Atmospheric Sciences Commons^™

2017 Costliest Year Ever For Weather-Related Disasters, Betsy Hnath

News Items

No abstract provided.

Estimating Live Fuel Moisture From Modis Satellite Data For Wildfire Danger Assessment In Southern California Usa, Boksoon Myoung, Seung Hee Kim, Son V. Nghiem, Shenyue Jia, Kristen Whitney, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The goal of the research reported here is to assess the capability of satellite vegetation indices from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer onboard both Terra and Aqua satellites, in order to replicate live fuel moisture content of Southern California chaparral ecosystems. We compared seasonal and interannual characteristics of in-situ live fuel moisture with satellite vegetation indices that were averaged over different radial extents around each live fuel moisture observation site. The highest correlations are found using the Aqua Enhanced Vegetation Index for a radius of 10 km, independently verifying the validity of in-situ live fuel moisture measurements over a large …

Unexpected Occurrence Of Mesospheric Frontal Gravity Wave Events Over South Pole (90°S), Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Michael J. Taylor, J. B. Snively, Christina Solorio

Publications

Since 2010, Utah State University has operated an infrared Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole station to investigate the upper atmosphere dynamics and temperature deep within the vortex. A surprising number of “frontal” gravity wave events (86) were recorded in the mesospheric OH(3,1) band intensity and rotational temperature images (typical altitude of ~87 km) during four austral winters (2012–2015). These events are gravity waves (GWs) characterized by a sharp leading wave front followed by a quasi-monochromatic wave train that grows with time. A particular subset of frontal gravity wave events has been identified in the past (Dewan …

Evolution Of The Maximum Upper Level Divergence Field In Gulf-Atlantic Tropical Cyclogenesis, Sara A. Ates

LSU Master's Theses

Upper-level (horizontal) divergence (ULD) is an important variable in tropical weather systems. As part of the circulation within a tropical cyclone (TC), it carries air in the upper troposphere away from the center of circulation (COC). To date, most research assumes the 200 hPa pressure level (approximately 12 km, varying with latitude and time of year) as the height for maximum ULD in a TC, possibly because weather observation at the 200 hPa level by radiosonde have remained mandatory for aviation purposes. The more recent availability of gridded, high-spatial-resolution, global “reanalysis” data at multiple levels, along with improvements in spatial …

Coastal Land-Air Sea Interaction: June 13th 2016 Rhib Momentum Flux Observations, David G. Ortiz-Suslow, Brian K. Haus, Neil J. Williams, Hans C. Graber, Jamie H. Macmahan

Supplementary Data and Tools

The dataset collected here represents the processed and quality-controlled information used in the analysis and presentation of the manuscript, “Observations of Air-Sea Momentum Flux Variability across the Inner Shelf” by the authors listed above, which is published by AGU in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans. Unless specifically noted in the data file’s header/metadata information or in this document, all of the data contained within this set was collected from instrumentation mounted aboard the rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) deployed as part of the CLASI field study on the June 13, 2016. These measurements were made within Monterey Bay directly offshore of …

Sam Model Output Files From A. Chandra, P. Zuidema, S. Krueger, A. Kochanski, S. P. De Szoeke And J. Zhang,2018: "Moisture Distributions In Tropical Cold Pools From Equatorial Indian Ocean Observations And Cloud-Resolving Simulations”, J. Geophys. Res. - Atmos., Steve Krueger, Adam Kochanski

Supplementary Data and Tools

This data set contains two sets of cloud-resolving simulations using the System for Atmospheric Modeling (SAM - http://rossby.msrc.sunysb.edu/~marat/SAM.html) which contributed to the analysis found in Chandra et al., 2018, "Moisture distributions in tropical cold pools from equatorial Indian Ocean observations and cloud-resolving simulations”, Journal of Geophysical Research. The model output files were originally created by Adam Kochanski and Steve Krueger at the University of Utah. One simulation set is centered on Gan Island (0.65S, 73.15E), in the equatorial Indian Ocean, and the other simulation set is centered on the Research Ship Roger Revelle, stationed approximately 1000 km to the …

