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Title: Statistical Comparison of Regional Atmospheric Modeling System Forecast Meteorology with Observations

Abstract

A statistical comparison of observations and forecasts using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) for operations at the Savannah River Site (SRS) is discussed. Simulated and observed values of wind direction, wind speed, and temperature, collected twice daily for a two-year period from April 1998 through March 2000, are compared in a variety of ways for 5 different locations in the southeast United States. Turbulence quantities are also compared for a one-year period beginning in February 1999 for the SRS. Results are presented in the form of scatter plots and histograms, as well as time-based line plots for the different locations within the modeling domain. Both surface and upper-level model predictions are compared with observations taken from both the National Weather Service and local SRS tower locations (surface measures only). Variability based on the time of year, the forecast hour, the location of the observations, and the height above ground for each of these variables is discussed. Statistics of accuracy used for comparison include absolute mean bias, relative bias, root-mean-square error, standard deviation, and the index of agreement. The most severe degradation in results occurs during the transition periods of early evening (approximately 19 to 20 LST) and late morningmore » (approximately 07 to 08 LST), especially for temperature.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Savannah River Site (US)
Sponsoring Org.:
US Department of Energy (US)
OSTI Identifier:
799312
Report Number(s):
WSRC-TR-2001-00563
TRN: US0205182
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-96SR18500
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 4 Feb 2002
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; ACCURACY; METEOROLOGY; SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT; STATISTICS; TURBULENCE; WEATHER; CLIMATE MODELS; REGIONAL ANALYSIS; WIND; AMBIENT TEMPERATURE

Citation Formats

Buckley, R.L. Statistical Comparison of Regional Atmospheric Modeling System Forecast Meteorology with Observations. United States: N. p., 2002. Web. doi:10.2172/799312.
Buckley, R.L. Statistical Comparison of Regional Atmospheric Modeling System Forecast Meteorology with Observations. United States. doi:10.2172/799312.
Buckley, R.L. Mon . "Statistical Comparison of Regional Atmospheric Modeling System Forecast Meteorology with Observations". United States. doi:10.2172/799312. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/799312.
@article{osti_799312,
title = {Statistical Comparison of Regional Atmospheric Modeling System Forecast Meteorology with Observations},
author = {Buckley, R.L.},
abstractNote = {A statistical comparison of observations and forecasts using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) for operations at the Savannah River Site (SRS) is discussed. Simulated and observed values of wind direction, wind speed, and temperature, collected twice daily for a two-year period from April 1998 through March 2000, are compared in a variety of ways for 5 different locations in the southeast United States. Turbulence quantities are also compared for a one-year period beginning in February 1999 for the SRS. Results are presented in the form of scatter plots and histograms, as well as time-based line plots for the different locations within the modeling domain. Both surface and upper-level model predictions are compared with observations taken from both the National Weather Service and local SRS tower locations (surface measures only). Variability based on the time of year, the forecast hour, the location of the observations, and the height above ground for each of these variables is discussed. Statistics of accuracy used for comparison include absolute mean bias, relative bias, root-mean-square error, standard deviation, and the index of agreement. The most severe degradation in results occurs during the transition periods of early evening (approximately 19 to 20 LST) and late morning (approximately 07 to 08 LST), especially for temperature.},
doi = {10.2172/799312},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Feb 04 00:00:00 EST 2002},
month = {Mon Feb 04 00:00:00 EST 2002}
}

Technical Report:

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  • This paper describes the statistical measures used to compare several observed and predicted meteorological variables for the southeastern United States spanning two full years (April 1998 to March 2000).
  • The main work activity during this period was the refinement and GCM parameterization of the treatment of ice cloud radiative properties, developed for this project. The treatment has now been rigorously tested and improved, and can now be used with confidence in radiation transfer schemes. The ice Cloud radiation scheme has also proven useful in satellite remote sensing. The radiation scheme differs from others in the thermal infrared, where it is assumed that photon tunneling does not occur for real ice particles (tunneling can be viewed as a process by which photons outside a particle`s area-cross section can still bemore » absorbed). Single particle T-matrix and Mie calculations suggest that a particle`s ability to capture energy through tunneling depends on surface morphology, with more tunneling the more circular (or less angular) a surface is. This assumption leads to retrievals of mean particle size which are similar to those observed in tropical cirrus by optical imaging probes, whereas retrieved sizes using Mie theory are about 1/3 those predicted by this scheme. The retrieval method requires channels in the 8--9 {micro}m and 11--12 {micro}m ranges. This assumption about tunneling, as well as treating size distributions in the radiation scheme as bimodal, allows retrievals over a broader range of mean particle size than previous schemes permitted, making such size retrievals applicable to most types of cirrus clouds.« less
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  • The overall objective of this study is to provide a demonstration of capability for importing both high altitude meteorological forecast and climatological datasets from NRL into the NARAC modeling system to simulate high altitude atmospheric droplet release and dispersion. The altitude of release for the proposed study is between 60 and 100km altitude. As either standard climatological data (over a period of 40 years) or daily meteorological forecasts can drive the particle dispersion model, we did a limited comparison of simulations with meteorological data and simulations with climatological data. The modeling tools used to address this problem are the Nationalmore » Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) modeling system at LLNL which are operationally employed to assist DOE/DHS/DOD emergency response to an atmospheric release of chemical, biological, and radiological contaminants. The interrelation of the various data feeds and codes at NARAC are illustrated in Figure 1. The NARAC scientific models are all verified to both analytic solutions and other codes; the models are validated to field data such as the Prairie Grass study (Barad, 1958). NARAC has multiple real-time meteorological data feeds from the National Weather Service, from the European Center for Medium range Weather Forecasting, from the US Navy, and from the US Air Force. NARAC also keeps a historical archive of meteorological data partially for research purposes. The codes used in this effort were the Atmospheric Data Assimilation and Parameterization Techniques (ADAPT) model (Sugiyama and Chan, 1998) and a development version of the Langrangian Operational Dispersion Integrator (LODI) model (Nasstrom et al., 2000). The use of the NASA GEOS-4 dataset required the use of a development version of the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) model (Hodur, 1997; Chin and Glascoe, 2004). The specific goals of this study are the following: (1) Confirm data compatibility of NRL meteorological and climatological data for NARAC models. Import both high altitude meteorological forecasts and high altitude climatological data provided by NRL into the NARAC system. (2) Run ADAPT and LODI transport/dispersion codes for one scenario on imported meteorological forecast and climatological data. (3) Provide documentation of the effort. The following tasking description gives both the context and manner in which the goals listed above were accomplished: (A) We had discussions with NRL personnel, notably Stefan Thonnard and Doug Drob, to confirm the data compatibility of the data that we will be importing for use. Data up to 100km in altitude was provided and imported into the NARAC modeling system. (B) The ADAPT atmospheric data assimilation model was used to take data from NRL and provide mass-consistent three-dimensional time-varying wind fields for the NARAC Langrangian particle tracking code, LODI. A test version of LODI, developed to consider rarefied conditions, higher altitude turbulence, and high initial particle speeds, was used run on the ADAPT output. (C) The results of the proof-of-concept simulations under time-varying meteorological forecasts and under climatological wind fields are compared and documented in this brief report discussing the capability of the NARAC modeling system for importing and using the high altitude datasets from NRL. A limited assessment of the difference between dispersion results on the different data sets is made.« less