Using Mesoscale Weather Model Output as Boundary Conditions for Atmospheric Large-Eddy Simulations and Wind-Plant Aerodynamic Simulations (Presentation)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Churchfield, M. J.; Michalakes, J.; Vanderwende, B.

Wind plant aerodynamics are directly affected by the microscale weather, which is directly influenced by the mesoscale weather. Microscale weather refers to processes that occur within the atmospheric boundary layer with the largest scales being a few hundred meters to a few kilometers depending on the atmospheric stability of the boundary layer. Mesoscale weather refers to large weather patterns, such as weather fronts, with the largest scales being hundreds of kilometers wide. Sometimes microscale simulations that capture mesoscale-driven variations (changes in wind speed and direction over time or across the spatial extent of a wind plant) are important in windmore » plant analysis. In this paper, we present our preliminary work in coupling a mesoscale weather model with a microscale atmospheric large-eddy simulation model. The coupling is one-way beginning with the weather model and ending with a computational fluid dynamics solver using the weather model in coarse large-eddy simulation mode as an intermediary. We simulate one hour of daytime moderately convective microscale development driven by the mesoscale data, which are applied as initial and boundary conditions to the microscale domain, at a site in Iowa. We analyze the time and distance necessary for the smallest resolvable microscales to develop.« less

Improving the representation of clouds, radiation, and precipitation using spectral nudging in the Weather Research and Forecasting model

EPA Science Inventory

Spectral nudging – a scale-selective interior constraint technique – is commonly used in regional climate models to maintain consistency with large-scale forcing while permitting mesoscale features to develop in the downscaled simulations. Several studies have demonst...

The interactive role of subsynoptic scale jet sreak and planetary boundary layer adjustments in organizing an apparently isolated convective complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaplan, M. L.; Zack, J. W.; Wong, V. C.; Tuccillo, J. J.; Coats, G. D.

1982-01-01

A mesoscale atmospheric simulation system is described that is being developed in order to improve the simulation of subsynoptic and mesoscale adjustments associated with cyclogenesis, severe storm development, and significant atmospheric transport processes. Present emphasis in model development is in the parameterization of physical processes, time-dependent boundary conditions, sophisticated initialization and analysis procedures, nested grid solutions, and applications software development. Basic characteristics of the system as of March 1982 are listed. In a case study, the Grand Island tornado outbreak of 3 June 1980 is considered in substantial detail. Results of simulations with a mesoscale atmospheric simulation system indicate that over the high plains subtle interactions between existing jet streaks and deep well mixed boundary layers can lead to well organized patterns of mesoscale divergence and pressure falls. The amplitude and positioning of these mesoscale features is a function of the subtle nonlinear interaction between the pre-existing jet-streak and deep well mixed boundary layers. Model results for the case study indicate that the model has the potential for forecasting the precursor mesoscale convective environment.

Nested mesoscale-to-LES modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer in the presence of under-resolved convective structures

DOE PAGES

Mazzaro, Laura J.; Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; Lundquist, Julie K.; ...

2017-07-06

Multiscale atmospheric simulations can be computationally prohibitive, as they require large domains and fine spatiotemporal resolutions. Grid-nesting can alleviate this by bridging mesoscales and microscales, but one turbulence scheme must run at resolutions within a range of scales known as the terra incognita (TI). TI grid-cell sizes can violate both mesoscale and microscale subgrid-scale parametrization assumptions, resulting in unrealistic flow structures. Herein we assess the impact of unrealistic lateral boundary conditions from parent mesoscale simulations at TI resolutions on nested large eddy simulations (LES), to determine whether parent domains bias the nested LES. We present a series of idealized nestedmore » mesoscale-to-LES runs of a dry convective boundary layer (CBL) with different parent resolutions in the TI. We compare the nested LES with a stand-alone LES with periodic boundary conditions. The nested LES domains develop ~20% smaller convective structures, while potential temperature profiles are nearly identical for both the mesoscales and LES simulations. The horizontal wind speed and surface wind shear in the nested simulations closely resemble the reference LES. Heat fluxes are overestimated by up to ~0.01 K m s –1 in the top half of the PBL for all nested simulations. Overestimates of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and Reynolds stress in the nested domains are proportional to the parent domain's grid-cell size, and are almost eliminated for the simulation with the finest parent grid-cell size. Furthermore, based on these results, we recommend that LES of the CBL be forced by mesoscale simulations with the finest practical resolution.« less

Nested mesoscale-to-LES modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer in the presence of under-resolved convective structures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mazzaro, Laura J.; Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; Lundquist, Julie K.

Multiscale atmospheric simulations can be computationally prohibitive, as they require large domains and fine spatiotemporal resolutions. Grid-nesting can alleviate this by bridging mesoscales and microscales, but one turbulence scheme must run at resolutions within a range of scales known as the terra incognita (TI). TI grid-cell sizes can violate both mesoscale and microscale subgrid-scale parametrization assumptions, resulting in unrealistic flow structures. Herein we assess the impact of unrealistic lateral boundary conditions from parent mesoscale simulations at TI resolutions on nested large eddy simulations (LES), to determine whether parent domains bias the nested LES. We present a series of idealized nestedmore » mesoscale-to-LES runs of a dry convective boundary layer (CBL) with different parent resolutions in the TI. We compare the nested LES with a stand-alone LES with periodic boundary conditions. The nested LES domains develop ~20% smaller convective structures, while potential temperature profiles are nearly identical for both the mesoscales and LES simulations. The horizontal wind speed and surface wind shear in the nested simulations closely resemble the reference LES. Heat fluxes are overestimated by up to ~0.01 K m s –1 in the top half of the PBL for all nested simulations. Overestimates of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and Reynolds stress in the nested domains are proportional to the parent domain's grid-cell size, and are almost eliminated for the simulation with the finest parent grid-cell size. Furthermore, based on these results, we recommend that LES of the CBL be forced by mesoscale simulations with the finest practical resolution.« less

EMC: Mission Statement

Science.gov Websites

EMC: Mission Statement Mesoscale Modeling Branch Mission Statement The Mesoscale Modeling Branch , advanced numerical techniques applied to mesoscale modeling problems, parameterization of mesoscale new observing systems. The Mesoscale Modeling Branch publishes research results in various media for

Effects of Mesoscale Eddies in the Active Mixed Layer: Test of the Parametrisation in Eddy Resolving Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luneva, M. V.; Clayson, C. A.; Dubovikov, Mikhail

2015-01-01

In eddy resolving simulations, we test a mixed layer mesoscale parametrisation, developed recently by Canuto and Dubovikov [Ocean Model., 2011, 39, 200-207]. With no adjustable parameters, the parametrisation yields the horizontal and vertical mesoscale fluxes in terms of coarse-resolution fields and eddy kinetic energy (EKE). We compare terms of the parametrisation diagnosed from coarse-grained fields with the eddy mesoscale fluxes diagnosed directly from the high resolution model. An expression for the EKE in terms of mean fields has also been found to get a closed parametrisation in terms of the mean fields only. In 40 numerical experiments we simulated two types of flows: idealised flows driven by baroclinic instabilities only, and more realistic flows, driven by wind and surface fluxes as well as by inflow-outflow. The diagnosed quasi-instantaneous horizontal and vertical mesoscale buoyancy fluxes (averaged over 1-2 degrees and 10 days) demonstrate a strong scatter typical for turbulent flows, however, the fluxes are positively correlated with the parametrisation with higher (0.5-0.74) correlations at the experiments with larger baroclinic radius Rossby. After being averaged over 3-4 months, diffusivities diagnosed from the eddy resolving simulations are consistent with the parametrisation for a broad range of parameters. Diagnosed vertical mesoscale fluxes restratify mixed layer and are in a good agreement with the parametrisation unless vertical turbulent mixing in the upper layer becomes strong enough in comparison with mesoscale advection. In the latter case, numerical simulations demonstrate that the deviation of the fluxes from the parametrisation is controlled by dimensionless parameter estimating the ratio of vertical turbulent mixing term to mesoscale advection. An analysis using a modified omega-equation reveals that the effects of the vertical mixing of vorticity is responsible for the two-three fold amplification of vertical mesoscale flux. Possible physical mechanisms, responsible for the amplification of vertical mesoscale flux are discussed.

Use of the 1991 ASCOT field study data in a mesoscale model employing a four-dimensional data assimilation technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fast, Jerome D.; Osteen, B. Lance

In this study, a four-dimensional data assimilation technique based on Newtonian relaxation is incorporated into the Colorado State University (CSU) Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) and evaluated using data taken from one experiment of the US Department of Energy's (DOE) 1991 Atmospheric Studies in COmplex Terrain (ASCOT) field study along the front range of the Rockies in Colorado. The main objective of this study is to determine the ability of the model to predict small-scale circulations influenced by terrain, such as drainage flows, and assess the impact of data assimilation on the numerical results. In contrast to previous studies in which the smallest horizontal grid spacing was 10 km and 8 km, data assimilation is applied in this study to domains with a horizontal grid spacing as small as 1 km. The prognostic forecasts made by RAMS are evaluated by comparing simulations that employ static initial conditions, with simulations that incorporate continuous data assimilation, and data assimilation for a fixed period of time (dynamic initialization). This paper will also elaborate on the application and limitation of the Newtonian relaxation technique in limited-area mesoscale models with a relatively small grid spacing.

Mesoscale Simulation Data for Initializing Fast-Time Wake Transport and Decay Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahmad, Nashat N.; Proctor, Fred H.; Vanvalkenburg, Randal L.; Pruis, Mathew J.; LimonDuparcmeur, Fanny M.

2012-01-01

The fast-time wake transport and decay models require vertical profiles of crosswinds, potential temperature and the eddy dissipation rate as initial conditions. These inputs are normally obtained from various field sensors. In case of data-denied scenarios or operational use, these initial conditions can be provided by mesoscale model simulations. In this study, the vertical profiles of potential temperature from a mesoscale model were used as initial conditions for the fast-time wake models. The mesoscale model simulations were compared against available observations and the wake model predictions were compared with the Lidar measurements from three wake vortex field experiments.

Examples of data assimilation in mesoscale models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carr, Fred; Zack, John; Schmidt, Jerry; Snook, John; Benjamin, Stan; Stauffer, David

1993-01-01

The keynote address was the problem of physical initialization of mesoscale models. The classic purpose of physical or diabatic initialization is to reduce or eliminate the spin-up error caused by the lack, at the initial time, of the fully developed vertical circulations required to support regions of large rainfall rates. However, even if a model has no spin-up problem, imposition of observed moisture and heating rate information during assimilation can improve quantitative precipitation forecasts, especially early in the forecast. The two key issues in physical initialization are the choice of assimilating technique and sources of hydrologic/hydrometeor data. Another example of data assimilation in mesoscale models was presented in a series of meso-beta scale model experiments with and 11 km version of the MASS model designed to investigate the sensitivity of convective initiation forced by thermally direct circulations resulting from differential surface heating to four dimensional assimilation of surface and radar data. The results of these simulations underscore the need to accurately initialize and simulate grid and sub-grid scale clouds in meso- beta scale models. The status of the application of the CSU-RAMS mesoscale model by the NOAA Forecast Systems Lab for producing real-time forecasts with 10-60 km mesh resolutions over (4000 km)(exp 2) domains for use by the aviation community was reported. Either MAPS or LAPS model data are used to initialize the RAMS model on a 12-h cycle. The use of MAPS (Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System) model was discussed. Also discussed was the mesobeta-scale data assimilation using a triply-nested nonhydrostatic version of the MM5 model.

Understanding dislocation mechanics at the mesoscale using phase field dislocation dynamics

PubMed Central

Hunter, A.

2016-01-01

In this paper, we discuss the formulation, recent developments and findings obtained from a mesoscale mechanics technique called phase field dislocation dynamics (PFDD). We begin by presenting recent advancements made in modelling face-centred cubic materials, such as integration with atomic-scale simulations to account for partial dislocations. We discuss calculations that help in understanding grain size effects on transitions from full to partial dislocation-mediated slip behaviour and deformation twinning. Finally, we present recent extensions of the PFDD framework to alternative crystal structures, such as body-centred cubic metals, and two-phase materials, including free surfaces, voids and bi-metallic crystals. With several examples we demonstrate that the PFDD model is a powerful and versatile method that can bridge the length and time scales between atomistic and continuum-scale methods, providing a much needed understanding of deformation mechanisms in the mesoscale regime. PMID:27002063

Three-dimensional Mesoscale Simulations of Detonation Initiation in Energetic Materials with Density-based Kinetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Thomas; Jost, A. M.; Zhang, Ju; Sridharan, P.; Amadio, G.

2017-06-01

In this work we present three-dimensional mesoscale simulations of detonation initiation in energetic materials. We solve the reactive Euler equations, with the energy equation augmented by a power deposition term. The reaction rate at the mesoscale is modelled using a density-based kinetics scheme, adapted from standard Ignition and Growth models. The deposition term is based on previous results of simulations of pore collapse at the microscale, modelled at the mesoscale as hot-spots. We carry out three-dimensional mesoscale simulations of random packs of HMX crystals in a binder, and show that the transition between no-detonation and detonation depends on the number density of the hot-spots, the initial radius of the hot-spot, the post-shock pressure of an imposed shock, and the amplitude of the power deposition term. The trends of transition at lower pressure of the imposed shock for larger number density of pore observed in experiments is reproduced. Initial attempts to improve the agreement between the simulation and experiments through calibration of various parameters will also be made.

Results from a limited area mesoscale numerical simulation for 10 April 1979

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kalb, M. W.

1985-01-01

Results are presented from a nine-hour limited area fine mesh (35-km) mesoscale model simulation initialized with SESAME-AVE I radiosonde data for Apr. 10, 1979 at 2100 GMT. Emphasis is on the diagnosis of mesoscale structure in the mass and precipitation fields. Along the Texas/Oklahoma border, independent of the short wave, convective precipitation formed several hours into the simulation and was organized into a narrow band suggestive of the observed April 10 squall line.

Numerical simulation of cloud and precipitation structure during GALE IOP-2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robertson, F. R.; Perkey, D. J.; Seablom, M. S.

1988-01-01

A regional scale model, LAMPS (Limited Area Mesoscale Prediction System), is used to investigate cloud and precipitation structure that accompanied a short wave system during a portion of GALE IOP-2. A comparison of satellite imagery and model fields indicates that much of the large mesoscale organization of condensation has been captured by the simulation. In addition to reproducing a realistic phasing of two baroclinic zones associated with a split cold front, a reasonable simulation of the gross mesoscale cloud distribution has been achieved.

Evaluation of a Mesoscale Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling System with Observations from the 1980 Great Plains Mesoscale Tracer Field Experiment. Part I: Datasets and Meteorological Simulations.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moran, Michael D.; Pielke, Roger A.

1996-03-01

The Colorado State University mesoscale atmospheric dispersion (MAD) numerical modeling system, which consists of a prognostic mesoscale meteorological model coupled to a mesoscale Lagrangian particle dispersion model, has been used to simulate the transport and diffusion of a perfluorocarbon tracer-gas cloud for one afternoon surface release during the July 1980 Great Plains mesoscale tracer field experiment. Ground-level concentration (GLC) measurements taken along arcs of samplers 100 and 600 km downwind of the release site at Norman, Oklahoma, up to three days after the tracer release were available for comparison. Quantitative measures of a number of significant dispersion characteristics obtained from analysis of the observed tracer cloud's moving GLC `footprint' have been used to evaluate the modeling system's skill in simulating this MAD case.MAD is more dependent upon the spatial and temporal structure of the transport wind field than is short-range atmospheric dispersion. For the Great Plains mesoscale tracer experiment, the observations suggest that the Great Plains nocturnal low-level jet played an important role in transporting and deforming the tracer cloud. A suite of ten two- and three-dimensional numerical meteorological experiments was devised to investigate the relative contributions of topography, other surface inhomogeneities, atmospheric baroclinicity, synoptic-scale flow evolution, and meteorological model initialization time to the structure and evolution of the low-level mesoscale flow field and thus to MAD. Results from the ten mesoscale meteorological simulations are compared in this part of the paper. The predicted wind fields display significant differences, which give rise in turn to significant differences in predicted low-level transport. The presence of an oscillatory ageostrophic component in the observed synoptic low-level winds for this case is shown to complicate initialization of the meteorological model considerably and is the likely cause of directional errors in the predicted mean tracer transport. A companion paper describes the results from the associated dispersion simulations.

Simulation of the atmospheric thermal circulation of a martian volcano using a mesoscale numerical model.

PubMed

Rafkin, Scot C R; Sta Maria, Magdalena R V; Michaels, Timothy I

2002-10-17

Mesoscale (<100 km) atmospheric phenomena are ubiquitous on Mars, as revealed by Mars Orbiter Camera images. Numerical models provide an important means of investigating martian atmospheric dynamics, for which data availability is limited. But the resolution of general circulation models, which are traditionally used for such research, is not sufficient to resolve mesoscale phenomena. To provide better understanding of these relatively small-scale phenomena, mesoscale models have recently been introduced. Here we simulate the mesoscale spiral dust cloud observed over the caldera of the volcano Arsia Mons by using the Mars Regional Atmospheric Modelling System. Our simulation uses a hierarchy of nested models with grid sizes ranging from 240 km to 3 km, and reveals that the dust cloud is an indicator of a greater but optically thin thermal circulation that reaches heights of up to 30 km, and transports dust horizontally over thousands of kilometres.

Numerical simulations of the transport and diffusion during the 1991 Winter Validation Study along the front range in Colorado

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fast, J. D.; Osteen, B. L.

An important aspect of the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) program is the development and evaluation of numerical models that predict transport and diffusion of pollutants in complex terrain. Operational mesoscale modeling of the transport of pollutants in complex terrain will become increasingly practical as computational costs decrease and additional data from high-resolution remote sensing instrumentation networks become available during the 1990s. Four-dimensional data assimilation (4DDA) techniques are receiving a great deal of attention recently not only to improve the initial conditions of mesoscale forecast models, but to create high-quality four-dimensional mesoscale analysis fields that can be used as input to air-quality models. In this study, a four-dimensional data assimilation technique based on Newtonian relaxation is incorporated into the Colorado State University (CSU) Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) and evaluated using data taken from one experiment of the 1991 ASCOT field study along the front range of the Rockies in Colorado. The main objective of this study is to compare the observed surface concentrations with those predicted by a Lagrangian particle dispersion model and to demonstrate the effect of data assimilation on the simulated plume. In contrast to previous studies in which the smallest horizontal grid spacing was 10 km (Stauffer and Seaman, 1991) and 8 km (Yamada and Hermi, 1991), data assimilation is applied in this study to domains with a horizontal grid spacing as small as 1 km.

Recent examples of mesoscale numerical forecasts of severe weather events along the east coast

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kocin, P. J.; Uccellini, L. W.; Zack, J. W.; Kaplan, M. L.

1984-01-01

Mesoscale numerical forecasts utilizing the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS) are documented for two East Coast severe weather events. The two events are the thunderstorm and heavy snow bursts in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore, MD region on 8 March 1984 and the devastating tornado outbreak across North and South Carolina on 28 March 1984. The forecasts are presented to demonstrate the ability of the model to simulate dynamical interactions and diabatic processes and to note some of the problems encountered when using mesoscale models for day-to-day forecasting.

Mesoscale research activities with the LAMPS model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kalb, M. W.

1985-01-01

Researchers achieved full implementation of the LAMPS mesoscale model on the Atmospheric Sciences Division computer and derived balanced and real wind initial states for three case studies: March 6, April 24, April 26, 1982. Numerical simulations were performed for three separate studies: (1) a satellite moisture data impact study using Vertical Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) precipitable water as a constraint on model initial state moisture analyses; (2) an evaluation of mesoscale model precipitation simulation accuracy with and without convective parameterization; and (3) the sensitivity of model precipitation to mesoscale detail of moisture and vertical motion in an initial state.

Secondary signal imaging (SSI) electron tomography (SSI-ET): A new three-dimensional metrology for mesoscale specimens in transmission electron microscope.

PubMed

Han, Chang Wan; Ortalan, Volkan

2015-09-01

We have demonstrated a new electron tomography technique utilizing the secondary signals (secondary electrons and backscattered electrons) for ultra thick (a few μm) specimens. The Monte Carlo electron scattering simulations reveal that the amount of backscattered electrons generated by 200 and 300keV incident electrons is a monotonic function of the sample thickness and this causes the thickness contrast satisfying the projection requirement for the tomographic reconstruction. Additional contribution of the secondary electrons emitted from the edges of the specimens enhances the visibility of the surface features. The acquired SSI tilt series of the specimen having mesoscopic dimensions are successfully reconstructed verifying that this new technique, so called the secondary signal imaging electron tomography (SSI-ET), can directly be utilized for 3D structural analysis of mesoscale structures. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A Numerical Study of Nonlinear Nonhydrostatic Conditional Symmetric Instability in a Convectively Unstable Atmosphere.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seman, Charles J.

1994-06-01

Nonlinear nonhydrostatic conditional symmetric instability (CSI) is studied as an initial value problem using a two-dimensional (y, z)nonlinear, nonhydrostatic numerical mesoscale/cloud model. The initial atmosphere for the rotating, baroclinic (BCF) simulation contains large convective available potential energy (CAPE). Analytical theory, various model output diagnostics, and a companion nonrotating barotropic (BTNF) simulation are used to interpret the results from the BCF simulation. A single warm moist thermal initiates convection for the two 8-h simulations.The BCF simulation exhibited a very intricate life cycle. Following the initial convection, a series of discrete convective cells developed within a growing mesoscale circulation. Between hours 4 and 8, the circulation grew upscale into a structure resembling that of a squall-line mesoscale convective system (MCS). The mesoscale updrafts were nearly vertical and the circulation was strongest on the baroclinically cool side of the initial convection, as predicted by a two-dimensional Lagrangian parcel model of CSI with CAPE. The cool-side mesoscale circulation grew nearly exponentially over the last 5 h as it slowly propagated toward the warm air. Significant vertical transport of zonal momentum occurred in the (multicellular) convection that developed, resulting in local subgeostrophic zonal wind anomalies aloft. Over time, geostrophic adjustment acted to balance these anomalies. The system became warm core, with mesohigh pressure aloft and mesolow pressure at the surface. A positive zonal wind anomaly also formed downstream from the mesohigh.Analysis of the BCF simulation showed that convective momentum transport played a key role in the evolution of the simulated MCS, in that it fostered the development of the nonlinear CSI on mesoscale time scales. The vertical momentum transport in the initial deep convection generated a subgeostrophic zonal momentum anomaly aloft; the resulting imbalance in pressure gradient and Coriolis forces accelerated the meridional outflow toward the baroclinically cool side, transporting zonal momentum horizontally. The vertical (horizontal) momentum transport occurred on a convective (inertial) time scale. Taken together, the sloping convective updraft/cool side outflow represents the release of the CSI in the convectively unstable atmosphere. Further diagnostics showed that mass transports in the horizontal outflow branch ventilated the upper levels of the system, with enhanced mesoscale lifting in the core and on the leading edge of the MCS, which assisted in convective redevelopments on mesoscale time scales. Geostrophic adjustment acted to balance the convectively generated zonal momentum anomalies, thereby limiting the strength of the meridional outflow predicted by CSI theory. Circulation tendency diagnostics showed that the mesoscale circulation developed in response to thermal wind imbalances generated by the deep convection.Comparison of the BCF and BTNF simulations showed that baroclinicity enhanced mesoscale circulation growth. The BTNF circulation was more transient on mesoscale time and space scales. Overall, the BCF system produced more rainfall than the BTNF.Based on the present and past work in CSI theory, a new definition for the term `slantwise convection' is proposed.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Siranosian, Antranik Antonio; Schembri, Philip Edward; Luscher, Darby Jon

The Los Alamos National Laboratory's Weapon Systems Engineering division's Advanced Engineering Analysis group employs material constitutive models of composites for use in simulations of components and assemblies of interest. Experimental characterization, modeling and prediction of the macro-scale (i.e. continuum) behaviors of these composite materials is generally difficult because they exhibit nonlinear behaviors on the meso- (e.g. micro-) and macro-scales. Furthermore, it can be difficult to measure and model the mechanical responses of the individual constituents and constituent interactions in the composites of interest. Current efforts to model such composite materials rely on semi-empirical models in which meso-scale properties are inferredmore » from continuum level testing and modeling. The proposed approach involves removing the difficulties of interrogating and characterizing micro-scale behaviors by scaling-up the problem to work with macro-scale composites, with the intention of developing testing and modeling capabilities that will be applicable to the mesoscale. This approach assumes that the physical mechanisms governing the responses of the composites on the meso-scale are reproducible on the macro-scale. Working on the macro-scale simplifies the quantification of composite constituents and constituent interactions so that efforts can be focused on developing material models and the testing techniques needed for calibration and validation. Other benefits to working with macro-scale composites include the ability to engineer and manufacture—potentially using additive manufacturing techniques—composites that will support the application of advanced measurement techniques such as digital volume correlation and three-dimensional computed tomography imaging, which would aid in observing and quantifying complex behaviors that are exhibited in the macro-scale composites of interest. Ultimately, the goal of this new approach is to develop a meso-scale composite modeling framework, applicable to many composite materials, and the corresponding macroscale testing and test data interrogation techniques to support model calibration.« less

Ocean eddies and climate predictability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirtman, Ben P.; Perlin, Natalie; Siqueira, Leo

2017-12-01

A suite of coupled climate model simulations and experiments are used to examine how resolved mesoscale ocean features affect aspects of climate variability, air-sea interactions, and predictability. In combination with control simulations, experiments with the interactive ensemble coupling strategy are used to further amplify the role of the oceanic mesoscale field and the associated air-sea feedbacks and predictability. The basic intent of the interactive ensemble coupling strategy is to reduce the atmospheric noise at the air-sea interface, allowing an assessment of how noise affects the variability, and in this case, it is also used to diagnose predictability from the perspective of signal-to-noise ratios. The climate variability is assessed from the perspective of sea surface temperature (SST) variance ratios, and it is shown that, unsurprisingly, mesoscale variability significantly increases SST variance. Perhaps surprising is the fact that the presence of mesoscale ocean features even further enhances the SST variance in the interactive ensemble simulation beyond what would be expected from simple linear arguments. Changes in the air-sea coupling between simulations are assessed using pointwise convective rainfall-SST and convective rainfall-SST tendency correlations and again emphasize how the oceanic mesoscale alters the local association between convective rainfall and SST. Understanding the possible relationships between the SST-forced signal and the weather noise is critically important in climate predictability. We use the interactive ensemble simulations to diagnose this relationship, and we find that the presence of mesoscale ocean features significantly enhances this link particularly in ocean eddy rich regions. Finally, we use signal-to-noise ratios to show that the ocean mesoscale activity increases model estimated predictability in terms of convective precipitation and atmospheric upper tropospheric circulation.

Ocean eddies and climate predictability.

PubMed

Kirtman, Ben P; Perlin, Natalie; Siqueira, Leo

2017-12-01

A suite of coupled climate model simulations and experiments are used to examine how resolved mesoscale ocean features affect aspects of climate variability, air-sea interactions, and predictability. In combination with control simulations, experiments with the interactive ensemble coupling strategy are used to further amplify the role of the oceanic mesoscale field and the associated air-sea feedbacks and predictability. The basic intent of the interactive ensemble coupling strategy is to reduce the atmospheric noise at the air-sea interface, allowing an assessment of how noise affects the variability, and in this case, it is also used to diagnose predictability from the perspective of signal-to-noise ratios. The climate variability is assessed from the perspective of sea surface temperature (SST) variance ratios, and it is shown that, unsurprisingly, mesoscale variability significantly increases SST variance. Perhaps surprising is the fact that the presence of mesoscale ocean features even further enhances the SST variance in the interactive ensemble simulation beyond what would be expected from simple linear arguments. Changes in the air-sea coupling between simulations are assessed using pointwise convective rainfall-SST and convective rainfall-SST tendency correlations and again emphasize how the oceanic mesoscale alters the local association between convective rainfall and SST. Understanding the possible relationships between the SST-forced signal and the weather noise is critically important in climate predictability. We use the interactive ensemble simulations to diagnose this relationship, and we find that the presence of mesoscale ocean features significantly enhances this link particularly in ocean eddy rich regions. Finally, we use signal-to-noise ratios to show that the ocean mesoscale activity increases model estimated predictability in terms of convective precipitation and atmospheric upper tropospheric circulation.

Density-based kinetics for mesoscale simulations of detonation initiation in energetic materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Thomas Luther; Zhang, Ju

2017-07-01

In this work we present one- and two-dimensional mesoscale simulations of detonation initiation in energetic materials. We solve the reactive Euler equations, with the energy equation augmented by a power deposition term. The reaction rate at the mesoscale is modelled using a density-based kinetics scheme, adapted from standard 'Ignition and Growth' models. The deposition term is based on previous results of simulations of void collapse at the microscale, modelled at the mesoscale as hot spots. For an isolated hot spot in a homogeneous medium, it is found that a critical size of the hot spots exists. If the hot spots exceed the critical size, initiation of detonation can be achieved. For sub-critical hot-spot sizes, we show that it takes a collection of hot spots to achieve detonation. We also carry out two-dimensional mesoscale simulations of random packs of HMX crystals in a binder, and show that the transition between no detonation and detonation depends on the number density of the hot spots, the initial radius of the hot spot, the post-shock pressure of an imposed shock, and the amplitude of the power deposition term.

Assimilation of Goes-Derived Skin Temperature Tendencies into Mesoscale Models to Improve Forecasts of near Surface Air Temperature and Mixing Ratio

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lapenta, William M.; McNider, Richard T.; Suggs, Ron; Jedlovec, Gary; Robertson, Franklin R.

1998-01-01

A technique has been developed for assimilating GOES-FR skin temperature tendencies into the surface energy budget equation of a mesoscale model so that the simulated rate of temperature chance closely agrees with the satellite observations. A critical assumption of the technique is that the availability of moisture (either from the soil or vegetation) is the least known term in the model's surface energy budget. Therefore, the simulated latent heat flux, which is a function of surface moisture availability, is adjusted based upon differences between the modeled and satellite-observed skin temperature tendencies. An advantage of this technique is that satellite temperature tendencies are assimilated in an energetically consistent manner that avoids energy imbalances and surface stability problems that arise from direct assimilation of surface shelter temperatures. The fact that the rate of change of the satellite skin temperature is used rather than the absolute temperature means that sensor calibration is not as critical. An advantage of this technique for short-range forecasts (0-48 h) is that it does not require a complex land-surface formulation within the atmospheric model. As a result, the need to specify poorly known soil and vegetative characteristics is eliminated. The GOES assimilation technique has been incorporated into the PSU/NCAR MM5. Results will be presented to demonstrate the ability of the assimilation scheme to improve short- term (0-48h) simulations of near-surface air temperature and mixing ratio during the warm season for several selected cases which exhibit a variety of atmospheric and land-surface conditions. In addition, validation of terms in the simulated surface energy budget will be presented using in situ data collected at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud And Radiation Testbed (CART) site as part of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements Program (ARM).

Coupling discrete and continuum concentration particle models for multiscale and hybrid molecular-continuum simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petsev, Nikolai D.; Leal, L. Gary; Shell, M. Scott

2017-12-01

Hybrid molecular-continuum simulation techniques afford a number of advantages for problems in the rapidly burgeoning area of nanoscale engineering and technology, though they are typically quite complex to implement and limited to single-component fluid systems. We describe an approach for modeling multicomponent hydrodynamic problems spanning multiple length scales when using particle-based descriptions for both the finely resolved (e.g., molecular dynamics) and coarse-grained (e.g., continuum) subregions within an overall simulation domain. This technique is based on the multiscale methodology previously developed for mesoscale binary fluids [N. D. Petsev, L. G. Leal, and M. S. Shell, J. Chem. Phys. 144, 084115 (2016)], simulated using a particle-based continuum method known as smoothed dissipative particle dynamics. An important application of this approach is the ability to perform coupled molecular dynamics (MD) and continuum modeling of molecularly miscible binary mixtures. In order to validate this technique, we investigate multicomponent hybrid MD-continuum simulations at equilibrium, as well as non-equilibrium cases featuring concentration gradients.

Mesoscale atmosphere ocean coupling enhances the transfer of wind energy into the ocean

PubMed Central

Byrne, D.; Münnich, M.; Frenger, I.; Gruber, N.

2016-01-01

Although it is well established that the large-scale wind drives much of the world's ocean circulation, the contribution of the wind energy input at mesoscales (10–200 km) remains poorly known. Here we use regional simulations with a coupled high-resolution atmosphere–ocean model of the South Atlantic, to show that mesoscale ocean features and, in particular, eddies can be energized by their thermodynamic interactions with the atmosphere. Owing to their sea-surface temperature anomalies affecting the wind field above them, the oceanic eddies in the presence of a large-scale wind gradient provide a mesoscale conduit for the transfer of energy into the ocean. Our simulations show that this pathway is responsible for up to 10% of the kinetic energy of the oceanic mesoscale eddy field in the South Atlantic. The conditions for this pathway to inject energy directly into the mesoscale prevail over much of the Southern Ocean north of the Polar Front. PMID:27292447

Euler-euler anisotropic gaussian mesoscale simulation of homogeneous cluster-induced gas-particle turbulence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kong, Bo; Fox, Rodney O.; Feng, Heng

An Euler–Euler anisotropic Gaussian approach (EE-AG) for simulating gas–particle flows, in which particle velocities are assumed to follow a multivariate anisotropic Gaussian distribution, is used to perform mesoscale simulations of homogeneous cluster-induced turbulence (CIT). A three-dimensional Gauss–Hermite quadrature formulation is used to calculate the kinetic flux for 10 velocity moments in a finite-volume framework. The particle-phase volume-fraction and momentum equations are coupled with the Eulerian solver for the gas phase. This approach is implemented in an open-source CFD package, OpenFOAM, and detailed simulation results are compared with previous Euler–Lagrange simulations in a domain size study of CIT. Here, these resultsmore » demonstrate that the proposed EE-AG methodology is able to produce comparable results to EL simulations, and this moment-based methodology can be used to perform accurate mesoscale simulations of dilute gas–particle flows.« less

Euler-euler anisotropic gaussian mesoscale simulation of homogeneous cluster-induced gas-particle turbulence

DOE PAGES

Kong, Bo; Fox, Rodney O.; Feng, Heng; ...

2017-02-16

An Euler–Euler anisotropic Gaussian approach (EE-AG) for simulating gas–particle flows, in which particle velocities are assumed to follow a multivariate anisotropic Gaussian distribution, is used to perform mesoscale simulations of homogeneous cluster-induced turbulence (CIT). A three-dimensional Gauss–Hermite quadrature formulation is used to calculate the kinetic flux for 10 velocity moments in a finite-volume framework. The particle-phase volume-fraction and momentum equations are coupled with the Eulerian solver for the gas phase. This approach is implemented in an open-source CFD package, OpenFOAM, and detailed simulation results are compared with previous Euler–Lagrange simulations in a domain size study of CIT. Here, these resultsmore » demonstrate that the proposed EE-AG methodology is able to produce comparable results to EL simulations, and this moment-based methodology can be used to perform accurate mesoscale simulations of dilute gas–particle flows.« less

Computer Simulation of the Forces Acting on the Polystyrene Probe Submerged into the Succinonitrile Near Phase Transition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bune, Andris V.; Kaukler, William F.; Whitaker, Ann F. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Modeling approach to simulate both mesoscale and microscopic forces acting in a typical AFM experiment is presented. At mesoscale level interaction between the cantilever tip and the sample surface is primarily described by the balance of attractive Van der Waals and repulsive forces. The model of cantilever oscillations is applicable to both non-contact and "tapping" AFM. This model can be farther enhanced to describe nanoparticle manipulation by cantilever. At microscopic level tip contamination and details of tip-surface interaction can be simulated using molecular dynamics approach. Integration of mesoscale model with molecular dynamic model is discussed.

Evaluation of the synoptic and mesoscale predictive capabilities of a mesoscale atmospheric simulation system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koch, S. E.; Skillman, W. C.; Kocin, P. J.; Wetzel, P. J.; Brill, K.; Keyser, D. A.; Mccumber, M. C.

1983-01-01

The overall performance characteristics of a limited area, hydrostatic, fine (52 km) mesh, primitive equation, numerical weather prediction model are determined in anticipation of satellite data assimilations with the model. The synoptic and mesoscale predictive capabilities of version 2.0 of this model, the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS 2.0), were evaluated. The two part study is based on a sample of approximately thirty 12h and 24h forecasts of atmospheric flow patterns during spring and early summer. The synoptic scale evaluation results benchmark the performance of MASS 2.0 against that of an operational, synoptic scale weather prediction model, the Limited area Fine Mesh (LFM). The large sample allows for the calculation of statistically significant measures of forecast accuracy and the determination of systematic model errors. The synoptic scale benchmark is required before unsmoothed mesoscale forecast fields can be seriously considered.

Memory efficient solution of the primitive equations for numerical weather prediction on the CYBER 205

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tuccillo, J. J.

1984-01-01

Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP), for both operational and research purposes, requires only fast computational speed but also large memory. A technique for solving the Primitive Equations for atmospheric motion on the CYBER 205, as implemented in the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System, which is fully vectorized and requires substantially less memory than other techniques such as the Leapfrog or Adams-Bashforth Schemes is discussed. The technique presented uses the Euler-Backard time marching scheme. Also discussed are several techniques for reducing computational time of the model by replacing slow intrinsic routines by faster algorithms which use only hardware vector instructions.