Outdoor Air Quality, Taylor Curley

Global Issues in Public Health

Outdoor air quality is a significant issue for the entire world. It affects any and all people, but is more of an issue in low-income countries and among people that are more susceptible to respiratory issues such as young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people who already suffer from respiratory problems like asthma. Poor air quality is caused by the burning of fossil fuels which releases particles and chemicals into the air like carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen to name a few. It can cause multiple health issues such as respiratory problems to people who are exposed to …

Mid-Latitude Climatologies Of Mesospheric Temperature And Geophysical Temperature Variability Determined With The Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar At Alo-Usu, Joshua P. Herron, Vincent B. Wickwar

All Physics Faculty Publications

From 1993-2004, 839 nights were observed with the Rayleigh-scatter lidar at Utah State University’s Atmospheric Lidar Observatory. They were reduced to obtain nighttime mesospheric temperatures between 45 and ~90 km, which were then combined to derive composite annual climatologies of mid-latitude temperatures and geophysical temperature variability. At 45 km, near the stratopause, there is a ~250 K temperature minimum in mid-winter and a 273 K maximum in mid-May. The variability behaves oppositely, being 7-10 K in winter and 2.5 K in summer. At 85 km, there is a 215 K temperature maximum at the end of December and a 170 …

The Clean Air Act And Its Impact On Ground Level Ozone Pollution Levels In Los Angeles, California, Rebecca Ford

Bridges: A Journal of Student Research

Ozone (O3) occurs as a photochemically produced pollutant in the troposphere and its emission and concentration is regulated by the Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1970. The Los Angeles area is an example of how O3 can be a public health hazard and taint a city’s aesthetics and quality of life through photochemical smog. This study was conducted to observe the overall effectiveness of the CAA. I explored daily O3 concentrations from 1980 to the present at three air quality monitoring stations in LA from the AirData database of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. National O3 standards were only exceeded …

Data Supporting The Paper "Influence Of Microphysical Variability On Stochastic Condensation In A Turbulent Laboratory Cloud", N. Desai, K. K. Chandrakar, K. Chang, Will Cantrell, Raymond Shaw

Department of Physics Publications

No abstract provided.

Gaseous Pollutants Emission From Diesel Vehicles In Hong Kong, Bei, Helen Wang, Yik Sze Lau, Kin Fai Ho

Faculty of Science & Technology (THEi)

The current study presents the detailed investigation of diesel vehicles emissions utilizing chassis dynamometer test in Hong Kong. Gaseous pollutants from diesel vehicle exhaust, including nitrogen oxides (NO_x), total hydrocarbon (THC) and carbon monoxide (CO), are chosen to be the targets of this study. These pollutants were monitored real-time during different testing cycles and the data collected were used to calculate the fuel-based emission factor of each pollutant. Results showed that emission standard and driving conditions are the two main factors governing the trend of emission of these pollutants. Outliers observed in these trends are probably caused by …

Drought And Land-Cover Conditions In The Great Plains, Heather Tollerud, Jesslyn Brown, Thomas Loveland, Rezaul Mahmood, Norman Bliss

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Land–atmosphere interactions play a critical role in the Earth system, and a better understanding of these interactions could improve weather and climate models. The interaction among drought, vegetation productivity, and land cover is of particular significance. In a semiarid environment, such as the U.S. Great Plains, droughts can have a large influence on the productivity of agriculture and grasslands, with serious environmental and economic impacts. Here, we used the vegetation drought response index (VegDRI) drought indicator to investigate the response of vegetation to weather and climate for landcover types in the Great Plains in the United States from 1989 to …

Droughtscape, Winter 2018, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

Contents

Year in review: Drought eased in California, developed in Northern Plains

Quarterly Summary: Drought creeps across the country

Annual impact summary: A year of wildfires

Quarterly impact summary: Drought expands in Texas, Colorado

Drought and water crisis book updated

U.S. Drought Monitor available in Spanish

Study shows cities step up when drought occurs

New staff at the NDMC

Drought Summit in photos

Climate Modeling, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, And Tropical Cyclone Forecasting, Thomas Rechtman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Climate modeling and tropical cyclone forecasting are two significant is- sues that are continuously being improved upon for more accurate weather forecasting and preparedness. In this thesis, we have studied three climate models and formulated a new model with a view to determine the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) budget at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) as ob- served by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) satellite based Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). In 2006, Karnauskas proposed the African meridional OLR as an Atlantic hur- ricane predictor, the relation was further proven in 2016 by Karnauskas and Li …

