the impacts of biophysical parameters on light use efficiency based GPP models. Here we enhance previous models utilizing four scalars for light quality (i.e., cloudiness), temperature, water stress, and phenology for data collected from both maize and soybean crops at three Nebraska AmeriFlux sites between 2001 and 2012 (maize: 26 field-years; soybean: …

Droughtscape, Summer 2015, Kelly Smith

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

Contents

Director’s column

New Drought Risk Management Research Center

Second quarter 2015 climate summary

Second quarter 2015 impacts summary

Caribbean region an innovator in drought early warning

Wind River Reservation tribes move toward drought planning

Ranchers, U.S. Forest Service, University of Arizona co-develop drought plans

Summer blockbuster from CoCoRaHS: Assessing Drought in the U.S

Western states drought coordinators meet

Bio-Fuel Alternatives In South African Airways (Saa) Operations - Is It An Effective Response To Vulnerability Over Carbon Taxes And Penalty?, Daniel Kwasi Adjekum

Aviation Faculty Publications

The paper did a comparative analysis of the carbon emission and European Union Emission Trading Surcharges (EU ETS) of South African Airways (SAA) current fleet that used aviation jet A1 fuel and the same fleet if it had used a 25% bio-fuel ‘drop in’ for the European routes within the first quarter of the 2014 flying year (FY 14). Operational data in terms of the flight scheduled, aircraft type, total time enroute, route stage length, passenger estimates were obtained through SAA’s flight operations website. An independent t–test was conducted to compare means of the emissions. The mean carbon dioxide …

A Meteorological Analysis Of The 2013 Alberta Flood: Antecendent Large-Scale Flow Pattern And Synoptic-Dynamic Characteristics, Shawn M. Milrad, John R. Gyakum, Eyad H. Atallah

Publications

The 19–21 June 2013 Alberta flood was the costliest (CAD $6 billion) natural disaster in Canadian history. The flood was caused by a combination of above-normal spring snowmelt in the Canadian Rockies, large antecedent precipitation, and an extreme rainfall event on 19–21 June that produced rainfall totals of 76 mm in Calgary and 91 mm in the foothills. As is typical of flash floods along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, rapidly rising streamflow proceeded to move downhill (eastward) into Calgary.

A meteorological analysis traces an antecedent Rossby wave train across the North Pacific Ocean, starting with intense baroclinic …

The “Stratospheric Cricket Keeper” – Developing A Simple“Life-Support” Payload For High-Altitude Balloon Missions, Lucas Kramer, Chad Serba, James Flaten

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

Exposure to the environmental conditions of “near-space” (AKA the stratosphere) is quickly fatal to nearly all forms of animal life. It is even challenging to build a sealable enclosure that can keep insects (crickets) alive through the dramatic and simultaneous pressure and temperature drops experienced during a high-altitude balloon mission. This poster describes the development of a rugged “cricket keeper” in which we were able to fly crickets to the stratosphere and, quoting the words of JFK, “return (them) safely to the earth!” This “life-support” payload had large windows (for the view!) and included Arduino-logged temperature and pressure sensors, an …

Umphlett Qci June 2015, Natalie A. Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies

Drought Conditions

Water Supplies Recovering

Heavy Rains Cause Flooding

Agriculture Impacts

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

Hurricanes And Climate The U.S. Clivar Working Group On Hurricanes, Kevin J.E. Walsh, Suzana J. Camargo, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Anne Sophie Daloz, James Elsner, Kerry Emanuel, Michael Horn, Young-Kwon Lim, Malcom Roberts, Christina Patricola, Enrico Scoccimarro, Adam H. Sobel, Sarah Strazzo, Gabrielle Villarini, Michael Wehner, Ming Zhao, James P. Kossin, Tim Larow, Kazuyoshi Oouchi, Sigfried Schubert, Hui Wang, Julio Bacmeister, Ping Chang, Fabrice Chauvin, Christiane Jablonowski, Arun Kumar, Hiroyuki Murakami, Tomoaki Ose, Kevin A. Reed, Ramalingam Saravanan, Yohei Yamada, Colin M. Zarzycki, Pier Luigi Vidale, Jefferey A. Jonas, Naomi Henderson

Publications

While a quantitative climate theory of tropical cyclone formation remains elusive, considerable progress has been made recently in our ability to simulate tropical cyclone climatologies and to understand the relationship between climate and tropical cyclone formation. Climate models are now able to simulate a realistic rate of global tropical cyclone formation, although simulation of the Atlantic tropical cyclone climatology remains challenging unless horizontal resolutions finer than 50 km are employed. This article summarizes published research from the idealized experiments of the Hurricane Working Group of U.S. Climate and Ocean: Variability, Predictability and Change (CLIVAR). This work, combined with results from …

Distributions Of Ice Supersaturation And Ice Crystals From Airborne Observations In Relation To Upper Tropospheric Dynamical Boundaries, Minghui Diao, Jorgen Jensen, Laura Pan, Cameron Homeyer, Shawn Honomichl, James Bresch, Aaron Bansemer

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

Ice supersaturation (ISS) is the prerequisite condition for cirrus cloud formation. To examine multiscale dynamics' influences on ISS formation, we analyze in situ aircraft observations (~200 m scale) over North America in coordinates relative to dynamical boundaries in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Two case studies demonstrate that ISS formation is likely influenced by mesoscale uplifting, small-scale waves, and turbulence. A collective analysis of 15 flights in April–June 2008 shows that the top layers of ISS and ice crystal distributions are strongly associated with thermal tropopause height. In addition, the average occurrence frequencies of ISS and ice crystals on …

Nwa 8614: The Least Heated Winonaite, Karla Farley, Alexander M. Ruzicka, Katherine Armstrong

Student Research Symposium

Northwest Africa 8614 is classified as a winonaite on the basis of oxygen isotope ratios, mineralogy, and highly reduced chemistry. Unlike other winonaites, it contains numerous and readily apparent chondrules. Here we discuss various features of NWA 8614 and the possible significance of the meteorite.

Petrological and chemical analyses were performed using optical microscopy with a DM2500 Leica petrographic microscope and a Zeiss Sigma VP-FEG scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a high-efficiency energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Oxygen isotopes were analyzed by Karen Ziegler at the University of New Mexico on acid-washed samples to remove terrestrial weathering products.

Owing to the …