Explicit simulation of a midlatitude Mesoscale Convective System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alexander, G.D.; Cotton, W.R.

1996-04-01

We have explicitly simulated the mesoscale convective system (MCS) observed on 23-24 June 1985 during PRE-STORM, the Preliminary Regional Experiment for the Stormscale Operational and Research and Meterology Program. Stensrud and Maddox (1988), Johnson and Bartels (1992), and Bernstein and Johnson (1994) are among the researchers who have investigated various aspects of this MCS event. We have performed this MCS simulation (and a similar one of a tropical MCS; Alexander and Cotton 1994) in the spirit of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Cloud Systems Study (GCSS), in which cloud-resolving models are used to assist in the formulation andmore » testing of cloud parameterization schemes for larger-scale models. In this paper, we describe (1) the nature of our 23-24 June MCS dimulation and (2) our efforts to date in using our explicit MCS simulations to assist in the development of a GCM parameterization for mesoscale flow branches. The paper is organized as follows. First, we discuss the synoptic situation surrounding the 23-24 June PRE-STORM MCS followed by a discussion of the model setup and results of our simulation. We then discuss the use of our MCS simulation. We then discuss the use of our MCS simulations in developing a GCM parameterization for mesoscale flow branches and summarize our results.« less

Mesoscale Air-Sea Interactions along the Gulf Stream: An Eddy-Resolving and Convection-Permitting Coupled Regional Climate Model Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsieh, J. S.; Chang, P.; Saravanan, R.

2017-12-01

Frontal and mesoscale air-sea interactions along the Gulf Stream (GS) during boreal winter are investigated using an eddy-resolving and convection-permitting coupled regional climate model with atmospheric grid resolutions varying from meso-β (27-km) to -r (9-km and 3-km nest) scales in WRF and a 9-km ocean model (ROMS) that explicitly resolves the ocean mesoscale eddies across the North Atlantic basin. The mesoscale wavenumber energy spectra for the simulated surface wind stress and SST demonstrate good agreement with the observed spectra calculated from the observational QuikSCAT and AMSR-E datasets, suggesting that the model well captures the energy cascade of the mesoscale eddies in both the atmosphere and the ocean. Intercomparison among different resolution simulations indicates that after three months of integration the simulated GS path tends to overshoot beyond the separation point in the 27-km WRF coupled experiments than the observed climatological path of the GS, whereas the 3-km nested and 9-km WRF coupled simulations realistically simulate GS separation. The GS overshoot in 27-km WRF coupled simulations is accompanied with a significant SST warming bias to the north of the GS extension. Such biases are associated with the deficiency of wind stress-SST coupling strengths simulated by the coupled model with a coarser resolution in WRF. It is found that the model at 27-km grid spacing can approximately simulate 72% (62%) of the observed mean coupling strength between surface wind stress curl (divergence) and crosswind (downwind) SST gradient while by increasing the WRF resolutions to 9 km or 3 km the coupled model can much better capture the observed coupling strengths.

Mesoscale Modeling, Forecasting and Remote Sensing Research.

DTIC Science & Technology

remote sensing , cyclonic scale diagnostic studies and mesoscale numerical modeling and forecasting are summarized. Mechanisms involved in the release of potential instability are discussed and simulated quantitatively, giving particular attention to the convective formulation. The basic mesoscale model is documented including the equations, boundary condition, finite differences and initialization through an idealized frontal zone. Results of tests including a three dimensional test with real data, tests of convective/mesoscale interaction and tests with a detailed

Multiscale modeling of shock wave localization in porous energetic material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, M. A.; Kittell, D. E.; Yarrington, C. D.; Thompson, A. P.

2018-01-01

Shock wave interactions with defects, such as pores, are known to play a key role in the chemical initiation of energetic materials. The shock response of hexanitrostilbene is studied through a combination of large-scale reactive molecular dynamics and mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations. In order to extend our simulation capability at the mesoscale to include weak shock conditions (<6 GPa), atomistic simulations of pore collapse are used to define a strain-rate-dependent strength model. Comparing these simulation methods allows us to impose physically reasonable constraints on the mesoscale model parameters. In doing so, we have been able to study shock waves interacting with pores as a function of this viscoplastic material response. We find that the pore collapse behavior of weak shocks is characteristically different than that of strong shocks.

Spatially explicit simulation of peatland hydrology and carbon dioxide exchange: Influence of mesoscale topography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sonnentag, O.; Chen, J. M.; Roulet, N. T.; Ju, W.; Govind, A.

2008-06-01

Carbon dynamics in peatlands are controlled, in large part, by their wetness as defined by water table depth and volumetric liquid soil moisture content. A common type of peatland is raised bogs that typically have a multiple-layer canopy of vascular plants over a Sphagnum moss ground cover. Their convex form restricts water supply to precipitation and water is shed toward the margins, usually by lateral subsurface flow. The hydraulic gradient for lateral subsurface flow is governed by the peat surface topography at the mesoscale (˜200 m to 5 km). To investigate the influence of mesoscale topography on wetness, evapotranspiration (ET), and gross primary productivity (GPP) in a bog during the snow-free period, we compare the outputs of a further developed version of the daily Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS) with observations made at the Mer Bleue peatland, located near Ottawa, Canada. Explicitly considering mesoscale topography, simulated total ET and GPP correlate well with measured ET (r = 0.91) and derived gross ecosystem productivity (GEP; r = 0.92). Both measured ET and derived GEP are simulated similarly well when mesoscale topography is neglected, but daily simulated values are systematically underestimated by about 10% and 12% on average, respectively, due to greater wetness resulting from the lack of lateral subsurface flow. Owing to the differences in moss surface conductances of water vapor and carbon dioxide with increasing moss water content, the differences in the spatial patterns of simulated total ET and GPP are controlled by the mesotopographic position of the moss ground cover.

Mesoscale Modeling of LX-17 Under Isentropic Compression

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Springer, H K; Willey, T M; Friedman, G

Mesoscale simulations of LX-17 incorporating different equilibrium mixture models were used to investigate the unreacted equation-of-state (UEOS) of TATB. Candidate TATB UEOS were calculated using the equilibrium mixture models and benchmarked with mesoscale simulations of isentropic compression experiments (ICE). X-ray computed tomography (XRCT) data provided the basis for initializing the simulations with realistic microstructural details. Three equilibrium mixture models were used in this study. The single constituent with conservation equations (SCCE) model was based on a mass-fraction weighted specific volume and the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. The single constituent equation-of-state (SCEOS) model was based on a mass-fraction weightedmore » specific volume and the equation-of-state of the constituents. The kinetic energy averaging (KEA) model was based on a mass-fraction weighted particle velocity mixture rule and the conservation equations. The SCEOS model yielded the stiffest TATB EOS (0.121{micro} + 0.4958{micro}{sup 2} + 2.0473{micro}{sup 3}) and, when incorporated in mesoscale simulations of the ICE, demonstrated the best agreement with VISAR velocity data for both specimen thicknesses. The SCCE model yielded a relatively more compliant EOS (0.1999{micro}-0.6967{micro}{sup 2} + 4.9546{micro}{sup 3}) and the KEA model yielded the most compliant EOS (0.1999{micro}-0.6967{micro}{sup 2}+4.9546{micro}{sup 3}) of all the equilibrium mixture models. Mesoscale simulations with the lower density TATB adiabatic EOS data demonstrated the least agreement with VISAR velocity data.« less

Multi-dimensional mesoscale simulations of detonation initiation in energetic materials with density-based kinetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Thomas Luther; Jost, Antoine M. D.; Zhang, Ju; Sridharan, Prashanth; Amadio, Guilherme

2018-03-01

In this work we present multi-dimensional mesoscale simulations of detonation initiation in energetic materials. We solve the reactive Euler equations, with the energy equation augmented by a power deposition term. The reaction rate at the mesoscale is modelled using density-based kinetics, while the deposition term is based on simulations of void collapse at the microscale, modelled at the mesoscale as hot spots. We carry out two- and three-dimensional mesoscale simulations of random packs of HMX crystals in a binder, and show that transition between no-detonation and detonation depends on the number density of the hot spots, the packing fraction, and the post-shock pressure of an imposed shock. In particular, we show that, for a fixed post-shock pressure, there exists a critical value of the number density of hot spots, such that when the number density is below this value a detonation wave will not develop. We highlight the importance of morphology to initiation by comparing with a homogeneous counterpart, and we compare relevant length scales by examining their corresponding power spectra. We also examine the effect of packing fraction and show that at low post-shock pressures there is significant variation in the initiation times, but that this variation disappears as the post-shock pressure is increased. Finally, we compare three-dimensional simulations with the experimental data, and show that the model is capable of qualitatively reproducing the trends shown in the data.

Shock-induced mechanochemistry in heterogeneous reactive powder mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzales, Manny; Gurumurthy, Ashok; Kennedy, Gregory; Neel, Christopher; Gokhale, Arun; Thadhani, Naresh

The bulk response of compacted powder mixtures subjected to high-strain-rate loading conditions in various configurations is manifested from behavior at the meso-scale. Simulations at the meso-scale can provide an additional confirmation of the possible origins of the observed response. This work investigates the bulk dynamic response of Ti +B +Al reactive powder mixtures under two extreme loading configurations - uniaxial stress and strain loading - leveraging highly-resolved in-situ measurements and meso-scale simulations. Modified rod-on-anvil impact tests on a reactive pellet demonstrate an optimized stoichiometry promoting reaction in Ti +B +Al. Encapsulated powders subjected to shock compression via flyer plate tests provide possible evidence of a shock-induced reaction at high pressures. Meso-scale simulations of the direct experimental configurations employing highly-resolved microstructural features of the Ti +B compacted mixture show complex inhomogeneous deformation responses and reveal the importance of meso-scale features such as particle size and morphology and their effects on the measured response. Funding is generously provided by DTRA through Grant No. HDTRA1-10-1-0038 (Dr. Su Peiris - Program Manager) and by the SMART (AFRL Wright Patterson AFB) and NDSEG fellowships (High Performance Computing and Modernization Office).

Simulation of Mesoscale Cellular Convection in Marine Stratocumulus. Part I: Drizzling Conditions

DOE PAGES

Zhou, Xiaoli; Ackerman, Andrew S.; Fridlind, Ann M.; ...

2018-01-01

This study uses eddy-permitting simulations to investigate the mechanisms that promote mesoscale variability of moisture in drizzling stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layers. Simulations show that precipitation tends to increase horizontal scales. Analysis of terms in the prognostic equation for total water mixing ratio variance indicates that moisture stratification plays a leading role in setting horizontal scales. This result is supported by simulations in which horizontal mean thermodynamic profiles are strongly nudged to their initial well-mixed state, which limits cloud scales. It is found that the spatial variability of subcloud moist cold pools surprisingly tends to respond to, rather than determine, themore » mesoscale variability, which may distinguish them from dry cold pools associated with deeper convection. Finally, simulations also indicate that moisture stratification increases cloud scales specifically by increasing latent heating within updrafts, which increases updraft buoyancy and favors greater horizontal scales.« less

Simulation of Mesoscale Cellular Convection in Marine Stratocumulus. Part I: Drizzling Conditions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhou, Xiaoli; Ackerman, Andrew S.; Fridlind, Ann M.

This study uses eddy-permitting simulations to investigate the mechanisms that promote mesoscale variability of moisture in drizzling stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layers. Simulations show that precipitation tends to increase horizontal scales. Analysis of terms in the prognostic equation for total water mixing ratio variance indicates that moisture stratification plays a leading role in setting horizontal scales. This result is supported by simulations in which horizontal mean thermodynamic profiles are strongly nudged to their initial well-mixed state, which limits cloud scales. It is found that the spatial variability of subcloud moist cold pools surprisingly tends to respond to, rather than determine, themore » mesoscale variability, which may distinguish them from dry cold pools associated with deeper convection. Finally, simulations also indicate that moisture stratification increases cloud scales specifically by increasing latent heating within updrafts, which increases updraft buoyancy and favors greater horizontal scales.« less

Nonholonomic Hamiltonian Method for Meso-macroscale Simulations of Reacting Shocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fahrenthold, Eric; Lee, Sangyup

2015-06-01

The seamless integration of macroscale, mesoscale, and molecular scale models of reacting shock physics has been hindered by dramatic differences in the model formulation techniques normally used at different scales. In recent research the authors have developed the first unified discrete Hamiltonian approach to multiscale simulation of reacting shock physics. Unlike previous work, the formulation employs reacting themomechanical Hamiltonian formulations at all scales, including the continuum. Unlike previous work, the formulation employs a nonholonomic modeling approach to systematically couple the models developed at all scales. Example applications of the method show meso-macroscale shock to detonation simulations in nitromethane and RDX. Research supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Evaluation of large-eddy simulations forced with mesoscale model output for a multi-week period during a measurement campaign

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heinze, Rieke; Moseley, Christopher; Böske, Lennart Nils; Muppa, Shravan Kumar; Maurer, Vera; Raasch, Siegfried; Stevens, Bjorn

2017-06-01

Large-eddy simulations (LESs) of a multi-week period during the HD(CP)2 (High-Definition Clouds and Precipitation for advancing Climate Prediction) Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE) conducted in Germany are evaluated with respect to mean boundary layer quantities and turbulence statistics. Two LES models are used in a semi-idealized setup through forcing with mesoscale model output to account for the synoptic-scale conditions. Evaluation is performed based on the HOPE observations. The mean boundary layer characteristics like the boundary layer depth are in a principal agreement with observations. Simulating shallow-cumulus layers in agreement with the measurements poses a challenge for both LES models. Variance profiles agree satisfactorily with lidar measurements. The results depend on how the forcing data stemming from mesoscale model output are constructed. The mean boundary layer characteristics become less sensitive if the averaging domain for the forcing is large enough to filter out mesoscale fluctuations.

Shock wave perturbation decay in granular materials

DOE PAGES

Vogler, Tracy J.

2015-11-05

A technique in which the evolution of a perturbation in a shock wave front is monitored as it travels through a sample is applied to granular materials. Although the approach was originally conceived as a way to measure the viscosity of the sample, here it is utilized as a means to probe the deviatoric strength of the material. Initial results for a tungsten carbide powder are presented that demonstrate the approach is viable. Simulations of the experiments using continuum and mesoscale modeling approaches are used to better understand the experiments. The best agreement with the limited experimental data is obtainedmore » for the mesoscale model, which has previously been shown to give good agreement with planar impact results. The continuum simulations indicate that the decay of the perturbation is controlled by material strength but is insensitive to the compaction response. Other sensitivities are assessed using the two modeling approaches. The simulations indicate that the configuration used in the preliminary experiments suffers from certain artifacts and should be modified to remove them. As a result, the limitations of the current instrumentation are discussed, and possible approaches to improve it are suggested.« less

Apparatus and method for determining microscale interactions based on compressive sensors such as crystal structures

DOEpatents

McAdams, Harley; AlQuraishi, Mohammed

2015-04-21

Techniques for determining values for a metric of microscale interactions include determining a mesoscale metric for a plurality of mesoscale interaction types, wherein a value of the mesoscale metric for each mesoscale interaction type is based on a corresponding function of values of the microscale metric for the plurality of the microscale interaction types. A plurality of observations that indicate the values of the mesoscale metric are determined for the plurality of mesoscale interaction types. Values of the microscale metric are determined for the plurality of microscale interaction types based on the plurality of observations and the corresponding functions and compressed sensing.

Multiscale modeling of shock wave localization in porous energetic material

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wood, M. A.; Kittell, D. E.; Yarrington, C. D.

Shock wave interactions with defects, such as pores, are known to play a key role in the chemical initiation of energetic materials. The shock response of hexanitrostilbene is studied through a combination of large-scale reactive molecular dynamics and mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations. In order to extend our simulation capability at the mesoscale to include weak shock conditions (< 6 GPa), atomistic simulations of pore collapse are used here to define a strain-rate-dependent strength model. Comparing these simulation methods allows us to impose physically reasonable constraints on the mesoscale model parameters. In doing so, we have been able to study shock wavesmore » interacting with pores as a function of this viscoplastic material response. Finally, we find that the pore collapse behavior of weak shocks is characteristically different than that of strong shocks.« less

Multiscale modeling of shock wave localization in porous energetic material

DOE PAGES

Wood, M. A.; Kittell, D. E.; Yarrington, C. D.; ...

2018-01-30

Shock wave interactions with defects, such as pores, are known to play a key role in the chemical initiation of energetic materials. The shock response of hexanitrostilbene is studied through a combination of large-scale reactive molecular dynamics and mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations. In order to extend our simulation capability at the mesoscale to include weak shock conditions (< 6 GPa), atomistic simulations of pore collapse are used here to define a strain-rate-dependent strength model. Comparing these simulation methods allows us to impose physically reasonable constraints on the mesoscale model parameters. In doing so, we have been able to study shock wavesmore » interacting with pores as a function of this viscoplastic material response. Finally, we find that the pore collapse behavior of weak shocks is characteristically different than that of strong shocks.« less

Impact of the Mesoscale Dynamics on Ocean Deep Convection: The 2012-2013 Case Study in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waldman, Robin; Herrmann, Marine; Somot, Samuel; Arsouze, Thomas; Benshila, Rachid; Bosse, Anthony; Chanut, Jerome; Giordani, Herve; Sevault, Florence; Testor, Pierre

2017-11-01

Winter 2012-2013 was a particularly intense and well-observed Dense Water Formation (DWF) event in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. In this study, we investigate the impact of the mesoscale dynamics on DWF. We perform two perturbed initial state simulation ensembles from summer 2012 to 2013, respectively, mesoscale-permitting and mesoscale-resolving, with the AGRIF refinement tool in the Mediterranean configuration NEMOMED12. The mean impact of the mesoscale on DWF occurs mainly through the high-resolution physics and not the high-resolution bathymetry. This impact is shown to be modest: the mesoscale does not modify the chronology of the deep convective winter nor the volume of dense waters formed. It however impacts the location of the mixed patch by reducing its extent to the west of the North Balearic Front and by increasing it along the Northern Current, in better agreement with observations. The maximum mixed patch volume is significantly reduced from 5.7 ± 0.2 to 4.2 ± 0.6 × 1013 m3. Finally, the spring restratification volume is more realistic and enhanced from 1.4 ± 0.2 to 1.8 ± 0.2 × 1013 m3 by the mesoscale. We also address the mesoscale impact on the ocean intrinsic variability by performing perturbed initial state ensemble simulations. The mesoscale enhances the intrinsic variability of the deep convection geography, with most of the mixed patch area impacted by intrinsic variability. The DWF volume has a low intrinsic variability but it is increased by 2-3 times with the mesoscale. We relate it to a dramatic increase of the Gulf of Lions eddy kinetic energy from 5.0 ± 0.6 to 17.3 ± 1.5 cm2/s2, in remarkable agreement with observations.

Chimaera simulation of complex states of flowing matter

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

We discuss a unified mesoscale framework (chimaera) for the simulation of complex states of flowing matter across scales of motion. The chimaera framework can deal with each of the three macro–meso–micro levels through suitable ‘mutations’ of the basic mesoscale formulation. The idea is illustrated through selected simulations of complex micro- and nanoscale flows. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Multiscale modelling at the physics–chemistry–biology interface’. PMID:27698031

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lapenta, William M.; Suggs, Ron; Jedlovec, Gary; McNider, Richard T.

1999-01-01

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.

Quasi-coarse-grained dynamics: modelling of metallic materials at mesoscales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dongare, Avinash M.

2014-12-01

A computationally efficient modelling method called quasi-coarse-grained dynamics (QCGD) is developed to expand the capabilities of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to model behaviour of metallic materials at the mesoscales. This mesoscale method is based on solving the equations of motion for a chosen set of representative atoms from an atomistic microstructure and using scaling relationships for the atomic-scale interatomic potentials in MD simulations to define the interactions between representative atoms. The scaling relationships retain the atomic-scale degrees of freedom and therefore energetics of the representative atoms as would be predicted in MD simulations. The total energetics of the system is retained by scaling the energetics and the atomic-scale degrees of freedom of these representative atoms to account for the missing atoms in the microstructure. This scaling of the energetics renders improved time steps for the QCGD simulations. The success of the QCGD method is demonstrated by the prediction of the structural energetics, high-temperature thermodynamics, deformation behaviour of interfaces, phase transformation behaviour, plastic deformation behaviour, heat generation during plastic deformation, as well as the wave propagation behaviour, as would be predicted using MD simulations for a reduced number of representative atoms. The reduced number of atoms and the improved time steps enables the modelling of metallic materials at the mesoscale in extreme environments.

A surface temperature and moisture parameterization for use in mesoscale numerical models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tremback, C. J.; Kessler, R.

1985-01-01

A modified multi-level soil moisture and surface temperature model is presented for use as in defining lower boundary conditions in mesoscale weather models. Account is taken of the hydraulic and thermal diffusion properties of the soil, their variations with soil type, and the mixing ratio at the surface. Techniques are defined for integrating the surface input into the multi-level scheme. Sample simulation runs were performed with the modified model and the original model defined by Pielke, et al. (1977, 1981). The models were applied to regional weather forecasting over soils composed of sand and clay loam. The new form of the model avoided iterations necessary in the earlier version of the model and achieved convergence at reasonable profiles for surface temperature and moisture in regions where the earlier version of the model failed.

The T-REX valley wind intercomparison project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schmidli, J; Billings, B J; Burton, R

2008-08-07

An accurate simulation of the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer is very important, as the evolution of the boundary layer sets the stage for many weather phenomena, such as deep convection. Over mountain areas the evolution of the boundary layer is particularly complex, due to the nonlinear interaction between boundary layer turbulence and thermally-induced mesoscale wind systems, such as the slope and valley winds. As the horizontal resolution of operational forecasts progresses to finer and finer resolution, more and more of the thermally-induced mesoscale wind systems can be explicitly resolved, and it is very timely to document the currentmore » state-of-the-art of mesoscale models at simulating the coupled evolution of the mountain boundary layer and the valley wind system. In this paper we present an intercomparison of valley wind simulations for an idealized valley-plain configuration using eight state-of-the-art mesoscale models with a grid spacing of 1 km. Different sets of three-dimensional simulations are used to explore the effects of varying model dynamical cores and physical parameterizations. This intercomparison project was conducted as part of the Terrain-induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX; Grubisic et al., 2008).« less

Chimaera simulation of complex states of flowing matter.

PubMed

Succi, S

2016-11-13

We discuss a unified mesoscale framework (chimaera) for the simulation of complex states of flowing matter across scales of motion. The chimaera framework can deal with each of the three macro-meso-micro levels through suitable 'mutations' of the basic mesoscale formulation. The idea is illustrated through selected simulations of complex micro- and nanoscale flows.This article is part of the themed issue 'Multiscale modelling at the physics-chemistry-biology interface'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Variational assimilation of VAS data into the mass model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cram, J. M.; Kaplan, M. L.

1984-01-01

Experiments are reported in which VAS data at 1200, 1500, and 1800 GMT 20 July 1981 were assimilated using both the adiabatic and full physics version of the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS). A nonassimilation forecast is compared with forecasts assimilating temperature gradients only and forecasts assimilating both temperature and humidity gradients. The effects of successive vs single assimilations are also examined. It is noted that the greatest improvements to the forecast resulted when the VAS data resolved the mesoscale structure of the temperature and relative humidity fields. When this structure was assimilated into MASS, the ensuing simulations more clearly defined a mesoscale structure in the developing instabilities.

Influence of Kuroshio Oceanic Eddies on North Pacific Weather Patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, X.; Chang, P.; Saravanan, R.; Montuoro, R.; Hsieh, J. S.; Wu, D.; Lin, X.; Wu, L.; Jing, Z.

2016-02-01

High-resolution satellite observations reveal energetic meso-scale ocean eddy activity and positive correlation between meso-scale sea surface temperature (SST) and surface wind along oceanic frontal zones, such as the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream, suggesting a potential role of meso-scale oceanic eddies in forcing the atmosphere. Using a 27 km horizontal resolution Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model forced with observed daily SST at 0.09° spatial resolution during boreal winter season, two ensembles of 10 WRF simulations, in one of which meso-scale SST variability induced by ocean eddies was suppressed, were conducted in the North Pacific to study the local and remote influence of meso-scale oceanic eddies in the Kuroshio Extention Region (KER) on the atmosphere. Suppression of meso-scale oceanic eddies results in a deep tropospheric response along and downstream of the KER, including a significant decrease (increase) in winter season mean rainfall along the KER (west coast of US), a reduction of storm genesis in the KER, and a southward shift of the jet stream and North Pacific storm track in the eastern North Pacific. The simulated local and remote rainfall response to meso-scale oceanic eddies in the KER is also supported by observational analysis. A mechanism invoking moist baroclinic instability is proposed as a plausible explanation for the linkage between meso-scale oceanic eddies in the KER and large-scale atmospheric response in the North Pacific. It is argued that meso-scale oceanic eddies can have a rectified effect on planetary boundary layer moisture, the stability of the lower atmosphere and latent heat release, which in turn affect cyclogenesis. The accumulated effect of the altered storm development downstream further contributes to the equivalent barotropic mean flow change in the eastern North Pacific basin.

North Pacific Mesoscale Coupled Air-Ocean Simulations Compared with Observations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cerovecki, Ivana; McClean, Julie; Koracin, Darko

2014-11-14

The overall objective of this study was to improve the representation of regional ocean circulation in the North Pacific by using high resolution atmospheric forcing that accurately represents mesoscale processes in ocean-atmosphere regional (North Pacific) model configuration. The goal was to assess the importance of accurate representation of mesoscale processes in the atmosphere and the ocean on large scale circulation. This is an important question, as mesoscale processes in the atmosphere which are resolved by the high resolution mesoscale atmospheric models such as Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), are absent in commonly used atmospheric forcing such as CORE forcing, employedmore » in e.g. the Community Climate System Model (CCSM).« less

Coupling discrete and continuum concentration particle models for multiscale and hybrid molecular-continuum simulations

DOE PAGES

Petsev, Nikolai Dimitrov; Leal, L. Gary; Shell, M. Scott

2017-12-21

Hybrid molecular-continuum simulation techniques afford a number of advantages for problems in the rapidly burgeoning area of nanoscale engineering and technology, though they are typically quite complex to implement and limited to single-component fluid systems. We describe an approach for modeling multicomponent hydrodynamic problems spanning multiple length scales when using particle-based descriptions for both the finely-resolved (e.g. molecular dynamics) and coarse-grained (e.g. continuum) subregions within an overall simulation domain. This technique is based on the multiscale methodology previously developed for mesoscale binary fluids [N. D. Petsev, L. G. Leal, and M. S. Shell, J. Chem. Phys. 144, 84115 (2016)], simulatedmore » using a particle-based continuum method known as smoothed dissipative particle dynamics (SDPD). An important application of this approach is the ability to perform coupled molecular dynamics (MD) and continuum modeling of molecularly miscible binary mixtures. In order to validate this technique, we investigate multicomponent hybrid MD-continuum simulations at equilibrium, as well as non-equilibrium cases featuring concentration gradients.« less

Coupling discrete and continuum concentration particle models for multiscale and hybrid molecular-continuum simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Petsev, Nikolai Dimitrov; Leal, L. Gary; Shell, M. Scott

Hybrid molecular-continuum simulation techniques afford a number of advantages for problems in the rapidly burgeoning area of nanoscale engineering and technology, though they are typically quite complex to implement and limited to single-component fluid systems. We describe an approach for modeling multicomponent hydrodynamic problems spanning multiple length scales when using particle-based descriptions for both the finely-resolved (e.g. molecular dynamics) and coarse-grained (e.g. continuum) subregions within an overall simulation domain. This technique is based on the multiscale methodology previously developed for mesoscale binary fluids [N. D. Petsev, L. G. Leal, and M. S. Shell, J. Chem. Phys. 144, 84115 (2016)], simulatedmore » using a particle-based continuum method known as smoothed dissipative particle dynamics (SDPD). An important application of this approach is the ability to perform coupled molecular dynamics (MD) and continuum modeling of molecularly miscible binary mixtures. In order to validate this technique, we investigate multicomponent hybrid MD-continuum simulations at equilibrium, as well as non-equilibrium cases featuring concentration gradients.« less

Mesoscale spiral vortex embedded within a Lake Michigan snow squall band - High resolution satellite observations and numerical model simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lyons, Walter A.; Keen, Cecil S.; Hjelmfelt, Mark; Pease, Steven R.

1988-01-01

It is known that Great Lakes snow squall convection occurs in a variety of different modes depending on various factors such as air-water temperature contrast, boundary-layer wind shear, and geostrophic wind direction. An exceptional and often neglected source of data for mesoscale cloud studies is the ultrahigh resolution multispectral data produced by Landsat satellites. On October 19, 1972, a clearly defined spiral vortex was noted in a Landsat-1 image near the southern end of Lake Michigan during an exceptionally early cold air outbreak over a still very warm lake. In a numerical simulation using a three-dimensional Eulerian hydrostatic primitive equation mesoscale model with an initially uniform wind field, a definite analog to the observed vortex was generated. This suggests that intense surface heating can be a principal cause in the development of a low-level mesoscale vortex.

VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) simulation experiment for a severe storm environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chesters, D.; Uccellini, L. W.; Mostek, A.

1981-01-01

Radiance fields were simulated for prethunderstorm environments in Oklahoma to demonstrate three points: (1) significant moisture gradients can be seen directly in images of the VISSIR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) channels; (2) temperature and moisture profiles can be retrieved from VAS radiances with sufficient accuracy to be useful for mesoscale analysis of a severe storm environment; and (3) the quality of VAS mesoscale soundings improves with conditioning by local weather statistics. The results represent the optimum retrievability of mesoscale information from VAS radiance without the use of ancillary data. The simulations suggest that VAS data will yield the best soundings when a human being classifies the scene, picks relatively clear areas for retrieval, and applies a "local" statistical data base to resolve the ambiguities of satellite observations in favor of the most probable atmospheric structure.

An OSSE on Mesoscale Model Assimilation of Simulated HIRAD-Observed Hurricane Surface Winds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Albers, Cerese; Miller, Timothy; Uhlhorn, Eric; Krishnamurti, T. N.

2012-01-01

The hazards of landfalling hurricanes are well known, but progress on improving the intensity forecasts of these deadly storms at landfall has been slow. Many cite a lack of high-resolution data sets taken inside the core of a hurricane, and the lack of reliable measurements in extreme conditions near the surface of hurricanes, as possible reasons why even the most state-of-the-art forecasting models cannot seem to forecast intensity changes better. The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is a new airborne microwave remote sensor for observing hurricanes, and is operated and researched by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in partnership with the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory/Hurricane Research Division, the University of Central Florida, the University of Michigan, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. This instrument?s purpose is to study the wind field of a hurricane, specifically observing surface wind speeds and rain rates, in what has traditionally been the most difficult areas for other instruments to study; the high wind and heavy rain regions. Dr. T. N. Krishnamurti has studied various data assimilation techniques for hurricane and monsoon rain rates, and this study builds off of results obtained from utilizing his style of physical initializations of rainfall observations, but obtaining reliable observations in heavy rain regions has always presented trouble to our research of high-resolution rainfall forecasting. Reliable data from these regions at such a high resolution and wide swath as HIRAD provides is potentially very valuable to mesoscale forecasting of hurricane intensity. This study shows how the data assimilation technique of Ensemble Kalman Filtering (EnKF) in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model can be used to incorporate wind, and later rain rate, data into a mesoscale model forecast of hurricane intensity. The study makes use of an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) with a simulated HIRAD dataset sampled during a hurricane and uses EnKF to forecast the track and intensity prediction of the hurricane. Comparisons to truth and error metrics are used to assess the model?s forecast performance.

Scaling Characteristics of Mesoscale Wind Fields in the Lower Atmospheric Boundary Layer: Implications for Wind Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiliyanpilakkil, Velayudhan Praju

Atmospheric motions take place in spatial scales of sub-millimeters to few thousands of kilometers with temporal changes in the atmospheric variables occur in fractions of seconds to several years. Consequently, the variations in atmospheric kinetic energy associated with these atmospheric motions span over a broad spectrum of space and time. The mesoscale region acts as an energy transferring regime between the energy generating synoptic scale and the energy dissipating microscale. Therefore, the scaling characterizations of mesoscale wind fields are significant in the accurate estimation of the atmospheric energy budget. Moreover, the precise knowledge of the scaling characteristics of atmospheric mesoscale wind fields is important for the validation of the numerical models those focus on wind forecasting, dispersion, diffusion, horizontal transport, and optical turbulence. For these reasons, extensive studies have been conducted in the past to characterize the mesoscale wind fields. Nevertheless, the majority of these studies focused on near-surface and upper atmosphere mesoscale regimes. The present study attempt to identify the existence and to quantify the scaling of mesoscale wind fields in the lower atmospheric boundary layer (ABL; in the wind turbine layer) using wind observations from various research-grade instruments (e.g., sodars, anemometers). The scaling characteristics of the mesoscale wind speeds over diverse homogeneous flat terrains, conducted using structure function based analysis, revealed an altitudinal dependence of the scaling exponents. This altitudinal dependence of the wind speed scaling may be attributed to the buoyancy forcing. Subsequently, we use the framework of extended self-similarity (ESS) to characterize the observed scaling behavior. In the ESS framework, the relative scaling exponents of the mesoscale atmospheric boundary layer wind speed exhibit quasi-universal behavior; even far beyond the inertial range of turbulence (Delta t within 10 minutes to 6 hours range). The ESS framework based study is extended further to enquire its validity over complex terrain. This study, based on multiyear wind observations, demonstrate that the ESS holds for the lower ABL wind speed over the complex terrain as well. Another important inference from this study is that the ESS relative scaling exponents corresponding to the mesoscale wind speed closely matches the scaling characteristics of the inertial range turbulence, albeit not exactly identical. The current study proposes benchmark using ESS-based quasi-universal wind speed scaling characteristics in the ABL for the mesoscale modeling community. Using a state-of-the-art atmospheric mesoscale model in conjunction with different planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes, multiple wind speed simulations have been conducted. This study reveals that the ESS scaling characteristics of the model simulated wind speed time series in the lower ABL vary significantly from their observational counterparts. The study demonstrate that the model simulated wind speed time series for the time intervals Delta t < 2 hours do not capture the ESS-based scaling characteristics. The detailed analysis of model simulations using different PBL schemes lead to the conclusion that there is a need for significant improvements in the turbulent closure parameterizations adapted in the new-generation atmospheric models. This study is unique as the ESS framework has never been reported or examined for the validation of PBL parameterizations.

Mesoscale Effective Property Simulations Incorporating Conductive Binder

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Trembacki, Bradley L.; Noble, David R.; Brunini, Victor E.

Lithium-ion battery electrodes are composed of active material particles, binder, and conductive additives that form an electrolyte-filled porous particle composite. The mesoscale (particle-scale) interplay of electrochemistry, mechanical deformation, and transport through this tortuous multi-component network dictates the performance of a battery at the cell-level. Effective electrode properties connect mesoscale phenomena with computationally feasible battery-scale simulations. We utilize published tomography data to reconstruct a large subsection (1000+ particles) of an NMC333 cathode into a computational mesh and extract electrode-scale effective properties from finite element continuum-scale simulations. We present a novel method to preferentially place a composite binder phase throughout the mesostructure,more » a necessary approach due difficulty distinguishing between non-active phases in tomographic data. We compare stress generation and effective thermal, electrical, and ionic conductivities across several binder placement approaches. Isotropic lithiation-dependent mechanical swelling of the NMC particles and the consideration of strain-dependent composite binder conductivity significantly impact the resulting effective property trends and stresses generated. Lastly, our results suggest that composite binder location significantly affects mesoscale behavior, indicating that a binder coating on active particles is not sufficient and that more accurate approaches should be used when calculating effective properties that will inform battery-scale models in this inherently multi-scale battery simulation challenge.« less

Mesoscale Effective Property Simulations Incorporating Conductive Binder

DOE PAGES

Trembacki, Bradley L.; Noble, David R.; Brunini, Victor E.; ...

2017-07-26

Lithium-ion battery electrodes are composed of active material particles, binder, and conductive additives that form an electrolyte-filled porous particle composite. The mesoscale (particle-scale) interplay of electrochemistry, mechanical deformation, and transport through this tortuous multi-component network dictates the performance of a battery at the cell-level. Effective electrode properties connect mesoscale phenomena with computationally feasible battery-scale simulations. We utilize published tomography data to reconstruct a large subsection (1000+ particles) of an NMC333 cathode into a computational mesh and extract electrode-scale effective properties from finite element continuum-scale simulations. We present a novel method to preferentially place a composite binder phase throughout the mesostructure,more » a necessary approach due difficulty distinguishing between non-active phases in tomographic data. We compare stress generation and effective thermal, electrical, and ionic conductivities across several binder placement approaches. Isotropic lithiation-dependent mechanical swelling of the NMC particles and the consideration of strain-dependent composite binder conductivity significantly impact the resulting effective property trends and stresses generated. Lastly, our results suggest that composite binder location significantly affects mesoscale behavior, indicating that a binder coating on active particles is not sufficient and that more accurate approaches should be used when calculating effective properties that will inform battery-scale models in this inherently multi-scale battery simulation challenge.« less

Mesoscale simulations of hydrodynamic squirmer interactions.

