Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “temperature forecasting”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11

Comparative analysis of operational forecasts versus actual weather conditions in airline flight planning, volume 3

The impact of more timely and accurate weather data on airline flight planning with the emphasis on fuel savings is studied. This volume of the report discusses the results of Task 3 of the four major tasks included in the study. Task 3 compares flight plans developed on the Suitland forecast with actual data observed by the aircraft (and averaged over 10 degree segments). The results show that the average difference between the forecast and observed wind speed is 9 kts. without considering direction, and the average difference in the component of the forecast wind parallel to the direction of the observed wind is 13 kts. - both indicating that the Suitland forecast underestimates the wind speeds. The Root Mean Square (RMS) vector error is 30.1 kts. The average absolute difference in direction between the forecast and observed wind is 26 degrees and the temperature difference is 3 degree Centigrade. These results indicate that the forecast model as well as the verifying analysis used to develop comparison flight plans in Tasks 1 and 2 is a limiting factor and that the average potential fuel savings or penalty are up to 3.6 percent depending on the direction of flight.

Keitz, J. F.↗

Data simulation studies for field programs, satellite system tests, and regional weather prediction

In the present paper, the status of the Drexel/NCAR regional numerical weather forecast system is summarized to show the extent of our experience and our immediate requirements for data within the United States on scales smaller than rawinsonde spacing (approximately 300 km). Preliminary experiments are described, and data assimilation problems are examined. It is shown that data requirements, assimilation methods, and forecast sensitivity differ for regional and large-scale models. Forecast verification statistics suggest that middle-troposphere temperature is well known but relative humidity is not. In some cases, regional forecasts require much better humidity data than available from rawinsondes. Numerics, lateral boundary conditions, model physics, and computing power are adequate for near real-time experimental regional prediction with horizontal mesh sizes down to 35 km. Subsynoptic data and assimilation are the primary challenges facing regional NWP.

Kreitzberg, C. W.↗

Structure of Offshore Low-Level Jet Turbulence and Implications to Mesoscale-to-Microscale Coupling

This paper explores realistic nonstationary atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) turbulence arising from nonstationarity at the mesoscale, particularly within offshore low-level jets with implications to offshore wind farms, using high-fidelity multiscale large-eddy simulations (LES). To this end, we analyzed the single-point turbulence statistical structure of a North-Atlantic offshore LLJ event simulated using high-resolution LES (AMR-Wind). The nonstationary LLJ is simulated using a mesoscale-to-microscale coupled (MMC) simulation procedure involving data assimilation of mesoscale velocity and temperature data from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Unlike the assimilation of mesoscale velocity data into the LES, the direct assimilation of temperature profiles had a strong impact on turbulence stratification, thereby causing erroneous predictions of turbulence both above and within the jet layer. Various approaches to mitigate this effect have resulted in multiple (four) variants of this MMC strategy. Outcomes from this work clearly show that the turbulence within the low-level jet is a strong function of the MMC approach as the turbulence structure within the low-level jet is dependent on the flux of residual turbulence from outside the jet, which in turn depends on the temperature forcing history. Additionally, the turbulence predicted by all these different methods (as well as the observation data) show similar deviations from equilibrium as evidenced by comparisons with idealized atmospheric turbulence structure obtained using the same numerical method. In general, we observe that the predicted LLJ turbulence tends to differ from canonical ABL turbulence with comparable shear. Particularly, the combination of shear and turbulence observed in such nonstationary low-level turbulence cannot be matched using equilibrium settings and therefore, represents a critical use-case for both testing and leveraging meso–micro coupling strategies.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Intraseasonal behavior of clouds, temperature, and motion in the tropics

The spectral character of tropical convection is investigated in an 11-yr record of outgoing longwave radiation from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) to identify interaction with the tropical circulation. Along the equator in the eastern hemisphere, the space-time spectrum of convection possesses a broad peak at wavenumbers 1-3 and eastward periods of 35-95 days. Significantly broader than the dynamical signal of the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), this quasi-discrete convective signal is associatd with a large-scale anomaly that propagates across and modulates time mean or 'climatological convection' over the equatorial Indian Ocean and western Pacific. Outside that region the convective signal is small, even though, under amplified conditions, coherence can be found east of the date line and in the subtropics. Having a zonal scale of approximately wavenumber 2, anomalous convection propagates eastward at some 5 m/s and suppresses as well as reinforces climatological in the eastern hemisphere. The convective signal amplifies to a seasonal maximum near vernal equinox and, to a weaker degree, again near autumnal equinox, when climatological convection and warm sea surface temperature (SST) cross the equator. Contemporaneous records of motion from European Center for medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analyses and tropospheric-mean temperature from Microwave Sounding Unit reveal an anomalous component of the tropical circulation that coexists with the convective signal and embodies many of the established properties of the MJO. In the eastern hemisphere, subtropical Rossby gyres and zonal Kelvin structure along the equator flank the convective anomaly as it tracks eastward, giving the anomalous circulation to form of a 'forced response.' In the western hemisphere, the dynamical signal is composed chiefly of wavenumber-1 Kelvin structure, which as the form of a 'propagating response' that is excited in and radiates away from anomalous convection at some 10 m/s. Kelvin structure comprising the propagating response appears in 850-mb and 200-mb zonal winds even when the convective signal is absent, albeit with much smaller amplitude. In contrast, the signal in 1000-mb convergence appears only when accompanied by anomalous convection, which suggests that convergence in the boundary layer is instrumental in achieving strong interaction with the convective pattern.

