scholarly journals Evaluation of a Mesoscale Short-Range Ensemble Forecast System over the Northeast United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Jones ◽  
Brian A. Colle ◽  
Jeffrey S. Tongue

Abstract A short-range ensemble forecast system was constructed over the northeast United States down to 12-km grid spacing using 18 members from the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5). The ensemble consisted of 12 physics members with varying planetary boundary layer schemes and convective parameterizations as well as seven different initial conditions (ICs) [five National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Eta-bred members at 2100 UTC and the 0000 UTC NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS) and Eta runs]. The full 18-member ensemble (ALL) was verified at the surface for the warm (May–September 2003) and cool (October 2003–March 2004) seasons. A randomly chosen subset of seven physics (PHS) members at each forecast hour was used to quantitatively compare with the seven IC members. During the warm season, the PHS ensemble predictions for surface temperature and wind speed had more skill than the IC ensemble and a control (shared PHS and IC member) run initialized 12 h later (CTL12). During the cool and warm seasons, a 14-day running-mean bias calibration applied to the ALL ensemble (ALLBC) added 10%–30% more skill for temperature, wind speed, and sea level pressure, with the ALLBC far outperforming the CTL12. For the 24-h precipitation, the PHS ensemble had comparable probabilistic skill to the IC ensemble during the warm season, while the IC subensemble was more skillful during the cool season. All ensemble members had large diurnal surface biases, with ensemble variance approximating ensemble uncertainty only for wind direction. Selection of ICs was also important, because during the cool season the NCEP-bred members introduced large errors into the IC ensemble for sea level pressure, while none of the subensembles (PHS, IC, or ALL) outperformed the GFS–MM5 for sea level pressure.

2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
pp. 1569-1582 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Werth ◽  
Alfred Garrett

One year’s worth of Global Forecast System (GFS) predictions of surface meteorological variables (wind speed, air temperature, dewpoint temperature, sea level pressure) are validated for land-based stations over the entire planet for forecasts extending from 0 h into the future (an analysis) to 7 days. Approximately 12 000 surface stations worldwide were included in this analysis. Root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) increased as the forecast period increased from 0 to 36 h, but the initial RMSEs were almost as large as the 36-h forecast RMSEs for all variables. Typical RMSEs were 3°C for air temperature, 2–3 mb for sea level pressure, 3.5°C for dewpoint temperature, and 2.5 m s−1 for wind speed. An analysis of the biases at each station shows that the biggest errors are associated with mountain ranges and other areas of steep topography, with land–sea contrasts also playing a role. When the error is decomposed into the bias, variance, and correlation terms, the large initial RMSEs for the 0-h forecasts are seen to be due to a large forecast bias (which persisted into the longer forecasts) with errors in forecast correlation also making a large contribution. A validation of two subdomains showed results similar to the global validation, but the dependence of the biases on the forecast time was clearer. Finally, the RMSE values climb as forecasts go out when validated out to a period of 7 days as the correlation error term grows.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamish Steptoe ◽  
Nicholas Henry Savage ◽  
Saeed Sadri ◽  
Kate Salmon ◽  
Zubair Maalick ◽  
...  

AbstractHigh resolution simulations at 4.4 km and 1.5 km resolution have been performed for 12 historical tropical cyclones impacting Bangladesh. We use the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting 5th generation Re-Analysis (ERA5) to provide a 9-member ensemble of initial and boundary conditions for the regional configuration of the Met Office Unified Model. The simulations are compared to the original ERA5 data and the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) tropical cyclone database for wind speed, gust speed and mean sea-level pressure. The 4.4 km simulations show a typical increase in peak gust speed of 41 to 118 knots relative to ERA5, and a deepening of minimum mean sea-level pressure of up to −27 hPa, relative to ERA5 and IBTrACS data. The downscaled simulations compare more favourably with IBTrACS data than the ERA5 data suggesting tropical cyclone hazards in the ERA5 deterministic output may be underestimated. The dataset is freely available from 10.5281/zenodo.3600201.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 661
Author(s):  
Mohamed Freeshah ◽  
Xiaohong Zhang ◽  
Erman Şentürk ◽  
Muhammad Arqim Adil ◽  
B. G. Mousa ◽  
...  