PubMed

Götze, Ingo O; Gompper, Gerhard

2010-10-01

The swimming behavior of self-propelled microorganisms is studied by particle-based mesoscale simulations. The simulation technique includes both hydrodynamics and thermal fluctuations that are both essential for the dynamics of microswimmers. The swimmers are modeled as squirmers, i.e., spherical objects with a prescribed tangential surface velocity, where the focus of thrust generation can be tuned from pushers to pullers. For passive squirmers (colloids), we show that the velocity autocorrelation function agrees quantitatively with the Boussinesq approximation. Single active squirmers show a persistent random-walk behavior, determined by forward motion, lateral diffusion, and orientational fluctuations, in agreement with theoretical predictions. For pairs of squirmers, which are initially swimming in parallel, we find an attraction for pushers and a repulsion for pullers, as expected. The hydrodynamic force between squirmer pairs is calculated as a function of the center-to-center distances d(cm) and is found to be consistent with a logarithmic distance dependence for d(cm) less than about two sphere diameters; here, the force is considerably stronger than expected from the far-field expansion. The dependence of the force strength on the asymmetry of the polar surface velocity is obtained. During the collision process, thermal fluctuations turn out to be very important and to strongly affect the postcollision velocity directions of both squirmers.

The Impact of Microphysics on Intensity and Structure of Hurricanes and Mesoscale Convective Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Shi, Jainn J.; Jou, Ben Jong-Dao; Lee, Wen-Chau; Lin, Pay-Liam; Chang, Mei-Yu

2007-01-01

During the past decade, both research and operational numerical weather prediction models, e.g. Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model, have started using more complex microphysical schemes originally developed for high-resolution cloud resolving models (CRMs) with a 1-2 km or less horizontal resolutions. WRF is a next-generation mesoscale forecast model and assimilation system that has incorporated modern software framework, advanced dynamics, numeric and data assimilation techniques, a multiple moveable nesting capability, and improved physical packages. WRF model can be used for a wide range of applications, from idealized research to operational forecasting, with an emphasis on horizontal grid sizes in the range of 1-10 km. The current WRF includes several different microphysics options such as Purdue Lin et al. (1983), WSM 6-class and Thompson microphysics schemes. We have recently implemented three sophisticated cloud microphysics schemes into WRF. The cloud microphysics schemes have been extensively tested and applied for different mesoscale systems in different geographical locations. The performances of these schemes have been compared to those from other WRF microphysics options. We are performing sensitivity tests in using WRF to examine the impact of six different cloud microphysical schemes on precipitation processes associated hurricanes and mesoscale convective systems developed at different geographic locations [Oklahoma (IHOP), Louisiana (Hurricane Katrina), Canada (C3VP - snow events), Washington (fire storm), India (Monsoon), Taiwan (TiMREX - terrain)]. We will determine the microphysical schemes for good simulated convective systems in these geographic locations. We are also performing the inline tracer calculation to comprehend the physical processes (i.e., boundary layer and each quadrant in the boundary layer) related to the development and structure of hurricanes and mesoscale convective systems.

O the Development and Use of Four-Dimensional Data Assimilation in Limited-Area Mesoscale Models Used for Meteorological Analysis.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stauffer, David R.

1990-01-01

The application of dynamic relationships to the analysis problem for the atmosphere is extended to use a full-physics limited-area mesoscale model as the dynamic constraint. A four-dimensional data assimilation (FDDA) scheme based on Newtonian relaxation or "nudging" is developed and evaluated in the Penn State/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) mesoscale model, which is used here as a dynamic-analysis tool. The thesis is to determine what assimilation strategies and what meterological fields (mass, wind or both) have the greatest positive impact on the 72-h numerical simulations (dynamic analyses) of two mid-latitude, real-data cases. The basic FDDA methodology is tested in a 10-layer version of the model with a bulk-aerodynamic (single-layer) representation of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), and refined in a 15-layer version of the model by considering the effects of data assimilation within a multi-layer PBL scheme. As designed, the model solution can be relaxed toward either gridded analyses ("analysis nudging"), or toward the actual observations ("obs nudging"). The data used for assimilation include standard 12-hourly rawinsonde data, and also 3-hourly mesoalpha-scale surface data which are applied within the model's multi-layer PBL. Continuous assimilation of standard-resolution rawinsonde data into the 10-layer model successfully reduced large-scale amplitude and phase errors while the model realistically simulated mesoscale structures poorly defined or absent in the rawinsonde analyses and in the model simulations without FDDA. Nudging the model fields directly toward the rawinsonde observations generally produced results comparable to nudging toward gridded analyses. This obs -nudging technique is especially attractive for the assimilation of high-frequency, asynoptic data. Assimilation of 3-hourly surface wind and moisture data into the 15-layer FDDA system was most effective for improving the simulated precipitation fields because a significant portion of the vertically integrated moisture convergence often occurs in the PBL. Overall, the best dynamic analyses for the PBL, mass, wind and precipitation fields were obtained by nudging toward analyses of rawinsonde wind, temperature and moisture (the latter uses a weaker nudging coefficient) above the model PBL and toward analyses of surface-layer wind and moisture within the model PBL.

Intercomparison of oceanic and atmospheric forced and coupled mesoscale simulations. Part I: Surface fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Josse, P.; Caniaux, G.; Giordani, H.; Planton, S.

1999-04-01

A mesoscale non-hydrostatic atmospheric model has been coupled with a mesoscale oceanic model. The case study is a four-day simulation of a strong storm event observed during the SEMAPHORE experiment over a 500 × 500 km2 domain. This domain encompasses a thermohaline front associated with the Azores current. In order to analyze the effect of mesoscale coupling, three simulations are compared: the first one with the atmospheric model forced by realistic sea surface temperature analyses; the second one with the ocean model forced by atmospheric fields, derived from weather forecast re-analyses; the third one with the models being coupled. For these three simulations the surface fluxes were computed with the same bulk parametrization. All three simulations succeed well in representing the main oceanic or atmospheric features observed during the storm. Comparison of surface fields with in situ observations reveals that the winds of the fine mesh atmospheric model are more realistic than those of the weather forecast re-analyses. The low-level winds simulated with the atmospheric model in the forced and coupled simulations are appreciably stronger than the re-analyzed winds. They also generate stronger fluxes. The coupled simulation has the strongest surface heat fluxes: the difference in the net heat budget with the oceanic forced simulation reaches on average 50 Wm-2 over the simulation period. Sea surface-temperature cooling is too weak in both simulations, but is improved in the coupled run and matches better the cooling observed with drifters. The spatial distributions of sea surface-temperature cooling and surface fluxes are strongly inhomogeneous over the simulation domain. The amplitude of the flux variation is maximum in the coupled run. Moreover the weak correlation between the cooling and heat flux patterns indicates that the surface fluxes are not responsible for the whole cooling and suggests that the response of the ocean mixed layer to the atmosphere is highly non-local and enhanced in the coupled simulation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Patnaik, P. C.

The SIGMET mesoscale meteorology simulation code represents an extension, in terms of physical modelling detail and numerical approach, of the work of Anthes (1972) and Anthes and Warner (1974). The code utilizes a finite difference technique to solve the so-called primitive equations which describe transient flow in the atmosphere. The SIGMET modelling contains all of the physics required to simulate the time dependent meteorology of a region with description of both the planetary boundary layer and upper level flow as they are affected by synoptic forcing and complex terrain. The mathematical formulation of the SIGMET model and the various physicalmore » effects incorporated into it are summarized.« less

A Distributed Hydrological model Forced by DIMP2 Data and the WRF Mesoscale model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wayand, N. E.

2010-12-01

Forecasted warming over the next century will drastically reduce seasonal snowpack that provides 40% of the world’s drinking water. With increased climate warming, droughts may occur more frequently, which will increase society’s reliance on this same summer snowpack as a water supply. This study aims to reduce driving data errors that lead to poor simulations of snow ablation and accumulation, and streamflow. Results from the Distributed Hydrological Model Intercomparison Project Phase 2 (DMIP2) project using the Distributed Hydrology Soil and Vegetation Model (DHSVM) highlighted the critical need for accurate driving data that distributed models require. Currently, the meteorological driving data for distributed hydrological models commonly rely on interpolation techniques between a network of observational stations, as well as historical monthly means. This method is limited by two significant issues: snowpack is stored at high elevations, where interpolation techniques perform poorly due to sparse observations, and historic climatological means may be unsuitable in a changing climate. Mesoscale models may provide a physically-based approach to supplement surface observations over high-elevation terrain. Initial results have shown that while temperature lapse rates are well represented by multiple mesoscale models, significant precipitation biases are dependent on the particular model microphysics. We evaluate multiple methods of downscaling surface variables from the Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) model that are then used to drive DHSVM over the North Fork American River basin in California. A comparison between each downscaled driving data set and paired DHSVM results to observations will determine how much improvement in simulated streamflow and snowpack are gained at the expense of each additional degree of downscaling. Our results from DMIP2 will be used as a benchmark for the best available DHSVM run using all available observational data. The findings presented here will help guide watershed managers of the requirements, advantages and limitations of using a distributed hydrological model coupled with various forms of forcing data over mountainous terrain.

Eddy energy sources and mesoscale eddies in the Sea of Okhotsk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stepanov, Dmitry V.; Diansky, Nikolay A.; Fomin, Vladimir V.

2018-05-01

Based on eddy-permitting ocean circulation model outputs, the mesoscale variability is studied in the Sea of Okhotsk. We confirmed that the simulated circulation reproduces the main features of the general circulation in the Sea of Okhotsk. In particular, it reproduced a complex structure of the East-Sakhalin current and the pronounced seasonal variability of this current. We established that the maximum of mean kinetic energy was associated with the East-Sakhalin Current. In order to uncover causes and mechanisms of the mesoscale variability, we studied the budget of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) in the Sea of Okhotsk. Spatial distribution of the EKE showed that intensive mesoscale variability occurs along the western boundary of the Sea of Okhotsk, where the East-Sakhalin Current extends. We revealed a pronounced seasonal variability of EKE with its maximum intensity in winter and its minimum intensity in summer. Analysis of EKE sources and rates of energy conversion revealed a leading role of time-varying (turbulent) wind stress in the generation of mesoscale variability along the western boundary of the Sea of Okhotsk in winter and spring. We established that a contribution of baroclinic instability predominates over that of barotropic instability in the generation of mesoscale variability along the western boundary of the Sea of Okhotsk. To demonstrate the mechanism of baroclinic instability, the simulated circulation was considered along the western boundary of the Sea of Okhotsk from January to April 2005. In April, the mesoscale anticyclonic eddies are observed along the western boundary of the Sea of Okhotsk. The role of the sea ice cover in the intensification of the mesoscale variability in the Sea of Okhotsk was discussed.

Results of the GABLS3 diurnal-cycle benchmark for wind energy applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rodrigo, J. Sanz; Allaerts, D.; Avila, M.

We present results of the GABLS3 model intercomparison benchmark revisited for wind energy applications. The case consists of a diurnal cycle, measured at the 200-m tall Cabauw tower in the Netherlands, including a nocturnal low-level jet. The benchmark includes a sensitivity analysis of WRF simulations using two input meteorological databases and five planetary boundary-layer schemes. A reference set of mesoscale tendencies is used to drive microscale simulations using RANS k-ϵ and LES turbulence models. The validation is based on rotor-based quantities of interest. Cycle-integrated mean absolute errors are used to quantify model performance. The results of the benchmark are usedmore » to discuss input uncertainties from mesoscale modelling, different meso-micro coupling strategies (online vs offline) and consistency between RANS and LES codes when dealing with boundary-layer mean flow quantities. Altogether, all the microscale simulations produce a consistent coupling with mesoscale forcings.« less

Results of the GABLS3 diurnal-cycle benchmark for wind energy applications

DOE PAGES

Rodrigo, J. Sanz; Allaerts, D.; Avila, M.; ...

2017-06-13

We present results of the GABLS3 model intercomparison benchmark revisited for wind energy applications. The case consists of a diurnal cycle, measured at the 200-m tall Cabauw tower in the Netherlands, including a nocturnal low-level jet. The benchmark includes a sensitivity analysis of WRF simulations using two input meteorological databases and five planetary boundary-layer schemes. A reference set of mesoscale tendencies is used to drive microscale simulations using RANS k-ϵ and LES turbulence models. The validation is based on rotor-based quantities of interest. Cycle-integrated mean absolute errors are used to quantify model performance. The results of the benchmark are usedmore » to discuss input uncertainties from mesoscale modelling, different meso-micro coupling strategies (online vs offline) and consistency between RANS and LES codes when dealing with boundary-layer mean flow quantities. Altogether, all the microscale simulations produce a consistent coupling with mesoscale forcings.« less

Impact of Lidar Wind Sounding on Mesoscale Forecast

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Timothy L.; Chou, Shih-Hung; Goodman, H. Michael (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

An Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) was conducted to study the impact of airborne lidar wind sounding on mesoscale weather forecast. A wind retrieval scheme, which interpolates wind data from a grid data system, simulates the retrieval of wind profile from a satellite lidar system. A mesoscale forecast system based on the PSU/NCAR MM5 model is developed and incorporated the assimilation of the retrieved line-of-sight wind. To avoid the "identical twin" problem, the NCEP reanalysis data is used as our reference "nature" atmosphere. The simulated space-based lidar wind observations were retrieved by interpolating the NCEP values to the observation locations. A modified dataset obtained by smoothing the NCEP dataset was used as the initial state whose forecast was sought to be improved by assimilating the retrieved lidar observations. Forecasts using wind profiles with various lidar instrument parameters has been conducted. The results show that to significantly improve the mesoscale forecast the satellite should fly near the storm center with large scanning radius. Increasing lidar firing rate also improves the forecast. Cloud cover and lack of aerosol degrade the quality of the lidar wind data and, subsequently, the forecast.

Observation and numerical simulation of a convective initiation during COHMEX

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Song, J. Aaron; Kaplan, Michael L.

1991-01-01

Under a synoptically undisturbed condition, a dual-peak convective lifecycle was observed with the COoperative Huntsville Meteorological EXperiment (COHMEX) observational network over a 24-hour period. The lifecycle included a multicell storm, which lasted about 6 hours, produced a peak rainrate exceeding 100 mm/hr, and initiated a downstream mesoscale convective system. The 24-hour accumulated rainfall of this event was the largest during the entire COHMEX. The downstream mesoscale convective system, unfortunately, was difficult to investigate quantitatively due to the lack of mesoscale observations. The dataset collected near the time of the multicell storm evolution, including its initiation, was one of the best datasets of COHMEX. In this study, the initiation of this multicell storm is chosen as the target of the numerical simulations.

Estimation of Eddy Dissipation Rates from Mesoscale Model Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahmad, Nashat N.; Proctor, Fred H.

2012-01-01

The Eddy Dissipation Rate is an important metric for representing the intensity of atmospheric turbulence and is used as an input parameter for predicting the decay of aircraft wake vortices. In this study, the forecasts of eddy dissipation rates obtained from the current state-of-the-art mesoscale model are evaluated for terminal area applications. The Weather Research and Forecast mesoscale model is used to simulate the planetary boundary layer at high horizontal and vertical mesh resolutions. The Bougeault-Lacarrer and the Mellor-Yamada-Janji schemes implemented in the Weather Research and Forecast model are evaluated against data collected during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration s Memphis Wake Vortex Field Experiment. Comparisons with other observations are included as well.

On the dominant impact of vertical moisture gradient on mesoscale cloud cellular organization of stratocumulus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, X.; Ackerman, A. S.; Fridlind, A. M.; Kollias, P.

2016-12-01

Large-eddy simulations are performed to study the mechanisms of stratocumulus organization. Precipitation tends to increase horizontal cloud scales, but is not required for cloud mesoscale organization. A study of the terms in the prognostic equation for total water mixing ratio variance shows the critical impact of vertical moisture gradient on cloud scale. For precipitating clouds, the organization originates from the negative moisture gradient in the boundary layer resulting from evaporation of precipitation. This hypothesis is supported by simulations in which thermodynamics profiles are nudged to their initial well-mixed state, which reduces cloud scales. Cold pools effect are surprisingly found to respond to rather than determine the cloud mesoscale variability. For non-precipitating clouds, organization results from turbulent transport of moisture variance originating primarily from cloud top, where dry air is entrained into the boundary layer through convection driven by cloud top longwave (LW) cooling. Both LW cooling and a moisture gradient above cloud top are essential for the growth of mesoscale fluctuations.

High-Resolution Mesoscale Simulations of the 6-7 May 2000 Missouri Flash Flood: Impact of Model Initialization and Land Surface Treatment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, R. David; Wang, Yansen; Tao, Wei-Kuo; Wetzel, Peter; Belcher, Larry R.

2004-01-01

High-resolution mesoscale model simulations of the 6-7 May 2000 Missouri flash flood event were performed to test the impact of model initialization and land surface treatment on timing, intensity, and location of extreme precipitation. In this flash flood event, a mesoscale convective system (MCS) produced over 340 mm of rain in roughly 9 hours in some locations. Two different types of model initialization were employed: 1) NCEP global reanalysis with 2.5-degree grid spacing and 12-hour temporal resolution, and 2) Eta reanalysis with 40- km grid spacing and $hour temporal resolution. In addition, two different land surface treatments were considered. A simple land scheme. (SLAB) keeps soil moisture fixed at initial values throughout the simulation, while a more sophisticated land model (PLACE) allows for r interactive feedback. Simulations with high-resolution Eta model initialization show considerable improvement in the intensity of precipitation due to the presence in the initialization of a residual mesoscale convective vortex (hlCV) from a previous MCS. Simulations with the PLACE land model show improved location of heavy precipitation. Since soil moisture can vary over time in the PLACE model, surface energy fluxes exhibit strong spatial gradients. These surface energy flux gradients help produce a strong low-level jet (LLJ) in the correct location. The LLJ then interacts with the cold outflow boundary of the MCS to produce new convective cells. The simulation with both high-resolution model initialization and time-varying soil moisture test reproduces the intensity and location of observed rainfall.

Evaluating and Understanding Parameterized Convective Processes and Their Role in the Development of Mesoscale Precipitation Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fritsch, J. Michael; Kain, John S.

1996-01-01

Research efforts focused on numerical simulations of two convective systems with the Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model. The first of these systems was tropical cyclone Irma, which occurred in 1987 in Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria during the AMEX field program. Comparison simulations of this system were done with two different convective parameterization schemes (CPS's), the Kain-Fritsch (KF) and the Betts-Miller (BM) schemes. The second system was the June 10-11, 1985 squall line simulation, which occurred over the Kansas-Oklahoma region during the PRE-STORM experiment. Simulations of this system using the KF scheme were examined in detail.

Atomic-scale to Meso-scale Simulation Studies of Thermal Ageing and Irradiation Effects in Fe- Cr Alloys

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stanley, Eugene; Liu, Li

In this project, we target at three primary objectives: (1) Molecular Dynamics (MD) code development for Fe-Cr alloys, which can be utilized to provide thermodynamic and kinetic properties as inputs in mesoscale Phase Field (PF) simulations; (2) validation and implementation of the MD code to explain thermal ageing and radiation damage; and (3) an integrated modeling platform for MD and PF simulations. These two simulation tools, MD and PF, will ultimately be merged to understand and quantify the kinetics and mechanisms of microstructure and property evolution of Fe-Cr alloys under various thermal and irradiation environments

Assimilation of GOES Land Surface Data into a Mesoscale Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lapenta, William M.; Suggs, Ron; McNider, Richard T.; Jedlovec, Gary; Dembek, Scott; Goodman, H. Michael (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A technique has been developed for assimilating Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-derived skin temperature tendencies and insolation into the surface energy budget equation of a mesoscale model so that the simulated rate of temperature change closely agrees with the satellite observations. A critical assumption of the technique is that the availability of moisture (either from the soil or vegetation) is the least known term in the model's surface energy budget. Therefore, the simulated latent heat flux, which is a function of surface moisture availability, is adjusted based upon differences between the modeled and satellite-observed skin temperature tendencies. An advantage of this technique is that satellite temperature tendencies are assimilated in an energetically consistent manner that avoids energy imbalances and surface stability problems that arise from direct assimilation of surface shelter temperatures. The fact that the rate of change of the satellite skin temperature is used rather than the absolute temperature means that sensor calibration is not as critical. The assimilation technique has been applied to the Oklahoma-Kansas region during the spring-summer 2000 time period when dynamic changes in vegetation cover occur. In April, central Oklahoma is characterized by large NDVI associated with winter wheat while surrounding areas are primarily rangeland with lower NDVI. In July the vegetation pattern reverses as the central wheat area changes to low NDVI due to harvesting and the surrounding rangeland is greener than it was in April. The goal of this study is to determine if assimilating satellite land surface data can improve simulation of the complex spatial distribution of surface energy and water fluxes across this region. The PSU/NCAR NM5 V3 system is used in this study. The grid configuration consists of a 36-km CONUS domain and a 12-km nest over the area of interest. Bulk verification statistics (BIAS and RMSE) of surface air temperature and dewpoint indicates that assimilation of the satellite data results reduces both the bias and RMSE for both state variables. In addition, comparison of model data with ARM/CART EBBR flux observations reveals that the assimilation technique adjusts the bowen ratio in a realistic fashion.

An analytical coarse-graining method which preserves the free energy, structural correlations, and thermodynamic state of polymer melts from the atomistic to the mesoscale.

PubMed

McCarty, J; Clark, A J; Copperman, J; Guenza, M G

2014-05-28

Structural and thermodynamic consistency of coarse-graining models across multiple length scales is essential for the predictive role of multi-scale modeling and molecular dynamic simulations that use mesoscale descriptions. Our approach is a coarse-grained model based on integral equation theory, which can represent polymer chains at variable levels of chemical details. The model is analytical and depends on molecular and thermodynamic parameters of the system under study, as well as on the direct correlation function in the k → 0 limit, c0. A numerical solution to the PRISM integral equations is used to determine c0, by adjusting the value of the effective hard sphere diameter, dHS, to agree with the predicted equation of state. This single quantity parameterizes the coarse-grained potential, which is used to perform mesoscale simulations that are directly compared with atomistic-level simulations of the same system. We test our coarse-graining formalism by comparing structural correlations, isothermal compressibility, equation of state, Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies, and potential energy and entropy using both united atom and coarse-grained descriptions. We find quantitative agreement between the analytical formalism for the thermodynamic properties, and the results of Molecular Dynamics simulations, independent of the chosen level of representation. In the mesoscale description, the potential energy of the soft-particle interaction becomes a free energy in the coarse-grained coordinates which preserves the excess free energy from an ideal gas across all levels of description. The structural consistency between the united-atom and mesoscale descriptions means the relative entropy between descriptions has been minimized without any variational optimization parameters. The approach is general and applicable to any polymeric system in different thermodynamic conditions.

A review of the LATEX project: mesoscale to submesoscale processes in a coastal environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrenko, Anne A.; Doglioli, Andrea M.; Nencioli, Francesco; Kersalé, Marion; Hu, Ziyuan; d'Ovidio, Francesco

2017-04-01

The main objective of the LAgrangian Transport EXperiment (LATEX) project was to study the influence of coastal mesoscale and submesoscale physical processes on circulation dynamics, cross-shelf exchanges, and biogeochemistry in the western continental shelf of the Gulf of Lion, Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. LATEX was a five-year multidisciplinary project based on the combined analysis of numerical model simulations and multi-platform field experiments. The model component included a ten-year realistic 3D numerical simulation, with a 1 km horizontal resolution over the gulf, nested in a coarser 3 km resolution model. The in situ component involved four cruises, including a large-scale multidisciplinary campaign with two research vessels in 2010. This review concentrates on the physics results of LATEX, addressing three main subjects: (1) the investigation of the mesoscale to submesoscale processes. The eddies are elliptic, baroclinic, and anticyclonic; the strong thermal and saline front is density compensated. Their generation processes are studied; (2) the development of sampling strategies for their direct observations. LATEX has implemented an adaptive strategy Lagrangian tool, with a reference software available on the web, to perform offshore campaigns in a Lagrangian framework; (3) the quantification of horizontal mixing and cross-shelf exchanges. Lateral diffusivity coefficients, calculated in various ways including a novel technique, are in the range classically encountered for their associated scales. Cross-shelf fluxes have been calculated, after retrieving the near-inertial oscillation contribution. Further perspectives are discussed, especially for the ongoing challenge of studying submesoscale features remotely and from in situ data.

Adapting to life: ocean biogeochemical modelling and adaptive remeshing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hill, J.; Popova, E. E.; Ham, D. A.; Piggott, M. D.; Srokosz, M.

2013-11-01

An outstanding problem in biogeochemical modelling of the ocean is that many of the key processes occur intermittently at small scales, such as the sub-mesoscale, that are not well represented in global ocean models. As an example, state-of-the-art models give values of primary production approximately two orders of magnitude lower than those observed in the ocean's oligotrophic gyres, which cover a third of the Earth's surface. This is partly due to their failure to resolve sub-mesoscale phenomena, which play a significant role in nutrient supply. Simply increasing the resolution of the models may be an inefficient computational solution to this problem. An approach based on recent advances in adaptive mesh computational techniques may offer an alternative. Here the first steps in such an approach are described, using the example of a~simple vertical column (quasi 1-D) ocean biogeochemical model. We present a novel method of simulating ocean biogeochemical behaviour on a vertically adaptive computational mesh, where the mesh changes in response to the biogeochemical and physical state of the system throughout the simulation. We show that the model reproduces the general physical and biological behaviour at three ocean stations (India, Papa and Bermuda) as compared to a high-resolution fixed mesh simulation and to observations. The simulations capture both the seasonal and inter-annual variations. The use of an adaptive mesh does not increase the computational error, but reduces the number of mesh elements by a factor of 2-3, so reducing computational overhead. We then show the potential of this method in two case studies where we change the metric used to determine the varying mesh sizes in order to capture the dynamics of chlorophyll at Bermuda and sinking detritus at Papa. We therefore demonstrate adaptive meshes may provide a~suitable numerical technique for simulating seasonal or transient biogeochemical behaviour at high spatial resolution whilst minimising computational cost.

Adapting to life: ocean biogeochemical modelling and adaptive remeshing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hill, J.; Popova, E. E.; Ham, D. A.; Piggott, M. D.; Srokosz, M.

2014-05-01

An outstanding problem in biogeochemical modelling of the ocean is that many of the key processes occur intermittently at small scales, such as the sub-mesoscale, that are not well represented in global ocean models. This is partly due to their failure to resolve sub-mesoscale phenomena, which play a significant role in vertical nutrient supply. Simply increasing the resolution of the models may be an inefficient computational solution to this problem. An approach based on recent advances in adaptive mesh computational techniques may offer an alternative. Here the first steps in such an approach are described, using the example of a simple vertical column (quasi-1-D) ocean biogeochemical model. We present a novel method of simulating ocean biogeochemical behaviour on a vertically adaptive computational mesh, where the mesh changes in response to the biogeochemical and physical state of the system throughout the simulation. We show that the model reproduces the general physical and biological behaviour at three ocean stations (India, Papa and Bermuda) as compared to a high-resolution fixed mesh simulation and to observations. The use of an adaptive mesh does not increase the computational error, but reduces the number of mesh elements by a factor of 2-3. Unlike previous work the adaptivity metric used is flexible and we show that capturing the physical behaviour of the model is paramount to achieving a reasonable solution. Adding biological quantities to the adaptivity metric further refines the solution. We then show the potential of this method in two case studies where we change the adaptivity metric used to determine the varying mesh sizes in order to capture the dynamics of chlorophyll at Bermuda and sinking detritus at Papa. We therefore demonstrate that adaptive meshes may provide a suitable numerical technique for simulating seasonal or transient biogeochemical behaviour at high vertical resolution whilst minimising the number of elements in the mesh. More work is required to move this to fully 3-D simulations.

Mesoscale Particle-Based Model of Electrophoresis

DOE PAGES

Giera, Brian; Zepeda-Ruiz, Luis A.; Pascall, Andrew J.; ...

2015-07-31

Here, we develop and evaluate a semi-empirical particle-based model of electrophoresis using extensive mesoscale simulations. We parameterize the model using only measurable quantities from a broad set of colloidal suspensions with properties that span the experimentally relevant regime. With sufficient sampling, simulated diffusivities and electrophoretic velocities match predictions of the ubiquitous Stokes-Einstein and Henry equations, respectively. This agreement holds for non-polar and aqueous solvents or ionic liquid colloidal suspensions under a wide range of applied electric fields.

Mesoscale Particle-Based Model of Electrophoresis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Giera, Brian; Zepeda-Ruiz, Luis A.; Pascall, Andrew J.

Here, we develop and evaluate a semi-empirical particle-based model of electrophoresis using extensive mesoscale simulations. We parameterize the model using only measurable quantities from a broad set of colloidal suspensions with properties that span the experimentally relevant regime. With sufficient sampling, simulated diffusivities and electrophoretic velocities match predictions of the ubiquitous Stokes-Einstein and Henry equations, respectively. This agreement holds for non-polar and aqueous solvents or ionic liquid colloidal suspensions under a wide range of applied electric fields.

Mesoscale mapping of available solar energy at the earth's surface by use of satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hiser, H. W.; Senn, H. V.

1980-01-01

A method is presented for use of cloud images in the visual spectrum from the SMS/GOES geostationary satellites to determine the hourly distribution of sunshine on the mesoscale. Cloud coverage and density as a function of time of day and season are evaluated through the use of digital data processing techniques. Seasonal geographic distributions of cloud cover/sunshine are converted to joules of solar radiation received at the earth's surface through relationships developed from long-term measurements of these two parameters at six widely distributed stations. The technique can be used to generate maps showing the geographic distribution of total solar radiation on the mesoscale which is received at the earth's surface.

Development of Powder Processing Models and Techniques for Meso-scale Devices: Perspirable Skin

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-31

of Powder Processing Models and Techniques for Meso-scale Devices: Perspirable Skin Contract Number ...Skin 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER FA9550-05-1-0202 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Patrick Kwon, Michigan State University 5d...PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Patrick Kwon Department of

Influence of coherent mesoscale structures on satellite-based Doppler lidar wind measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Emmitt, G. D.

1985-01-01

The influence of coherent mesoscale structures on satellite based Doppler lidar wind measurements was investigated. Range dependent weighting functions and the single shot SNR of scan angle are examined and a space shuttle lidar experiment which used a fixed beam and rotating shuttle is simulated.

Predicting mesoscale microstructural evolution in electron beam welding

DOE PAGES

Rodgers, Theron M.; Madison, Jonathan D.; Tikare, Veena; ...

2016-03-16

Using the kinetic Monte Carlo simulator, Stochastic Parallel PARticle Kinetic Simulator, from Sandia National Laboratories, a user routine has been developed to simulate mesoscale predictions of a grain structure near a moving heat source. Here, we demonstrate the use of this user routine to produce voxelized, synthetic, three-dimensional microstructures for electron-beam welding by comparing them with experimentally produced microstructures. When simulation input parameters are matched to experimental process parameters, qualitative and quantitative agreement for both grain size and grain morphology are achieved. The method is capable of simulating both single- and multipass welds. As a result, the simulations provide anmore » opportunity for not only accelerated design but also the integration of simulation and experiments in design such that simulations can receive parameter bounds from experiments and, in turn, provide predictions of a resultant microstructure.« less

Computer Simulation of the Forces Acting on a Submerged Polystyrene Probe as it Approaches the Succinonitrile Melt-Solid Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bune, Andris V.; Kaukler, William; Whitaker, Ann (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A Modeling approach to simulate both mesoscale and microscopic forces acting in a typical AFM experiment is presented. A mesoscale level interaction between the cantilever tip and the sample surface is primarily described by the balance of attractive Van der Waals and repulsive forces. Ultimately, the goal is to measure the forces between a particle and the crystal-melt interface. Two modes of AFM operation are considered in this paper - a stationary and a "tapping" one. The continuous mechanics approach to model tip-surface interaction is presented. At microscopic levels, tip contamination and details of tip-surface interaction are modeled using a molecular dynamics approach for the case of polystyrene - succinonitrile contact. Integration of the mesoscale model with a molecular dynamic model is discussed.

Atomistic- and Meso-Scale Computational Simulations for Developing Multi-Timescale Theory for Radiation Degradation in Electronic and Optoelectronic Devices

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-02-13

3550 Aberdeen Ave., SE 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT Kirtland AFB, NM 87117-5776 NUMBER(S) AFRL -RV-PS-TR-2016-0161 12. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY...RVIL Kirtland AFB, NM 87117-5776 2 cys Official Record Copy AFRL /RVSW/David Cardimona 1 cy 22 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. ... AFRL -RV-PS- AFRL -RV-PS- TR-2016-0161 TR-2016-0161 ATOMISTIC- AND MESO-SCALE COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATIONS FOR DEVELOPING MULTI-TIMESCALE THEORY FOR

Multiscale Issues and Simulation-Based Science and Engineering for Materials-by-Design

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-15

planning and execution of programs to achieve the vision of ? material -by-design?. A key part of this effort has been to examine modeling at the mesoscale...15. SUBJECT TERMS Modelling & Simulation, Materials Design 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT Same as Report (SAR) 18...planning and execution of programs to achieve the vision of “ material -by-design”. A key part of this effort has been to examine modeling at the mesoscale. A

Studies of MGS TES and MPF MET Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, Jeff R.

2003-01-01

The work supported by this grant was divided into two broad areas: (1) mesoscale modeling of atmospheric circulations and analyses of Pathfinder, Viking, and other Mars data, and (2) analyses of MGS TES temperature data. The mesoscale modeling began with the development of a suitable Mars mesoscale model based upon the terrestrial MM5 model, which was then applied to the simulation of the meteorological observations at the Pathfinder and Viking Lander 1 sites during northern summer. This extended study served a dual purpose: to validate the new mesoscale model with the best of the available in-situ data, and to use the model to aid in the interpretation of the surface meteorological data.

A daily global mesoscale ocean eddy dataset from satellite altimetry.

PubMed

Faghmous, James H; Frenger, Ivy; Yao, Yuanshun; Warmka, Robert; Lindell, Aron; Kumar, Vipin

2015-01-01

Mesoscale ocean eddies are ubiquitous coherent rotating structures of water with radial scales on the order of 100 kilometers. Eddies play a key role in the transport and mixing of momentum and tracers across the World Ocean. We present a global daily mesoscale ocean eddy dataset that contains ~45 million mesoscale features and 3.3 million eddy trajectories that persist at least two days as identified in the AVISO dataset over a period of 1993-2014. This dataset, along with the open-source eddy identification software, extract eddies with any parameters (minimum size, lifetime, etc.), to study global eddy properties and dynamics, and to empirically estimate the impact eddies have on mass or heat transport. Furthermore, our open-source software may be used to identify mesoscale features in model simulations and compare them to observed features. Finally, this dataset can be used to study the interaction between mesoscale ocean eddies and other components of the Earth System.

A daily global mesoscale ocean eddy dataset from satellite altimetry

PubMed Central

Faghmous, James H.; Frenger, Ivy; Yao, Yuanshun; Warmka, Robert; Lindell, Aron; Kumar, Vipin

2015-01-01

Mesoscale ocean eddies are ubiquitous coherent rotating structures of water with radial scales on the order of 100 kilometers. Eddies play a key role in the transport and mixing of momentum and tracers across the World Ocean. We present a global daily mesoscale ocean eddy dataset that contains ~45 million mesoscale features and 3.3 million eddy trajectories that persist at least two days as identified in the AVISO dataset over a period of 1993–2014. This dataset, along with the open-source eddy identification software, extract eddies with any parameters (minimum size, lifetime, etc.), to study global eddy properties and dynamics, and to empirically estimate the impact eddies have on mass or heat transport. Furthermore, our open-source software may be used to identify mesoscale features in model simulations and compare them to observed features. Finally, this dataset can be used to study the interaction between mesoscale ocean eddies and other components of the Earth System. PMID:26097744

Evaluating and Understanding Parameterized Convective Processes and Their Role in the Development of Mesoscale Precipitation Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fritsch, J. Michael (Principal Investigator); Kain, John S.

1995-01-01

Research efforts during the first year focused on numerical simulations of two convective systems with the Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model. The first of these systems was tropical cyclone Irma, which occurred in 1987 in Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria during the AMEX field program. Comparison simulations of this system were done with two different convective parameterization schemes (CPS's), the Kain-Fritsch (1993 - KF) and the Betts-Miller (Betts 1986- BM) schemes. The second system was the June 10-11 1985 squall line simulation, which occurred over the Kansas-Oklahoma region during the PRE-STORM experiment. Simulations of this system using the KF scheme were examined in detail.

How does mesoscale impact deep convection? Answers from ensemble Northwestern Mediterranean Sea simulations.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waldman, Robin; Herrmann, Marine; Somot, Samuel; Arsouze, Thomas; Benshila, Rachid; Bosse, Anthony; Chanut, Jérôme; Giordani, Hervé; Pennel, Romain; Sevault, Florence; Testor, Pierre

2017-04-01

Ocean deep convection is a major process of interaction between surface and deep ocean. The Gulf of Lions is a well-documented deep convection area in the Mediterranean Sea, and mesoscale dynamics is a known factor impacting this phenomenon. However, previous modelling studies don't allow to address the robustness of its impact with respect to the physical configuration and ocean intrinsic variability. In this study, the impact of mesoscale on ocean deep convection in the Gulf of Lions is investigated using a multi-resolution ensemble simulation of the northwestern Mediterranean sea. The eddy-permitting Mediterranean model NEMOMED12 (6km resolution) is compared to its eddy-resolving counterpart with the 2-way grid refinement AGRIF in the northwestern Mediterranean (2km resolution). We focus on the well-documented 2012-2013 period and on the multidecadal timescale (1979-2013). The impact of mesoscale on deep convection is addressed in terms of its mean and variability, its impact on deep water transformations and on associated dynamical structures. Results are interpreted by diagnosing regional mean and eddy circulation and using buoyancy budgets. We find a mean inhibition of deep convection by mesoscale with large interannual variability. It is associated with a large impact on mean and transient circulation and a large air-sea flux feedback.