Salby, Murry L.↗

Assimilation of TROPICS Radiance Data in Nasa Geos System and Impact Assessments Through Observing System Experiments

Since the first full-scale weather satellite Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS)-1 was launched in 1960 to measure weather patterns from space, the number of satellites carrying various sensors to measure atmospheric properties has increased rapidly. Data from these meteorological satellites have been crucial to the advancement of the NWP forecasts. Especially, space-borne measurements of atmospheric temperature and moisture information provided by microwave sounders were reported to contribute most to positive impacts on global NWP forecasts. Developing and launching an operational weather satellite is a daunting and tremendously expensive mission that requires many years of planning, developments, and maintenance after the launch. Small satellites with low size, weight, and power requirements can reduce the cost associated with the construction and launch of large bus platforms and draw attention of several space agencies and weather technology companies that started investing their resources to develop small satellites and measure the potential benefits and weaknesses. The NASA Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission is a constellation of small satellites carrying state-of-art microwave temperature and humidity sounders with 12 channels between 91 GHz and 205 GHz frequency. Currently five TROPICS cubsats, including TROPICS-pathfinder, are in space and provide the temperature and humidity data from space to the meteorological community. This study seeks to assess the potential impact that the constellation of TROPICS satellites may bring to the global NWP analysis and forecasts by assimilating all-sky TROPICS data and implementing observing system experiments (OSE) using the NASA GEOS system. Various evaluations metrics including forecast skills, fit to other observations such as radiosondes and microwave and infrared sounder are used. Along with the NWP impact assessment, the quality of the TROPICS data is evaluated by looking at observation minus forecast statistics in comparisons with other conventional satellite temperature and humidity sounders.

Min-Jeong Kim↗

Assimilation of TROPICS Radiance Data in NASA GEOS System and Impact Assessments Through Observing System Experiments

Since the first full-scale weather satellite Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS)-1 was launched in 1960 to measure weather patterns from space, the number of satellites carrying various sensors to measure atmospheric properties has increased rapidly. Data from these meteorological satellites have been crucial to the advancement of the NWP forecasts. Especially, space-borne measurements of atmospheric temperature and moisture information provided by microwave sounders were reported to contribute most to positive impacts on global NWP forecasts. Developing and launching an operational weather satellite is a daunting and tremendously expensive mission that requires many years of planning, developments, and maintenance after the launch. Small satellites with low size, weight, and power requirements can reduce the cost associated with the construction and launch of large bus platforms and draw attention of several space agencies and weather technology companies that started investing their resources to develop small satellites and measure the potential benefits and weaknesses. The NASA Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission is a constellation of small satellites carrying state-of-art microwave temperature and humidity sounders with 12 channels between 91 GHz and 205 GHz frequency. Currently five TROPICS cubsats, including TROPICS-pathfinder, are in space and provide the temperature and humidity data from space to the meteorological community. This study seeks to assess the potential impact that the constellation of TROPICS satellites may bring to the global NWP analysis and forecasts by assimilating all-sky TROPICS data and implementing observing system experiments (OSE) using the NASA GEOS system. Various evaluations metrics including forecast skills, fit to other observations such as radiosondes and microwave and infrared sounder are used. Along with the NWP impact assessment, the quality of the TROPICS data is evaluated by looking at observation minus forecast statistics in comparisons with other conventional satellite temperature and humidity sounders.

