Identification and Characterization of Persistent Cold Pool Events from Temperature and Wind Profilers in the Columbia River Basin

McCaffrey, Katherine; Wilczak, James M.; Bianco, Laura; Grimit, Eric; Sharp, Justin; Banta, Robert; Friedrich, Katja; Fernando, H. J. S.; Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra; Leo, Laura S.; Muradyan, Paytsar

doi:10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0046.1

Title: Identification and Characterization of Persistent Cold Pool Events from Temperature and Wind Profilers in the Columbia River Basin

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Abstract

Abstract Cold pool events occur when deep layers of stable, cold air remain trapped in a valley or basin for multiple days, without mixing out from daytime heating. With large impacts on air quality, freezing events, and especially on wind energy production, they are often poorly forecast by modern mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. Understanding the characteristics of cold pools is, therefore, important to provide more accurate forecasts. This study analyzes cold pool characteristics with data collected during the Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2), which took place in the Columbia River basin and Gorge of Oregon and Washington from fall 2015 until spring 2017. A subset of the instrumentation included three microwave radiometer profilers, six radar wind profilers with radio acoustic sounding systems, and seven sodars, which together provided seven sites with collocated vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. Using these collocated observations, we developed a set of criteria to determine if a cold pool was present based on stability, wind speed, direction, and temporal continuity, and then developed an automated algorithm based on these criteria to identify all cold pool events over the 18 months of the field project. Characteristics of these eventsmore »« less

Authors:

^[1]; Wilczak, James M. ^[2]; Bianco, Laura ^[3]; Grimit, Eric ^[4]; Sharp, Justin ^[5]; Banta, Robert ^[6]; Friedrich, Katja ^[7]; Fernando, H. J. S. ^[8]; Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra ^[8]; Leo, Laura S. ^[9]; Muradyan, Paytsar ^[10]

S&P Global Market Intelligence, Boulder, Colorado, Physical Sciences Division, NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado
Physical Sciences Division, NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado
Physical Sciences Division, NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado
Vaisala, Seattle, Washington
Sharply Focused, Portland, Oregon
Chemical Sciences Division, NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Argonne National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne, Illinois

Publication Date:: 2019-11-26

Research Org.:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) - Office of Wind Energy Technologies (WETO); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

OSTI Identifier:: 1575825

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1774498

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006898; AC02-05CH11231; DOE-WFIP2-CU-001; DOE-WFIFP2-SUB-001; DOE-WFIP2-SUB-001; NA; AGS-1565535; AGS-1921554; AC02-06CH11357

Resource Type:: Published Article

Journal Name:: Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology Journal Volume: 58 Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 1558-8424

Publisher:: American Meteorological Society

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Formats


                    McCaffrey, Katherine, Wilczak, James M., Bianco, Laura, Grimit, Eric, Sharp, Justin, Banta, Robert, Friedrich, Katja, Fernando, H. J. S., Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra, Leo, Laura S., and Muradyan, Paytsar. Identification and Characterization of Persistent Cold Pool Events from Temperature and Wind Profilers in the Columbia River Basin.  United States: N. p., 2019. 
        Web.  doi:10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0046.1.

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                    McCaffrey, Katherine, Wilczak, James M., Bianco, Laura, Grimit, Eric, Sharp, Justin, Banta, Robert, Friedrich, Katja, Fernando, H. J. S., Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra, Leo, Laura S., & Muradyan, Paytsar. Identification and Characterization of Persistent Cold Pool Events from Temperature and Wind Profilers in the Columbia River Basin.  United States.  doi:https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0046.1

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                    McCaffrey, Katherine, Wilczak, James M., Bianco, Laura, Grimit, Eric, Sharp, Justin, Banta, Robert, Friedrich, Katja, Fernando, H. J. S., Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra, Leo, Laura S., and Muradyan, Paytsar. Tue .  
        "Identification and Characterization of Persistent Cold Pool Events from Temperature and Wind Profilers in the Columbia River Basin".  United States.  doi:https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0046.1.

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@article{osti_1575825,

  title        = {Identification and Characterization of Persistent Cold Pool Events from Temperature and Wind Profilers in the Columbia River Basin},

  author       = {McCaffrey, Katherine and Wilczak, James M. and Bianco, Laura and Grimit, Eric and Sharp, Justin and Banta, Robert and Friedrich, Katja and Fernando, H. J. S. and Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra and Leo, Laura S. and Muradyan, Paytsar},

  abstractNote = {Abstract Cold pool events occur when deep layers of stable, cold air remain trapped in a valley or basin for multiple days, without mixing out from daytime heating. With large impacts on air quality, freezing events, and especially on wind energy production, they are often poorly forecast by modern mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. Understanding the characteristics of cold pools is, therefore, important to provide more accurate forecasts. This study analyzes cold pool characteristics with data collected during the Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2), which took place in the Columbia River basin and Gorge of Oregon and Washington from fall 2015 until spring 2017. A subset of the instrumentation included three microwave radiometer profilers, six radar wind profilers with radio acoustic sounding systems, and seven sodars, which together provided seven sites with collocated vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. Using these collocated observations, we developed a set of criteria to determine if a cold pool was present based on stability, wind speed, direction, and temporal continuity, and then developed an automated algorithm based on these criteria to identify all cold pool events over the 18 months of the field project. Characteristics of these events are described, including statistics of the wind speed distributions and profiles, stability conditions, cold pool depths, and descent rates of the cold pool top. The goal of this study is a better understanding of these characteristics and their processes to ultimately lead to improved physical parameterizations in NWP models, and consequently improve forecasts of cold pool events in the study region as well at other locations that experiences similar events.},

  doi          = {10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0046.1},

  journal      = {Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology},

  number       = 12,

  volume       = 58,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2019},

  month        = {11}

}

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0046.1

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Identification and Characterization of Persistent Cold Pool Events from Temperature and Wind Profilers in the Columbia River Basin

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