Modelling NOX concentrations through CFD-RANS in an urban hot-spot using high resolution traffic emissions and meteorology from a mesoscale model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanchez, Beatriz; Santiago, Jose Luis; Martilli, Alberto; Martin, Fernando; Borge, Rafael; Quaassdorff, Christina; de la Paz, David

2017-08-01

Air quality management requires more detailed studies about air pollution at urban and local scale over long periods of time. This work focuses on obtaining the spatial distribution of NOx concentration averaged over several days in a heavily trafficked urban area in Madrid (Spain) using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. A methodology based on weighted average of CFD simulations is applied computing the time evolution of NOx dispersion as a sequence of steady-state scenarios taking into account the actual atmospheric conditions. The inputs of emissions are estimated from the traffic emission model and the meteorological information used is derived from a mesoscale model. Finally, the computed concentration map correlates well with 72 passive samplers deployed in the research area. This work reveals the potential of using urban mesoscale simulations together with detailed traffic emissions so as to provide accurate maps of pollutant concentration at microscale using CFD simulations.

Anisotropic shear dispersion parameterization for ocean eddy transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reckinger, Scott; Fox-Kemper, Baylor

2015-11-01

The effects of mesoscale eddies are universally treated isotropically in global ocean general circulation models. However, observations and simulations demonstrate that the mesoscale processes that the parameterization is intended to represent, such as shear dispersion, are typified by strong anisotropy. We extend the Gent-McWilliams/Redi mesoscale eddy parameterization to include anisotropy and test the effects of varying levels of anisotropy in 1-degree Community Earth System Model (CESM) simulations. Anisotropy has many effects on the simulated climate, including a reduction of temperature and salinity biases, a deepening of the southern ocean mixed-layer depth, impacts on the meridional overturning circulation and ocean energy and tracer uptake, and improved ventilation of biogeochemical tracers, particularly in oxygen minimum zones. A process-based parameterization to approximate the effects of unresolved shear dispersion is also used to set the strength and direction of anisotropy. The shear dispersion parameterization is similar to drifter observations in spatial distribution of diffusivity and high-resolution model diagnosis in the distribution of eddy flux orientation.

Creating physically-based three-dimensional microstructures: Bridging phase-field and crystal plasticity models.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lim, Hojun; Owen, Steven J.; Abdeljawad, Fadi F.

In order to better incorporate microstructures in continuum scale models, we use a novel finite element (FE) meshing technique to generate three-dimensional polycrystalline aggregates from a phase field grain growth model of grain microstructures. The proposed meshing technique creates hexahedral FE meshes that capture smooth interfaces between adjacent grains. Three dimensional realizations of grain microstructures from the phase field model are used in crystal plasticity-finite element (CP-FE) simulations of polycrystalline a -iron. We show that the interface conformal meshes significantly reduce artificial stress localizations in voxelated meshes that exhibit the so-called "wedding cake" interfaces. This framework provides a direct linkmore » between two mesoscale models - phase field and crystal plasticity - and for the first time allows mechanics simulations of polycrystalline materials using three-dimensional hexahedral finite element meshes with realistic topological features.« less

A VAS-numerical model impact study using the Gal-Chen variational approach. [Visible Infrared Spin-Scan Radiometer Atmospheric Sounder (VAS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aune, Robert M.; Uccellini, Louis W.; Peterson, Ralph A.; Tuccillo, James J.

1987-01-01

Numerical experiments to assess the impact of incorporating temperature data from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) using the assimilation technique developed by Gal-Chen (1986) modified for use in the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS) model were conducted. The scheme is designed to utilize the high temporal and horizontal resolution of satellite retrievals while maintaining the fine vertical structure generated by the model. This is accomplished by adjusting the model lapse rates to reflect thicknesses retrieved from VAS and applying a three-dimensional variational that preserves the distribution of the geopotential fields in the model. A nudging technique whereby the model temperature fields are gradually adjusted toward the updated temperature fields during model integration is also tested. An adiabatic version of MASS is used in all experiments to better isolate mass-momentum imbalances. The method has a sustained impact over an 18 hr model simulation.

Investigating Deformation and Mesoscale Void Creation in HMX Based Composites using Tomography Based Grain Scale Finite Element Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walters, David J.; Luscher, Darby J.; Manner, Virginia; Yeager, John D.; Patterson, Brian M.

2017-06-01

The microstructure of plastic bonded explosives (PBXs) significantly affects their macroscale mechanical characteristics. Imaging and modeling of the mesoscale constituents allows for a detailed examination of the deformation of mechanically loaded PBXs. In this study, explosive composites, formulated with HMX crystals and various HTPB based polymer binders have been imaged using micro Computed Tomography (μCT). Cohesive parameters for simulation of the crystal/binder interface are determined by comparing numerical and experimental results of the delamination of a polymer bound bi-crystal system. Similarly, polycrystalline samples are discretized into a finite element mesh using the mesoscale geometry captured by in-situ μCT imaging. Experimentally, increasing the stiffness of the HTPB binder in the polycrystalline system resulted in a transition from ductile flow with little crystal/binder delamination to brittle behavior with increased void creation along the interfaces. Simulating the macroscale compression of these samples demonstrates the effects that the mesoscale geometry, cohesive properties, and binder stiffness have on the creation and distribution of interfacial voids. Understanding void nucleation is critical for modeling damage in these complex materials.

Mesoscale Assimilation of TMI Rainfall Data with 4DVAR: Sensitivity Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Pu, Zhaoxia

2003-01-01

Sensitivity studies are performed on the assimilation of TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission) Microwave Imager (TMI) derived rainfall data into a mesoscale model using a four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4DVAR) technique. A series of numerical experiments is conducted to evaluate the impact of TMI rainfall data on the numerical simulation of Hurricane Bonnie (1998). The results indicate that rainfall data assimilation is sensitive to the error characteristics of the data and the inclusion of physics in the adjoint and forward models. In addition, assimilating the rainfall data alone is helpful for producing a more realistic eye and rain bands in the hurricane but does not ensure improvements in hurricane intensity forecasts. Further study indicated that it is necessary to incorporate TMI rainfall data together with other types of data such as wind data into the model, in which case the inclusion of the rainfall data further improves the intensity forecast of the hurricane. This implies that proper constraints may be needed for rainfall assimilation.

Top-down estimate of surface flux in the Los Angeles Basin using a mesoscale inverse modeling technique: assessing anthropogenic emissions of CO, NOx and CO2 and their impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brioude, J.; Angevine, W. M.; Ahmadov, R.; Kim, S.-W.; Evan, S.; McKeen, S. A.; Hsie, E.-Y.; Frost, G. J.; Neuman, J. A.; Pollack, I. B.; Peischl, J.; Ryerson, T. B.; Holloway, J.; Brown, S. S.; Nowak, J. B.; Roberts, J. M.; Wofsy, S. C.; Santoni, G. W.; Oda, T.; Trainer, M.

2013-04-01

We present top-down estimates of anthropogenic CO, NOx and CO2 surface fluxes at mesoscale using a Lagrangian model in combination with three different WRF model configurations, driven by data from aircraft flights during the CALNEX campaign in southern California in May-June 2010. The US EPA National Emission Inventory 2005 (NEI 2005) was the prior in the CO and NOx inversion calculations. The flux ratio inversion method, based on linear relationships between chemical species, was used to calculate the CO2 inventory without prior knowledge of CO2 surface fluxes. The inversion was applied to each flight to estimate the variability of single-flight-based flux estimates. In Los Angeles (LA) County, the uncertainties on CO and NOx fluxes were 10% and 15%, respectively. Compared with NEI 2005, the CO posterior emissions were lower by 43% in LA County and by 37% in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB). NOx posterior emissions were lower by 32% in LA County and by 27% in the SoCAB. NOx posterior emissions were 40% lower on weekends relative to weekdays. The CO2 posterior estimates were 183 Tg yr-1 in SoCAB. A flight during ITCT (Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation) in 2002 was used to estimate emissions in the LA Basin in 2002. From 2002 to 2010, the CO and NOx posterior emissions decreased by 41% and 37%, respectively, in agreement with previous studies. Over the same time period, CO2 emissions increased by 10% in LA County but decreased by 4% in the SoCAB, a statistically insignificant change. Overall, the posterior estimates were in good agreement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) inventory, with differences of 15% or less. However, the posterior spatial distribution in the basin was significantly different from CARB for NOx emissions. WRF-Chem mesoscale chemical-transport model simulations allowed an evaluation of differences in chemistry using different inventory assumptions, including NEI 2005, a gridded CARB inventory and the posterior inventories derived in this study. The biases in WRF-Chem ozone were reduced and correlations were increased using the posterior from this study compared with simulations with the two bottom-up inventories, suggesting that improving the spatial distribution of ozone precursor surface emissions is also important in mesoscale chemistry simulations.

Dominance of debonding defect of CFST on PZT sensor response considering the meso-scale structure of concrete with multi-scale simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Bin; Chen, Hongbing; Mo, Y.-L.; Zhou, Tianmin

2018-07-01

Piezoelectric-lead-zirconate-titanate(PZT)-based interface debonding defects detection for concrete filled steel tubulars (CFSTs) has been proposed and validated through experiments, and numerical study on its mechanism has been carried out recently by assuming that concrete material is homogenous. However, concrete is composed of coarse and fine aggregates, mortar and interface transition zones (ITZs) and even initial defects and is a typical nonhomogeneous material and its mesoscale structure might affect the wave propagation in the concrete core of CFST members. Therefore, it is significantly important to further investigate the influence of mesoscale structure of concrete on the stress wave propagation and the response of embedded PZT sensor for the interface debonding detection. In this study, multi-physical numerical simulation on the wave propagation and embedded PZT sensor response of rectangular CFST members with numerical concrete core considering the randomness in circular aggregate distribution, and coupled with surface-mounted PZT actuator and embedded PZT sensor is carried out. The effect of randomness in the circular aggregates distribution and the existence of ITZs are discussed. Both a local stress wave propagation behavior including transmission, reflection, and diffraction at the interface between concrete core and steel tube under a pulse signal excitation and a global wave field in the cross-section of the rectangular CFST models without and with interface debonding defects under sweep frequency excitation are simulated. The sensitivity of an evaluation index based on wavelet packet analysis on the embedded PZT sensor response on the variation of mesoscale parameters of concrete core without and with different interface debonding defects under sweep frequency voltage signal is investigated in details. The results show that the effect of the interface debondings on the embedded PZT measurement is dominant when compared to the meso-scale structures of concrete core. This study verified the feasibility of the PZT based debonding detection for rectangular CFST members even the meso-scale structure of concrete core is considered.

Bridging the Transition from Mesoscale to Microscale Turbulence in Numerical Weather Prediction Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muñoz-Esparza, Domingo; Kosović, Branko; Mirocha, Jeff; van Beeck, Jeroen

2014-12-01

With a focus towards developing multiscale capabilities in numerical weather prediction models, the specific problem of the transition from the mesoscale to the microscale is investigated. For that purpose, idealized one-way nested mesoscale to large-eddy simulation (LES) experiments were carried out using the Weather Research and Forecasting model framework. It is demonstrated that switching from one-dimensional turbulent diffusion in the mesoscale model to three-dimensional LES mixing does not necessarily result in an instantaneous development of turbulence in the LES domain. On the contrary, very large fetches are needed for the natural transition to turbulence to occur. The computational burden imposed by these long fetches necessitates the development of methods to accelerate the generation of turbulence on a nested LES domain forced by a smooth mesoscale inflow. To that end, four new methods based upon finite amplitude perturbations of the potential temperature field along the LES inflow boundaries are developed, and investigated under convective conditions. Each method accelerated the development of turbulence within the LES domain, with two of the methods resulting in a rapid generation of production and inertial range energy content associated to microscales that is consistent with non-nested simulations using periodic boundary conditions. The cell perturbation approach, the simplest and most efficient of the best performing methods, was investigated further under neutral and stable conditions. Successful results were obtained in all the regimes, where satisfactory agreement of mean velocity, variances and turbulent fluxes, as well as velocity and temperature spectra, was achieved with reference non-nested simulations. In contrast, the non-perturbed LES solution exhibited important energy deficits associated to a delayed establishment of fully-developed turbulence. The cell perturbation method has negligible computational cost, significantly accelerates the generation of realistic turbulence, and requires minimal parameter tuning, with the necessary information relatable to mean inflow conditions provided by the mesoscale solution.

Mesoscale modeling of solute precipitation and radiation damage

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Yongfeng; Schwen, Daniel; Ke, Huibin

2015-09-01

This report summarizes the low length scale effort during FY 2014 in developing mesoscale capabilities for microstructure evolution in reactor pressure vessels. During operation, reactor pressure vessels are subject to hardening and embrittlement caused by irradiation-induced defect accumulation and irradiation-enhanced solute precipitation. Both defect production and solute precipitation start from the atomic scale, and manifest their eventual effects as degradation in engineering-scale properties. To predict the property degradation, multiscale modeling and simulation are needed to deal with the microstructure evolution, and to link the microstructure feature to material properties. In this report, the development of mesoscale capabilities for defect accumulationmore » and solute precipitation are summarized. Atomic-scale efforts that supply information for the mesoscale capabilities are also included.« less

Mesoscale energy deposition footprint model for kiloelectronvolt cluster bombardment of solids.

PubMed

Russo, Michael F; Garrison, Barbara J

2006-10-15

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to model 5-keV C60 and Au3 projectile bombardment of an amorphous water substrate. The goal is to obtain detailed insights into the dynamics of motion in order to develop a straightforward and less computationally demanding model of the process of ejection. The molecular dynamics results provide the basis for the mesoscale energy deposition footprint model. This model provides a method for predicting relative yields based on information from less than 1 ps of simulation time.

Designing artificial enzymes from scratch: Experimental study and mesoscale simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komarov, Pavel V.; Zaborina, Olga E.; Klimova, Tamara P.; Lozinsky, Vladimir I.; Khalatur, Pavel G.; Khokhlov, Alexey R.

2016-09-01

We present a new concept for designing biomimetic analogs of enzymatic proteins; these analogs are based on the synthetic protein-like copolymers. α-Chymotrypsin is used as a prototype of the artificial catalyst. Our experimental study shows that in the course of free radical copolymerization of hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers the target globular nanostructures of a "core-shell" morphology appear in a selective solvent. Using a mesoscale computer simulation, we show that the protein-like globules can have a large number of catalytic centers located at the hydrophobic core/hydrophilic shell interface.

Shock compression response of cold-rolled Ni/Al multilayer composites

DOE PAGES

Specht, Paul E.; Weihs, Timothy P.; Thadhani, Naresh N.

2017-01-06

Uniaxial strain, plate-on-plate impact experiments were performed on cold-rolled Ni/Al multilayer composites and the resulting Hugoniot was determined through time-resolved measurements combined with impedance matching. The experimental Hugoniot agreed with that previously predicted by two dimensional (2D) meso-scale calculations. Additional 2D meso-scale simulations were performed using the same computational method as the prior study to reproduce the experimentally measured free surface velocities and stress profiles. Finally, these simulations accurately replicated the experimental profiles, providing additional validation for the previous computational work.

A mesoscopic simulation on distributions of red blood cells in a bifurcating channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inoue, Yasuhiro; Takagi, Shu; Matsumoto, Yoichiro

2004-11-01

Transports of red blood cells (RBCs) or particles in bifurcated channels have been attracting renewed interest since the advent of concepts of MEMS for sorting, analyzing, and removing cells or particles from sample medium. In this talk, we present a result on a transport of red blood cells (RBCs) in a bifurcating channel studied by using a mesoscale simulation technique of immiscible droplets, where RBCs have been modeled as immiscible droplets. The distribution of RBCs is represented by the fractional RBC flux into two daughters as a function of volumetric flow ratio between the daughters. The data obtained in our simulations are examined with a theoretical prediction, in which, we assume an exponential distribution for positions of RBCs in the mother channel. The theoretical predictions show a good agreement with simulation results. A non-uniform distribution of RBCs in the mother channel affects disproportional separation of RBC flux at a bifurcation.

Using weather prediction data for simulation of mesoscale atmospheric processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bart, Andrey A.; Starchenko, Alexander V.

2015-11-01

The paper presents an approach to specify initial and boundary conditions from the output data of global model SLAV for mesoscale modelling of atmospheric processes in areas not covered by meteorological observations. From the data and the model equations for a homogeneous atmospheric boundary layer the meteorological and turbulent characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer are calculated.

Comparison of Measured and WRF-LES Turbulence Statistics in a Real Convective Boundary Layer over Complex Terrain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rai, R. K.; Berg, L. K.; Kosovic, B.; Mirocha, J. D.; Pekour, M. S.; Shaw, W. J.

2015-12-01

Resolving the finest turbulent scales present in the lower atmosphere using numerical simulations helps to study the processes that occur in the atmospheric boundary layer, such as the turbulent inflow condition to the wind plant and the generation of the wake behind wind turbines. This work employs several nested domains in the WRF-LES framework to simulate conditions in a convectively driven cloud free boundary layer at an instrumented field site in complex terrain. The innermost LES domain (30 m spatial resolution) receives the boundary forcing from two other coarser resolution LES outer domains, which in turn receive boundary conditions from two WRF-mesoscale domains. Wind and temperature records from sonic anemometers mounted at two vertical levels (30 m and 60 m) are compared with the LES results in term of first and second statistical moments as well as power spectra and distributions of wind velocity. For the two mostly used boundary layer parameterizations (MYNN and YSU) tested in the WRF mesoscale domains, the MYNN scheme shows slightly better agreement with the observations for some quantities, such as time averaged velocity and Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE). However, LES driven by WRF-mesoscale simulations using either parameterization have similar velocity spectra and distributions of velocity. For each component of the wind velocity, WRF-LES power spectra are found to be comparable to the spectra derived from the measured data (for the frequencies that are accurately represented by WRF-LES). Furthermore, the analysis of LES results shows a noticeable variability of the mean and variance even over small horizontal distances that would be considered sub-grid scale in mesoscale simulations. This observed statistical variability in space and time can be utilized to further analyze the turbulence quantities over a heterogeneous surface and to improve the turbulence parameterization in the mesoscale model.

Ocean-Atmosphere Coupled Model Simulations of Precipitation in the Central Andes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nicholls, Stephen D.; Mohr, Karen I.

2015-01-01

The meridional extent and complex orography of the South American continent contributes to a wide diversity of climate regimes ranging from hyper-arid deserts to tropical rainforests to sub-polar highland regions. In addition, South American meteorology and climate are also made further complicated by ENSO, a powerful coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon. Modelling studies in this region have typically resorted to either atmospheric mesoscale or atmosphere-ocean coupled global climate models. The latter offers full physics and high spatial resolution, but it is computationally inefficient typically lack an interactive ocean, whereas the former offers high computational efficiency and ocean-atmosphere coupling, but it lacks adequate spatial and temporal resolution to adequate resolve the complex orography and explicitly simulate precipitation. Explicit simulation of precipitation is vital in the Central Andes where rainfall rates are light (0.5-5 mm hr-1), there is strong seasonality, and most precipitation is associated with weak mesoscale-organized convection. Recent increases in both computational power and model development have led to the advent of coupled ocean-atmosphere mesoscale models for both weather and climate study applications. These modelling systems, while computationally expensive, include two-way ocean-atmosphere coupling, high resolution, and explicit simulation of precipitation. In this study, we use the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST), a fully-coupled mesoscale atmosphere-ocean modeling system. Previous work has shown COAWST to reasonably simulate the entire 2003-2004 wet season (Dec-Feb) as validated against both satellite and model analysis data when ECMWF interim analysis data were used for boundary conditions on a 27-9-km grid configuration (Outer grid extent: 60.4S to 17.7N and 118.6W to 17.4W).

A review of major progresses in mesoscale dynamic research in China since 1999

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Xiaoping; Lu, Hancheng; Ni, Yunqi; Tan, Zhemin

2004-06-01

Mesoscale research conducted by Chinese meteorologists during the past four years is reviewed. Advances in theoretical studies include (a) mesoscale quasi-balanced and semi-balanced dynamics, derived through scale analysis and the perturbation method which are suitable for describing mesoscale vortices; (b) subcritical instability and vortex-sheet instability; (c) frontal adjustment mechanism and the effect of topography on frontgenesis; and (d) slantwise vorticity development theories, the slantwise vortex equation, and moist potential vorticity (MPV) anomalies with precipitation-related heat and mass sinks and MPV impermeability theorem. From the MPV conservation viewpoint, the transformation mechanism between different scale weather systems is analyzed. Based on the data analysis, a new dew-point front near the periphery of the West Pacific subtropical high is identified. In the light of MPV theory and Q-vector theory, some events associated with torrential rain systems and severe storms are analyzed and diagnosed. Progress in mesoscale numerical simulation has been made in the development of meso-α, meso-β vortices, meso-γ-scale downbursts and precipitation produced by deep convective systems with MM5 and other mesoscale models.

Coupled mesoscale-LES modeling of a diurnal cycle during the CWEX-13 field campaign: From weather to boundary-layer eddies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; Lundquist, Julie K.; Sauer, Jeremy A.

Multiscale modeling of a diurnal cycle of real-world conditions is presented for the first time, validated using data from the CWEX-13 field experiment. Dynamical downscaling from synoptic-scale down to resolved three-dimensional eddies in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) was performed, spanning 4 orders of magnitude in horizontal grid resolution: from 111 km down to 8.2 m (30 m) in stable (convective) conditions. Computationally efficient mesoscale-to-microscale transition was made possible by the generalized cell perturbation method with time-varying parameters derived from mesoscale forcing conditions, which substantially reduced the fetch to achieve fully developed turbulence. In addition, careful design of the simulationsmore » was made to inhibit the presence of under-resolved convection at convection-resolving mesoscale resolution and to ensure proper turbulence representation in stably-stratified conditions. Comparison to in situ wind-profiling lidar and near-surface sonic anemometer measurements demonstrated the ability to reproduce the ABL structure throughout the entire diurnal cycle with a high degree of fidelity. The multiscale simulations exhibit realistic atmospheric features such as convective rolls and global intermittency. Also, the diurnal evolution of turbulence was accurately simulated, with probability density functions of resolved turbulent velocity fluctuations nearly identical to the lidar measurements. Explicit representation of turbulence in the stably-stratified ABL was found to provide the right balance with larger scales, resulting in the development of intra-hour variability as observed by the wind lidar; this variability was not captured by the mesoscale model. Furthermore, multiscale simulations improved mean ABL characteristics such as horizontal velocity, vertical wind shear, and turbulence.« less

Coupled mesoscale-LES modeling of a diurnal cycle during the CWEX-13 field campaign: From weather to boundary-layer eddies

DOE PAGES

Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; Lundquist, Julie K.; Sauer, Jeremy A.; ...

2017-04-25

Multiscale modeling of a diurnal cycle of real-world conditions is presented for the first time, validated using data from the CWEX-13 field experiment. Dynamical downscaling from synoptic-scale down to resolved three-dimensional eddies in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) was performed, spanning 4 orders of magnitude in horizontal grid resolution: from 111 km down to 8.2 m (30 m) in stable (convective) conditions. Computationally efficient mesoscale-to-microscale transition was made possible by the generalized cell perturbation method with time-varying parameters derived from mesoscale forcing conditions, which substantially reduced the fetch to achieve fully developed turbulence. In addition, careful design of the simulationsmore » was made to inhibit the presence of under-resolved convection at convection-resolving mesoscale resolution and to ensure proper turbulence representation in stably-stratified conditions. Comparison to in situ wind-profiling lidar and near-surface sonic anemometer measurements demonstrated the ability to reproduce the ABL structure throughout the entire diurnal cycle with a high degree of fidelity. The multiscale simulations exhibit realistic atmospheric features such as convective rolls and global intermittency. Also, the diurnal evolution of turbulence was accurately simulated, with probability density functions of resolved turbulent velocity fluctuations nearly identical to the lidar measurements. Explicit representation of turbulence in the stably-stratified ABL was found to provide the right balance with larger scales, resulting in the development of intra-hour variability as observed by the wind lidar; this variability was not captured by the mesoscale model. Furthermore, multiscale simulations improved mean ABL characteristics such as horizontal velocity, vertical wind shear, and turbulence.« less

An explicit mixed numerical method for mesoscale model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hsu, H.-M.

1981-01-01

A mixed numerical method has been developed for mesoscale models. The technique consists of a forward difference scheme for time tendency terms, an upstream scheme for advective terms, and a central scheme for the other terms in a physical system. It is shown that the mixed method is conditionally stable and highly accurate for approximating the system of either shallow-water equations in one dimension or primitive equations in three dimensions. Since the technique is explicit and two time level, it conserves computer and programming resources.

Computational modeling of high performance steel fiber reinforced concrete using a micromorphic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huespe, A. E.; Oliver, J.; Mora, D. F.

2013-12-01

A finite element methodology for simulating the failure of high performance fiber reinforced concrete composites (HPFRC), with arbitrarily oriented short fibers, is presented. The composite material model is based on a micromorphic approach. Using the framework provided by this theory, the body configuration space is described through two kinematical descriptors. At the structural level, the displacement field represents the standard kinematical descriptor. Additionally, a morphological kinematical descriptor, the micromorphic field, is introduced. It describes the fiber-matrix relative displacement, or slipping mechanism of the bond, observed at the mesoscale level. In the first part of this paper, we summarize the model formulation of the micromorphic approach presented in a previous work by the authors. In the second part, and as the main contribution of the paper, we address specific issues related to the numerical aspects involved in the computational implementation of the model. The developed numerical procedure is based on a mixed finite element technique. The number of dofs per node changes according with the number of fiber bundles simulated in the composite. Then, a specific solution scheme is proposed to solve the variable number of unknowns in the discrete model. The HPFRC composite model takes into account the important effects produced by concrete fracture. A procedure for simulating quasi-brittle fracture is introduced into the model and is described in the paper. The present numerical methodology is assessed by simulating a selected set of experimental tests which proves its viability and accuracy to capture a number of mechanical phenomenon interacting at the macro- and mesoscale and leading to failure of HPFRC composites.

A Novel Method for Characterization of Superconductors: Physical Measurements and Modeling of Thin Films

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, B. F.; Moorjani, K.; Phillips, T. E.; Adrian, F. J.; Bohandy, J.; Dolecek, Q. E.

1993-01-01

A method for characterization of granular superconducting thin films has been developed which encompasses both the morphological state of the sample and its fabrication process parameters. The broad scope of this technique is due to the synergism between experimental measurements and their interpretation using numerical simulation. Two novel technologies form the substance of this system: the magnetically modulated resistance method for characterizing superconductors; and a powerful new computer peripheral, the Parallel Information Processor card, which provides enhanced computing capability for PC computers. This enhancement allows PC computers to operate at speeds approaching that of supercomputers. This makes atomic scale simulations possible on low cost machines. The present development of this system involves the integration of these two technologies using mesoscale simulations of thin film growth. A future stage of development will incorporate atomic scale modeling.

A Study of Mesoscale Gravity Waves over the North Atlantic with Satellite Observations and a Mesoscale Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Dong L.; Zhang, Fuqing

2004-01-01

Satellite microwave data are used to study gravity wave properties and variabilities over the northeastern United States and the North Atlantic in the December-January periods. The gravity waves in this region, found in many winters, can reach the stratopause with growing amplitude. The Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) observations show that the wave occurrences are correlated well with the intensity and location of the tropospheric baroclinic jet front systems. To further investigate the cause(s) and properties of the North Atlantic gravity waves, we focus on a series of wave events during 19-21 January 2003 and compare AMSU-A observations to simulations from a mesoscale model (MM5). The simulated gravity waves compare qualitatively well with the satellite observations in terms of wave structures, timing, and overall morphology. Excitation mechanisms of these large-amplitude waves in the troposphere are complex and subject to further investigations.

Numerical Model Studies of the Martian Mesoscale Circulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Segal, Moti; Arritt, Raymond W.

1997-01-01

The study objectives were to evaluate by numerical modeling various possible mesoscale circulation on Mars and related atmospheric boundary layer processes. The study was in collaboration with J. Tillman of the University of Washington (who supported the study observationally). Interaction has been made with J. Prusa of Iowa State University in numerical modeling investigation of dynamical effects of topographically-influenced flow. Modeling simulations included evaluations of surface physical characteristics on: (i) the Martian atmospheric boundary layer and (ii) their impact on thermally and dynamically forced mesoscale flows. Special model evaluations were made in support of selection of the Pathfinder landing sites. J. Tillman's finding of VL-2 inter-annual temperature difference was followed by model simulations attempting to point out the forcing for this feature. Publication of the results in the reviewed literature in pending upon completion of the manuscripts in preparation as indicated later.

Low-level wind response to mesoscale pressure systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garratt, J. R.; Physick, W. L.

1983-09-01

Observations are presented which show a strong correlation between low-level wind behaviour (e.g., rotation near the surface) and the passage of mesoscale pressure systems. The latter are associated with frontal transition zones, are dominated by a pressure-jump line and a mesoscale high pressure area, and produce locally large horizontal pressure gradients. The wind observations are simulated by specifying a time sequence of perturbation pressure gradient and subsequently solving the vertically-integrated momentum equations with appropriate initial conditions. Very good agreement is found between observed and calculated winds; in particular, (i) a 360 ° rotation in wind on passage of the mesoscale high; (ii) wind-shift lines produced dynamically by the pressure-jump line; (iii) rapid linear increase in wind speed on passage of the pressure jump.

The Impact of TRMM on Mesoscale Model Simulation of Super Typhoon Paka

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao, W.-K.; Jia, Y.; Halverson, J.; Hou, A.; Olson, W.; Rodgers, E.; Simpson, J.

1999-01-01

Tropical cyclone Paka formed during the first week of December 1997 and underwent three periods of rapid intensification over the following two weeks. During one of these periods, which initiated early on December 10, Paka's Dvorak-measured windspeed increased from 23 to 60 m/s over a 48-hr period. On December 18, during the last rapid deepening episode, Paka became a supertyphoon with a maximum wind speed of about 80 m/s. In this study, the Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) with improved physics (i.e., cloud microphysics, radiation, land-soil-vegetation-surface processes, and TOGA COARE flux scheme) and a multiple level nesting technique (135, 45 and 15 km horizontal resolution) will be used to simulate supertyphoon Paka. We performed two runs initialized with Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) data sets. The first GEOS data set does not incorporate either TRMM (tropical rainfall measuring mission satellite) or SSM/I (sensor microwave imager) observed rainfall fields into the GEOS's assimilation system while the second one does. Preliminary results show that the MM5 simulated surface pressure deepened by more than 25 mb (45 km resolution domain) in the run initialized with the GEOS data set incorporating TRMM and SSM/I derived rainfall, compared to the one initialized without. However, the track and precipitation patterns are quite similar between the runs. In our presentation, we will show the impact of TRMM rainfall upon the MM5 simulation of Paka at various horizontal resolutions. We will also examine the physical processes associated with initial explosive development by comparing MM5 simulated rainfall and latent heat release. In addition, budget (vorticity, PV, momentum and heat) calculations and sensitivity tests will be performed to examine the upper-tropospheric and SST mechanisms responsible for the explosive development of Paka.

Radiatively driven stratosphere-troposphere interactions near the tops of tropical cloud clusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Churchill, Dean D.; Houze, Robert A., Jr.

1990-01-01

Results are presented of two numerical simulations of the mechanism involved in the dehydration of air, using the model of Churchill (1988) and Churchill and Houze (1990) which combines the water and ice physics parameterizations and IR and solar-radiation parameterization with a convective adjustment scheme in a kinematic nondynamic framework. One simulation, a cirrus cloud simulation, was to test the Danielsen (1982) hypothesis of a dehydration mechanism for the stratosphere; the other was to simulate the mesoscale updraft in order to test an alternative mechanism for 'freeze-drying' the air. The results show that the physical processes simulated in the mesoscale updraft differ from those in the thin-cirrus simulation. While in the thin-cirrus case, eddy fluxes occur in response to IR radiative destabilization, and, hence, no net transfer occurs between troposphere and stratosphere, the mesosphere updraft case has net upward mass transport into the lower stratosphere.

Non-contact tensile viscoelastic characterization of microscale biological materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yuhui; Hong, Yuan; Xu, Guang-Kui; Liu, Shaobao; Shi, Qiang; Tang, Deding; Yang, Hui; Genin, Guy M.; Lu, Tian Jian; Xu, Feng

2018-06-01

Many structures and materials in nature and physiology have important "meso-scale" structures at the micron length-scale whose tensile responses have proven difficult to characterize mechanically. Although techniques such as atomic force microscopy and micro- and nano-identation are mature for compression and indentation testing at the nano-scale, and standard uniaxial and shear rheometry techniques exist for the macroscale, few techniques are applicable for tensile-testing at the micrometre-scale, leaving a gap in our understanding of hierarchical biomaterials. Here, we present a novel magnetic mechanical testing (MMT) system that enables viscoelastic tensile testing at this critical length scale. The MMT system applies non-contact loading, avoiding gripping and surface interaction effects. We demonstrate application of the MMT system to the first analyses of the pure tensile responses of several native and engineered tissue systems at the mesoscale, showing the broad potential of the system for exploring micro- and meso-scale analysis of structured and hierarchical biological systems.

Non-contact tensile viscoelastic characterization of microscale biological materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yuhui; Hong, Yuan; Xu, Guang-Kui; Liu, Shaobao; Shi, Qiang; Tang, Deding; Yang, Hui; Genin, Guy M.; Lu, Tian Jian; Xu, Feng

2018-01-01

Many structures and materials in nature and physiology have important "meso-scale" structures at the micron length-scale whose tensile responses have proven difficult to characterize mechanically. Although techniques such as atomic force microscopy and micro- and nano-identation are mature for compression and indentation testing at the nano-scale, and standard uniaxial and shear rheometry techniques exist for the macroscale, few techniques are applicable for tensile-testing at the micrometre-scale, leaving a gap in our understanding of hierarchical biomaterials. Here, we present a novel magnetic mechanical testing (MMT) system that enables viscoelastic tensile testing at this critical length scale. The MMT system applies non-contact loading, avoiding gripping and surface interaction effects. We demonstrate application of the MMT system to the first analyses of the pure tensile responses of several native and engineered tissue systems at the mesoscale, showing the broad potential of the system for exploring micro- and meso-scale analysis of structured and hierarchical biological systems.

Measurement and modeling of moist processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cotton, William; Starr, David; Mitchell, Kenneth; Fleming, Rex; Koch, Steve; Smith, Steve; Mailhot, Jocelyn; Perkey, Don; Tripoli, Greg

1993-01-01

The keynote talk summarized five years of work simulating observed mesoscale convective systems with the RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System) model. Excellent results are obtained when simulating squall line or other convective systems that are strongly forced by fronts or other lifting mechanisms. Less highly forced systems are difficult to model. The next topic in this colloquium was measurement of water vapor and other constituents of the hydrologic cycle. Impressive accuracy was shown measuring water vapor with both the airborne DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) system and the the ground-based Raman Lidar. NMC's plans for initializing land water hydrology in mesoscale models was presented before water vapor measurement concepts for GCIP were discussed. The subject of using satellite data to provide mesoscale moisture and wind analyses was next. Recent activities in modeling of moist processes in mesoscale systems was reported on. These modeling activities at the Canadian Atmospheric Environment Service (AES) used a hydrostatic, variable-resolution grid model. Next the spatial resolution effects of moisture budgets was discussed; in particular, the effects of temporal resolution on heat and moisture budgets for cumulus parameterization. The conclusion of this colloquium was on modeling scale interaction processes.

Simulating wind energy resources with mesoscale models: Intercomparison of state-of-the-art models over Northern Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hahmann, A. N.

2015-12-01

Mesoscale models are increasingly being used to estimate wind conditions to identify perspective areas and sites where to develop wind farm projects. Mesoscale models are useful because they give information over extensive areas with various terrain complexities where measurements are scarce and measurement campaigns costly. Various mesoscale models and families of mesoscale models are being used, with thousands of setup options. Since long-term integrations are expensive and tedious to carry out, only limited comparisons exist. We have carried out a blind benchmarking study to evaluate the capabilities of mesoscale models used in wind energy to estimate site wind conditions: to highlight common issues on mesoscale modeling of wind conditions on sites with different characteristics, and to identify gaps and strengths of models and understand the root conditions for further evaluating uncertainties. Three experimental sites with tall mast measurements were selected: FINO3 (offshore), Høvsøre (coastal), and Cabauw (land-based). The participants were asked to provide hourly time series of wind speed and direction, temperature, etc., at various heights for 2011. The methods used were left to the choice of the participants, but they were asked for a detailed description of their model and many other parameters (e.g., horizontal and vertical resolution, model parameterizations, surface roughness length) that could be used to group the models and interpret the results of the intercomparison. The analysis of the time series includes comparison to observations, summarized with well-known measures such as biases, RMSE, correlations, and of sector-wise statistics, and the temporal spectra. The statistics were grouped by the models, their spatial resolution, forcing data, various integration methods, etc. The results show high fidelity of the various entries in simulating the wind climate at the offshore and coastal site. Over land and the statistics of other derived fields (e.g. wind shear distributions) show much less similarities among the models and with the observations. Cloud computing now allows the use of mesoscale models by non-experts for site assessment. This tool is very useful and powerful, but users must be aware of the different issues that might be encountered in working with different setups.

