HRD Scientists participate in Workshop on High-Resolution Regional Modeling for Tropical Cyclones, Shanghai, China – 20-21 December 2012

A worksho­­­p on High-Resolution Regional Modeling for Tropical Cyclones was hosted by the Shanghai Typhoon Institute (STI) of China Meteorological Administration (CMA) at the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau (SMB),  20-21 December 2012.  Four invited NOAA scientists, Drs. Sundararaman Gopalakrishnan and Xuejin Zhang of HRD, plus Dr. Vijay Tallapragada from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP),  and Dr. J.-W. Bao, from the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), participated with scientists from SMB and STI.

Scientists from both organizations reviewed progress in advanced tropical-cyclone prediction, improved data assimilation and physics techniques, and application of the operational HWRF in the Western Pacific Region.  Discussion on future directions for advanced model development followed the scientific presentations.  Suggestions for improving operational systems at SMB, and possible collaboration between SMB/STI and NOAA were also discussed.

The participants recognized the need for improving STI’s capabilities in typhoon prediction, including implementation of state-of-the-art high-resolution numerical modeling system. Based on the discussions , the following recommendations to establish a joint collaborative effort between NOAA and STI/CMA were made:

1. Transfer of HWRF to STI computing platforms
2. Operational Implementation of HWRF at STI for the 2013 season
3. Set up STI to conduct advanced research in vortex initialization, data assimilation, ocean coupling and landfall applications
4. Exchange visits by scientists from STI and NOAA
5. Organize another workshop in 2013 to review the progress and set future goals.

The four NOAA presentations are available in an zip archive at ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/blog/seminars/2013/Shanghai-20121220.zip

Gopal (far right) describing HWRF improvements

X. Zhang (far left) explaining HWRF basin scale

V. Tallapragada’s presentation

Gopal’s presentation

J.-W. Bao’s presentation

X. Zhang’s presentation

HRD scientists participate in HFIP Annual Review, 7 November – 19 December 2012

The HFIP Annual Review Meeting was held in a series of six weekly telecoms held on Wednesday from 7 November to 19 December. The agenda and presentations are available at:

http://www.hfip.org/documents/presentations_publications.php

HRD scientist visits Capital Hill

Dr. Sundararaman Gopalakrishnan made­ an­ invited­ presentation­ about­ tropical­ cyclones at the NOAA Science Day event on September 12th. He emphasized­ the­ critical­ use­ of­ observations­ obtained from NOAA’s ­­aircraft ­in­­ improving­ hurricane ­forecasts.­

On­ September­ 13th,­ he briefed­ members ­of ­the ­House­ ­Committee ­on ­Science, ­the ­Senate­ Committee ­on ­Commerce, ­and ­staff­ from­ various­ ­offices­ of­ representatives­ and­ senators.

A copy of Dr. Gopalakrishnan’s presentation is available on our ftp site at:

ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/blog/seminars/2012/gopal_hill_talk_091212v1.pptx

Gopalakrishnan’s presentation

Paper on the evaluation of HEDAS vortex-scale analyses for cases between 2008 and 2011 released online in Monthly Weather Review

The paper can be accessed at http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/MWR-D-12-00194.1.

Progress report on the Intensity Forecasting Experiment released online by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

The paper can be accessed at http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00089

HRD Monthly Science Meeting of November 2012

The 3 presentations from November’s Monthly Science meeting are available on the anonymous ftp site as a zip archive at:

ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/blog/meetings/2012/science/HRD_SciMeet_20121108.zip

J. Zhang’s presentation

Goldenberg’s presentation

Aksoy’s presentation

HRD Monthly Data Assimilation Meeting of September 2012

The 3 presentations from September’s data assimlation meeting are available on the anonymous ftp site at:

ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/blog/meetings/2012/DA/20120927.zip

Tong’s presentation

Aberson’s presentation

Vukicevic’s presentation

HRD Monthly Science Meeting of September 2012

The 6 presentations from September’s Monthly Science meeting are available on the anonymous ftp site as a zip archive at:

ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/blog/meetings/2012/science/HRD_SciMeet_20120913.zip

DeMaria presentation

Forde presentation

Klotz presentation

J. Zhang presentation

Haddad presentation

Goldenberg presentation

Doppler radar quick-looks from 4 AM P-3 flight into TS Isaac, 27 August 2012

As Tropical Storm Isaac passed into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico west of Florida (outlined in black line in top right of image) NOAA P-3 missions collected airborne Doppler radar data to use in initializing and evaluating model guidance. Included here you see images of the horizontal winds within the inner core of Tropical Storm Isaac sampled from the tail Doppler radar on the P-3 early on 27 August 2012. These images are at three altitudes, 1 km, 3 km, and 6 km, using a composite of winds from four legs oriented north-south, east-west, southwest-northeast, and northwest-southeast. Also plotted on the 1-km altitude analysis are the locations of dropsondes deployed (plotted using standard station symbols). Isaac’s circulation is much more organized than in the previous mission, with a clear circulation center at all altitudes shown, but still very asymmetric with the stronger winds north and east of the circulation center. The circulation center is only slightly tilted from south to north with increasing altitude from 1-km altitude to 6-km, much less so than the precious mission. The observed tilt with increasing altitude suggests that the southerly shear Isaac is embedded in is much weaker than in the previous mission. Above 6 km the circulation center tilted 5-10 km to the north and almost vanished above 9-km altitude, suggesting the storm has a way to go is gaining strength.

All the Isaac radar composites at 0.5-km height resolution are available at http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Storm_pages/isaac2012/radar.html.

1-km altitude

3-km altitude

6-km altitude

 

Doppler radar quick-looks from 4 PM P-3 flight into TS Isaac, 26 August 2012

As Tropical Storm Isaac passed through the Florida Straits north of western Cuba (outlined by black lines along the bottom of the images) NOAA P-3 missions collected airborne Doppler radar data to use in initializing and evaluating model guidance. Included here you see images of the horizontal winds within the inner core of Tropical Storm Isaac sampled from the tail Doppler radar on the P-3 late on 26 August 2012. These images are at three altitudes, 1 km, 3 km, and 6 km, using a composite of winds from four legs oriented north-south, east-west, southwest-northeast, and northwest-southeast. Also plotted on the 1-km altitude analysis are the locations of dropsondes deployed (plotted using standard station symbols). Isaac’s circulation is much more organized than in the missions in the Caribbean Sea, with a clear circulation center at all altitudes shown, but still very asymmetric with the stronger winds north and east of the circulation center. The circulation center is tilted from south to north with increasing altitude from 1-km altitude to 6-km altitude indicating that Isaac is embedded in southerly shear. At 1 km the circulation from the Doppler analysis is close to latitude 24 degrees N, and at 6 km it is closer to latitude 26 degrees N, or a tilt of only more than 50 km. The circulation center at 6 km altitude appears embedded it the convective rain bands north of the low level center.

All the Isaac radar composites at 0.5-km height resolution are available at http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Storm_pages/isaac2012/radar.html.

1-km altitude

3-km altitude

6-km altitude