Mesoscale Severe Weather Development under Orographic Influences

Measurements of surface energy budgets have been carried out at several sites in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, in the Kansas Prairie, in the Gobi Desert and in Tibet. The fluxes of sensible heat, H sub S, from the surface could be estimated as functions of the difference between air temperature and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Reiter, Elmar R, Sheaffer, John D, Klitch, Marjorie A
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
ADVERSE CONDITIONS
ATMOSPHERIC MOTION
ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE
BUDGETS
CHINA
COEFFICIENTS
COLORADO
COMPUTATIONS
CYCLOGENESIS
CYCLONES
DESERTS
DRAG
ENERGY
ESTIMATES
FLUX(RATE)
GRIDS
HEAT FLUX
HIGH RATE
IMPLANTATION
INFRARED RADIATION
INTENSITY
KANSAS
LATENT HEAT
LOW LEVEL
Meteorology
MOUNTAINS
NEUTRAL
PE61102F
RATIOS
REMOTE DETECTORS
SCALING FACTOR
SEVERE WEATHER
STABILITY
SURFACE ENERGY
SURFACES
TRANSFER
TUNDRA
TURBULENCE
UNITED STATES
VORTICES
WEATHER
WUAFOSR2310A1
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Measurements of surface energy budgets have been carried out at several sites in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, in the Kansas Prairie, in the Gobi Desert and in Tibet. The fluxes of sensible heat, H sub S, from the surface could be estimated as functions of the difference between air temperature and infrared 'skin surface' temperature, as seen by remote sensing instruments. Computations of Hs involve a neutral stability coefficient for turbulent transfer (drag coefficient), C sub T, ranging between 0.0021 (Gobi Desert) and 0.0070 (alpine tundra), and a scaling factor for stability. Latent heat fluxes were estimated either as residual of total energy fluxes or through a Bowen ratio approach. These flux estimates worked well in a mesoscale, nested-grid model over the Rocky Mountains. The model was able to predict with considerable skill flash-flood events such as the Big Thompson flood of 1976 and the Cheyenne flood of 1985. By implanting 'features' such as a vorticity maximum associated with a low-level jet stream, the model without nested grid was able to predict severe cyclogenesis ('bomb' formation) over the eastern United States. Both model versions run on a desktop workstation.