Shock compression response of cold-rolled Ni/Al multilayer composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Specht, Paul E.; Weihs, Timothy P.; Thadhani, Naresh N.

2017-01-01

Uniaxial strain, plate-on-plate impact experiments were performed on cold-rolled Ni/Al multilayer composites and the resulting Hugoniot was determined through time-resolved measurements combined with impedance matching. The experimental Hugoniot agreed with that previously predicted by two dimensional (2D) meso-scale calculations [Specht et al., J. Appl. Phys. 111, 073527 (2012)]. Additional 2D meso-scale simulations were performed using the same computational method as the prior study to reproduce the experimentally measured free surface velocities and stress profiles. These simulations accurately replicated the experimental profiles, providing additional validation for the previous computational work.

Observing system simulations using synthetic radiances and atmospheric retrievals derived for the AMSU and HIRS in a mesoscale model. [Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diak, George R.; Huang, Hung-Lung; Kim, Dongsoo

1990-01-01

The paper addresses the concept of synthetic satellite imagery as a visualization and diagnostic tool for understanding satellite sensors of the future and to detail preliminary results on the quality of soundings from the current sensors. Preliminary results are presented on the quality of soundings from the combination of the High-Resolution Infrared Radiometer Sounder and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit. Results are also presented on the first Observing System Simulation Experiment using this data in a mesoscale numerical prediction model.

Study of atmospheric dynamics and pollution in the coastal area of English Channel using clustering technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolov, Anton; Dmitriev, Egor; Delbarre, Hervé; Augustin, Patrick; Gengembre, Cyril; Fourmenten, Marc

2016-04-01

The problem of atmospheric contamination by principal air pollutants was considered in the industrialized coastal region of English Channel in Dunkirk influenced by north European metropolitan areas. MESO-NH nested models were used for the simulation of the local atmospheric dynamics and the online calculation of Lagrangian backward trajectories with 15-minute temporal resolution and the horizontal resolution down to 500 m. The one-month mesoscale numerical simulation was coupled with local pollution measurements of volatile organic components, particulate matter, ozone, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Principal atmospheric pathways were determined by clustering technique applied to backward trajectories simulated. Six clusters were obtained which describe local atmospheric dynamics, four winds blowing through the English Channel, one coming from the south, and the biggest cluster with small wind speeds. This last cluster includes mostly sea breeze events. The analysis of meteorological data and pollution measurements allows relating the principal atmospheric pathways with local air contamination events. It was shown that contamination events are mostly connected with a channelling of pollution from local sources and low-turbulent states of the local atmosphere.

Mesoscale atmospheric modelling technology as a tool for the long-term meteorological dataset development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Platonov, Vladimir; Kislov, Alexander; Rivin, Gdaly; Varentsov, Mikhail; Rozinkina, Inna; Nikitin, Mikhail; Chumakov, Mikhail

2017-04-01

The detailed hydrodynamic modelling of meteorological parameters during the last 30 years (1985 - 2014) was performed for the Okhotsk Sea and the Sakhalin island regions. The regional non-hydrostatic atmospheric model COSMO-CLM used for this long-term simulation with 13.2, 6.6 and 2.2 km horizontal resolutions. The main objective of creation this dataset was the outlook of the investigation of statistical characteristics and the physical mechanisms of extreme weather events (primarily, wind speed extremes) on the small spatio-temporal scales. COSMO-CLM is the climate version of the well-known mesoscale COSMO model, including some modifications and extensions adapting to the long-term numerical experiments. The downscaling technique was realized and developed for the long-term simulations with three consequent nesting domains. ERA-Interim reanalysis ( 0.75 degrees resolution) used as global forcing data for the starting domain ( 13.2 km horizontal resolution), then these simulation data used as initial and boundary conditions for the next model runs over the domain with 6.6 km resolution, and similarly, for the next step to 2.2 km domain. Besides, the COSMO-CLM model configuration for 13.2 km run included the spectral nudging technique, i.e. an additional assimilation of reanalysis data not only at boundaries, but also inside the whole domain. Practically, this computational scheme realized on the SGI Altix 4700 supercomputer system in the Main Computer Center of Roshydromet and used 2,400 hours of CPU time total. According to modelling results, the verification of the obtained dataset was performed on the observation data. Estimations showed the mean error -0.5 0C, up to 2 - 3 0C RMSE in temperature, and overestimation in wind speed (RMSE is up to 2 m/s). Overall, analysis showed that the used downscaling technique with applying the COSMO-CLM model reproduced the meteorological conditions, spatial distribution, seasonal and synoptic variability of temperature and wind speed for the study area adequately. The dependences between reproduction quality of mesoscale atmospheric circulation features and the horizontal resolution of the model were revealed. In particular, it is shown that the use of 6 km resolution does not give any significant improvement comparing to 13 km resolution, whereas 2.2 km resolution provides an appreciable quality enhancement. Detailed synoptic analysis of extreme wind speed situations identified the main types of favorable to their genesis, associated with developing of cyclones over the Japan Islands or the Primorsky Kray of Russia, and penetration of intensified cyclones from Pacific Ocean through the Kamchatka peninsula, Kuril or Japan Islands. The obtained dataset will continue to be used for a full and comprehensive analysis of the reproduction quality of hydrometeorological fields, their statistical estimates, climatological trends and many other objectives.

Meso-beta scale numerical simulation studies of terrain-induced jet streak mass/momentum perturbations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Yuh-Lang; Kaplan, Michael L.

1992-01-01

Work performed during the report period is summarized. The first numerical experiment which was performed on the North Carolina Supercomputer Center's CRAY-YMP machine during the second half of FY92 involved a 36 hour simulation of the CCOPE case study. This first coarse-mesh simulation employed the GMASS model with a 178 x 108 x 32 matrix of grid points spaced approximately 24 km apart. The initial data was comprised of the global 2.5 x 2.5 degree analyses as well as all available North American rawinsonde data valid at 0000 UTC 11 July 1981. Highly-smoothed LFM-derived terrain data were utilized so as to determine the mesoscale response of the three-dimensional atmosphere to weak terrain forcing prior to including the observed highly complex terrain of the northern Rocky Mountain region. It was felt that the model should be run with a spectrum of terrain geometries, ranging from observed complex terrain to no terrain at all, to determine how crucial the terrain was in forcing the mesoscale phenomena. Both convection and stratiform (stable) precipitation were not allowed in this simulation so that their relative importance could be determined by inclusion in forth-coming simulations. A full suite of planetary boundary layer forcing was allowed in the simulation, including surface sensible and latent heat fluxes employing the Blakadar PBL formulation. The details of this simulation, which in many ways could be considered the control simulation, including the important synoptic-scale, meso-alpha scale, and meso-beta scale circulations is described. These results are compared to the observations diagnosed by Koch and his colleagues as well as hypotheses set forth in the project proposal for terrain-influences upon the jet stream and their role in the generation of mesoscale wave phenomenon. The fundamental goal of the analyses being the discrimination among background geostrophic adjustment, terrain influences, and shearing instability in the initiation and maintainance of mesoscale internal wave phenomena. Based upon these findings, FY93 plans are discussed. A review of linear theory and theoretical modeling of a geostrophic zonal wind anomaly is included.

Re-examination of the I-5 dust storm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaplan, Michael L.; Vellore, Ramesh K.; Lewis, John M.; Underwood, S. Jeffrey; Pauley, Patricia M.; Martin, Jonathan E.; Krishnan, R.

2013-01-01

The infamous dust storm over the thanksgiving holiday of 1991 that led to loss of life from numerous automobile accidents on Interstate 5 (I-5) has been re-examined. Pauley et al. (1996) conducted an earlier investigation of this dust storm following the tenets of Danielsen's paradigm—a paradigm that links the tropopause fold phenomenon and a balanced thermally indirect circulation about the upper level jet stream. However, a cursory examination of mesoscale structures in the storm from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) indicated evidence of a low-level unbalanced thermally direct circulation that demanded further investigation using a high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulation. Principal results from the present study follow: (1) Although the model simulation showed evidence of a weak indirect circulation in the upper troposphere in support of the Danielsen's paradigm, the dynamic control of the storm stemmed from the lower tropospheric mesoscale response to geostrophic imbalance. (2) A lower tropospheric direct circulation led to mass/temperature adjustments that were confirmed by upper air observations at locations in proximity to the accident site, and (3) boundary layer deepening and destabilization due to these mesoscale processes pinpointed the timing and location of the dust storm. Although the present study does not underestimate the value of analyses that focus on the larger/synoptic scales of motion, it does bring to light the value of investigation that makes use of the mesoscale resources in order to clarify synoptic-mesoscale interactions.

Molecular Origins of Mesoscale Ordering in a Metalloamphiphile Phase

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Controlling the assembly of soft and deformable molecular aggregates into mesoscale structures is essential for understanding and developing a broad range of processes including rare earth extraction and cleaning of water, as well as for developing materials with unique properties. By combined synchrotron small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering with large-scale atomistic molecular dynamics simulations we analyze here a metalloamphiphile–oil solution that organizes on multiple length scales. The molecules associate into aggregates, and aggregates flocculate into meso-ordered phases. Our study demonstrates that dipolar interactions, centered on the amphiphile headgroup, bridge ionic aggregate cores and drive aggregate flocculation. By identifying specific intermolecular interactions that drive mesoscale ordering in solution, we bridge two different length scales that are classically addressed separately. Our results highlight the importance of individual intermolecular interactions in driving mesoscale ordering. PMID:27163014

Investigating the Potential Impact of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Altimeter on Ocean Mesoscale Prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carrier, M.; Ngodock, H.; Smith, S. R.; Souopgui, I.

2016-02-01

NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, scheduled for launch in 2020, will provide sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) observations with a wider swath width and higher spatial resolution than current satellite altimeters. It is expected that this will help to further constrain ocean models in terms of the mesoscale circulation. In this work, this expectation is investigated by way of twin data assimilation experiments using the Navy Coastal Ocean Model Four Dimensional Variational (NCOM-4DVAR) data assimilation system using a weak constraint formulation. Here, a nature run is created from which SWOT observations are sampled, as well as along-track SSHA observations from simulated Jason-2 tracks. The simulated SWOT data has appropriate spatial coverage, resolution, and noise characteristics based on an observation-simulator program provided by the SWOT science team. The experiment is run for a three-month period during which the analysis is updated every 24 hours and each analysis is used to initialize a 96 hour forecast. The forecasts in each experiment are compared to the available nature run to determine the impact of the assimilated data. It is demonstrated here that the SWOT observations help to constrain the model mesoscale in a more consistent manner than traditional altimeter observations. The findings of this study suggest that data from SWOT may have a substantial impact on improving the ocean model analysis and forecast of mesoscale features and surface ocean transport.

Synoptic-scale and mesoscale environments conducive to forest fires during the October 2003 extreme fire event in Southern California

Treesearch

Chenjie Huang; Y.L. Lin; M.L. Kaplan; Joseph J.J. Charney

2009-01-01

This study has employed both observational data and numerical simulation results to diagnose the synoptic-scale and mesoscale environments conducive to forest fires during the October 2003 extreme fire event in southern California. A three-stage process is proposed to illustrate the coupling of the synoptic-scale forcing that is evident from the observations,...

Changes in Pacific Northwest Heat Waves and Associated Synoptic/Mesoscale Drivers Under Anthropogenic Global Warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brewer, M.; Mass, C.

2014-12-01

Though western Oregon and Washington summers are typically mild due to the influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean, this region occasionally experiences heat waves with temperatures in excess of 35ºC. These heat waves can have a substantial impact on this highly populated region, particularly since the population is unaccustomed to and generally unprepared for such conditions. A comprehensive evaluation is needed of past and future heat wave trends in frequency, intensity, and duration. Furthermore, it is important to understand the physical mechanisms of Northwest heat waves and how such mechanisms might change under anthropogenic global warming. Lower-tropospheric heat waves over the west coast of North America are the result of both synoptic and mesoscale factors, the latter requiring high-resolution models (roughly 12-15 km grid spacing) to simulate. Synoptic factors include large-scale warming due to horizontal advection and subsidence, as well as reductions in large-scale cloudiness. An important mesoscale factor is the occurrence of offshore (easterly) flow, resulting in an adiabatically warmed continental air mass spreading over the western lowlands rather than the more usual cool, marine air influence. To fully understand how heat waves will change under AGW, it is necessary to determine the combined impacts of both synoptic and mesoscale effects in a warming world. General Circulation Models (GCM) are generally are too coarse to simulate mesoscale effects realistically and thus may provide unreliable estimates of the frequency and magnitudes of West Coast heat waves. Therefore, to determine the regional implications of global warming, this work made use of long-term, high-resolution WRF simulations, at 36- and 12-km resolution, produced by dynamically downscaling GCM grids. This talk will examine the predicted trends in Pacific Northwest heat wave intensity, duration, and frequency during the 21st century (through 2100). The spatial distribution in the trends in heat waves, and the variability of these trends at different resolutions and among different models will also be described. Finally, changes in the synoptic and mesoscale configurations that drive Pacific Northwest heat waves and the modulating effects of local terrain and land/water contrast will be discussed.

Large-eddy simulations of a Salt Lake Valley cold-air pool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosman, Erik T.; Horel, John D.

2017-09-01

Persistent cold-air pools are often poorly forecast by mesoscale numerical weather prediction models, in part due to inadequate parameterization of planetary boundary-layer physics in stable atmospheric conditions, and also because of errors in the initialization and treatment of the model surface state. In this study, an improved numerical simulation of the 27-30 January 2011 cold-air pool in Utah's Great Salt Lake Basin is obtained using a large-eddy simulation with more realistic surface state characterization. Compared to a Weather Research and Forecasting model configuration run as a mesoscale model with a planetary boundary-layer scheme where turbulence is highly parameterized, the large-eddy simulation more accurately captured turbulent interactions between the stable boundary-layer and flow aloft. The simulations were also found to be sensitive to variations in the Great Salt Lake temperature and Salt Lake Valley snow cover, illustrating the importance of land surface state in modelling cold-air pools.

Nested high-resolution large-eddy simulations in WRF to support wind power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirocha, J.; Kirkil, G.; Kosovic, B.; Lundquist, J. K.

2009-12-01

The WRF model’s grid nesting capability provides a potentially powerful framework for simulating flow over a wide range of scales. One such application is computation of realistic inflow boundary conditions for large eddy simulations (LES) by nesting LES domains within mesoscale domains. While nesting has been widely and successfully applied at GCM to mesoscale resolutions, the WRF model’s nesting behavior at the high-resolution (Δx < 1000m) end of the spectrum is less well understood. Nesting LES within msoscale domains can significantly improve turbulent flow prediction at the scale of a wind park, providing a basis for superior site characterization, or for improved simulation of turbulent inflows encountered by turbines. We investigate WRF’s grid nesting capability at high mesh resolutions using nested mesoscale and large-eddy simulations. We examine the spatial scales required for flow structures to equilibrate to the finer mesh as flow enters a nest, and how the process depends on several parameters, including grid resolution, turbulence subfilter stress models, relaxation zones at nest interfaces, flow velocities, surface roughnesses, terrain complexity and atmospheric stability. Guidance on appropriate domain sizes and turbulence models for LES in light of these results is provided This work is performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 LLNL-ABS-416482

A new vertical grid nesting capability in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model

DOE PAGES

Daniels, Megan H.; Lundquist, Katherine A.; Mirocha, Jeffrey D.; ...

2016-09-16

Mesoscale atmospheric models are increasingly used for high-resolution (<3 km) simulations to better resolve smaller-scale flow details. Increased resolution is achieved using mesh refinement via grid nesting, a procedure where multiple computational domains are integrated either concurrently or in series. A constraint in the concurrent nesting framework offered by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is that mesh refinement is restricted to the horizontal dimensions. This limitation prevents control of the grid aspect ratio, leading to numerical errors due to poor grid quality and preventing grid optimization. Here, a procedure permitting vertical nesting for one-way concurrent simulation is developedmore » and validated through idealized cases. The benefits of vertical nesting are demonstrated using both mesoscale and large-eddy simulations (LES). Mesoscale simulations of the Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX) show that vertical grid nesting can alleviate numerical errors due to large aspect ratios on coarse grids, while allowing for higher vertical resolution on fine grids. Furthermore, the coarsening of the parent domain does not result in a significant loss of accuracy on the nested domain. LES of neutral boundary layer flow shows that, by permitting optimal grid aspect ratios on both parent and nested domains, use of vertical nesting yields improved agreement with the theoretical logarithmic velocity profile on both domains. Lastly, vertical grid nesting in WRF opens the path forward for multiscale simulations, allowing more accurate simulations spanning a wider range of scales than previously possible.« less

A new vertical grid nesting capability in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Daniels, Megan H.; Lundquist, Katherine A.; Mirocha, Jeffrey D.

Mesoscale atmospheric models are increasingly used for high-resolution (<3 km) simulations to better resolve smaller-scale flow details. Increased resolution is achieved using mesh refinement via grid nesting, a procedure where multiple computational domains are integrated either concurrently or in series. A constraint in the concurrent nesting framework offered by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is that mesh refinement is restricted to the horizontal dimensions. This limitation prevents control of the grid aspect ratio, leading to numerical errors due to poor grid quality and preventing grid optimization. Here, a procedure permitting vertical nesting for one-way concurrent simulation is developedmore » and validated through idealized cases. The benefits of vertical nesting are demonstrated using both mesoscale and large-eddy simulations (LES). Mesoscale simulations of the Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX) show that vertical grid nesting can alleviate numerical errors due to large aspect ratios on coarse grids, while allowing for higher vertical resolution on fine grids. Furthermore, the coarsening of the parent domain does not result in a significant loss of accuracy on the nested domain. LES of neutral boundary layer flow shows that, by permitting optimal grid aspect ratios on both parent and nested domains, use of vertical nesting yields improved agreement with the theoretical logarithmic velocity profile on both domains. Lastly, vertical grid nesting in WRF opens the path forward for multiscale simulations, allowing more accurate simulations spanning a wider range of scales than previously possible.« less

Efficient Schmidt number scaling in dissipative particle dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krafnick, Ryan C.; García, Angel E.

2015-12-01

Dissipative particle dynamics is a widely used mesoscale technique for the simulation of hydrodynamics (as well as immersed particles) utilizing coarse-grained molecular dynamics. While the method is capable of describing any fluid, the typical choice of the friction coefficient γ and dissipative force cutoff rc yields an unacceptably low Schmidt number Sc for the simulation of liquid water at standard temperature and pressure. There are a variety of ways to raise Sc, such as increasing γ and rc, but the relative cost of modifying each parameter (and the concomitant impact on numerical accuracy) has heretofore remained undetermined. We perform a detailed search over the parameter space, identifying the optimal strategy for the efficient and accuracy-preserving scaling of Sc, using both numerical simulations and theoretical predictions. The composite results recommend a parameter choice that leads to a speed improvement of a factor of three versus previously utilized strategies.

Influence of Mesoscale Eddies on New Production in the Sargasso Sea

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGillicuddy, D. J., Jr.; Robinson, A. R.; Siegel, D. A.; Jannasch, H. W.; Johnson, R.; Dickey, T. D.; McNeil, J.; Michaels, A. F.; Knap, A. H.

1998-01-01

It is problematic that geochemical estimates of new production, that fraction of total primary production in surface waters fueled by externally supplied nutrients, in oligotrophic waters of the open ocean surpass that which can be sustained by the traditionally accepted mechanisms of nutrient supply. In the cam of the Sargasso Sea, for example, these mechanisms account for less than half of the annual nutrient requirement indicated by new production estimates based on three independent transient-tracer techniques. Specifically, approximately one-quarter to one-third of the annual nutrient requirement can be supplied by entrainment into the mixed layer during wintertime convection, with minor contributions from mixing in the thermocline and wind-driven transport (the potentially important role of nitrogen fixation- for which estimates vary by an order of magnitude in this region- is excluded from this budget). Here we present four lines of evidence-eddy-resolving model simulations, high-resolution observations from moored instrumentation, shipboard surveys and satellite data-which suggest that the vertical flux of nutrients induced by the dynamics of mesoscale eddies is sufficient to balance the nutrient budget in the Sargasso Sea.

Observations and High-Resolution Numerical Simulations of a Non-Developing Tropical Disturbance in the Western North Pacific

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

potential energy CFSR Climate Forecast System Reanalysis COAMPS Coupled Ocean / Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System DA data assimilation DART Data...developing (TCS025) tropical disturbance using the adjoint and tangent linear models for the Coupled Ocean – Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS...for Medium-range Weather Forecasts ELDORA ELectra DOppler RAdar EOL Earth Observing Laboratory GPS global positioning system GTS Global

Simulation of mesoscale circulation in the Tatar Strait of the Japan Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ponomarev, V. I.; Fayman, P. A.; Prants, S. V.; Budyansky, M. V.; Uleysky, M. Yu.

2018-06-01

The eddy-resolved ocean circulation model RIAMOM (Lee et al., 2003) is used to analyze seasonal variability of mesoscale circulation in the Tatar Strait of the Japan Sea. The model domain is a vast area including the northern Japan Sea, Okhotsk Sea and adjacent region in the Pacific Ocean. A numerical experiment with a horizontal 1/18° resolution has been carried out under realistic meteorological conditions from the ECMWF ERA-40 reanalysis with restoring of surface temperature and salinity. The simulated seasonal variability of both the current system and mesoscale eddy dynamics in the Tatar Strait is in a good agreement with temperature and salinity distributions of oceanographic observation data collected during various seasons and years. Two general circulation regimes in the Strait have been found. The circulation regime changes from summer to winter due to seasonal change of the North Asian Monsoon. On a synoptic time scale, the similar change of the circulation regime occurs due to change of the southeastern wind to the northwestern one when the meteorological situation with an anticyclone over the Okhotsk Sea changes to that with a strong cyclone. The Lagrangian maps illustrate seasonal changes in direction of the main currents and in polarity and location of mesoscale eddies in the Strait.

Impacts of Mesoscale Eddies on the Vertical Nitrate Flux in the Gulf Stream Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Shuwen; Curchitser, Enrique N.; Kang, Dujuan; Stock, Charles A.; Dussin, Raphael

2018-01-01

The Gulf Stream (GS) region has intense mesoscale variability that can affect the supply of nutrients to the euphotic zone (Zeu). In this study, a recently developed high-resolution coupled physical-biological model is used to conduct a 25-year simulation in the Northwest Atlantic. The Reynolds decomposition method is applied to quantify the nitrate budget and shows that the mesoscale variability is important to the vertical nitrate supply over the GS region. The decomposition, however, cannot isolate eddy effects from those arising from other mesoscale phenomena. This limitation is addressed by analyzing a large sample of eddies detected and tracked from the 25-year simulation. The eddy composite structures indicate that positive nitrate anomalies within Zeu exist in both cyclonic eddies (CEs) and anticyclonic eddies (ACEs) over the GS region, and are even more pronounced in the ACEs. Our analysis further indicates that positive nitrate anomalies mostly originate from enhanced vertical advective flux rather than vertical turbulent diffusion. The eddy-wind interaction-induced Ekman pumping is very likely the mechanism driving the enhanced vertical motions and vertical nitrate transport within ACEs. This study suggests that the ACEs in GS region may play an important role in modulating the oceanic biogeochemical properties by fueling local biomass production through the persistent supply of nitrate.

Assessment of MARMOT. A Mesoscale Fuel Performance Code

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tonks, M. R.; Schwen, D.; Zhang, Y.

2015-04-01

MARMOT is the mesoscale fuel performance code under development as part of the US DOE Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation Program. In this report, we provide a high level summary of MARMOT, its capabilities, and its current state of validation. The purpose of MARMOT is to predict the coevolution of microstructure and material properties of nuclear fuel and cladding. It accomplished this using the phase field method coupled to solid mechanics and heat conduction. MARMOT is based on the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), and much of its basic capability in the areas of the phase field method, mechanics,more » and heat conduction come directly from MOOSE modules. However, additional capability specific to fuel and cladding is available in MARMOT. While some validation of MARMOT has been completed in the areas of fission gas behavior and grain growth, much more validation needs to be conducted. However, new mesoscale data needs to be obtained in order to complete this validation.« less

Extending atomistic scale chemistry to mesoscale model of condensed-phase deflagration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Kaushik; Chaudhuri, Santanu

2017-01-01

Predictive simulations connecting chemistry that follow the shock or thermal initiation of energetic materials to subsequent deflagration or detonation events is currently outside the realm of possibilities. Molecular dynamics and first-principles based dynamics have made progress in understanding reactions in picosecond to nanosecond time scale. Results from thermal ignition of different phases of RDX show a complex reaction network and emergence of a deterministic behavior for critical temperature before ignition and hot spot growth rates. The kinetics observed is dependent on the hot spot temperature, system size and thermal conductivity. For cases where ignition is observed, the incubation period is dominated by intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen transfer reactions. The gradual temperature and pressure increase in the incubation period is accompanied by accumulation of heavier polyradicals. The challenge of connecting such chemistry in mesoscale simulations remain in reducing the complexity of chemistry. The hot spot growth kinetics in RDX grains and interfaces is an important challenge for reactive simulations aiming to fill in the gaps in our knowledge in the nanoseconds to microseconds time scale. The results discussed indicate that the mesoscale chemistry may include large polyradical molecules in dense reactive mix reaching an instability point at certain temperatures and pressures.

Examining the effects of microstructure and loading on the shock initiation of HMX with mesoscale simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Springer, H. Keo; Tarver, Craig; Bastea, Sorin

2015-06-01

We perform reactive mesoscale simulations to study shock initiation in HMX over a range of pore morphologies and sizes, porosities, and loading conditions in order to improve our understanding of structure-performance relationships. These relationships are important because they guide the development of advanced macroscale models incorporating hot spot mechanisms and the optimization of novel energetic material microstructures. Mesoscale simulations are performed using the multiphysics hydrocode, ALE3D. Spherical, elliptical, polygonal, and crack-like pore geometries 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 microns in size and 2, 5, 10, and 14% porosity are explored. Loading conditions are realized with shock pressures of 6, 10, 20, 38, and 50 GPa. A Cheetah-based tabular model, including temperature-dependent heat capacity, is used for the unreacted and the product equation-of-state. Also, in-line Cheetah is used to probe chemical species evolution. The influence of microstructure and shock loading on shock-to-detonation-transition run distance, reaction rate and product gas species evolution are discussed. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. This work is funded by the Joint DoD-DOE Munitions Program.

Impacts of the Mesoscale Ocean-Atmosphere Coupling on the Peru-Chile Ocean Dynamics: The Current-Induced Wind Stress Modulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oerder, V.; Colas, F.; Echevin, V.; Masson, S.; Lemarié, F.

2018-02-01

The ocean dynamical responses to the surface current-wind stress interaction at the oceanic mesoscale are investigated in the South-East Pacific using a high-resolution regional ocean-atmosphere coupled model. Two simulations are compared: one includes the surface current in the wind stress computation while the other does not. In the coastal region, absolute wind velocities are different between the two simulations but the wind stress remains very similar. As a consequence, the mean regional oceanic circulation is almost unchanged. On the contrary, the mesoscale activity is strongly reduced when taking into account the effect of the surface current on the wind stress. This is caused by a weakening of the eddy kinetic energy generation near the coast by the wind work and to intensified offshore eddy damping. We show that, above coherent eddies, the current-stress interaction generates eddy damping through Ekman pumping and eddy kinetic energy dissipation through wind work. This alters significantly the coherent eddy vertical structures compared with the control simulation, weakening the temperature and vorticity anomalies and increasing strongly the vertical velocity anomalies associated to eddies.

Evolution of Mesoscale Convective System over the South Western Peninsular India: Observations from Microwave Radiometer and Simulations using WRF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uma, K. N.; Krishna Moorthy, K.; Sijikumar, S.; Renju, R.; Tinu, K. A.; Raju, Suresh C.

2012-07-01

Meso-scale Convective Systems (MCS) are important in view of their large cumulous build-up, vertical extent, short horizontal extent and associated thundershowers. The Microwave Radiometer Profiler (MRP) over the equatorial coastal station Thiruvanathapuram (Trivandrum, 8.55oN, 76.9oE), has been utilized to understand the genesis of Mesoscale convective system (MCS), that occur frequently during the pre-monsoon season. Examination of the measurement of relative humidity, temperature and cloud liquid water measurements, over the zenith and two scanning elevation angles (15o) viewing both over the land and the sea respectively revealed that the MCS generally originate over the land during early afternoon hours, propagate seawards over the observational site and finally dissipate over the sea, with accompanying rainfall and latent heat release. The simulations obtained using Advanced Research-Weather Research and Forecast (WRF-ARW) model effectively reproduces the thermodynamical and microphysical properties of the MCS. The time duration and quantity of rainfall obtained by the simulations also well compared with the observations. Analysis also suggests that wind shear in the upper troposphere is responsible for the growth and the shape of the convective cloud.

ModObs: Atmospheric modelling for wind energy, climate and environment applications: exploring added value from new observation technique. Work in progress within a FP6 Marie Curie Research Training Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sempreviva, A. M.

2009-09-01

The EC FP6 Marie Curie Training Network "ModObs” http://www.modobs.windeng.net addresses the improvement of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) models to investigate the interplay of processes at different temporal and spatial scales, and to explore the added value from new observation techniques. The overall goal is to bring young scientists to work ogether with experienced researchers in developing a better interaction amongst scientific communities of modelers and experimentalists, using a comprehensive approach to "Climate Change”, "Clean Energy assessment” and "Environmental Policies”, issues. This poster describes the work in progress of ten students, funded by the network, under the supervision of a team of scientists within atmospheric physics, engineering and satellite remote sensing and end-users such as companies in the private sector, all with the appropriate expertise to integrate the most advanced research methods and techniques in the following topics. MODELING: GLOBAL-TO-MESO SCALE: Analytical and process oriented numerical models will be used to study the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean on a regional scale. Initial results indicate an interaction between the intensity of polar lows and the subsurface warm core often present in the Nordic Seas (11). The presence of waves, mainly swell, influence the MABL fluxes and turbulence structure. The regional and global wave effect on the atmosphere will be also studied and quantified (7) MESO-SCALE: Applicability of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) parametrizations in the meso-scale WRF model to marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) over the North Sea is investigated. The most suitable existing PBL parametrization will be additionally improved and used for downscaling North Sea past and future climates (2). Application of the meso-scale model (MM5 and WRF) for the wind energy in off-shore and coastal area. Set-up of the meso-scale model, post-processing and verification of the data from the long simulation. Research of meso-scale phenomena for meteorological case study in Gulf of Finland (3). MICRO-SCALE: Large eddy simulation (LES) is used to study the planetary boundary layer under different complex effects: (a) Forcing from general circulation model (GCM): Comparison between GCM outputs and GCM-forced LES for maritime boundary layer (MBL) cases, namely the LASIE campaign (5). (b) Heterogeneity of the Marine Surface Layer (MSL ): Investigation of the air-sea turbulent exchange mechanisms under the effects of coastal discontinuity and horizontal gradient of temperature (1)(6). (c) Heterogeneity of land surface: Turbulence self-organization and its interaction with complex earth topography is studied (8). (d) Wind farm complexity: Wind site assessment as well as turbulent effects for terrains with different complexity are studied (2). OBSERVATIONS: CONTRIBUTION OF SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS FOR THE STUDY AND PARAMETRIZATION OF MARINE BOUNDARY LAYER: Evaluate the added-value of observations from the current generation of satellite with emphasis on the potential of remote sensing data in describing temporal and spatial structures. Foreseen applications include: improvement of MBL description on coastal areas, identification of areas of interest for wind energy applications, gain of information of temporal and spatial scales of variability useful for numerical model parameterizations (6). LIDAR, SODAR: REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES APPLIED FOR WIND ENERGY. According to aeroelastic simulations, the production of the power curve of a large wind turbine (rotor diameter larger than 100m) requires wind speed measurements at several heights within the rotor disc. Suitable wind profiles can be measured by LiDARs and SoDARs (1). EVOLUTION OF THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF THE ATMOSPHERIC MARINE BOUNDARY LAYER:The evolution of the vertical structure of the MABL following the change of surface conditions in a sequence of onshore - offshore - onshore flow, was observed by both ceilometer and radiosoundings during the LASIE (Ligurian Air-Sea Interaction Experiment) campaign sponsored by NATO in the Mediterranean Sea. In-situ and remote-sensing measurements were performed from two measuring platforms, A buoy ODAS, Italia1 and a ship N/O URANIA from the Italian National Council of Research CNR (1), (6) and (7).

ModObs: Atmospheric modelling for wind energy, climate and environment applications : exploring added value from new observation technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sempreviva, A. M.

2009-04-01

The EC FP6 Marie Curie Training Network "ModObs" http://www.modobs.windeng.net addresses the improvement of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) models to investigate the interplay of processes at different temporal and spatial scales, and to explore the added value from new observation techniques. The overall goal is to bring young scientists to work together with experienced researchers in developing a better interaction amongst scientific communities of modelers and experimentalists, using a comprehensive approach to "Climate Change", "Clean Energy assessment" and "Environmental Policies", issues. This poster describes the work in progress of ten students, funded by the network, under the supervision of a team of scientists within atmospheric physics, engineering and satellite remote sensing and end-users such as companies in the private sector, all with the appropriate expertise to integrate the most advanced research methods and techniques in the following topics. MODELING: GLOBAL-TO-MESO SCALE: Analytical and process oriented numerical models will be used to study the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean on a regional scale. Initial results indicate an interaction between the intensity of polar lows and the subsurface warm core often present in the Nordic Seas (11). The presence of waves, mainly swell, influence the MABL fluxes and turbulence structure. The regional and global wave effect on the atmosphere will be also studied and quantified (7) MESO-SCALE: Applicability of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) parametrizations in the meso-scale WRF model to marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) over the North Sea is investigated. The most suitable existing PBL parametrization will be additionally improved and used for downscaling North Sea past and future climates (2). Application of the meso-scale model (MM5 and WRF) for the wind energy in off-shore and coastal area. Set-up of the meso-scale model, post-processing and verification of the data from the long simulation. Research of meso-scale phenomena for meteorological case study in Gulf of Finland (3). MICRO-SCALE: Large eddy simulation (LES) is used to study the planetary boundary layer under different complex effects: (a) Forcing from general circulation model (GCM): Comparison between GCM outputs and GCM-forced LES for maritime boundary layer (MBL) cases, namely the LASIE campaign (5). (b) Heterogeneity of the Marine Surface Layer (MSL ): Investigation of the air-sea turbulent exchange mechanisms under the effects of coastal discontinuity and horizontal gradient of temperature (1)(6). (c) Heterogeneity of land surface: Turbulence self-organization and its interaction with complex earth topography is studied (8). (d) Wind farm complexity: Wind site assessment as well as turbulent effects for terrains with different complexity are studied (2). OBSERVATIONS: CONTRIBUTION OF SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS FOR THE STUDY AND PARAMETRIZATION OF MARINE BOUNDARY LAYER: Evaluate the added-value of observations from the current generation of satellite with emphasis on the potential of remote sensing data in describing temporal and spatial structures. Foreseen applications include: improvement of MBL description on coastal areas, identification of areas of interest for wind energy applications, gain of information of temporal and spatial scales of variability useful for numerical model parameterizations (6). LIDAR, SODAR: REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES APPLIED FOR WIND ENERGY. According to aeroelastic simulations, the production of the power curve of a large wind turbine (rotor diameter larger than 100m) requires wind speed measurements at several heights within the rotor disc. Suitable wind profiles can be measured by LiDARs and SoDARs (1). EVOLUTION OF THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF THE ATMOSPHERIC MARINE BOUNDARY LAYER:The evolution of the vertical structure of the MABL following the change of surface conditions in a sequence of onshore - offshore - onshore flow, was observed by both ceilometer and radiosoundings during the LASIE (Ligurian Air-Sea Interaction Experiment) campaign sponsored by NATO in the Mediterranean Sea. In-situ and remote-sensing measurements were performed from two measuring platforms, A buoy ODAS, Italia1 and a ship N/O URANIA from the Italian National Council of Research CNR (1), (6) and (7).

Mesoscale acid deposition modeling studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaplan, Michael L.; Proctor, F. H.; Zack, John W.; Karyampudi, V. Mohan; Price, P. E.; Bousquet, M. D.; Coats, G. D.

1989-01-01

The work performed in support of the EPA/DOE MADS (Mesoscale Acid Deposition) Project included the development of meteorological data bases for the initialization of chemistry models, the testing and implementation of new planetary boundary layer parameterization schemes in the MASS model, the simulation of transport and precipitation for MADS case studies employing the MASS model, and the use of the TASS model in the simulation of cloud statistics and the complex transport of conservative tracers within simulated cumuloform clouds. The work performed in support of the NASA/FAA Wind Shear Program included the use of the TASS model in the simulation of the dynamical processes within convective cloud systems, the analyses of the sensitivity of microburst intensity and general characteristics as a function of the atmospheric environment within which they are formed, comparisons of TASS model microburst simulation results to observed data sets, and the generation of simulated wind shear data bases for use by the aviation meteorological community in the evaluation of flight hazards caused by microbursts.

