Article
Environmental Sciences
J. T. Abatzoglou, C. A. Kolden, A. P. Williams, M. Sadegh, J. K. Balch, A. Hall
Summary: Downslope wind-driven fires account for a significant portion of wildfires and burned area in the western US and have caused major impacts on human life and infrastructure. These fires are primarily ignited by humans, occur closer to population centers, and have unique characteristics such as occurring under dry fuel conditions and exhibiting distinct seasonality. Analyses show an increase in the number and burned area of downslope wind-driven fires over the past few decades, highlighting the need for increased fire prevention and adaptation strategies to mitigate future risks.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Annu Panwar, Axel Kleidon
Summary: The responses of surface and air temperature to evaporative conditions differ significantly, with surface temperature being more sensitive to vegetation type and air temperature being influenced by boundary layer dynamics.
JOURNAL OF CLIMATE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Johannes Mohrmann, Robert Wood, Tianle Yuan, Hua Song, Ryan Eastman, Lazaros Oreopoulos
Summary: Using machine learning methods, marine low-cloud mesoscale morphology in the southeastern Pacific Ocean was analyzed over a 3-year period. The study revealed distinct meteorological regimes of marine low-cloud organization from the tropics to the midlatitudes and detailed two tropical and subtropical cumuliform boundary layer regimes.
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
John T. Abatzoglou, David E. Rupp, Larry W. O'Neill, Mojtaba Sadegh
Summary: The large high-impact fires in western Oregon in September 2020 were caused by a combination of dry air intrusion and strong east winds. These compound extremes were unmatched in the observational record, highlighting the importance of assessing wildfire hazard risk with a multivariate lens.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Sergej Zilitinkevich, Evgeny Kadantsev, Irina Repina, Evgeny Mortikov, Andrey Glazunov
Summary: Turbulence in low-viscosity/large-scale fluid flows is traditionally believed to be generated by velocity shears and buoyancy forces, leading to chaotic motions and direct cascade of turbulent kinetic energy. However, a new study reveals that buoyancy actually produces chaotic vertical plumes that merge into larger ones, leading to an inverse cascade. In contrast, velocity shears produce usual eddies spreading in all directions and leading to direct cascade.
JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bingyin Chen, Weiwen Wang, Wei Dai, Ming Chang, Xuemei Wang, Yingchang You, Wanxue Zhu, Chungui Liao
Summary: The impact of urbanization on local climate change in Guangzhou is explored using the WRF model. The study found that changes in land cover and urban canopy structure led to reduced wind speed, higher air temperature, and adjustments in surface energy balance. The updated parameters improved the accuracy of the simulation results.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ruiting Liu, Zhiwei Han, Jiawei Li, Jie Li, Lin Liang, Yunfei Wu
Summary: In this study, the present and future anthropogenic heat flux and surface albedo in Beijing are estimated and incorporated into the WRF-Chem/UCM model. The model simulations show that the changes in surface characteristics have a significant impact on urban meteorology and air pollutants in Beijing. The increase in surface albedo and decrease in anthropogenic heat lead to decreases in air temperature, wind speed, planetary boundary layer height, and ozone concentration, while increasing the near surface particulate matter concentration.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Sabiha Sultana, A. N. V. Satyanarayana
Summary: The present study uses the WRF model and WRF-UCM to assess the UHI and urban energy fluxes in Indian metropolitan areas. The results show that the WRF model overestimates air temperature and UHI intensity, while the WRF-UCM simulations are in good agreement with observations. The study also shows that WRF-UCM performs well in simulating the spatial variation of UHI and fluxes over different LULC classes.
THEORETICAL AND APPLIED CLIMATOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Ivana Stiperski, Marc Calaf
Summary: Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (MOST) is the basis for parameterizations of turbulent exchange in numerical models, but its limitations to flat and horizontally homogeneous terrain have been a long-standing issue. In this study, a generalized extension of MOST based on turbulence anisotropy is presented, which is validated using complex atmospheric turbulence datasets covering various terrains. This novel theory provides a better understanding of complex turbulence where MOST fails.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jun Inoue, Kazutoshi Sato
Summary: This study demonstrates the potential of using UAVs for atmospheric soundings in the Antarctic region, and reveals the occurrence of icing when encountering clouds and snow. The use of an onboard aerosol counter and ceilometer allows for the detection of icing conditions.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Utkarsh Prakash Bhautmage, Jimmy Chi Hung Fung, Jonathan Pleim, Michael Mau Fung Wong
Summary: In this study, a new multilayer model based on a modified nonlocal Asymmetric Convective Model version-2 (ACM2) PBL scheme, called urban-based ACM2 (UACM), is introduced to the WRF model. It has demonstrated improved ability to predict wind speed near the urban ground surface. Urban thermal and moisture components are introduced into the Pleim-Xiu (PX) LSM and coupled with UACM. The advantages of this novel UACM are simple formulation, more efficient execution, and its requirement for only a few fundamental urban morphological parameters.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Richard G. Allen, Ramesh Dhungel, Bibha Dhungana, Justin Huntington, Ayse Kilic, Charles Morton
Summary: Meteorological data collected in dry regions may exhibit biases due to aridity effects, which can impact reference ET calculations. This study developed a weather data conditioning process to adjust for these biases. Results showed that reference ETo may be overstated in certain regions.
AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yanfeng Huo, Yonghong Wang, Pauli Paasonen, Quan Liu, Guiqian Tang, Yuanyuan Ma, Tuukka Petaja, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Markku Kulmala
Summary: Boundary layer height (BLH) is an important parameter in climatology and air pollution research, especially in urban areas. Using ERA-interim data and sounding data, a study in eastern China showed an increasing trend in daytime BLH in most cities, particularly during the spring season. Variability in meteorological parameters and aerosol concentrations play important roles in the development of BLH.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Yu Lei, Kai Wu, Xiaoling Zhang, Ping Kang, Yunsong Du, Fumo Yang, Jin Fan, Jingwen Hou
Summary: Due to the complex meteorological dynamics, topography, and pollutants emissions, the Chengdu Plain experiences excessive ozone (O3) pollution in the warm season. In this study, a combination of trace gases data and a high-resolution chemical transport model was used to analyze a continuous O3 episode that occurred in August 2019. The results showed that advection of O3-rich air masses, regional transport, and vertical mixing effects all contributed to the elevated O3 levels in the region. Additionally, the study identified the main sources and sinks of O3, with O3 transport by boundary condition being the largest contributor to urban O3 concentrations. This research provides valuable insights into the regional transport mechanism and causes of O3 pollution in the Chengdu Plain.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Travis Morrison, Marc Calaf, Chad W. Higgins, Stephen A. Drake, Alexei Perelet, Eric Pardyjak
Summary: Experimental closure of the surface energy balance during convective periods was investigated using data from the Idealized Horizontal Planar Array experiment. The study found high spatial variability in sensible heat fluxes during convective periods and proposed a conceptual model based on local surface temperature heterogeneities to explain the observed advection phenomena.
BOUNDARY-LAYER METEOROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Fernando De Sales, Gregory S. Okin, Yongkang Xue, Kebonye Dintwe
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Fernando De Sales, Thais Santiago, Trent Wade Biggs, Katrina Mullan, Erin O. Sills, Corrie Monteverde
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES
(2020)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Corrie Monteverde, Fernando De Sales
ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
(2020)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Ye Mu, Trent W. Biggs, Fernando De Sales
Summary: Tropical rainforests play a crucial role in providing essential ecosystem services to agricultural areas, including mitigating drought through moisture recycling. Studies in the Brazilian Amazon have shown that forests contribute significantly to annual rainfall, with protected areas contributing more than half of the forest source. During droughts, forests remain stable in their moisture supply, offsetting the decrease in supply from oceans and nonforested areas.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
David E. Rother, Fernando De Sales, Doug Stow, Joe McFadden
Summary: Burn severity has significant effects on postfire vegetation recovery and boundary-layer climate. The study found that high severity fires resulted in the greatest reduction in vegetation, but also the fastest recovery rate. However, after five years, neither land surface temperature nor vegetation index returned to prefire levels.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Rodrigo Martins Moreira, Bruno Cesar dos Santos, Rafael Grecco Sanches, Vandoir Bourscheidt, Fernando de Sales, Stefan Sieber, Paulo Henrique de Souza
Summary: Rainfall data in the Amazon Basin provided by surface rain gauges are limited and flawed, making it challenging to monitor rainfall patterns in certain areas. To address this issue, this study utilizes remote sensing calibrated with rain gauge data to estimate precipitation distribution in Rondonia State, southwest Amazonia. The analysis reveals that CHIRPS tends to underestimate precipitation values in most cases.
Article
Ecology
David E. Rother, Fernando De Sales, Doug Stow, Joseph P. McFadden
Summary: The study shows that extreme fire weather conditions in California will become more frequent and prolonged due to climate change, increasing the risk of large wildfires. The use of ecoregion-level spatial scale improves the specificity of fire weather information.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Corrie Monteverde, Fernando De Sales, Charles Jones
Summary: This study evaluates the performance of different models in simulating precipitation patterns in the Brazilian Amazon. It finds that the models tend to underestimate rainfall in the northern region and accurately simulate rainfall in the southern region. The models struggle to capture extreme precipitation values but are able to capture the dominant mode of variability. CESM2, MIROC6, MRIESM20, SAMOUNICON, and the ensemble mean perform best in all evaluation metrics.