Min-Jeong Kim↗

The seasonal response of the Held-Suarez climate model to prescribed ocean temperature anomalies. I - Results of decadal integrations

Anomalies in ocean surface temperature have been identified as possible causes of variations in the climate of particular seasons or as a source of interannual climatic variability, and attempts have been made to forecast seasonal climate by using ocean temperatures as predictor variables. However, the seasonal atmospheric response to ocean temperature anomalies has not yet been systematically investigated with nonlinear models. The present investigation is concerned with ten-year integrations involving a model of intermediate complexity, the Held-Suarez climate model. The calculations have been performed to investigate the changes in seasonal climate which result from a fixed anomaly imposed on a seasonally varying, global ocean temperature field. Part I of the paper provides a report on the results of these decadal integrations. Attention is given to model properties, the experimental design, and the anomaly experiments.

Phillips, T. J.↗

Investigation of models for large-scale meteorological prediction experiments

The feasibility of extended and long-range weather prediction by means of global atmospheric models was studied. A number of computer experiments were conducted at GISS with the GISS global general circulation model. Topics discussed include atmospheric response to sea-surface temperature anomalies, and monthly mean forecast experiments with the global model.

Spar, J.↗

Evaluation of Thompson-type trend and monthly weather data models for corn yields in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana

An evaluation was made of Thompson-Type models which use trend terms (as a surrogate for technology), meteorological variables based on monthly average temperature, and total precipitation to forecast and estimate corn yields in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. Pooled and unpooled Thompson-type models were compared. Neither was found to be consistently superior to the other. Yield reliability indicators show that the models are of limited use for large area yield estimation. The models are objective and consistent with scientific knowledge. Timely yield forecasts and estimates can be made during the growing season by using normals or long range weather forecasts. The models are not costly to operate and are easy to use and understand. The model standard errors of prediction do not provide a useful current measure of modeled yield reliability.

French, V.↗

Assimilation of SBUV Version 8 Radiances into the GEOS Ozone DAS

In operational weather forecasting, the assimilation of brightness temperatures from satellite sounders, instead of assimilation of 1D-retrievals has become increasingly common practice over the last two decades. Compared to these systems, assimilation of trace gases is still at a relatively early stage of development, and efforts to directly assimilate radiances instead of retrieved products have just begun a few years ago, partially because it requires much more computation power due to the employment of a radiative transport forward model (FM). This paper will focus on a method to assimilate SBUV/2 radiances (albedos) into the Global Earth Observation System Ozone Data Assimilation Scheme (GEOS-03DAS). While SBUV-type instruments cannot compete with newer sensors in terms of spectral and horizontal resolution, they feature a continuous data record back to 1978, which makes them very valuable for trend studies. Assimilation can help spreading their ground coverage over the whole globe, as has been previously demonstrated with the GEOS-03DAS using SBUV Version 6 ozone profiles. Now, the DAS has been updated to use the newly released SBUV Version 8 data. We will compare pre]lmlnarv results of SBUV radiance assimilation with the assimilation of retrieved ozone profiles, discuss methods to deal with the increased computational load, and try to assess the error characteristics and future potential of the new approach.

Mueller, Martin D.↗

Broadband Characterization of a 100 to 180 GHz Amplifier

Atmospheric science and weather forecasting require measurements of the temperature and humidity vs. altitude. These sounding measurements are obtained at frequencies close to the resonance frequencies of oxygen (118 GHz) and water (183 GHz) molecules. We have characterized a broadband amplifier that will increase the sensitivity of sounding and other instruments at these frequencies. This study demonstrated for the first t1me continuous low noise amplification from 100 to 180 GHz. The measured InP monolithic millimeter-wave Integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifier had more than 18 dB of gain from 100 to 180 GHz and 15 dB of gain up to 220 GHz. This is the widest bandwidth low noise amplifier result at these frequencies to date. The circuit was fabricated in Northrop Grumman Corporation 35 nm InP high electron mobility transistor (HEMT).

high electron mobility transistors (HEMT's)↗

Venus Global Reference Atmospheric Model

Venus Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Venus-GRAM) is an engineering-level atmospheric model developed by MSFC that is widely used for diverse mission applications including: Systems design; Performance analysis; Operations planning for aerobraking, Entry, Descent and Landing, and aerocapture; Is not a forecast model; Outputs include density, temperature, pressure, wind components, and chemical composition; Provides dispersions of thermodynamic parameters, winds, and density; Optional trajectory and auxiliary profile input files Has been used in multiple studies and proposals including NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Autonomous Aerobraking and various Discovery proposals; Released in 2005; Available at: https://software.nasa.gov/software/MFS-32314-1.