The mechanisms of plastic strain accommodation and post critical behavior of heterogeneous reactive composites subject to dynamic loading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olney, Karl L.

The dynamic behavior of granular/porous and laminate reactive materials is of interest due to their practical applications; reactive structural components, reactive fragments, etc. The mesostructural properties control meso- and macro-scale dynamic behavior of these heterogeneous composites including the behavior during the post-critical stage of deformation. They heavily influence mechanisms of fragment generation and the in situ development of local hot spots, which act as sites of ignition in these materials. This dissertation concentrates on understanding the mechanisms of plastic strain accommodation in two representative reactive material systems with different heterogeneous mesostructrues: Aluminum-Tungsten granular/porous and Nickel-Aluminum laminate composites. The main focus is on the interpretation of results of the following dynamic experiments conducted at different strain and strain rates: drop weight tests, explosively expanded ring experiments, and explosively collapsed thick walled cylinder experiments. Due to the natural limitations in the evaluation of the mesoscale behavior of these materials experimentally and the large variation in the size scales between the mesostructural level and the sample, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to examine the mesoscale behavior in situ. Therefore, numerical simulations of the corresponding experiments are used as the main tool to explore material behavior at the mesoscale. Numerical models were developed to elucidate the mechanisms of plastic strain accommodation and post critical behavior in these heterogeneous composites subjected to dynamic loading. These simulations were able to reproduce the qualitative and quantitative features that were observable in the experiments and provided insight into the evolution of the mechanisms of plastic strain accommodation and post critical behavior in these materials with complex mesotructure. Additionally, these simulations provided a framework to examine the influence of various mesoscale properties such as the bonding of interfaces, the role of material properties, and the influence of mesoscale geometry. The results of this research are helpful in the design of material mesotructures conducive to the desirable behavior under dynamic loading.

Mesoscale brain explorer, a flexible python-based image analysis and visualization tool.

PubMed

Haupt, Dirk; Vanni, Matthieu P; Bolanos, Federico; Mitelut, Catalin; LeDue, Jeffrey M; Murphy, Tim H

2017-07-01

Imaging of mesoscale brain activity is used to map interactions between brain regions. This work has benefited from the pioneering studies of Grinvald et al., who employed optical methods to image brain function by exploiting the properties of intrinsic optical signals and small molecule voltage-sensitive dyes. Mesoscale interareal brain imaging techniques have been advanced by cell targeted and selective recombinant indicators of neuronal activity. Spontaneous resting state activity is often collected during mesoscale imaging to provide the basis for mapping of connectivity relationships using correlation. However, the information content of mesoscale datasets is vast and is only superficially presented in manuscripts given the need to constrain measurements to a fixed set of frequencies, regions of interest, and other parameters. We describe a new open source tool written in python, termed mesoscale brain explorer (MBE), which provides an interface to process and explore these large datasets. The platform supports automated image processing pipelines with the ability to assess multiple trials and combine data from different animals. The tool provides functions for temporal filtering, averaging, and visualization of functional connectivity relations using time-dependent correlation. Here, we describe the tool and show applications, where previously published datasets were reanalyzed using MBE.

Simulated Surface Energy Budgets Over the Southeastern US: The GHCC Satellite Assimilation System and the NCEP Early Eta

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lapenta, William M.; Suggs, Ron; McNider, Richard T.; Jedlovec, Gary

1999-01-01

A technique has been developed for assimilating GOES-derived skin temperature tendencies and insolation into the surface energy budget equation of a mesoscale model so that the simulated rate of temperature change closely agrees with the satellite observations. A critical assumption of the technique is that the availability of moisture (either from the soil or vegetation) is the least known term in the model's surface energy budget. Therefore, the simulated latent heat flux, which is a function of surface moisture availability, is adjusted based upon differences between the modeled and satellite-observed skin temperature tendencies. An advantage of this technique is that satellite temperature tendencies are assimilated in an energetically consistent manner that avoids energy imbalances and surface stability problems that arise from direct assimilation of surface shelter temperatures. The fact that the rate of change of the satellite skin temperature is used rather than the absolute temperature means that sensor calibration is not as critical. An advantage of this technique for short-range forecasts (0-48h) is that it does not require a complex land-surface formulation within the atmospheric model. As a result, we can avoid having to specify land surface characteristics such as vegetation resistances, green fraction, leaf area index, soil physical and hydraulic characteristics, stream flow, runoff, and the vertical and horizontal distribution of soil moisture.

Mesoscale Effects on Carbon Export: A Global Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrison, Cheryl S.; Long, Matthew C.; Lovenduski, Nicole S.; Moore, Jefferson K.

2018-04-01

Carbon export from the surface to the deep ocean is a primary control on global carbon budgets and is mediated by plankton that are sensitive to physical forcing. Earth system models generally do not resolve ocean mesoscale circulation (O(10-100) km), scales that strongly affect transport of nutrients and plankton. The role of mesoscale circulation in modulating export is evaluated by comparing global ocean simulations conducted at 1° and 0.1° horizontal resolution. Mesoscale resolution produces a small reduction in globally integrated export production (<2%) however, the impact on local export production can be large (±50%), with compensating effects in different ocean basins. With mesoscale resolution, improved representation of coastal jets block off-shelf transport, leading to lower export in regions where shelf-derived nutrients fuel production. Export is further reduced in these regions by resolution of mesoscale turbulence, which restricts the spatial area of production. Maximum mixed layer depths are narrower and deeper across the Subantarctic at higher resolution, driving locally stronger nutrient entrainment and enhanced summer export production. In energetic regions with seasonal blooms, such as the Subantarctic and North Pacific, internally generated mesoscale variability drives substantial interannual variation in local export production. These results suggest that biogeochemical tracer dynamics show different sensitivities to transport biases than temperature and salinity, which should be considered in the formulation and validation of physical parameterizations. Efforts to compare estimates of export production from observations and models should account for large variability in space and time expected for regions strongly affected by mesoscale circulation.

A numerical investigation of surface-induced mesocyclogenesis near the Gulf Stream

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cione, Joseph J.; Raman, Sethu

1995-10-01

A series of numerical experiments designed to simulate the initial development stages of low-level coastal mesocyclogenesis near the Gulf Stream was recently conducted. Under initially quiescent conditions, surface cyclogenesis in the control simulation occurs along a Gulf Stream meander in a region where the gradients in sea surface temperature (SST) are maximized. A low-level mesovortex on the order of 140km forms approximately 12 h into the simulation and continues to intensify through 42h. During the 24 48 h time period, a mesoscale frontal feature develops in direct response to strong diabatic forcing associated with sustained surface latent and sensible heating near the Gulf Stream frontal zone south of the main circulation center. Due to the non-linear advection of the frontal feature during this time period, the previously quasi-stationary circulation center drifts eastward (and away) from the thermal forcing associated with the large SST gradients found to the west. This eastward frontal propagation acts to decrease the magnitude of the low level horizontal air temperature gradient near the center of circulation throughout the 24 42 h development period. During the 42 48-h period, the relatively quick moving frontal feature acts to severely shear the nearly stationary center of circulation in the east west direction. As a result, the mesoscale system begins to fill during the final 6 h of integration. In addition to the control simulation, additional sensitivity experiments were conducted. These experiments were specifically designed to: (1) investigate how the magnitude of the Gulf Stream SST gradients affect the timing and degree of cyclonic development; (2) address the impact surface moisture fluxes and moist convection each have on the simulated low level mesocyclogenesis; (3) isolate the role surface sensible heating plays in the overall development of the simulated mesocyclone. Results from the SST gradient experiment indicate that a moderate enhancement of the SST distribution significantly affects the timing of the initial cyclogenesis and the maximum intensity of the simulated frontal circulation. For the "no turbulent heat flux" experiment, it appears that the elimination of surface sensible heating does not radically alter the overall structure of the simulated mesocyclone. However, the rate of development during the early stage of cyclogenesis, the absolute peak intensity of the system as well as the vertical depth of the simulated mesoscale frontal feature were all noticeably reduced when compared with the control simulation. The initial development of a closed low level circulation was delayed by nearly 18 h in the absence surface latent heat fluxes. Once formed, the system intensified throughout the 48-h period of integration, but unlike the control experiment, a mesoscale frontal feature south of the main circulation center was not simulated. Results from the "no surface moisture flux/no moist convection" simulation illustrate that moist convective processes play a dominant role in the overall development of the mesoscale cyclone. For this particular case, a weak and extremely shallow circulation was simulated after 24h. This circulation quickly eroded however, and was virtually non-existent for integration times greater than 39h.

Characteristics of Mesoscale Organization in WRF Simulations of Convection during TWP-ICE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Del Genio, Anthony D.; Wu, Jingbo; Chen, Yonghua

2013-01-01

Compared to satellite-derived heating profiles, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model (GCM) convective heating is too deep and its stratiform upper-level heating is too weak. This deficiency highlights the need for GCMs to parameterize the mesoscale organization of convection. Cloud-resolving model simulations of convection near Darwin, Australia, in weak wind shear environments of different humidities are used to characterize mesoscale organization processes and to provide parameterization guidance. Downdraft cold pools appear to stimulate further deep convection both through their effect on eddy size and vertical velocity. Anomalously humid air surrounds updrafts, reducing the efficacy of entrainment. Recovery of cold pool properties to ambient conditions over 5-6 h proceeds differently over land and ocean. Over ocean increased surface fluxes restore the cold pool to prestorm conditions. Over land surface fluxes are suppressed in the cold pool region; temperature decreases and humidity increases, and both then remain nearly constant, while the undisturbed environment cools diurnally. The upper-troposphere stratiform rain region area lags convection by 5-6 h under humid active monsoon conditions but by only 1-2 h during drier break periods, suggesting that mesoscale organization is more readily sustained in a humid environment. Stratiform region hydrometeor mixing ratio lags convection by 0-2 h, suggesting that it is strongly influenced by detrainment from convective updrafts. Small stratiform region temperature anomalies suggest that a mesoscale updraft parameterization initialized with properties of buoyant detrained air and evolving to a balance between diabatic heating and adiabatic cooling might be a plausible approach for GCMs.

Coupled land surface/hydrologic/atmospheric models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pielke, Roger; Steyaert, Lou; Arritt, Ray; Lahtakia, Mercedes; Smith, Chris; Ziegler, Conrad; Soong, Su Tzai; Avissar, Roni; Wetzel, Peter; Sellers, Piers

1993-01-01

The topics covered include the following: prototype land cover characteristics data base for the conterminous United States; surface evapotranspiration effects on cumulus convection and implications for mesoscale models; the use of complex treatment of surface hydrology and thermodynamics within a mesoscale model and some related issues; initialization of soil-water content for regional-scale atmospheric prediction models; impact of surface properties on dryline and MCS evolution; a numerical simulation of heavy precipitation over the complex topography of California; representing mesoscale fluxes induced by landscape discontinuities in global climate models; emphasizing the role of subgrid-scale heterogeneity in surface-air interaction; and problems with modeling and measuring biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of energy, water, and carbon on large scales.

Upscale Impact of Mesoscale Disturbances of Tropical Convection on Convectively Coupled Kelvin Waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Q.; Majda, A.

2017-12-01

Tropical convection associated with convectively coupled Kelvin waves (CCKWs) is typically organized by an eastward-moving synoptic-scale convective envelope with numerous embedded westward-moving mesoscale disturbances. It is of central importance to assess upscale impact of mesoscale disturbances on CCKWs as mesoscale disturbances propagate at various tilt angles and speeds. Here a simple multi-scale model is used to capture this multi-scale structure, where mesoscale fluctuations are directly driven by mesoscale heating and synoptic-scale circulation is forced by mean heating and eddy transfer of momentum and temperature. The two-dimensional version of the multi-scale model drives the synoptic-scale circulation, successfully reproduces key features of flow fields with a front-to-rear tilt and compares well with results from a cloud resolving model. In the scenario with an elevated upright mean heating, the tilted vertical structure of synoptic-scale circulation is still induced by the upscale impact of mesoscale disturbances. In a faster propagation scenario, the upscale impact becomes less important, while the synoptic-scale circulation response to mean heating dominates. In the unrealistic scenario with upward/westward tilted mesoscale heating, positive potential temperature anomalies are induced in the leading edge, which will suppress shallow convection in a moist environment. In its three-dimensional version, results show that upscale impact of mesoscale disturbances that propagate at tilt angles (110o 250o) induces negative lower-tropospheric potential temperature anomalies in the leading edge, providing favorable conditions for shallow convection in a moist environment, while the remaining tilt angle cases have opposite effects. Even in the presence of upright mean heating, the front-to-rear tilted synoptic-scale circulation can still be induced by eddy terms at tilt angles (120o 240o). In the case with fast propagating mesoscale heating, positive potential temperature anomalies are induced in the lower troposphere, suppressing convection in a moist environment. This simple model also reproduces convective momentum transport and CCKWs in agreement with results from a recent cloud resolving simulation.

A cost-effective method for simulating city-wide air flow and pollutant dispersion at building resolving scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berchet, Antoine; Zink, Katrin; Muller, Clive; Oettl, Dietmar; Brunner, Juerg; Emmenegger, Lukas; Brunner, Dominik

2017-06-01

A cost-effective method is presented allowing to simulate the air flow and pollutant dispersion in a whole city over multiple years at the building-resolving scale with hourly time resolution. This combination of high resolution and long time span is critically needed for epidemiological studies and for air pollution control, but still poses a great challenge for current state-of-the-art modelling techniques. The presented method relies on the pre-computation of a discrete set of possible weather situations and corresponding steady-state flow and dispersion patterns. The most suitable situation for any given hour is then selected by matching the simulated wind patterns to meteorological observations in and around the city. The catalogue of pre-computed situations corresponds to different large-scale forcings in terms of wind speed, wind direction and stability. A meteorological model converts these forcings into realistic mesoscale flow patterns accounting for the effects of topography and land-use contrasts in a domain covering the city and its surroundings. These mesoscale patterns serve as boundary conditions for a microscale urban flow model which finally drives a Lagrangian air pollutant dispersion model. The method is demonstrated with the modelling system GRAMM/GRAL v14.8 for two Swiss cities in complex terrain, Zurich and Lausanne. The mesoscale flow patterns in the two regions of interest, dominated by land-lake breezes and driven by the partly steep topography, are well reproduced in the simulations matched to in situ observations. In particular, the combination of wind measurements at different locations around the city appeared to be a robust approach to deduce the stability class for the boundary layer within the city. This information is critical for predicting the temporal variability of pollution concentration within the city, regarding their relationship with the intensity of horizontal and vertical dispersion and of turbulence. In the vicinity of sources, the 5 m resolution chosen in our set-up is not always sufficient to reproduce the very steep concentration gradients, pointing at additional cost optimisations in the method required to make higher resolutions affordable. Nevertheless, the catalogue-based methodology allows reproducing concentration variability very consistently further away from emission sources, hence for most parts of the city.

The need for enhanced initial moisture information in simulations of a complex summertime precipitation event

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waight, Kenneth T., III; Zack, John W.; Karyampudi, V. Mohan

1989-01-01

Initial simulations of the June 28, 1986 Cooperative Huntsville Meteorological Experiment case illustrate the need for mesoscale moisture information in a summertime situation in which deep convection is organized by weak large scale forcing. A methodology is presented for enhancing the initial moisture field from a combination of IR satellite imagery, surface-based cloud observations, and manually digitized radar data. The Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation Model is utilized to simulate the events of June 28-29. This procedure insures that areas known to have precipitation at the time of initialization will be nearly saturated on the grid scale, which should decrease the time needed by the model to produce the observed Bonnie (a relatively weak hurricane that moved on shore two days before) convection. This method will also result in an initial distribution of model cloudiness (transmissivity) that is very similar to that of the IR satellite image.

Diagnostics of severe convection and subsynoptic scale ageostrophic circulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

Diagnostics of severe convection and subsynoptic scale ageostrophic circulations are reported. Mesoscale circulations through forcing of ageostrophic motion by adiabatic, diabatic and frictional processes were studied. The development and application of a hybrid isentropic sigma coordinate numerical model was examined. The numerical model simulates mesoscale ageostrophic circulations associated with propagating jet streaks and severe convection. A complete list of publications and these completed through support of the NASA severe storms research project is included.

Top-down estimate of methane emissions in California using a mesoscale inverse modeling technique: The South Coast Air Basin

DOE PAGES

Cui, Yu Yan; Brioude, Jerome; McKeen, Stuart A.; ...

2015-07-28

Methane (CH 4) is the primary component of natural gas and has a larger global warming potential than CO 2. Some recent top-down studies based on observations showed CH 4 emissions in California's South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) were greater than those expected from population-apportioned bottom-up state inventories. In this study, we quantify CH 4 emissions with an advanced mesoscale inverse modeling system at a resolution of 8 km × 8 km, using aircraft measurements in the SoCAB during the 2010 Nexus of Air Quality and Climate Change campaign to constrain the inversion. To simulate atmospheric transport, we use themore » FLEXible PARTicle-Weather Research and Forecasting (FLEXPART-WRF) Lagrangian particle dispersion model driven by three configurations of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model. We determine surface fluxes of CH 4 using a Bayesian least squares method in a four-dimensional inversion. Simulated CH4 concentrations with the posterior emission inventory achieve much better correlations with the measurements (R2 = 0.7) than using the prior inventory (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Emission Inventory 2005, R 2 = 0.5). The emission estimates for CH 4 in the posterior, 46.3 ± 9.2 Mg CH 4/h, are consistent with published observation-based estimates. Changes in the spatial distribution of CH 4 emissions in the SoCAB between the prior and posterior inventories are discussed. Missing or underestimated emissions from dairies, the oil/gas system, and landfills in the SoCAB seem to explain the differences between the prior and posterior inventories. Furthermore, we estimate that dairies contributed 5.9 ± 1.7 Mg CH 4/h and the two sectors of oil and gas industries (production and downstream) and landfills together contributed 39.6 ± 8.1 Mg CH 4/h in the SoCAB.« less

Progress toward improving regional atmospheric inversions using airborne measurements: Results from ACT-America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, K. J.; Baier, B.; Baker, D.; Barkley, Z.; Bell, E.; Bowman, K. W.; Browell, E. V.; Campbell, J.; Chen, H. W.; Choi, Y.; DiGangi, J. P.; Dobler, J. T.; Erxleben, W. H.; Fan, T. F.; Feng, S.; Fried, A.; Gaudet, B. J.; Jacobson, A. R.; Keller, K.; Kooi, S. A.; Lauvaux, T.; Lin, B.; McGill, M. J.; McGregor, D.; Michalak, A.; Obland, M. D.; O'Dell, C.; Pal, S.; Parazoo, N.; Pauly, R.; Randazzo, N. A.; Samaddar, A.; Schuh, A. E.; Sweeney, C.; Wesloh, D.; Williams, C. A.; Zhang, F.; Zhou, Y.

2017-12-01

The Atmospheric Carbon and Transport (ACT) - America mission aims to improve our understanding of transport and fluxes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) via airborne campaigns spanning a range of mid-latitude weather conditions, and thus to improve the accuracy and precision of regional inverse flux estimates of GHGs. ACT-America has conducted three field campaigns with two aircraft across three regions of the eastern United States during summer 2016, winter 2017 and fall 2017. Simulations of atmospheric GHGs have been conducted for a subset of these campaigns. We present progress from these campaigns. Mid-summer observations suggest a net biological source of CO2 to the atmosphere in the Gulf Coast states. These results contradict those terrestrial biosphere models that show net uptake of CO2 in this region in summer. Methane observations downwind of major sources in the MidAtlantic suggest that these sources are represented fairly well by existing emissions inventories. Flux estimation in other regions is underway. Spatially-coherent differences in GHGs extend throughout the depth of the troposphere are observed at frontal boundaries in summer and winter. These spatial structures are captured in global and mesoscale simulations, though the simulated GHG mole fractions are sometimes biased with respect to observations, suggesting potential biases in synoptic transport. Mesoscale simulations overestimate spatial differences in ABL CO2 mole fractions in fair weather conditions as compared to observations and the CarbonTracker global inverse modeling system. ABL depths are simulated fairly well by both mesoscale and global modeling systems, suggesting that either weather-scale flux amplitudes are overestimated by CarbonTracker, or the mesoscale model lacks parameterized transport above the ABL. Measurements of OCS, 14CO2, and CO are being used to attribute CO2 variability to biogenic and anthropogenic processes and to expand the evaluation of GHG simulation systems. Cross-evaluation of OCO-2 and airborne lidar XCO2 observations against in situ measurements is defining the regional precision and accuracy of these observations. These findings are moving us toward improved regional GHG inverse flux estimates via better understanding of prior fluxes, atmospheric transport, and satellite CO2 observations.

Heavy rain forecasts in mesoscale convective system in July 2016 in Belarus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapo, Palina; Barodka, Siarhei; Krasouski, Aliaksandr

2017-04-01

During the last decade, the frequency of severe weather phenomena, such as heavy precipitation, hail and squalls, over Europe is observed to increase, which is attributed to climate change in the region. Such hazardous weather events over the territory of Belarus every year, having significant economic and social effects. Of special interest for further studies are mesoscale convective systems, which can be described as long-lived cloud complexes including groups of cumulonimbus clouds and squall lines. Passage of such systems is accompanied with intense thunderstorms, showers and squally wind. In this study, we investigate a case of Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) passage over the territory of Belarus, which occurred 13 July 2016. During this Mesoscale Convective Complex passage, heavy precipitation (up to 43 mm), squally winds and intense thunderstorms have been observed. Another feature of this MCS was the hook-shaped weather radar signature known as a "hook echo", seen on the Doppler weather radar Minsk-2. Tornadoes and powerful mesocyclones are often characterized by the presence of a hook echo on radar. Also we have performed simulations of the convective complex passage with the WRF-ARW mesoscale atmospheric modelling system using 6 different microphysics parameterizations. Our main objectives are to study the conditions of this Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) development, to consider the microphysical structure of clouds in the MCS, and to identify which microphysics package provides the best forecast of precipitation for this case of MCS in terms of its geographical distribution and precipitation amount in towns and cities where highest levels of precipitation have been observed. We present analysis of microphysical structure of this MCS along with evaluation of precipitation forecasts obtained with different microphysics parametrizations as compared to real observational data. In particular, we may note that results of almost all microphysics simulations indicate underestimation of precipitation areas in the region of interest.

Evaluation of WRF Model Against Satellite and Field Measurements During ARM March 2000 IOP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, J.; Zhang, M.

2003-12-01

Meso-scale WRF model is employed to simulate the organization of clouds related with the cyclogenesis occurred during March 1-4, 2000 over ARM SGP CART site. Qualitative comparisons of simulated clouds with GOES8 satellite images show that the WRF model can capture the main features of clouds related with the cyclogenesis. The simulated precipitation patterns also match the Radar reflectivity images well. Further evaluation of the simulated features on GCM grid-scale is conducted against ARM field measurements. The evaluation shows that the evolutions of the simulated state fields such as temperature and moisture, the simulated wind fields and the derived large-scale temperature and moisture tendencies closely follow the observed patterns. These results encourages us to use meso-scale WRF model as a tool to verify the performance of GCMs in simulating cloud feedback processes related with the frontal clouds such that we can test and validate the current cloud parameterizations in climate models, and make possible improvements to different components of current cloud parameterizations in GCMs.

Computational methods for coupling microstructural and micromechanical materials response simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

HOLM,ELIZABETH A.; BATTAILE,CORBETT C.; BUCHHEIT,THOMAS E.

2000-04-01

Computational materials simulations have traditionally focused on individual phenomena: grain growth, crack propagation, plastic flow, etc. However, real materials behavior results from a complex interplay between phenomena. In this project, the authors explored methods for coupling mesoscale simulations of microstructural evolution and micromechanical response. In one case, massively parallel (MP) simulations for grain evolution and microcracking in alumina stronglink materials were dynamically coupled. In the other, codes for domain coarsening and plastic deformation in CuSi braze alloys were iteratively linked. this program provided the first comparison of two promising ways to integrate mesoscale computer codes. Coupled microstructural/micromechanical codes were appliedmore » to experimentally observed microstructures for the first time. In addition to the coupled codes, this project developed a suite of new computational capabilities (PARGRAIN, GLAD, OOF, MPM, polycrystal plasticity, front tracking). The problem of plasticity length scale in continuum calculations was recognized and a solution strategy was developed. The simulations were experimentally validated on stockpile materials.« less

The 0.125 degree finite-volume General Circulation Model on the NASA Columbia Supercomputer: Preliminary Simulations of Mesoscale Vortices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, B.-W.; Atlas, R.; Chern, J.-D.; Reale, O.; Lin, S.-J.; Lee, T.; Chang, J.

2005-01-01

The NASA Columbia supercomputer was ranked second on the TOP500 List in November, 2004. Such a quantum jump in computing power provides unprecedented opportunities to conduct ultra-high resolution simulations with the finite-volume General Circulation Model (fvGCM). During 2004, the model was run in realtime experimentally at 0.25 degree resolution producing remarkable hurricane forecasts [Atlas et al., 2005]. In 2005, the horizontal resolution was further doubled, which makes the fvGCM comparable to the first mesoscale resolving General Circulation Model at the Earth Simulator Center [Ohfuchi et al., 2004]. Nine 5-day 0.125 degree simulations of three hurricanes in 2004 are presented first for model validation. Then it is shown how the model can simulate the formation of the Catalina eddies and Hawaiian lee vortices, which are generated by the interaction of the synoptic-scale flow with surface forcing, and have never been reproduced in a GCM before.)

A versatile model for soft patchy particles with various patch arrangements.

PubMed

Li, Zhan-Wei; Zhu, You-Liang; Lu, Zhong-Yuan; Sun, Zhao-Yan

2016-01-21

We propose a simple and general mesoscale soft patchy particle model, which can felicitously describe the deformable and surface-anisotropic characteristics of soft patchy particles. This model can be used in dynamics simulations to investigate the aggregation behavior and mechanism of various types of soft patchy particles with tunable number, size, direction, and geometrical arrangement of the patches. To improve the computational efficiency of this mesoscale model in dynamics simulations, we give the simulation algorithm that fits the compute unified device architecture (CUDA) framework of NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs). The validation of the model and the performance of the simulations using GPUs are demonstrated by simulating several benchmark systems of soft patchy particles with 1 to 4 patches in a regular geometrical arrangement. Because of its simplicity and computational efficiency, the soft patchy particle model will provide a powerful tool to investigate the aggregation behavior of soft patchy particles, such as patchy micelles, patchy microgels, and patchy dendrimers, over larger spatial and temporal scales.

Evaluation of Bogus Vortex Techniques with Four-Dimensional Variational Data Assimilation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pu, Zhao-Xia; Braun, Scott A.

2000-01-01

The effectiveness of techniques for creating "bogus" vortices in numerical simulations of hurricanes is examined by using the Penn State/NCAR nonhydrostatic mesoscale model (MM5) and its adjoint system. A series of four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4-D VAR) experiments is conducted to generate an initial vortex for Hurricane Georges (1998) in the Atlantic Ocean by assimilating bogus sea-level pressure and surface wind information into the mesoscale numerical model. Several different strategies are tested for improving the vortex representation. The initial vortices produced by the 4-D VAR technique are able to reproduce many of the structural features of mature hurricanes. The vortices also result in significant improvements to the hurricane forecasts in terms of both intensity and track. In particular, with assimilation of only bogus sea-level pressure information, the response in the wind field is contained largely within the divergent component, with strong convergence leading to strong upward motion near the center. Although the intensity of the initial vortex seems to be well represented, a dramatic spin down of the storm occurs within the first 6 h of the forecast. With assimilation of bogus surface wind data only, an expected dominance of the rotational component of the wind field is generated, but the minimum pressure is adjusted inadequately compared to the actual hurricane minimum pressure. Only when both the bogus surface pressure and wind information are assimilated together does the model produce a vortex that represents the actual intensity of the hurricane and results in significant improvements to forecasts of both hurricane intensity and track.

Local Cloudiness Development Forecast Based on Simulation of Solid Phase Formation Processes in the Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barodka, Siarhei; Kliutko, Yauhenia; Krasouski, Alexander; Papko, Iryna; Svetashev, Alexander; Turishev, Leonid

2013-04-01

Nowadays numerical simulation of thundercloud formation processes is of great interest as an actual problem from the practical point of view. Thunderclouds significantly affect airplane flights, and mesoscale weather forecast has much to contribute to facilitate the aviation forecast procedures. An accurate forecast can certainly help to avoid aviation accidents due to weather conditions. The present study focuses on modelling of the convective clouds development and thunder clouds detection on the basis of mesoscale atmospheric processes simulation, aiming at significantly improving the aeronautical forecast. In the analysis, the primary weather radar information has been used to be further adapted for mesoscale forecast systems. Two types of domains have been selected for modelling: an internal one (with radius of 8 km), and an external one (with radius of 300 km). The internal domain has been directly applied to study the local clouds development, and the external domain data has been treated as initial and final conditions for cloud cover formation. The domain height has been chosen according to the civil aviation forecast data (i.e. not exceeding 14 km). Simulations of weather conditions and local clouds development have been made within selected domains with the WRF modelling system. In several cases, thunderclouds are detected within the convective clouds. To specify the given category of clouds, we employ a simulation technique of solid phase formation processes in the atmosphere. Based on modelling results, we construct vertical profiles indicating the amount of solid phase in the atmosphere. Furthermore, we obtain profiles demonstrating the amount of ice particles and large particles (hailstones). While simulating the processes of solid phase formation, we investigate vertical and horizontal air flows. Consequently, we attempt to separate the total amount of solid phase into categories of small ice particles, large ice particles and hailstones. Also, we strive to reveal and differentiate the basic atmospheric parameters of sublimation and coagulation processes, aiming to predict ice particles precipitation. To analyze modelling results we apply the VAPOR three-dimensional visualization package. For the chosen domains, a diurnal synoptic situation has been simulated, including rain, sleet, ice pellets, and hail. As a result, we have obtained a large scope of data describing various atmospheric parameters: cloud cover, major wind components, basic levels of isobaric surfaces, and precipitation rate. Based on this data, we show both distinction in precipitation formation due to various heights and its differentiation of the ice particles. The relation between particle rise in the atmosphere and its size is analyzed: at 8-10 km altitude large ice particles, resulted from coagulation, dominate, while at 6-7 km altitude one can find snow and small ice particles formed by condensation growth. Also, mechanical trajectories of solid precipitation particles for various ice formation processes have been calculated.

Retrieving Mesoscale Vertical Velocities along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current from a Combination of Satellite and In Situ Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buongiorno Nardelli, B.; Iudicone, D.; Cotroneo, Y.; Zambianchi, E.; Rio, M. H.

2016-02-01

In the framework of the Italian National Program on Antarctic Research (PNRA), an analysis of the mesoscale dynamics along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current has been carried out starting from a combination of satellite and in situ observations. More specifically, state-of-the-art statistical techniques have been used to combine remotely-sensed sea surface temperature, salinity and absolute dynamical topography with in situ Argo data, providing mesoscale-resolving 3D tracers and geostrophic velocity fields. The 3D reconstruction has been validated with independent data collected during PNRA surveys. These data are then used to diagnose the vertical exchanges in the Southern Ocean through a generalized version of the Omega equation. Intense vertical motion (O(100 m/day)) is found along the ACC, upstream/downstream of its meanders, and within mesoscale eddies, where multipolar vertical velocity patterns are generally observed.

Effect of microstructure on the detonation initiation in energetic materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, J.; Jackson, T. L.

2017-12-01

In this work we examine the role of the microstructure on detonation initiation of energetic materials. We solve the reactive Euler equations, with the energy equation augmented by a power deposition term. The deposition term is based on simulations of void collapse at the microscale, modeled at the mesoscale as hot-spots, while the reaction rate at the mesoscale is modeled using density-based kinetics. We carry out two-dimensional simulations of random packs of HMX crystals in a binder. We show that mean particle size, size distribution, and particle shape have a major effect on the transition between detonation and no-detonation, thus highlighting the importance of the microstructure for shock-induced initiation.

Simulation of loss mechanisms in organic solar cells: A description of the mesoscopic Monte Carlo technique and an evaluation of the first reaction method.

PubMed

Groves, Chris; Kimber, Robin G E; Walker, Alison B

2010-10-14

In this letter we evaluate the accuracy of the first reaction method (FRM) as commonly used to reduce the computational complexity of mesoscale Monte Carlo simulations of geminate recombination and the performance of organic photovoltaic devices. A wide range of carrier mobilities, degrees of energetic disorder, and applied electric field are considered. For the ranges of energetic disorder relevant for most polyfluorene, polythiophene, and alkoxy poly(phenylene vinylene) materials used in organic photovoltaics, the geminate separation efficiency predicted by the FRM agrees with the exact model to better than 2%. We additionally comment on the effects of equilibration on low-field geminate separation efficiency, and in doing so emphasize the importance of the energy at which geminate carriers are created upon their subsequent behavior.

Tempest - Efficient Computation of Atmospheric Flows Using High-Order Local Discretization Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ullrich, P. A.; Guerra, J. E.

2014-12-01

The Tempest Framework composes several compact numerical methods to easily facilitate intercomparison of atmospheric flow calculations on the sphere and in rectangular domains. This framework includes the implementations of Spectral Elements, Discontinuous Galerkin, Flux Reconstruction, and Hybrid Finite Element methods with the goal of achieving optimal accuracy in the solution of atmospheric problems. Several advantages of this approach are discussed such as: improved pressure gradient calculation, numerical stability by vertical/horizontal splitting, arbitrary order of accuracy, etc. The local numerical discretization allows for high performance parallel computation and efficient inclusion of parameterizations. These techniques are used in conjunction with a non-conformal, locally refined, cubed-sphere grid for global simulations and standard Cartesian grids for simulations at the mesoscale. A complete implementation of the methods described is demonstrated in a non-hydrostatic setting.

Exploring image data assimilation in the prospect of high-resolution satellite oceanic observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durán Moro, Marina; Brankart, Jean-Michel; Brasseur, Pierre; Verron, Jacques

2017-07-01

Satellite sensors increasingly provide high-resolution (HR) observations of the ocean. They supply observations of sea surface height (SSH) and of tracers of the dynamics such as sea surface salinity (SSS) and sea surface temperature (SST). In particular, the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will provide measurements of the surface ocean topography at very high-resolution (HR) delivering unprecedented information on the meso-scale and submeso-scale dynamics. This study investigates the feasibility to use these measurements to reconstruct meso-scale features simulated by numerical models, in particular on the vertical dimension. A methodology to reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) multivariate meso-scale scenes is developed by using a HR numerical model of the Solomon Sea region. An inverse problem is defined in the framework of a twin experiment where synthetic observations are used. A true state is chosen among the 3D multivariate states which is considered as a reference state. In order to correct a first guess of this true state, a two-step analysis is carried out. A probability distribution of the first guess is defined and updated at each step of the analysis: (i) the first step applies the analysis scheme of a reduced-order Kalman filter to update the first guess probability distribution using SSH observation; (ii) the second step minimizes a cost function using observations of HR image structure and a new probability distribution is estimated. The analysis is extended to the vertical dimension using 3D multivariate empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and the probabilistic approach allows the update of the probability distribution through the two-step analysis. Experiments show that the proposed technique succeeds in correcting a multivariate state using meso-scale and submeso-scale information contained in HR SSH and image structure observations. It also demonstrates how the surface information can be used to reconstruct the ocean state below the surface.

Sensitivity Characterization of Pressed Energetic Materials using Flyer Plate Mesoscale Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rai, Nirmal; Udaykumar, H. S.

Heterogeneous energetic materials like pressed explosives have complicated microstructure and contain various forms of heterogeneities such as pores, micro-cracks, energetic crystals etc. It is widely accepted that the presence of these heterogeneities can affect the sensitivity of these materials under shock load. The interaction of shock load with the microstructural heterogeneities may leads to the formation of local heated regions known as ``hot spots''. Chemical reaction may trigger at the hot spot regions depending on the hot spot temperature and the duration over which the temperature can be maintained before phenomenon like heat conduction, rarefaction waves withdraws energy from it. There are different mechanisms which can lead to the formation of hot spots including void collapse. The current work is focused towards the sensitivity characterization of two HMX based pressed energetic materials using flyer plate mesoscale simulations. The aim of the current work is to develop mesoscale numerical framework which can perform simulations by replicating the laboratory based flyer plate experiments. The current numerical framework uses an image processing approach to represent the microstructural heterogeneities incorporated in a massively parallel Eulerian code SCIMITAR3D. The chemical decomposition of HMX is modeled using Henson-Smilowitz reaction mechanism. The sensitivity characterization is aimed towards obtaining James initiation threshold curve and comparing it with the experimental results.

The impact of vertical resolution in mesoscale model AROME forecasting of radiation fog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philip, Alexandre; Bergot, Thierry; Bouteloup, Yves; Bouyssel, François

2015-04-01

Airports short-term forecasting of fog has a security and economic impact. Numerical simulations have been performed with the mesoscale model AROME (Application of Research to Operations at Mesoscale) (Seity et al. 2011). Three vertical resolutions (60, 90 and 156 levels) are used to show the impact of radiation fog on numerical forecasting. Observations at Roissy Charles De Gaulle airport are compared to simulations. Significant differences in the onset, evolution and dissipation of fog were found. The high resolution simulation is in better agreement with observations than a coarser one. The surface boundary layer and incoming long-wave radiations are better represented. A more realistic behaviour of liquid water content evolution allows a better anticipation of low visibility procedures (ceiling < 60m and/or visibility < 600m). The case study of radiation fog shows that it is necessary to have a well defined vertical grid to better represent local phenomena. A statistical study over 6 months (October 2011 - March 2012 ) using different configurations was carried out. Statistically, results were the same as in the case study of radiation fog. Seity Y., P. Brousseau, S. Malardel, G. Hello, P. Bénard, F. Bouttier, C. Lac, V. Masson, 2011: The AROME-France convective scale operational model. Mon.Wea.Rev., 139, 976-991.