Surface Air Temperature Biases And Other Associated Biases In Gfdl Am4.0 Model, Yilin Lu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The Atmospheric Model version 4.0 (AM4) is the atmospheric component of the latest climate and Earth system models (CM4 and ESM4) developed by NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, New Jersey. The AM4 makes some improvements in its radiative flux simulations. As a new model, its performance needs to be evaluated. We analyzed the model’s historical simulations (ten-year simulations from 2001 to 2010), in order to evaluate the diurnal cycle of surface air temperature (Tas) simulated by the AM4 model and perform some diagnostic analyses of the surface energy fluxes to help understand the temperature biases. In comparison …

Changes In Extreme Precipitation In The Northeast United States : 1979-2014, Macy Howarth

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Extreme precipitation can have significant adverse impacts on infrastructure and property, human health, and local economies. This thesis examines recent changes in extreme precipitation in the Northeast United States, which here includes the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Daily station data from 58 stations missing less than 5% of days for the years 1979–2014 from the United States Historical Climatology Network was used to analyze both total and extreme precipitation, with the latter defined as the top 1% of days with precipitation.

Aerosol Direct Radiative And Cloud Adjustment Effects On Surface Climate Over The Eastern China : Analyses Of Wrf Model Simulations, Yangyang Song

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Aerosol climate effects consist of the initial forcing of atmospheric radiation perturbation through both the direct radiative effect and the modulation of radiatively-important cloud microphysics, and the subsequent changes in meteorology that also affect cloud macro- and micro-physics. The aerosol-induced cloud adjustment therefore involves many couplings and interactions, and its quantitative evaluation requires the use of model simulations. This study uses WRF model simulated changes in clouds and meteorology due to anthropogenic aerosol increases (versus 1970s) for 2002−2008 summers over the eastern China to address two relevant issues: direct radiative vs. cloud adjustment effects, and their roles in affecting surface …

Climate Change On The Quelccaya Ice Cap, Central Andes, And Its Relationship With The Large-Scale Circulation, Christian Pedro Yarleque Galvez

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Glaciated areas over the central Andes are highly sensitive to atmospheric forcings, as demonstrated by their current accelerated retreat in response to global warming. The present Thesis is focused on quantifying and assessing future climate change impacts over Quelccaya ice cap (QIC), the world-largest tropical ice body, which is considered as a representative case of the tropical Andean cryosphere. I focused my study on characterizing large-scale forcing and future changes of precipitation and temperature, since they represent the most important variables for accumulation and ablation processes in glaciated mountain regions. In my research I developed tools to overcome the lack …

On The Role Of Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones In Shaping The Extratropical Circulation Response To The Madden-Julian Oscillation, Lawrence Christian Gloeckler

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Relationships between the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) and the extratropical circulation have been leveraged extensively to improve subseasonal prediction. However, in certain situations, tropical cyclones (TCs), which often coincide with enhanced MJO activity, can constructively or destructively interfere with MJO organization and common pathways through which the extratropics responds to the MJO. To examine this potential interference, the first portion of this study leverages a statistical experiment to relate West Pacific TC presence in different parts of the basin during a given MJO phase to subsequent remote extratropical circulation outcomes. The results of this experiment demonstrate that significant, high amplitude remote …

Extratropical Cyclones Leading To Extreme Weather Events Over Central And Eastern North America, Alicia Marie Bentley

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Cool-season extreme weather events (EWEs) occurring over central and eastern North America are typically associated with strong extratropical cyclones (ECs) that are governed by varying combinations of baroclinic, diabatic, and barotropic processes. This dissertation investigates the climatology, evolution, and predictability of ECs leading to EWEs over central and eastern North America, and provides a foundation on which to compare ECs leading to EWEs to ordinary ECs forming over and traversing the same regions.