Justh, Hilary L.↗

Variability of Winter Air Temperature in Mid-Latitude Europe

The aim of this paper is to report extreme winter/early-spring air temperature (hereinafter temperature) anomalies in mid-latitude Europe, and to discuss the underlying forcing to these interannual fluctuations. Warm advection from the North Atlantic in late winter controls the surface-air temperature, as indicated by the substantial correlation between the speed of the surface southwesterlies over the eastern North Atlantic (quantified by a specific Index Ina) and the 2-meter level air temperatures (hereinafter Ts) over Europe, 45-60 deg N, in winter. In mid-March and subsequently, the correlation drops drastically (quite often it is negative). This change in the relationship between Ts and Ina marks a transition in the control of the surface-air temperature: absorption of insolation replaces the warm advection as the dominant control. This forcing by maritime-air advection in winter was demonstrated in a previous publication, and is re-examined here in conjunction with extreme fluctuations of temperatures in Europe. We analyze here the interannual variability at its extreme by comparing warm-winter/early-spring of 1989/90 with the opposite scenario in 1995/96. For these two December-to-March periods the differences in the monthly mean temperature in Warsaw and Torun, Poland, range above 10 C. Short-term (shorter than a month) fluctuations of the temperature are likewise very strong. We conduct pentad-by-pentad analysis of the surface-maximum air temperature (hereinafter Tmax), in a selected location, examining the dependence on Ina. The increased cloudiness and higher amounts of total precipitable water, corollary effects to the warm low-level advection. in the 1989/90 winter, enhance the positive temperature anomalies. The analysis of the ocean surface winds is based on the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) dataset; ascent rates, and over land wind data are from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF); maps of 2-m temperature, cloud cover and precipitable water are from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Reanalysis.

Otterman, J.↗

Real-Time Assimilation of Goes-Derived Products into A Mesoscale Model and It's Impact on Short-Term (06-36hr) Forecasts from 17 October 1998 through the Present

As the parameterizations of surface energy budgets in regional models have become more complete physically, models have the potential to be much more realistic in simulations of coupling between surface radiation, hydrology, and surface energy transfer. Realizing the importance of properly specifying the surface energy budget, many institutions are using land-surface models to represent the lower boundary forcing associated with biophysical processes and soil hydrology. However, the added degrees of freedom due to inclusion of such land-surface schemes require the specification of additional parameters within the model system such as vegetative resistances, green vegetation fraction, leaf area index, soil physical and hydraulic characteristics, stream flow, runoff, and the vertical distribution of soil moisture. Spatial heterogeneity of these parameters makes correct specification problematic since measurements are not routinely available. A technique has been developed for assimilating GOES-IR skin temperature tendencies, solar insolation, and surface albedo into the surface energy budget equation of a mesoscale model so that the simulated rate of temperature change closely agrees with the satellite observations. The technique has been successfully employed in a number of mesoscale models in case-study mode. We have taken the next step and developed a study to determine if assimilating these types of data into mesoscale models in real-time can improve short-term (648h) forecasts of temperature, relative humidity, and QPF on a daily basis over relatively large regions. Therefore, an operational modeling/assimilation system has been developed at the GHCC during the past summer that allows us to produce simulations out to 48 hours in a timely manor. The PSU/NCAR MM5 is used in a nested configuration with a 25 km grid covering the southeastern third of the US. The model has been on-line since 1 July 1998 and forecast products are posted on our web site. The satellite algorithms that generate data to be assimilated came on-line 17 October 1998. Quantitative assessment of the forecast quality is performed via traditional verification statistics. In addition, invaluable qualitative information is obtained through close collaboration with several NWSFO's who are using the MM5 products in real-time on a daily basis. The assimilation technique has been applied in an off-line mode since 17 October. Results based on bulk statistical verification of surface meteorology over the entire Southeastern US show that assimilating the GOES-derived land surface tendencies and solar radiation results in a significant reduction of the shelter air temperature and RH bias on a daily basis. In fact, the assimilation technique has produced improved temperature and RH forecasts for 97% of the 100 simulations performed to date. Work is currently underway to determine the sensitivity of the assimilation procedure to the availability of satellite data, length of assimilation period, model initialization, and synoptic-scale meteorological conditions. In addition, results from a detailed energy budget analysis using the Early Eta, our operational MM5, and the assimilation runs will help us to better understand the satellite assimilation the land-surface energy budge. Research during the spring-summer of 1999 will focus on the impact of the assimilation technique during the warm season where it is hypothesized that it can have a positive impact on QPF during conditions of weak synoptic-scale forcing.

Lapenta, William M.↗

A study of the atmospheric energetics of a six-layer operational forecast model

Verification data for twice-daily analyses of horizontal wind and temperature are compared with 00, 12, 24, 36, 60, and 84 hour forecasts prepared for winter 1975-76 from a six-layer operational forecast model; the comparison focuses on certain energy components in the forecast fields. Significant losses (15 to 20%) of zonal available potential energy and zonal kinetic energy appear beyond the 36-hour forecasts; the zonal kinetic energy loss is associated with a large increase in this parameter during the first 12-hour forecast period, due to a downward and northward movement of the mean jet-stream core. In addition, energy losses in the eddy potential and kinetic energy components are noted in the initialization procedure.