Case study modeling of turbulent and mesoscale fluxes over the BOREAS region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vidale, P.L.; Pielke, R.A.; Steyaert, L.T.; Barr, A.

1997-01-01

Results from aircraft and surface observations provided evidence for the existence of mesoscale circulations over the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) domain. Using an integrated approach that included the use of analytical modeling, numerical modeling, and data analysis, we have found that there are substantial contributions to the total budgets of heat over the BOREAS domain generated by mesoscale circulations. This effect is largest when the synoptic flow is relatively weak, yet it is present under less favorable conditions, as shown by the case study presented here. While further analysis is warranted to document this effect, the existence of mesoscale flow is not surprising, since it is related to the presence of landscape patches, including lakes, which are of a size on the order of the local Rossby radius and which have spatial differences in maximum sensible heat flux of about 300 W m-2. We have also analyzed the vertical temperature profile simulated in our case study as well as high-resolution soundings and we have found vertical profiles of temperature change above the boundary layer height, which we attribute in part to mesoscale contributions. Our conclusion is that in regions with organized landscapes, such as BOREAS, even with relatively strong synoptic winds, dynamical scaling criteria should be used to assess whether mesoscale effects should be parameterized or explicitly resolved in numerical models of the atmosphere.

A Parameterization for the Triggering of Landscape Generated Moist Convection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynn, Barry H.; Tao, Wei-Kuo; Abramopoulos, Frank

1998-01-01

A set of relatively high resolution three-dimensional (3D) simulations were produced to investigate the triggering of moist convection by landscape generated mesoscale circulations. The local accumulated rainfall varied monotonically (linearly) with the size of individual landscape patches, demonstrating the need to develop a trigger function that is sensitive to the size of individual patches. A new triggering function that includes the effect of landscapes generated mesoscale circulations over patches of different sizes consists of a parcel's perturbation in vertical velocity (nu(sub 0)), temperature (theta(sub 0)), and moisture (q(sub 0)). Each variable in the triggering function was also sensitive to soil moisture gradients, atmospheric initial conditions, and moist processes. The parcel's vertical velocity, temperature, and moisture perturbation were partitioned into mesoscale and turbulent components. Budget equations were derived for theta(sub 0) and q(sub 0). Of the many terms in this set of budget equations, the turbulent, vertical flux of the mesoscale temperature and moisture contributed most to the triggering of moist convection through the impact of these fluxes on the parcel's temperature and moisture profile. These fluxes needed to be parameterized to obtain theta(sub 0) and q(sub 0). The mesoscale vertical velocity also affected the profile of nu(sub 0). We used similarity theory to parameterize these fluxes as well as the parcel's mesoscale vertical velocity.

Sensitivity of a mesoscale model to initial specification of relative humidity, liquid water and vertical motion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kalb, M. W.; Perkey, D. J.

1985-01-01

The influence of synoptic scale initial conditions on the accuracy of mesoscale precipitation modeling is investigated. Attention is focused on the relative importance of the water vapor, cloud water, rain water, and vertical motion, with the analysis carried out using the Limited Area Mesoscale Prediction System (LAMPS). The fully moist primitive equation model has 15 levels and a terrain-following sigma coordinate system. A K-theory approach was implemented to model the planetary boundary layer. A total of 15 sensitivity simulations were run to investigate the effects of the synoptic initial conditions of the four atmospheric variables. The absence of synoptic cloud and rain water amounts in the initialization caused a 2 hr delay in the onset of precipitation. The delay was increased if synoptic-scale vertical motion was used instead of mesoscale values. Both the delays and a choice of a smoothed moisture field resulted in underestimations of the total rainfall.

Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM 2005) Applications for Mars Science Laboratory Mission Site Selection Processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Justh, H. L.; Justus, C. G.

2007-01-01

The new Mars-GRAM auxiliary profile capability, using data from TES observations, mesoscale model output, or other sources, allows a potentially higher fidelity representation of the atmosphere, and a more accurate way of estimating inherent uncertainty in atmospheric density and winds. Figure 3 indicates that, with nominal value rpscale=1, Mars-GRAM perturbations would tend to overestimate observed or mesoscale-modeled variability. To better represent TES and mesoscale model density perturbations, rpscale values as low as about 0.4 could be used. Some trajectory model implementations of Mars-GRAM allow the user to dynamically change rpscale and rwscale values with altitude. Figure 4 shows that an mscale value of about 1.2 would better replicate wind standard deviations from MRAMS or MMM5 simulations at the Gale, Terby, or Melas sites. By adjusting the rpscale and rwscale values in Mars-GRAM based on figures such as Figure 3 and 4, we can provide more accurate end-to-end simulations for EDL at the candidate MSL landing sites.

Failure of cement hydrates: freeze-thaw and fracture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ioannidou, Katerina; Del Gado, Emanuela; Ulm, Franz-Josef; Pellenq, Roland

Mechanical and viscoelastic behavior of concrete crucially depends on cement hydrates, the ``glue'' of cement. Even more than the atomistic structure, the mesoscale amorphous texture of cement hydrates over hundreds of nanometers plays a crucial role for material properties. We use simulations that combine information of the nano-scale building units of cement hydrates and on their effective interactions, obtained from atomistic simulations and experiments, into a statistical physics framework for aggregating nanoparticles.Our mesoscale model was able to reconcile different experimental results ranging from small-angle neutron scattering, SEM, adsorption/desorption of N2, and water to nanoindentation and gain the new fundamental insights into the microscopic origin of the properties measured. Our results suggest that heterogeneities developed during the early stages of hydration persist in the structure of C-S-H, impacting the rheological and mechanical performance of the hardened cement paste. In this talk I discuss recent investigation on failure mechanism at the mesoscale of hardened cement paste such as freeze-thaw and fracture. Using correlations between local volume fractions and local stress we provide a link between structural and mechanical heterogeneities during the failure mechanisms.

Long-Term Global Morphology of Gravity Wave Activity Using UARS Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eckermann, Stephen D.; Jackman, C. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Gravity waves in satellite data from CRISTA and MLS are studied in depth this quarter. Results this quarter are somewhat limited due to the PI'S heavy involvement throughout this reporting period in on-site forecasting of mountain wave-induced turbulence for the NASA's ER-2 research aircraft at Kiruna, Sweden during the SAGE Ill Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE). Results reported concentrate on further mesoscale modeling studies of mountain waves over the southern Andes, evident in CRISTA and MLS data. Two-dimensional mesoscale model simulations are extended through generalization of model equations to include both rotation and a first-order turbulence closure scheme. Results of three experiments are analyzed in depth and submitted for publication. We also commence simulations with a three-dimensional mesoscale model (MM5) and present preliminary results for the CRISTA 1 period near southern South America. Combination of ground-based temperature data at 87 km from two sites with global HRDl data was continued this quarter, showing stationary planetary wave structures. This work was also submitted for publication.

Environments of Long-Lived Mesoscale Convective Systems Over the Central United States in Convection Permitting Climate Simulations: Long-Lived Mesoscale Convective Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Qing; Houze, Robert A.; Leung, L. Ruby

Continental-scale convection-permitting simulations of the warm seasons of 2011 and 2012 reproduce realistic structure and frequency distribution of lifetime and event mean precipitation of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) over the central United States. Analysis is performed to determine the environmental conditions conducive to generating the longest-lived MCSs and their subsequent interactions. The simulations show that MCSs systematically form over the Great Plains ahead of a trough in the westerlies in combination with an enhanced low-level jet from the Gulf of Mexico. These environmental properties at the time of storm initiation are most prominent for the MCSs that persist for themore » longest times. Systems reaching 9 h or more in lifetime exhibit feedback to the environment conditions through diabatic heating in the MCS stratiform regions. As a result, the parent synoptic-scale wave is strengthened as a divergent perturbation develops over the MCS at high levels, while a cyclonic circulation perturbation develops in the midlevels of the trough, where the vertical gradient of heating in the MCS region is maximized. The quasi-balanced mesoscale vortex helps to maintain the MCS over a long period of time by feeding dry, cool air into the environment at the rear of the MCS region, so that the MCS can draw in air that increases the evaporative cooling that helps maintain the MCS. At lower levels the south-southeasterly jet of warm moist air from the Gulf is enhanced in the presence of the synoptic-scale wave. That moisture supply is essential to the continued redevelopment of the MCS.« less

Towards a Fine-Resolution Global Coupled Climate System for Prediction on Decadal/Centennial Scales

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McClean, Julie L.

The over-arching goal of this project was to contribute to the realization of a fully coupled fine resolution Earth System Model simulation in which a weather-scale atmosphere is coupled to an ocean in which mesoscale eddies are largely resolved. Both a prototype fine-resolution fully coupled ESM simulation and a first-ever multi-decadal forced fine-resolution global coupled ocean/ice simulation were configured, tested, run, and analyzed as part of this grant. Science questions focused on the gains from the use of high horizontal resolution, particularly in the ocean and sea-ice, with respect to climatically important processes. Both these fine resolution coupled ocean/sea icemore » and fully-coupled simulations and precedent stand-alone eddy-resolving ocean and eddy-permitting coupled ocean/ice simulations were used to explore the high resolution regime. Overall, these studies showed that the presence of mesoscale eddies significantly impacted mixing processes and the global meridional overturning circulation in the ocean simulations. Fourteen refereed publications and a Ph.D. dissertation resulted from this grant.« less

NEAMS FPL M2 Milestone Report: Development of a UO₂ Grain Size Model using Multicale Modeling and Simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tonks, Michael R; Zhang, Yongfeng; Bai, Xianming

2014-06-01

This report summarizes development work funded by the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling Simulation program's Fuels Product Line (FPL) to develop a mechanistic model for the average grain size in UO₂ fuel. The model is developed using a multiscale modeling and simulation approach involving atomistic simulations, as well as mesoscale simulations using INL's MARMOT code.

Regional analysis of convective systems during the West African monsoon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guy, Bradley Nicholas

The West African monsoon (WAM) occurs during the boreal summer and is responsible for a majority of precipitation in the northern portion of West Africa. A distinct shift of precipitation, often driven by large propagating mesoscale convective systems, is indicated from satellite observations. Excepting the coarser satellite observations, sparse data across the continent has prevented understanding of mesoscale variability of these important systems. The interaction between synoptic and mesoscale features appears to be an important part of the WAM system. Without an understanding of the mesoscale properties of precipitating systems, improved understanding of the feedback mechanism between spatial scales cannot be attained. Convective and microphysical characteristics of West African convective systems are explored using various observational data sets. Focus is directed toward meso -alpha and -beta scale convective systems to improve our understanding of characteristics at this spatial scale and contextualize their interaction with the larger-scale. Ground-based radar observations at three distinct geographical locations in West Africa along a common latitudinal band (Niamey, Niger [continental], Kawsara, Senegal [coastal], and Praia, Republic of Cape Verde [maritime]) are analyzed to determine convective system characteristics in each domain during a 29 day period in 2006. Ancillary datasets provided by the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA) and NASA-AMMA (NAMMA) field campaigns are also used to place the radar observations in context. Results show that the total precipitation is dominated by propagating mesoscale convective systems. Convective characteristics vary according to environmental properties, such as vertical shear, CAPE, and the degree of synoptic forcing. Data are bifurcated based on the presence or absence of African easterly waves. In general, African easterly waves appear to enhance mesoscale convective system strength characteristics (e.g. total precipitation and vertical reflectivity profiles) at the inland and maritime sites. The wave regime also resulted in an increased population of the largest observed mesoscale convective systems observed near the coast, which led to an increase in stratiform precipitation. Despite this increase, differentiation of convective strength characteristics was less obvious between wave and no-wave regimes at the coast. Due to the propagating nature of these advecting mesoscale convective systems, interaction with the regional thermodynamic and dynamic environment appears to result in more variability than enhancements due to the wave regime, independent of location. A 13-year (1998-2010) climatology of mesoscale convective characteristics associated with the West African monsoon are also investigated using precipitation radar and passive microwave data from the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite. Seven regions defined as continental northeast and northwest, southeast and southwest, coastal, and maritime north and south are compared to analyze zonal and meridional differences. Data are categorized according to identified African easterly wave (AEW) phase and when no wave is present. While some enhancements are observed in association with AEW regimes, regional differences were generally more apparent than wave vs. no-wave differences. Convective intensity metrics confirm that land-based systems exhibit stronger characteristics, such as higher storm top and maximum 30-dBZ heights and significant 85-GHz brightness temperature depressions. Continental systems also contain a lower fraction of points identified as stratiform. Results suggest that precipitation processes also varied depending upon region and AEW regime, with warm-rain processes more apparent over the ocean and the southwest continental region and ice-based microphysics more dominant over land, including mixed-phase processes. AEW regimes did show variability in stratiform fraction and ice and liquid water content, suggesting modulation of mesoscale characteristics possibly through feedback with the synoptic environment. Two mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) observed during the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA) experiment are simulated using the three-dimensional (3D) Goddard Cumulus Ensemble model. One of the MCSs, the 8 September 2006 system, is associated with the passage of an African easterly wave trough while the other, the 14 July 2006 case, is not. Simulations are performed using 1 km horizontal grid spacing, a lower limit on current embedded cloud resolving models within a multi-scale modeling framework. Simulated system structure is compared to radar observations using contoured frequency-by-altitude diagrams (CFADs), calculated ice and water mass, and identified hydrometeor variables. Results indicate general agreement in the temporal distribution of hydrometeors. Vertical distributions show that ice hydrometeors are often underestimated at mid- and upper-levels, partially due to the inability of the model to produce adequate system heights. Abundance of high reflectivity values below and near the melting level in the simulation led to a broadening of the CFAD distributions. Observed vertical reflectivity profiles indicate larger reflectivities aloft compared to simulated values. Despite these differences and biases, the radar-observed differences between the two cases are noticeable in the simulations as well, suggesting that the model is able to capture gross observed differences between the two MCSs.

Scanning MWCNT-Nanopipette and Probe Microscopy: Li Patterning and Transport Studies.

PubMed

Larson, Jonathan M; Bharath, Satyaveda C; Cullen, William G; Reutt-Robey, Janice E

2015-10-07

A carbon-nanotube-enabling scanning probe technique/nanotechnology for manipulating and measuring lithium at the nano/mesoscale is introduced. Scanning Li-nanopipette and probe microscopy (SLi-NPM) is based on a conductive atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever with an open-ended multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) affixed to its apex. SLi-NPM operation is demonstrated with a model system consisting of a Li thin film on a Si(111) substrate. By control of bias, separation distance, and contact time, attograms of Li can be controllably pipetted to or from the MWCNT tip. Patterned surface Li features are then directly probed via noncontact AFM measurements with the MWCNT tip. The subsequent decay of Li features is simulated with a mesoscale continuum model, developed here. The Li surface diffusion coefficient for a four (two) Li layer thick film is measured as D=8(±1.2)×10(-15) cm(2) s(-1) (D=1.75(±0.15)×10(-15) cm(2) s(-1)). Dual-Li pipetting/measuring with SLi-NPM enables a broad range of time-dependent Li and nanoelectrode characterization studies of fundamental importance to energy-storage research. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Classical nucleation theory in the phase-field crystal model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jreidini, Paul; Kocher, Gabriel; Provatas, Nikolas

2018-04-01

A full understanding of polycrystalline materials requires studying the process of nucleation, a thermally activated phase transition that typically occurs at atomistic scales. The numerical modeling of this process is problematic for traditional numerical techniques: commonly used phase-field methods' resolution does not extend to the atomic scales at which nucleation takes places, while atomistic methods such as molecular dynamics are incapable of scaling to the mesoscale regime where late-stage growth and structure formation takes place following earlier nucleation. Consequently, it is of interest to examine nucleation in the more recently proposed phase-field crystal (PFC) model, which attempts to bridge the atomic and mesoscale regimes in microstructure simulations. In this work, we numerically calculate homogeneous liquid-to-solid nucleation rates and incubation times in the simplest version of the PFC model, for various parameter choices. We show that the model naturally exhibits qualitative agreement with the predictions of classical nucleation theory (CNT) despite a lack of some explicit atomistic features presumed in CNT. We also examine the early appearance of lattice structure in nucleating grains, finding disagreement with some basic assumptions of CNT. We then argue that a quantitatively correct nucleation theory for the PFC model would require extending CNT to a multivariable theory.

Influence of Mesoscale Eddies on New Production in the Sargasso Sea

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGillicuddy , Dennis J., Jr.; Robinson, A. R.; Siegel, D. A.; Jannasch, H. W.; Johnson, R.; Dickey, T. D.; McNeil, J.; Michaels, A. F.; Knap, A. H.

1998-01-01

It is problematic that geochemical estimates of new production - that fraction of total primary production in surface waters fueled by externally supplied nutrients - in oligotrophic waters of the open ocean surpass that which can be sustained by the traditionally accepted mechanisms of nutrient supply. In the case of the Sargasso Sea, for example, these mechanisms account for less than half of the annual nutrient requirement indicated by new production estimates based on three independent transient-tracer techniques. Specifically, approximately one-quarter to one-third of the annual nutrient requirement can be supplied by entrainment into the mixed layer during wintertime convection, with minor contributions from mixing in the thermocline and wind-driven transport (the potentially important role of nitrogen fixation - for which estimates vary by an order of magnitude in this region - is excluded from this budget). Here we present four lines of evidence - eddy-resolving model simulations, high-resolution observations from moored instrumentation, shipboard surveys, and satellite data - which suggest that the vertical flux of nutrients induced by the dynamics of mesoscale eddies is sufficient to balance the nutrient budget in the Sargasso Sea. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Mesoscale influence on long-range transport — evidence from ETEX modelling and observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sørensen, Jens Havskov; Rasmussen, Alix; Ellermann, Thomas; Lyck, Erik

During the first European Tracer Experiment (ETEX) tracer gas was released from a site in Brittany, France, and subsequently observed over a range of 2000 km. Hourly measurements were taken at the National Environmental Research Institute (NERI) located at Risø, Denmark, using two measurement techniques. At this location, the observed concentration time series shows a double-peak structure occurring between two and three days after the release. By using the Danish Emergency Response Model of the Atmosphere (DERMA), which is developed at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), simulations of the dispersion of the tracer gas have been performed. Using numerical weather-prediction data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) by DERMA, the arrival time of the tracer is quite well predicted, so also is the duration of the passage of the plume, but the double-peak structure is not reproduced. However, using higher-resolution data from the DMI version of the HIgh Resolution Limited Area Model (DMI-HIRLAM), DERMA reproduces the observed structure very well. The double-peak structure is caused by the influence of a mesoscale anti-cyclonic eddy on the tracer gas plume about one day earlier.

Classical nucleation theory in the phase-field crystal model.

PubMed

Jreidini, Paul; Kocher, Gabriel; Provatas, Nikolas

2018-04-01

A full understanding of polycrystalline materials requires studying the process of nucleation, a thermally activated phase transition that typically occurs at atomistic scales. The numerical modeling of this process is problematic for traditional numerical techniques: commonly used phase-field methods' resolution does not extend to the atomic scales at which nucleation takes places, while atomistic methods such as molecular dynamics are incapable of scaling to the mesoscale regime where late-stage growth and structure formation takes place following earlier nucleation. Consequently, it is of interest to examine nucleation in the more recently proposed phase-field crystal (PFC) model, which attempts to bridge the atomic and mesoscale regimes in microstructure simulations. In this work, we numerically calculate homogeneous liquid-to-solid nucleation rates and incubation times in the simplest version of the PFC model, for various parameter choices. We show that the model naturally exhibits qualitative agreement with the predictions of classical nucleation theory (CNT) despite a lack of some explicit atomistic features presumed in CNT. We also examine the early appearance of lattice structure in nucleating grains, finding disagreement with some basic assumptions of CNT. We then argue that a quantitatively correct nucleation theory for the PFC model would require extending CNT to a multivariable theory.

The Properties of Convective Clouds Over the Western Pacific and Their Relationship to the Environment of Tropical Cyclones

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-30

oceans from radar , aircraft and satellite data; 2) Derive an accurate mesoscale environment of convective systems through the assimilation of satellite... radar , lidar and in-situ data; 3) Evaluate the quality of the global forecast system (e.g., Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System or...from Aqua and NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), 2) developing mesoscale data assimilation techniques to assimilate satellite, radar

Characterizing the degree of convective clustering using radar reflectivity and its application to evaluating model simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, W. Y.; Kim, D.; Rowe, A.; Park, S.

2017-12-01

Despite the impact of mesoscale convective organization on the properties of convection (e.g., mixing between updrafts and environment), parameterizing the degree of convective organization has only recently been attempted in cumulus parameterization schemes (e.g., Unified Convection Scheme UNICON). Additionally, challenges remain in determining the degree of convective organization from observations and in comparing directly with the organization metrics in model simulations. This study addresses the need to objectively quantify the degree of mesoscale convective organization using high quality S-PolKa radar data from the DYNAMO field campaign. One of the most noticeable aspects of mesoscale convective organization in radar data is the degree of convective clustering, which can be characterized by the number and size distribution of convective echoes and the distance between them. We propose a method of defining contiguous convective echoes (CCEs) using precipitating convective echoes identified by a rain type classification algorithm. Two classification algorithms, Steiner et al. (1995) and Powell et al. (2016), are tested and evaluated against high-resolution WRF simulations to determine which method better represents the degree of convective clustering. Our results suggest that the CCEs based on Powell et al.'s algorithm better represent the dynamical properties of the convective updrafts and thus provide the basis of a metric for convective organization. Furthermore, through a comparison with the observational data, the WRF simulations driven by the DYNAMO large-scale forcing, similarly applied to UNICON Single Column Model simulations, will allow us to evaluate the ability of both WRF and UNICON to simulate convective clustering. This evaluation is based on the physical processes that are explicitly represented in WRF and UNICON, including the mechanisms leading to convective clustering, and the feedback to the convective properties.

Dynamics of the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence: Energy Conversions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francisco, C. P. F.; da Silveira, I. C. A.; Campos, E. J. D.

2011-03-01

In this work, we investigated the mesoscale dynamics of the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence (BMC) region. Particularly, we were interested in the role of geophysical instability in the formation and development of the mesoscale features commonly observed in this region. We dynamically analyzed the results of numerical simulations of the BMC region conducted with 'Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model' (HYCOM). We quantified the effect of barotropic and baroclinic energy conversions in the modeled flow and showed the dominance of the latter in the region.

Geostatistical Analysis of Mesoscale Spatial Variability and Error in SeaWiFS and MODIS/Aqua Global Ocean Color Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glover, David M.; Doney, Scott C.; Oestreich, William K.; Tullo, Alisdair W.

2018-01-01

Mesoscale (10-300 km, weeks to months) physical variability strongly modulates the structure and dynamics of planktonic marine ecosystems via both turbulent advection and environmental impacts upon biological rates. Using structure function analysis (geostatistics), we quantify the mesoscale biological signals within global 13 year SeaWiFS (1998-2010) and 8 year MODIS/Aqua (2003-2010) chlorophyll a ocean color data (Level-3, 9 km resolution). We present geographical distributions, seasonality, and interannual variability of key geostatistical parameters: unresolved variability or noise, resolved variability, and spatial range. Resolved variability is nearly identical for both instruments, indicating that geostatistical techniques isolate a robust measure of biophysical mesoscale variability largely independent of measurement platform. In contrast, unresolved variability in MODIS/Aqua is substantially lower than in SeaWiFS, especially in oligotrophic waters where previous analysis identified a problem for the SeaWiFS instrument likely due to sensor noise characteristics. Both records exhibit a statistically significant relationship between resolved mesoscale variability and the low-pass filtered chlorophyll field horizontal gradient magnitude, consistent with physical stirring acting on large-scale gradient as an important factor supporting observed mesoscale variability. Comparable horizontal length scales for variability are found from tracer-based scaling arguments and geostatistical decorrelation. Regional variations between these length scales may reflect scale dependence of biological mechanisms that also create variability directly at the mesoscale, for example, enhanced net phytoplankton growth in coastal and frontal upwelling and convective mixing regions. Global estimates of mesoscale biophysical variability provide an improved basis for evaluating higher resolution, coupled ecosystem-ocean general circulation models, and data assimilation.

Mesoscale simulations of atmospheric flow and tracer transport in Phoenix, Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ge; Ostoja-Starzewski, Martin

2006-09-01

Large urban centres located within confining rugged or complex terrain can frequently experience episodes of high concentrations of lower atmospheric pollution. Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona (United States), is a good example, as the general population is occasionally subjected to high levels of lower atmospheric ozone, carbon monoxide and suspended particulate matter. As a result of dramatic but continuous increase in population, the accompanying environmental stresses and the local atmospheric circulation that dominates the background flow, an accurate simulation of the mesoscale pollutant transport across Phoenix and similar urban areas is becoming increasingly important. This is particularly the case in an airshed, such as that of Phoenix, where the local atmospheric circulation is complicated by the complex terrain of the area.

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN URBAN CANOPY PARAMETERIZATION FOR FINE-SCALE SIMULATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

The Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) (Grell et al. 1994) has been modified to include an urban canopy parameterization (UCP) for fine-scale urban simulations ( 1 - km horizontal grid spacing ). The UCP accounts for dr...

Hurricane Forecasts with a Global Mesoscale-resolving Model on the NASA Columbia Supercomputer Preliminary Simulations of Hurricane Katrina (2005)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, B.-W.; Atlas, R.; Reale, O.; Chern, J.-D.; Li, S.-J.; Lee, T.; Chang, J.; Henze, C.; Yeh, K.-S.

2006-01-01

It is known that the General Circulation Models (GCMs) have sufficient resolution to accurately simulate hurricane near-eye structure and intensity. To overcome this limitation, the mesoscale-resolving finite-element GCM (fvGCM) has been experimentally deployed on the NASA Columbia supercomputer, and its performance is evaluated choosing hurricane Katrina as an example in this study. On late August 2005 Katrina underwent two stages of rapid intensification and became the sixth most intense hurricane in the Atlantic. Six 5-day simulations of Katrina at both 0.25 deg and 0.125 deg show comparable track forecasts, but the 0,125 deg runs provide much better intensity forecasts, producing center pressure with errors of only +/- 12 hPa. The 0.125 deg simulates better near-eye wind distributions and a more realistic average intensification rate. A convection parameterization (CP) is one of the major limitations in a GCM, the 0.125 deg run with CP disabled produces very encouraging results.

Analytical mesoscale modeling of aeolian sand transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lämmel, Marc; Kroy, Klaus

2017-11-01

The mesoscale structure of aeolian sand transport determines a variety of natural phenomena studied in planetary and Earth science. We analyze it theoretically beyond the mean-field level, based on the grain-scale transport kinetics and splash statistics. A coarse-grained analytical model is proposed and verified by numerical simulations resolving individual grain trajectories. The predicted height-resolved sand flux and other important characteristics of the aeolian transport layer agree remarkably well with a comprehensive compilation of field and wind-tunnel data, suggesting that the model robustly captures the essential mesoscale physics. By comparing the predicted saturation length with field data for the minimum sand-dune size, we elucidate the importance of intermittent turbulent wind fluctuations for field measurements and reconcile conflicting previous models for this most enigmatic emergent aeolian scale.

Mesoscale Dynamical Regimes in the Midlatitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Craig, G. C.; Selz, T.

2018-01-01

The atmospheric mesoscales are characterized by a complex variety of meteorological phenomena that defy simple classification. Here a full space-time spectral analysis is carried out, based on a 7 day convection-permitting simulation of springtime midlatitude weather on a large domain. The kinetic energy is largest at synoptic scales, and on the mesoscale it is largely confined to an "advective band" where space and time scales are related by a constant of proportionality which corresponds to a velocity scale of about 10 m s-1. Computing the relative magnitude of different terms in the governing equations allows the identification of five dynamical regimes. These are tentatively identified as quasi-geostrophic flow, propagating gravity waves, stationary gravity waves related to orography, acoustic modes, and a weak temperature gradient regime, where vertical motions are forced by diabatic heating.

Anisotropic Shear Dispersion Parameterization for Mesoscale Eddy Transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reckinger, S. J.; Fox-Kemper, B.

2016-02-01

The effects of mesoscale eddies are universally treated isotropically in general circulation models. However, the processes that the parameterization approximates, such as shear dispersion, typically have strongly anisotropic characteristics. The Gent-McWilliams/Redi mesoscale eddy parameterization is extended for anisotropy and tested using 1-degree Community Earth System Model (CESM) simulations. The sensitivity of the model to anisotropy includes a reduction of temperature and salinity biases, a deepening of the southern ocean mixed-layer depth, and improved ventilation of biogeochemical tracers, particularly in oxygen minimum zones. The parameterization is further extended to include the effects of unresolved shear dispersion, which sets the strength and direction of anisotropy. The shear dispersion parameterization is similar to drifter observations in spatial distribution of diffusivity and high-resolution model diagnosis in the distribution of eddy flux orientation.

Mesoscale modeling: solving complex flows in biology and biotechnology.

PubMed

Mills, Zachary Grant; Mao, Wenbin; Alexeev, Alexander

2013-07-01

Fluids are involved in practically all physiological activities of living organisms. However, biological and biorelated flows are hard to analyze due to the inherent combination of interdependent effects and processes that occur on a multitude of spatial and temporal scales. Recent advances in mesoscale simulations enable researchers to tackle problems that are central for the understanding of such flows. Furthermore, computational modeling effectively facilitates the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Among other methods, dissipative particle dynamics and the lattice Boltzmann method have become increasingly popular during recent years due to their ability to solve a large variety of problems. In this review, we discuss recent applications of these mesoscale methods to several fluid-related problems in medicine, bioengineering, and biotechnology. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiscale Simulation of Blood Flow in Brain Arteries with an Aneurysm

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Leopold Grinberg; Vitali Morozov; Dmitry A. Fedosov

2013-04-24

Multi-scale modeling of arterial blood flow can shed light on the interaction between events happening at micro- and meso-scales (i.e., adhesion of red blood cells to the arterial wall, clot formation) and at macro-scales (i.e., change in flow patterns due to the clot). Coupled numerical simulations of such multi-scale flow require state-of-the-art computers and algorithms, along with techniques for multi-scale visualizations.This animation presents results of studies used in the development of a multi-scale visualization methodology. First we use streamlines to show the path the flow is taking as it moves through the system, including the aneurysm. Next we investigate themore » process of thrombus (blood clot) formation, which may be responsible for the rupture of aneurysms, by concentrating on the platelet blood cells, observing as they aggregate on the wall of the aneurysm.« less

DEVELOPMENT OF CFD SIMULATION APPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL-SCALE AREAS AND POTENTIAL INTERFACE WITH MESOSCALE MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

The presentation summarizes developments of ongoing applications of fine-scale (geometry specific) CFD simulations to urban areas within atmospheric boundary layers. Enabling technology today and challenges for the future are discussed. There is a challenging need to develop a ...

Diabatic forcing and initialization with assimilation of cloud and rain water in a forecast model: Methodology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raymond, William H.; Olson, William S.; Callan, Geary

1990-01-01

The focus of this part of the investigation is to find one or more general modeling techniques that will help reduce the time taken by numerical forecast models to initiate or spin-up precipitation processes and enhance storm intensity. If the conventional data base could explain the atmospheric mesoscale flow in detail, then much of our problem would be eliminated. But the data base is primarily synoptic scale, requiring that a solution must be sought either in nonconventional data, in methods to initialize mesoscale circulations, or in ways of retaining between forecasts the model generated mesoscale dynamics and precipitation fields. All three methods are investigated. The initialization and assimilation of explicit cloud and rainwater quantities computed from conservation equations in a mesoscale regional model are examined. The physical processes include condensation, evaporation, autoconversion, accretion, and the removal of rainwater by fallout. The question of how to initialize the explicit liquid water calculations in numerical models and how to retain information about precipitation processes during the 4-D assimilation cycle are important issues that are addressed. The explicit cloud calculations were purposely kept simple so that different initialization techniques can be easily and economically tested. Precipitation spin-up processes associated with three different types of weather phenomena are examined. Our findings show that diabatic initialization, or diabatic initialization in combination with a new diabatic forcing procedure, work effectively to enhance the spin-up of precipitation in a mesoscale numerical weather prediction forecast. Also, the retention of cloud and rain water during the analysis phase of the 4-D data assimilation procedure is shown to be valuable. Without detailed observations, the vertical placement of the diabatic heating remains a critical problem.

Mesoscale resolution capability of altimetry: Present and future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dufau, Claire; Orsztynowicz, Marion; Dibarboure, Gérald; Morrow, Rosemary; Le Traon, Pierre-Yves

2016-07-01

Wavenumber spectra of along-track Sea Surface Height from the most recent satellite radar altimetry missions [Jason-2, Cryosat-2, and SARAL/Altika) are used to determine the size of ocean dynamical features observable with the present altimetry constellation. A global analysis of the along-track 1-D mesoscale resolution capability of the present-day altimeter missions is proposed, based on a joint analysis of the spectral slopes in the mesoscale band and the error levels observed for horizontal wavelengths lower than 20km. The global sea level spectral slope distribution provided by Xu and Fu with Jason-1 data is revisited with more recent altimeter missions, and maps of altimeter error levels are provided and discussed for each mission. Seasonal variations of both spectral slopes and altimeter error levels are also analyzed for Jason-2. SARAL/Altika, with its lower error levels, is shown to detect smaller structures everywhere. All missions show substantial geographical and temporal variations in their mesoscale resolution capabilities, with variations depending mostly on the error level change but also on slight regional changes in the spectral slopes. In western boundary currents where the signal to noise ratio is favorable, the along-track mesoscale resolution is approximately 40 km for SARAL/AltiKa, 45 km for Cryosat-2, and 50 km for Jason-2. Finally, a prediction of the future 2-D mesoscale sea level resolution capability of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is given using a simulated error level.

Importance of ocean mesoscale variability for air-sea interactions in the Gulf of Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putrasahan, D. A.; Kamenkovich, I.; Le Hénaff, M.; Kirtman, B. P.

2017-06-01

Mesoscale variability of currents in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) can affect oceanic heat advection and air-sea heat exchanges, which can influence climate extremes over North America. This study is aimed at understanding the influence of the oceanic mesoscale variability on the lower atmosphere and air-sea heat exchanges. The study contrasts global climate model (GCM) with 0.1° ocean resolution (high resolution; HR) with its low-resolution counterpart (1° ocean resolution with the same 0.5° atmosphere resolution; LR). The LR simulation is relevant to current generation of GCMs that are still unable to resolve the oceanic mesoscale. Similar to observations, HR exhibits positive correlation between sea surface temperature (SST) and surface turbulent heat flux anomalies, while LR has negative correlation. For HR, we decompose lateral advective heat fluxes in the upper ocean into mean (slowly varying) and mesoscale-eddy (fast fluctuations) components. We find that the eddy flux divergence/convergence dominates the lateral advection and correlates well with the SST anomalies and air-sea latent heat exchanges. This result suggests that oceanic mesoscale advection supports warm SST anomalies that in turn feed surface heat flux. We identify anticyclonic warm-core circulation patterns (associated Loop Current and rings) which have an average diameter of 350 km. These warm anomalies are sustained by eddy heat flux convergence at submonthly time scales and have an identifiable imprint on surface turbulent heat flux, atmospheric circulation, and convective precipitation in the northwest portion of an averaged anticyclone.

Mesoscale Predictability and Error Growth in Short Range Ensemble Forecasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gingrich, Mark

Although it was originally suggested that small-scale, unresolved errors corrupt forecasts at all scales through an inverse error cascade, some authors have proposed that those mesoscale circulations resulting from stationary forcing on the larger scale may inherit the predictability of the large-scale motions. Further, the relative contributions of large- and small-scale uncertainties in producing error growth in the mesoscales remain largely unknown. Here, 100 member ensemble forecasts are initialized from an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) to simulate two winter storms impacting the East Coast of the United States in 2010. Four verification metrics are considered: the local snow water equivalence, total liquid water, and 850 hPa temperatures representing mesoscale features; and the sea level pressure field representing a synoptic feature. It is found that while the predictability of the mesoscale features can be tied to the synoptic forecast, significant uncertainty existed on the synoptic scale at lead times as short as 18 hours. Therefore, mesoscale details remained uncertain in both storms due to uncertainties at the large scale. Additionally, the ensemble perturbation kinetic energy did not show an appreciable upscale propagation of error for either case. Instead, the initial condition perturbations from the cycling EnKF were maximized at large scales and immediately amplified at all scales without requiring initial upscale propagation. This suggests that relatively small errors in the synoptic-scale initialization may have more importance in limiting predictability than errors in the unresolved, small-scale initial conditions.