The Northwest Pacific Ocean (NWP) is one of the most vulnerable regions that has been hit by typhoons. In September 2018, Mangkhut was the 22nd Tropical Cyclone (TC) over the NWP regions (so, the event was numbered as 1822). In this paper, we investigated the highest amplitude ionospheric variations, along with the atmospheric anomalies, such as the sea-level pressure, Mangkhut’s cloud system, and the meridional and zonal wind during the typhoon. Regional Ionosphere Maps (RIMs) were created through the Hong Kong Continuously Operating Reference Stations (HKCORS) and International GNSS Service (IGS) data around the area of Mangkhut typhoon. RIMs were utilized to analyze the ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) response over the maximum wind speed points (maximum spots) under the meticulous observations of the solar-terrestrial environment and geomagnetic storm indices. Ionospheric vertical TEC (VTEC) time sequences over the maximum spots are detected by three methods: interquartile range method (IQR), enhanced average difference (EAD), and range of ten days (RTD) during the super typhoon Mangkhut. The research findings indicated significant ionospheric variations over the maximum spots during this powerful tropical cyclone within a few hours before the extreme wind speed. Moreover, the ionosphere showed a positive response where the maximum VTEC amplitude variations coincided with the cyclone rainbands or typhoon edges rather than the center of the storm. The sea-level pressure tends to decrease around the typhoon periphery, and the highest ionospheric VTEC amplitude was observed when the low-pressure cell covers the largest area. The possible mechanism of the ionospheric response is based on strong convective cells that create the gravity waves over tropical cyclones. Moreover, the critical change state in the meridional wind happened on the same day of maximum ionospheric variations on the 256th day of the year (DOY 256). This comprehensive analysis suggests that the meridional winds and their resulting waves may contribute in one way or another to upper atmosphere-ionosphere coupling.


1954 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 351-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eberhard W. Wahl

A sudden increase in the probability of snow occurrence during the month of October at Denver, Colorado, had been reported. It is shown that this increase can be associated with the development of a widespread weather singularity occurring at that time of the year. The normal sea-level pressure-pattern changes derived from 40 years of data over the United States show the synoptic development of this singularity. This development leads to peculiarities in various weather elements at that time.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 3045-3061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison B. Marquardt Collow ◽  
Michael G. Bosilovich ◽  
Randal D. Koster

Abstract Observations indicate that over the last few decades there has been a statistically significant increase in precipitation in the northeastern United States and that this can be attributed to an increase in precipitation associated with extreme precipitation events. Here a state-of-the-art atmospheric reanalysis is used to examine such events in detail. Daily extreme precipitation events defined at the 75th and 95th percentile from gridded gauge observations are identified for a selected region within the Northeast. Atmospheric variables from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), are then composited during these events to illustrate the time evolution of associated synoptic structures, with a focus on vertically integrated water vapor fluxes, sea level pressure, and 500-hPa heights. Anomalies of these fields move into the region from the northwest, with stronger anomalies present in the 95th percentile case. Although previous studies show tropical cyclones are responsible for the most intense extreme precipitation events, only 10% of the events in this study are caused by tropical cyclones. On the other hand, extreme events resulting from cutoff low pressure systems have increased. The time period of the study was divided in half to determine how the mean composite has changed over time. An arc of lower sea level pressure along the East Coast and a change in the vertical profile of equivalent potential temperature suggest a possible increase in the frequency or intensity of synoptic-scale baroclinic disturbances.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Rimbu ◽  
G. Lohmann ◽  
G. König-Langlo ◽  
C. Necula ◽  
M. Ionita