Hauser, R. K.↗

Effect of Rocky Mountains and Tibetan Plateau 1998 Spring Land Temperature on N. American and East Asian Summer Precipitation Anomalies

This work follows up on the GEWEX/LS4P Phase I (LS4P-I) experiments, a community effort highlighting the spring land surface temperature anomalies in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) as a useful source for subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) prediction of summer precipitation in global hot spot regions, particularly in East Asia and North America. This paper extends the investigation to both the US Rocky Mountain (RM) region and the TP, considering the 1998 summer drought/flood event in North America/East Asia, respectively, as a case study. A previously developed initialization method for land surface temperature/subsurface temperature (LST/SUBT) is used in the NCEP Global Forecast System, coupled with a land model, SSiB2 (GFS/SSiB2), to produce observed RM cold May temperature anomaly. Forward simulation yields June precipitation anomalies at five remote locations. Likewise, the TP warm May temperature anomaly also produces June precipitation anomalies at these five locations. The effects of RM (cold) and TP (warm) temperature anomalies are consistent in the US South Coastal regions and the south Yangtze River Basin, yielding 49% (42%) of observed drought and 34% (44%) of observed flood, respectively. These LST/SUBT effects in RM and TP induce a global large-scale wave train linking North America with the TP, affecting the subtropical westerly jet and thereby modulating summer precipitation. Global SST effect is examined for comparison but does not yield statistically significant June precipitation anomalies in GFS/SSiB2. Furthermore, this study adds to evidence that high-mountain LST effects in the RM and TP are first-order sources of S2S precipitation predictability in summer months.

Nayak, Hara Prasad [University of California, Los ↗

Long Term Stability Monitoring of Aqua MODIS Thermal Emissive Bands through Radiative Transfer Modeling

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Aqua has been in operation providing continuous global observations for science research and applications since 2002. The long-term stability of thermal emissive bands (TEBs) of Aqua MODIS was monitored through inter-comparisons with measurements by hyperspectral infrared sensors, such as AIRS on Aqua and IASI on MetOp satellite, or through long term vicarious monitoring over cold targets, such as Dome- C and deep convective clouds (DCC). In this paper, a radiative transfer modeling-based simulation model using Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) is developed to perform the long-term monitoring of the stability of TEBs of Aqua MODIS. CRTM is a fast-radiative transfer model for calculations of radiances for satellite infrared radiometers and is able to output infrared radiance and brightness temperature at spectral bands of MODIS. Long term European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) global atmospheric reanalysis data, such as temperature and humidity profiles, are used as inputs to the CRTM simulation. By confining the area of interest to be over low to middle latitude ocean, the long-term stabilities of selected Aqua MODIS TEBs are monitored through Observation–Background (O-B) brightness temperature (BT) bias between MODIS measurements and BT retrieval from CRTM simulation. The consistency and relative stability between Aqua MODIS and ECMWF reanalysis data for surface channels of MODIS are evaluated. In addition, the radiative transfer modeling with CRTM enables us to evaluate the impacts of long term variation of global CO2 distribution on the O-B BT biases for CO2 channels of Aqua MODIS through comparison of simulations with constant or long term variable CO2 as inputs. The O-B analysis with RTM show that Aqua MODIS surface channels are all radiometrically stable with yearly BT bias drift less than 0.004K/year for B20, B22, B23 and ~0.01K/year for B31 and B32. The CO2 absorption channels of Aqua MODIS, e.g. B33-B36, are stable with BT bias drift < 0.005K/year.

MODIS↗

Atmospheric response to variations in sea surface temperature

An extended range prediction experiment was performed with the GISS atmospheric model on a global data to test the sensitivity of the model to sea surface temperature (SST) variation over a two-week forecast period. The use of an initial observed SST field in place of the climatological monthly mean sea temperatures for surface flux calculations in the model was found to have a significant effect on the predicted precipitation over the ocean, with enhanced convection computed over areas where moderately large warm SST anomalies are found. However, there was no detectable positive effect of the SST anomaly field on forecast quality. The influence of the SST anomalies on the daily predicted fields of pressure and geopotential is relatively insignificant up to about one week compared with the growth of prediction error, and is no greater over a two-week period than that resulting from random errors in the initial meteorological state. The 14-day average fields of sea level pressure and 500-mb height predicted by the model, appear to be similarly insensitive to anomalies of sea surface temperature.

Spar, J.↗