Microscale meteorology

About: Microscale meteorology is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 29 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3532 citations.

A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 2

Abstract: : The development of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) modeling system is a multiagency effort intended to provide a next-generation mesoscale forecast model and data assimilation system that will advance both the understanding and prediction of mesoscale weather and accelerate the transfer of research advances into operations. The model is being developed as a collaborative effort ort among the NCAR Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM) Division, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and Forecast System Laboratory (FSL), the Department of Defense's Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) and Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS) at the University of Oklahoma, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), along with the participation of a number of university scientists. The WRF model is designed to be a flexible, state-of-the-art, portable code that is an efficient in a massively parallel computing environment. A modular single-source code is maintained that can be configured for both research and operations. It offers numerous physics options, thus tapping into the experience of the broad modeling community. Advanced data assimilation systems are being developed and tested in tandem with the model. WRF is maintained and supported as a community model to facilitate wide use, particularly for research and teaching, in the university community. It is suitable for use in a broad spectrum of applications across scales ranging from meters to thousands of kilometers. Such applications include research and operational numerical weather prediction (NWP), data assimilation and parameterized-physics research, downscaling climate simulations, driving air quality models, atmosphere-ocean coupling, and idealized simulations (e.g boundary-layer eddies, convection, baroclinic waves).

An annual cycle of Arctic surface cloud forcing at SHEBA

Abstract: [1] Wepresentananalysisofsurfacefluxesandcloudforcingfromdataobtainedduringthe Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) experiment, conducted in the Beaufort and Chuchki Seas and the Arctic Ocean from November 1997 to October 1998 The measurements used as part of this study include fluxes from optical radiometer sets, turbulent fluxes from an instrumented tower, cloud fraction from a depolarization lidar and ceilometer, and atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles from radiosondes Clear-sky radiative fluxes were modeled in order to estimate the cloud radiative forcing since direct observation of fluxes in cloud-free conditions created large statistical sampling errors This was particularly true during summer when cloud fractions were typically very high A yearlong data set of measurements, obtained on a multiyear ice floe at the SHEBA camp, was processed in 20-day blocks to produce the annual evolution of the surface cloud forcing components: upward, downward, and net longwave and shortwave radiative fluxes and turbulent (sensible and latent heat) fluxes We found that clouds act to warm the Arctic surface for most of the annual cycle with a brief period of cooling in the middle of summer Our best estimates for the annual average surface cloud forcings are � 10 W m � 2 for shortwave, 38Wm � 2 for longwave,and � 6Wm � 2 forturbulentfluxes Totalcloudforcing (the sum of all components) is about 30 W m � 2 for the fall, winter, and spring, dipping to a minimum of � 4Wm � 2 in early July We compare the results of this study with satellite, model, and drifting station data INDEX TERMS: 3360 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Remote sensing; 3349 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Polar meteorology; 3359 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Radiative processes; 3394 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Instruments and techniques; KEYWORDS: remote sensing, atmospheric radiation, polar meteorology, clouds, forcing

The Multiscale Organization of Moist Convection and the Intersection of Weather and Climate

Abstract: Climate Dynamic Geophysical Mon Copyright 2010 b 10.1029/2008GM Moist convection organizes into cloud systems of various sizes and kinds, a process with a dynamical basis and upscale connotations. Although organized precipitation systems have been extensively observed, numerically simulated, and dynamically modeled, our knowledge of their effects on weather and climate is far from complete. Convective organization is absent de facto from contemporary climate models because the salient dynamics are not represented by parameterizations and the model resolution is insufficient to represent them explicitly. Highresolution weather prediction models, fine-resolution cloud system models, and dynamical models address moist convective organization explicitly. As a key element in the seamless prediction of weather and climate on timescales up to seasonal, organized convection is the focus of the Year of Tropical Convection, an international collaborative project coordinated by the World Meteorological Organisation. This paper reviews the scientific basis of convective organization and progress toward comprehending its large-scale effects and representing them in global models.