AbstractHigh temporal resolution (three hours) records of temperature, wind speed and sea level pressure recorded at Antarctic research station Neumayer (70°S, 8°W) during 1982–2011 are analysed to identify oscillations from daily to intraseasonal timescales. The diurnal cycle dominates the three-hourly time series of temperature during the Antarctic summer and is almost absent during winter. In contrast, the three-hourly time series of wind speed and sea level pressure show a weak diurnal cycle. The dominant pattern of the intraseasonal variability of these quantities, which captures the out-of-phase variation of temperature and wind speed with sea level pressure, shows enhanced variability at timescales of ∼ 40 days and ∼ 80 days, respectively. Correlation and composite analysis reveal that these oscillations may be related to tropical intraseasonal oscillations via large-scale eastward propagating atmospheric circulation wave-trains. The second pattern of intraseasonal variability, which captures in-phase variations of temperature, wind and sea level pressure, shows enhanced variability at timescales of ∼ 35, ∼ 60 and ∼ 120 days. These oscillations are attributed to the Southern Annular Mode/Antarctic Oscillation (SAM/AAO) which shows enhanced variability at these timescales. We argue that intraseasonal oscillations of tropical climate and SAM/AAO are related to distinct patterns of climate variables measured at Neumayer.


2018 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua M. Gilliland ◽  
Barry D. Keim

AbstractThis study examines the surface wind characteristics of Brazil on the basis of the location of the maximum high pressure center in the South Atlantic basin (SAB), known as the South Atlantic anticyclone (SAA), from three reanalysis datasets for the period of 1980–2014. Linear wind speed trends determined for Brazil are geographically related to surface and macroscale atmospheric conditions found in the SAB. The daily mean position of the SAA exhibited a latitudinal poleward shift for all seasons, and a longitudinal trend was dependent upon extratropical activity found in the SAB. Results also show that wind speed and sea level pressure for northern Brazil are dependent upon the latitudinal position of the SAA. Consequently, surface wind correlations for southern Brazil tend to be related to changes in the longitudinal position of the SAA, which result from transient anticyclones migrating over the SAB. An examination of positive and negative wind anomalies shows that shifts in the position of the SAA are coupled with changes in sea level pressure for northern Brazil and air temperature for southern Brazil. From these findings, a surface wind analysis was performed to demonstrate how the geographical location of the SAA affects wind speed anomalies across Brazil and the SAB. Results from this study can assist in understanding how atmospheric systems change within the SAB so that forthcoming socioeconomic and climate-related causes of wind for the country of Brazil can be known.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 96-108
Author(s):  
N.A. Romanova ◽  
P.Yu. Romanov

NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data have been used to examine variations of the sea level pressure and of the surface wind speed in the Antarctic region from 1950 to 2019. The objective of the work was to identify changes and quantify long-term trends in these two major weather and climate elements. The analysis included time series of monthly mean values of the sea level pressure and of the surface wind speed as well as their yearly means. The study has shown a gradual decrease of the sea level pressure and a gradual increase of the surface wind speed in the high latitude region of the Southern Hemisphere in the last 70 years (1950–2019). The largest pressure decrease was within 65–70°S latitude band approximately corresponding to the location of the Antarctic Circumpolar Trough (ACT). The estimated trend in the yearly averaged sea level pressure ranged from –0.058 mb/yr over the open ocean north of ACT, within the 50–60°S latitude band, to –0.148 mb/yr over the Antarctic continent, within 65–85°S latitudes. The zonal-mean wind speed trends ranged within 0.020 m/s/yr and 0.026 m/s/yr over the continent and over the open ocean with up to the 3–4 times larger values in the coastal areas of East Antarctica. Seasonally larger changes in both parameters occurred in the cold period of the year from April to August. Trends in both the sea level pressure and in the wind speed in the Antarctic region were found to generally decelerate in the last decade covered by the dataset.


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