Deviations from Equilibrium in Daytime Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence arising from Nonstationary Mesoscale Forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jayaraman, Balaji; Brasseur, James; Haupt, Sue; Lee, Jared

2016-11-01

LES of the "canonical" daytime atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over flat topography is developed as an equilibrium ABL with steady surface heat flux, Q0 and steady unidirectional "geostrophic" wind vector Vg above a capping inversion. A strong inversion layer in daytime ABL acts as a "lid" that sharply separates 3D "microscale" ABL turbulence at the O(10) m scale from the quasi-2D "mesoscale" turbulent weather eddies (O(100) km scale). While "canonical" ABL is equilibrium, quasi-stationary and characterized statistically by the ratio of boundary layer depth (zi) to Obukhov length scale (- L) , the real mesoscale influences (Ug and Q0) that force a true daytime ABL are nonstationary at both diurnal and sub-diurnal time scales. We study the consequences of this non-stationarity on ABL dynamics by forcing ABL LES with realistic WRF simulations over flat Kansas terrain. Considering horizontal homogeneity, we relate the mesoscale and geostrophic winds, Ug and Vg, and systematically study the ABL turbulence response to non-steady variations in Q0 and Ug. We observe significant deviations from equilibrium, that manifest in many ways, such as the formation of "roll" eddies purely from changes in mesoscale wind direction that are normally associated with increased surface heat flux. Support from DOE. Compute resources from Penn State ICS.

Impact of submesoscales on surface material distribution in a gulf of Mexico mesoscale eddy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haza, A. C.; Özgökmen, T. M.; Hogan, P.

2016-11-01

Understanding material distribution at the ocean's surface is important for a number of applications, in particular for buoyant pollutants such as oil spills. The main tools to estimate surface flows are satellite altimeters, as well as data-assimilative ocean general circulation models (OGCMs). Current-generation altimeter products rely on the geostrophic approximation to derive surface currents. Recent modeling and experimental work revealed existence of ageostrophic submesoscale motions within the upper ocean boundary layer. The next frontier is how submesoscales influence transport pathways in the upper ocean, which is a multi-scale problem involving the interaction of submesoscale and mesoscale coherent structures. Here we focus on a mesoscale eddy that exhibits submesoscale fluctuations along its rim. The high-resolution OCGM fields are then treated with two filters. A Lanczos filter is applied to velocity fields to remove the kinetic energy over the submesoscales. Then a Gaussian filter is used for the modeled sea surface height to simulate a geostrophic velocity field that would be available from gridded satellite altimeter data. Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) are then generated from full-resolution and filtered fields to compare Lagrangian characteristics corresponding to different realizations of the surface velocity fields. It is found that while mesoscale currents exert a general control over the pathways of the tracer initially launched in the mesoscale eddy, there is a leak across the mesoscale transport barriers, induced by submesoscale motions. This leak is quantified as 20% of the tracer when using the submesoscale filter over one month of advection, while it increases to 50% using the geostrophic velocity field. We conclude that LCS computed from mesoscale surface velocity fields can be considered as a good first-order proxy, but the leakage of material across them in the presence of submesoscales can be significant.

Wavelet Analysis of SAR Images for Coastal Monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Antony K.; Wu, Sunny Y.; Tseng, William Y.; Pichel, William G.

1998-01-01

The mapping of mesoscale ocean features in the coastal zone is a major potential application for satellite data. The evolution of mesoscale features such as oil slicks, fronts, eddies, and ice edge can be tracked by the wavelet analysis using satellite data from repeating paths. The wavelet transform has been applied to satellite images, such as those from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and ocean color sensor for feature extraction. In this paper, algorithms and techniques for automated detection and tracking of mesoscale features from satellite SAR imagery employing wavelet analysis have been developed. Case studies on two major coastal oil spills have been investigated using wavelet analysis for tracking along the coast of Uruguay (February 1997), and near Point Barrow, Alaska (November 1997). Comparison of SAR images with SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) data for coccolithophore bloom in the East Bering Sea during the fall of 1997 shows a good match on bloom boundary. This paper demonstrates that this technique is a useful and promising tool for monitoring of coastal waters.

Simulation of Atmospheric Dispersion of Elevated Releases from Point Sources in Mississippi Gulf Coast with Different Meteorological Data

PubMed Central

Yerramilli, Anjaneyulu; Srinivas, Challa Venkata; Dasari, Hari Prasad; Tuluri, Francis; White, Loren D.; Baham, Julius M.; Young, John H.; Hughes, Robert; Patrick, Chuck; Hardy, Mark G.; Swanier, Shelton J.

2009-01-01

Atmospheric dispersion calculations are made using the HYSPLIT Particle Dispersion Model for studying the transport and dispersion of air-borne releases from point elevated sources in the Mississippi Gulf coastal region. Simulations are performed separately with three meteorological data sets having different spatial and temporal resolution for a typical summer period in 1–3 June 2006 representing a weak synoptic condition. The first two data are the NCEP global and regional analyses (FNL, EDAS) while the third is a meso-scale simulation generated using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with nested domains at a fine resolution of 4 km. The meso-scale model results show significant temporal and spatial variations in the meteorological fields as a result of the combined influences of the land-sea breeze circulation, the large scale flow field and diurnal alteration in the mixing depth across the coast. The model predicted SO2 concentrations showed that the trajectory and the concentration distribution varied in the three cases of input data. While calculations with FNL data show an overall higher correlation, there is a significant positive bias during daytime and negative bias during night time. Calculations with EDAS fields are significantly below the observations during both daytime and night time though plume behavior follows the coastal circulation. The diurnal plume behavior and its distribution are better simulated using the mesoscale WRF meteorological fields in the coastal environment suggesting its suitability for pollution dispersion impact assessment in the local scale. Results of different cases of simulation, comparison with observations, correlation and bias in each case are presented. PMID:19440433

Multiscale Microstructures and Microstructural Effects on the Reliability of Microbumps in Three-Dimensional Integration

PubMed Central

Huang, Zhiheng; Xiong, Hua; Wu, Zhiyong; Conway, Paul; Altmann, Frank

2013-01-01

The dimensions of microbumps in three-dimensional integration reach microscopic scales and thus necessitate a study of the multiscale microstructures in microbumps. Here, we present simulated mesoscale and atomic-scale microstructures of microbumps using phase field and phase field crystal models. Coupled microstructure, mechanical stress, and electromigration modeling was performed to highlight the microstructural effects on the reliability of microbumps. The results suggest that the size and geometry of microbumps can influence both the mesoscale and atomic-scale microstructural formation during solidification. An external stress imposed on the microbump can cause ordered phase growth along the boundaries of the microbump. Mesoscale microstructures formed in the microbumps from solidification, solid state phase separation, and coarsening processes suggest that the microstructures in smaller microbumps are more heterogeneous. Due to the differences in microstructures, the von Mises stress distributions in microbumps of different sizes and geometries vary. In addition, a combined effect resulting from the connectivity of the phase morphology and the amount of interface present in the mesoscale microstructure can influence the electromigration reliability of microbumps. PMID:28788356

Electrostatic interactions in soft particle systems: mesoscale simulations of ionic liquids.

PubMed

Wang, Yong-Lei; Zhu, You-Liang; Lu, Zhong-Yuan; Laaksonen, Aatto

2018-05-21

Computer simulations provide a unique insight into the microscopic details, molecular interactions and dynamic behavior responsible for many distinct physicochemical properties of ionic liquids. Due to the sluggish and heterogeneous dynamics and the long-ranged nanostructured nature of ionic liquids, coarse-grained meso-scale simulations provide an indispensable complement to detailed first-principles calculations and atomistic simulations allowing studies over extended length and time scales with a modest computational cost. Here, we present extensive coarse-grained simulations on a series of ionic liquids of the 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium (alkyl = butyl, heptyl-, and decyl-) family with Cl, [BF4], and [PF6] counterions. Liquid densities, microstructures, translational diffusion coefficients, and re-orientational motion of these model ionic liquid systems have been systematically studied over a wide temperature range. The addition of neutral beads in cationic models leads to a transition of liquid morphologies from dispersed apolar beads in a polar framework to that characterized by bi-continuous sponge-like interpenetrating networks in liquid matrices. Translational diffusion coefficients of both cations and anions decrease upon lengthening of the neutral chains in the cationic models and by enlarging molecular sizes of the anionic groups. Similar features are observed in re-orientational motion and time scales of different cationic models within the studied temperature range. The comparison of the liquid properties of the ionic systems with their neutral counterparts indicates that the distinctive microstructures and dynamical quantities of the model ionic liquid systems are intrinsically related to Coulombic interactions. Finally, we compared the computational efficiencies of three linearly scaling O(N log N) Ewald summation methods, the particle-particle particle-mesh method, the particle-mesh Ewald summation method, and the Ewald summation method based on a non-uniform fast Fourier transform technique, to calculate electrostatic interactions. Coarse-grained simulations were performed using the GALAMOST and the GROMACS packages and hardware efficiently utilizing graphics processing units on a set of extended [1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium][BF4] ionic liquid systems of up to 131 072 ion pairs.

Computer Laboratory for Multi-scale Simulations of Novel Nanomaterials

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-15

schemes for multiscale modeling of polymers. Permselective ion-exchange membranes for protective clothing, fuel cells , and batteries are of special...polyelectrolyte membranes ( PEM ) with chemical warfare agents (CWA) and their simulants and (2) development of new simulation methods and computational...chemical potential using gauge cell method and calculation of density profiles. However, the code does not run in parallel environments. For mesoscale

Initialization of high resolution surface wind simulations using NWS gridded data

Treesearch

J. Forthofer; K. Shannon; Bret Butler

2010-01-01

WindNinja is a standalone computer model designed to provide the user with simulations of surface wind flow. It is deterministic and steady state. It is currently being modified to allow the user to initialize the flow calculation using National Digital Forecast Database. It essentially allows the user to downscale the coarse scale simulations from meso-scale models to...

Forecast skill of a high-resolution real-time mesoscale model designed for weather support of operations at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, Gregory E.; Zack, John W.; Manobianco, John

1994-01-01

NASA funded Mesoscale Environmental Simulations and Operations (MESO), Inc. to develop a version of the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS). The model has been modified specifically for short-range forecasting in the vicinity of KSC/CCAS. To accomplish this, the model domain has been limited to increase the number of horizontal grid points (and therefore grid resolution) and the model' s treatment of precipitation, radiation, and surface hydrology physics has been enhanced to predict convection forced by local variations in surface heat, moisture fluxes, and cloud shading. The objective of this paper is to (1) provide an overview of MASS including the real-time initialization and configuration for running the data pre-processor and model, and (2) to summarize the preliminary evaluation of the model's forecasts of temperature, moisture, and wind at selected rawinsonde station locations during February 1994 and July 1994. MASS is a hydrostatic, three-dimensional modeling system which includes schemes to represent planetary boundary layer processes, surface energy and moisture budgets, free atmospheric long and short wave radiation, cloud microphysics, and sub-grid scale moist convection.

Arctic Stratospheric Temperature In The Winters 1999/2000 and 2000/2001: A Quantitative Assessment and Microphysical Implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buss, S.; Wernli, H.; Peter, T.; Kivi, R.; Bui, T. P.; Kleinböhl, A.; Schiller, C.

Stratospheric winter temperatures play a key role in the chain of microphysical and chemical processes that lead to the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), chlorine activation and eventually to stratospheric ozone depletion. Here the tempera- ture conditions during the Arctic winters 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 are quantitatively investigated using observed profiles of water vapour and nitric acid, and tempera- tures from high-resolution radiosondes and aircraft observations, global ECMWF and UKMO analyses and mesoscale model simulations over Scandinavia and Greenland. The ECMWF model resolves parts of the gravity wave activity and generally agrees well with the observations. However, for the very cold temperatures near the ice frost point the ECMWF analyses have a warm bias of 1-6 K compared to radiosondes. For the mesoscale model HRM, this bias is generally reduced due to a more accurate rep- resentation of gravity waves. Quantitative estimates of the impact of the mesoscale temperature perturbations indicates that over Scandinavia and Greenland the wave- induced stratospheric cooling (as simulated by the HRM) affects only moderately the estimated chlorine activation and homogeneous NAT particle formation, but strongly enhances the potential for ice formation.

Understanding Mesoscale Land-Atmosphere Interactions in Arctic Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, X.; Wang, S.; Nachamkin, J. E.

2017-12-01

Land-atmosphere interactions in Arctic region are examined using the U.S. Navy Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS©*) with the Noah Land Surface Model (LSM). Initial land surface variables in COAMPS are interpolated from the real-time NASA Land Information System (LIS). The model simulations are configured for three nest grids with 27-9-3 km horizontal resolutions. The simulation period is set for October 2015 with 12-h data assimilation update cycle and 24-h integration length. The results are compared with those simulated without using LSM and evaluated with observations from ONR Sea State R/V Sikuliaq cruise and the North Slope of Alaska (NSA). There are complex soil and vegetation types over the surface for simulation with LSM, compared to without LSM simulation. The results show substantial differences in surface heat fluxes between bulk surface scheme and LSM, which may have an important impact on the sea ice evolution over the Arctic region. Evaluations from station data show surface air temperature and relative humidity have smaller biases for simulation using LSM. Diurnal variation of land surface temperature, which is necessary for physical processes of land-atmosphere, is also better captured than without LSM.

Comparison of thunderstorm simulations from WRF-NMM and WRF-ARW models over East Indian Region.

PubMed

Litta, A J; Mary Ididcula, Sumam; Mohanty, U C; Kiran Prasad, S

2012-01-01

The thunderstorms are typical mesoscale systems dominated by intense convection. Mesoscale models are essential for the accurate prediction of such high-impact weather events. In the present study, an attempt has been made to compare the simulated results of three thunderstorm events using NMM and ARW model core of WRF system and validated the model results with observations. Both models performed well in capturing stability indices which are indicators of severe convective activity. Comparison of model-simulated radar reflectivity imageries with observations revealed that NMM model has simulated well the propagation of the squall line, while the squall line movement was slow in ARW. From the model-simulated spatial plots of cloud top temperature, we can see that NMM model has better captured the genesis, intensification, and propagation of thunder squall than ARW model. The statistical analysis of rainfall indicates the better performance of NMM than ARW. Comparison of model-simulated thunderstorm affected parameters with that of the observed showed that NMM has performed better than ARW in capturing the sharp rise in humidity and drop in temperature. This suggests that NMM model has the potential to provide unique and valuable information for severe thunderstorm forecasters over east Indian region.

Multiscale Modeling and Uncertainty Quantification for Nuclear Fuel Performance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Estep, Donald; El-Azab, Anter; Pernice, Michael

2017-03-23

In this project, we will address the challenges associated with constructing high fidelity multiscale models of nuclear fuel performance. We (*) propose a novel approach for coupling mesoscale and macroscale models, (*) devise efficient numerical methods for simulating the coupled system, and (*) devise and analyze effective numerical approaches for error and uncertainty quantification for the coupled multiscale system. As an integral part of the project, we will carry out analysis of the effects of upscaling and downscaling, investigate efficient methods for stochastic sensitivity analysis of the individual macroscale and mesoscale models, and carry out a posteriori error analysis formore » computed results. We will pursue development and implementation of solutions in software used at Idaho National Laboratories on models of interest to the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program.« less

Surface Variability of Short-wavelength Radiation and Temperature on Exoplanets around M Dwarfs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Xin; Tian, Feng; Wang, Yuwei

2017-03-10

It is a common practice to use 3D General Circulation Models (GCM) with spatial resolution of a few hundred kilometers to simulate the climate of Earth-like exoplanets. The enhanced albedo effect of clouds is especially important for exoplanets in the habitable zones around M dwarfs that likely have fixed substellar regions and substantial cloud coverage. Here, we carry out mesoscale model simulations with 3 km spatial resolution driven by the initial and boundary conditions in a 3D GCM and find that it could significantly underestimate the spatial variability of both the incident short-wavelength radiation and the temperature at planet surface.more » Our findings suggest that mesoscale models with cloud-resolving capability be considered for future studies of exoplanet climate.« less

Utilization of VAS satellite data in the initialization of an oceanic cyclogenesis simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Douglas, Sharon G.; Warner, Thomas T.

1987-01-01

A series of experiments was performed to test various methods of incorporating Visible Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer Atmospheric Sounder (VAS)-sounding data into the initial conditions of the Penn State University/National Center for Atmospheric mesoscale model. The VAS data for this ocean-cyclogenesis case consist of 110 irregularly distributed temperature and humidity soundings located over the North Pacific Ocean and apply at approximately 1200 GMT November 10, 1981. Various methods of utilizing VAS data in the initial condition of a mesoscale model were evaluated.

Utilization of VAS satellite data in the initialization of an oceanic-cyclogenesis simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Douglas, Sharon G.; Warner, Thomas T.

1986-01-01

A series of experiments was performed to test various method of incorporating Visible Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer Atmospheric Sounder (VAS)-sounding data into the initial conditions of the Penn State University/National Center for Atmospheric mesoscale model. The VAS data for this ocean-cyclogenesis case consist of 110 irregularly distributed temperature and humidity soundings located over the North Pacific Ocean and apply at approximately 1200 GMT 10 November 1981. Various methods of utilizing VAS data in the initial condition of a mesoscale model were evaluated.

MSFC shuttle lightning research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaughan, Otha H., Jr.

1993-01-01

The shuttle mesoscale lightning experiment (MLE), flown on earlier shuttle flights, and most recently flown on the following space transportation systems (STS's), STS-31, -32, -35, -37, -38, -40, -41, and -48, has continued to focus on obtaining additional quantitative measurements of lightning characteristics and to create a data base for use in demonstrating observation simulations for future spaceborne lightning mapping systems. These flights are also providing design criteria data for the design of a proposed shuttle MLE-type lightning research instrument called mesoscale lightning observational sensors (MELOS), which are currently under development here at MSFC.

Top-down estimate of surface flux in the Los Angeles Basin using a mesoscale inverse modeling technique: assessing anthropogenic emissions of CO, NOx and CO2 and their impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brioude, Jerome; Angevine, Wayne; Ahmadov, Ravan; Kim, Si Wan; Evan, Stephanie; McKeen, Stuart; Hsie, Eirh Yu; Frost, Greg; Neuman, Andy; Pollack, Ilana; Peischl, Jeff; Ryerson, Tom; Holloway, John; Brown, Steeve; Nowak, John; Roberts, Jim; Wofsy, Steeve; Santoni, Greg; Trainer, Michael

2013-04-01

We present top-down estimates of anthropogenic CO, NOx and CO2 surface fluxes at mesoscale using a Lagrangian model in combination with three different WRF model configurations, driven by data from aircraft flights during the CALNEX campaign in southern California in May-June 2010. The US EPA National Emission Inventory 2005 (NEI 2005) was the prior in the CO and NOx inversion calculations. The flux ratio inversion method, based on linear relationships between chemical species, was used to calculate the CO2 inventory without prior knowledge of CO2 surface fluxes. The inversion was applied to each flight to estimate the variability of single-flight-based flux estimates. In Los Angeles (LA) County, the uncertainties on CO and NOx fluxes were 10% and 15%, respectively. Compared with NEI 2005, the CO posterior emissions were lower by 43% ± 6% in LA County and by 37% ± 10% in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB). NOx posterior emissions were lower by 32% ± 10% in LA County and by 27% ± 15% in the SoCAB. NOx posterior emissions were 40% lower on weekends relative to weekdays. The CO2 posterior estimates were 183 ± 18 Tg yr-1 in SoCAB. A flight during ITCT in 2002 was used to estimate emissions in the LA Basin in 2002. From 2002 to 2010, the CO and NOx posterior emissions decreased by 41% and 37%, respectively, in agreement with previous studies. Over the same time period, CO2 emissions increased by 10% ± 14% in LA County but decreased by 4% ± 10% in the SoCAB, a statistically insignificant change. Overall, the posterior estimates were in good agreement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) inventory, with differences of 15% or less. However, the posterior spatial distribution in the basin was significantly different from CARB for NOx emissions. WRF-Chem mesoscale chemical-transport model simulations allowed an evaluation of differences in chemistry using different inventory assumptions, including NEI 2005, CARB 2010 and the posterior inventories derived in this study. The biases in WRF-Chem ozone were reduced and correlations were increased using the posterior from this study compared with simulations with the two bottom-up inventories, showing that improving the spatial distribution of ozone precursor surface emissions is also important in mesoscale chemistry forecasts.

Top-down estimate of surface flux in the Los Angeles Basin using a mesoscale inverse modeling technique: assessing anthropogenic emissions of CO, NOx and CO2 and their impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brioude, J.; Angevine, W. M.; Ahmadov, R.; Kim, S.-W.; Evan, S.; McKeen, S. A.; Hsie, E.-Y.; Frost, G. J.; Neuman, J. A.; Pollack, I. B.; Peischl, J.; Ryerson, T. B.; Holloway, J.; Brown, S. S.; Nowak, J. B.; Roberts, J. M.; Wofsy, S. C.; Santoni, G. W.; Trainer, M.

2012-12-01

We present top-down estimates of anthropogenic CO, NOx and CO2 surface fluxes at mesoscale using a Lagrangian model in combination with three different WRF model configurations, driven by data from aircraft flights during the CALNEX campaign in southern California in May-June 2010. The US EPA National Emission Inventory 2005 (NEI 2005) was the prior in the CO and NOx inversion calculations. The flux ratio inversion method, based on linear relationships between chemical species, was used to calculate the CO2 inventory without prior knowledge of CO2 surface fluxes. The inversion was applied to each flight to estimate the variability of single-flight-based flux estimates. In Los Angeles (LA) County, the uncertainties on CO and NOx fluxes were 10% and 15%, respectively. Compared with NEI 2005, the CO posterior emissions were lower by 43% ± 6% in LA County and by 37% ± 10% in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB). NOx posterior emissions were lower by 32% ± 10% in LA County and by 27% ± 15% in the SoCAB. NOx posterior emissions were 40% lower on weekends relative to weekdays. The CO2 posterior estimates were 183 ± 18 Tg yr-1 in SoCAB. A flight during ITCT in 2002 was used to estimate emissions in the LA Basin in 2002. From 2002 to 2010, the CO and NOx posterior emissions decreased by 41% and 37%, respectively, in agreement with previous studies. Over the same time period, CO2 emissions increased by 10% ± 14% in LA County but decreased by 4% ± 10% in the SoCAB, a statistically insignificant change. Overall, the posterior estimates were in good agreement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) inventory, with differences of 15% or less. However, the posterior spatial distribution in the basin was significantly different from CARB for NOx emissions. WRF-Chem mesoscale chemical-transport model simulations allowed an evaluation of differences in chemistry using different inventory assumptions, including NEI 2005, CARB 2010 and the posterior inventories derived in this study. The biases in WRF-Chem ozone were reduced and correlations were increased using the posterior from this study compared with simulations with the two bottom-up inventories, showing that improving the spatial distribution of ozone precursor surface emissions is also important in mesoscale chemistry forecasts.

Spatial characteristics of the tropical cloud systems: comparison between model simulation and satellite observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Guang J.; Zurovac-Jevtic, Dance; Boer, Erwin R.

1999-10-01

A Lagrangian cloud classification algorithm is applied to the cloud fields in the tropical Pacific simulated by a high-resolution regional atmospheric model. The purpose of this work is to assess the model's ability to reproduce the observed spatial characteristics of the tropical cloud systems. The cloud systems are broadly grouped into three categories: deep clouds, mid-level clouds and low clouds. The deep clouds are further divided into mesoscale convective systems and nonmesoscale convective systems. It is shown that the model is able to simulate the total cloud cover for each category reasonably well. However, when the cloud cover is broken down into contributions from cloud systems of different sizes, it is shown that the simulated cloud size distribution is biased toward large cloud systems, with contribution from relatively small cloud systems significantly under-represented in the model for both deep and mid-level clouds. The number distribution and area contribution to the cloud cover from mesoscale convective systems are very well simulated compared to the satellite observations, so are low clouds as well. The dependence of the cloud physical properties on cloud scale is examined. It is found that cloud liquid water path, rainfall, and ocean surface sensible and latent heat fluxes have a clear dependence on cloud types and scale. This is of particular interest to studies of the cloud effects on surface energy budget and hydrological cycle. The diurnal variation of the cloud population and area is also examined. The model exhibits a varying degree of success in simulating the diurnal variation of the cloud number and area. The observed early morning maximum cloud cover in deep convective cloud systems is qualitatively simulated. However, the afternoon secondary maximum is missing in the model simulation. The diurnal variation of the tropospheric temperature is well reproduced by the model while simulation of the diurnal variation of the moisture field is poor. The implication of this comparison between model simulation and observations on cloud parameterization is discussed.

Workstation-Based Real-Time Mesoscale Modeling Designed for Weather Support to Operations at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manobianco, John; Zack, John W.; Taylor, Gregory E.

1996-01-01

This paper describes the capabilities and operational utility of a version of the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS) that has been developed to support operational weather forecasting at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS). The implementation of local, mesoscale modeling systems at KSC/CCAS is designed to provide detailed short-range (less than 24 h) forecasts of winds, clouds, and hazardous weather such as thunderstorms. Short-range forecasting is a challenge for daily operations, and manned and unmanned launches since KSC/CCAS is located in central Florida where the weather during the warm season is dominated by mesoscale circulations like the sea breeze. For this application, MASS has been modified to run on a Stardent 3000 workstation. Workstation-based, real-time numerical modeling requires a compromise between the requirement to run the system fast enough so that the output can be used before expiration balanced against the desire to improve the simulations by increasing resolution and using more detailed physical parameterizations. It is now feasible to run high-resolution mesoscale models such as MASS on local workstations to provide timely forecasts at a fraction of the cost required to run these models on mainframe supercomputers. MASS has been running in the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) at KSC/CCAS since January 1994 for the purpose of system evaluation. In March 1995, the AMU began sending real-time MASS output to the forecasters and meteorologists at CCAS, Spaceflight Meteorology Group (Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas), and the National Weather Service (Melbourne, Florida). However, MASS is not yet an operational system. The final decision whether to transition MASS for operational use will depend on a combination of forecaster feedback, the AMU's final evaluation results, and the life-cycle costs of the operational system.

A test of systematic coarse-graining of molecular dynamics simulations: Thermodynamic properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Chia-Chun; Kulkarni, Pandurang M.; Scott Shell, M.; Gary Leal, L.

2012-10-01

Coarse-graining (CG) techniques have recently attracted great interest for providing descriptions at a mesoscopic level of resolution that preserve fluid thermodynamic and transport behaviors with a reduced number of degrees of freedom and hence less computational effort. One fundamental question arises: how well and to what extent can a "bottom-up" developed mesoscale model recover the physical properties of a molecular scale system? To answer this question, we explore systematically the properties of a CG model that is developed to represent an intermediate mesoscale model between the atomistic and continuum scales. This CG model aims to reduce the computational cost relative to a full atomistic simulation, and we assess to what extent it is possible to preserve both the thermodynamic and transport properties of an underlying reference all-atom Lennard-Jones (LJ) system. In this paper, only the thermodynamic properties are considered in detail. The transport properties will be examined in subsequent work. To coarse-grain, we first use the iterative Boltzmann inversion (IBI) to determine a CG potential for a (1-ϕ)N mesoscale particle system, where ϕ is the degree of coarse-graining, so as to reproduce the radial distribution function (RDF) of an N atomic particle system. Even though the uniqueness theorem guarantees a one to one relationship between the RDF and an effective pairwise potential, we find that RDFs are insensitive to the long-range part of the IBI-determined potentials, which provides some significant flexibility in further matching other properties. We then propose a reformulation of IBI as a robust minimization procedure that enables simultaneous matching of the RDF and the fluid pressure. We find that this new method mainly changes the attractive tail region of the CG potentials, and it improves the isothermal compressibility relative to pure IBI. We also find that there are optimal interaction cutoff lengths for the CG system, as a function of ϕ, that are required to attain an adequate potential while maintaining computational speedup. To demonstrate the universality of the method, we test a range of state points for the LJ liquid as well as several LJ chain fluids.

Backward-in-time methods to simulate large-scale transport and mixing in the ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prants, S. V.

2015-06-01

In oceanography and meteorology, it is important to know not only where water or air masses are headed for, but also where they came from as well. For example, it is important to find unknown sources of oil spills in the ocean and of dangerous substance plumes in the atmosphere. It is impossible with the help of conventional ocean and atmospheric numerical circulation models to extrapolate backward from the observed plumes to find the source because those models cannot be reversed in time. We review here recently elaborated backward-in-time numerical methods to identify and study mesoscale eddies in the ocean and to compute where those waters came from to a given area. The area under study is populated with a large number of artificial tracers that are advected backward in time in a given velocity field that is supposed to be known analytically or numerically, or from satellite and radar measurements. After integrating advection equations, one gets positions of each tracer on a fixed day in the past and can identify from known destinations a particle positions at earlier times. The results provided show that the method is efficient, for example, in estimating probabilities to find increased concentrations of radionuclides and other pollutants in oceanic mesoscale eddies. The backward-in-time methods are illustrated in this paper with a few examples. Backward-in-time Lagrangian maps are applied to identify eddies in satellite-derived and numerically generated velocity fields and to document the pathways by which they exchange water with their surroundings. Backward-in-time trapping maps are used to identify mesoscale eddies in the altimetric velocity field with a risk to be contaminated by Fukushima-derived radionuclides. The results of simulations are compared with in situ mesurement of caesium concentration in sea water samples collected in a recent research vessel cruise in the area to the east of Japan. Backward-in-time latitudinal maps and the corresponding material-line techniques are applied to document transport of water masses across strong currents. Backward-in-time drift maps are shown to be useful in identifying the Lagrangian fronts favorable for fishery.

The influence of mesoscale porosity on cortical bone anisotropy. Investigations via asymptotic homogenization

PubMed Central

Parnell, William J; Grimal, Quentin

2008-01-01

Recently, the mesoscale of cortical bone has been given particular attention in association with novel experimental techniques such as nanoindentation, micro-computed X-ray tomography and quantitative scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM). A need has emerged for reliable mathematical models to interpret the related microscopic and mesoscopic data in terms of effective elastic properties. In this work, a new model of cortical bone elasticity is developed and used to assess the influence of mesoscale porosity on the induced anisotropy of the material. Only the largest pores (Haversian canals and resorption cavities), characteristic of the mesoscale, are considered. The input parameters of the model are derived from typical mesoscale experimental data (e.g. SAM data). We use the method of asymptotic homogenization to determine the local effective elastic properties by modelling the propagation of low-frequency elastic waves through an idealized material that models the local mesostructure. We use a novel solution of the cell problem developed by Parnell & Abrahams. This solution is stable for the physiological range of variation of mesoscopic porosity and elasticity found in bone. Results are computed efficiently (in seconds) and the solutions can be implemented easily by other workers. Parametric studies are performed in order to assess the influence of mesoscopic porosity, the assumptions regarding the material inside the mesoscale pores (drained or undrained bone) and the shape of pores. Results are shown to be in good qualitative agreement with existing schemes and we describe the potential of the scheme for future use in modelling more complex microstructures for cortical bone. In particular, the scheme is shown to be a useful tool with which to predict the qualitative changes in anisotropy due to variations in the structure at the mesoscale. PMID:18628200

Mars-GRAM Applications for Mars Science Laboratory Mission Site Selection Processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Justh, Hilary; Justus, C. G.

2007-01-01

An overview is presented of the Mars-Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM 2005) and its new features. One important new feature is the "auxiliary profile" option, whereby a simple input file is used to replace mean atmospheric values from Mars-GRAM's conventional (General Circulation Model) climatology. An auxiliary profile can be generated from any source of data or alternate model output. Results are presented using auxiliary profiles produced from mesoscale model output (Southwest Research Institute's Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (MRAMS) model and Oregon State University's Mars mesoscale model (MMM5) model) for three candidate Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) landing sites (Terby Crater, Melas Chasma, and Gale Crater). A global Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) database has also been generated for purposes of making 'Mars-GRAM auxiliary profiles. This data base contains averages and standard deviations of temperature, density, and thermal wind components, averaged over 5-by-5 degree latitude bins and 15 degree L(sub S) bins, for each of three Mars years of TES nadir data. Comparisons show reasonably good consistency between Mars-GRAM with low dust optical depth and both TES observed and mesoscale model simulated density at the three study sites. Mean winds differ by a more significant degree. Comparisons of mesoscale and TES standard deviations' with conventional Mars-GRAM values, show that Mars-GRAM density perturbations are somewhat conservative (larger than observed variability), while mesoscale-modeled wind variations are larger than Mars-GRAM model estimates. Input parameters rpscale (for density perturbations) and rwscale (for wind perturbations) can be used to "recalibrate" Mars-GRAM perturbation magnitudes to better replicate observed or mesoscale model variability.

Detection of mesoscale convective complexes using multispectral RGB technique of Himawari-8 (Case Study: Jakarta, 20 February 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fatkhuroyan; Wati, T.

2018-05-01

Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCC) is a well-organized convective cloud that has big size and long lifetime. The aim of the study is to detect and to monitor the development of MCC around Jakarta on 20th February 2017 using satellite Himawari-8. This study uses the analyzing method of the infrared channel and multispectral imagery RGB Technique to monitor the development of radiative, morphology and cloud position which describe the cloud top microphysics, structure and movement of the MCC. On 20th February 2017, the result from Himawari-8 shows that there are many dense-clouds with small ice particle and cloud top temperature could be < -50°C which can be seen as red and yellow dot colour by RGB Technique. The MCC caused a severe storm at Jakarta and its surrounding area.

Examining the Effects of Mosaic Land Cover on Extreme Events in Historical Downscaled WRF Simulations

EPA Science Inventory

The representation of land use and land cover (hereby referred to as “LU”) is a challenging aspect of dynamically downscaled simulations, as a mesoscale model that is utilized as a regional climate model (RCM) may be limited in its ability to represent LU over multi-d...

Workflow for Integrating Mesoscale Heterogeneities in Materials Structure with Process Simulation of Titanium Alloys (Postprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

offer a practical solution to calculating the grain -scale hetero- geneity present in the deformation field. Consequently, crystal plasticity models...process/performance simulation codes (e.g., crystal plasticity finite element method). 15. SUBJECT TERMS ICME; microstructure informatics; higher...iii) protocols for direct and efficient linking of materials models/databases into process/performance simulation codes (e.g., crystal plasticity

Genesis of Hurricane Sandy (2012) Simulated with a Global Mesoscale Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, Bo-Wen; DeMaria, Mark; Li, J.-L. F.; Cheung, S.

2013-01-01

In this study, we investigate the formation predictability of Hurricane Sandy (2012) with a global mesoscale model. We first present five track and intensity forecasts of Sandy initialized at 00Z 22-26 October 2012, realistically producing its movement with a northwestward turn prior to its landfall. We then show that three experiments initialized at 00Z 16-18 October captured the genesis of Sandy with a lead time of up to 6 days and simulated reasonable evolution of Sandy's track and intensity in the next 2 day period of 18Z 21-23 October. Results suggest that the extended lead time of formation prediction is achieved by realistic simulations of multiscale processes, including (1) the interaction between an easterly wave and a low-level westerly wind belt (WWB) and (2) the appearance of the upper-level trough at 200 hPa to Sandy's northwest. The low-level WWB and upper-level trough are likely associated with a Madden-Julian Oscillation.

Three-dimensional Simulations of the Mean Air Transport During the 1997 Forest Fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia Using a Mesoscale Numerical Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roswintiarti, O.; Raman, S.

- This paper describes the meteorological processes responsible for the mean transport of air pollutants during the ENSO-related forest fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia from 00 UTC 21 September to 00 UTC 25 September, 1997. The Fifth Generation of the Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU-NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) is used to simulate three-dimensional winds at 6-hourly intervals. A nonhydrostatic version of the model is run using two nested grids with horizontal resolutions of 45 km and 15 km. From the simulated wind fields, the backward and forward trajectories of the air parcel are investigated using the Vis5D model.The results indicate that the large-scale subsidence over Indonesia, the southwest monsoon low-level flows (2-8 m s-1), and the shallow planetary boundary layer height (400-800 m) play a key role in the transport of air pollutants from Kalimantan to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Towards mechanism-based simulation of impact damage using exascale computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shterenlikht, Anton; Margetts, Lee; McDonald, Samuel; Bourne, Neil K.

2017-01-01

Over the past 60 years, the finite element method has been very successful in modelling deformation in engineering structures. However the method requires the definition of constitutive models that represent the response of the material to applied loads. There are two issues. Firstly, the models are often difficult to define. Secondly, there is often no physical connection between the models and the mechanisms that accommodate deformation. In this paper, we present a potentially disruptive two-level strategy which couples the finite element method at the macroscale with cellular automata at the mesoscale. The cellular automata are used to simulate mechanisms, such as crack propagation. The stress-strain relationship emerges as a continuum mechanics scale interpretation of changes at the micro- and meso-scales. Iterative two-way updating between the cellular automata and finite elements drives the simulation forward as the material undergoes progressive damage at high strain rates. The strategy is particularly attractive on large-scale computing platforms as both methods scale well on tens of thousands of CPUs.

Numerical Investigations of Subduction of Eighteen Degree Water in the Subtropical Northwest Atlantic Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, P.; He, R.

2016-02-01

Mode waters are upper-ocean water masses with nearly uniform water properties over a thickness of a few hundred meters. Subduction of mode waters plays an important role in changing atmospheric and oceanic long-term variability because they store "memory" of wintertime air-sea interaction. In this study, we investigated dynamic processes associated with subduction of the Eighteen Degree Water (EDW, the principal mode water) in the subtropical Northwest Atlantic during January to June 2007. Numerical simulations of the temporal and spatial evolutions of EDW were performed using both uncoupled (ocean only) and air-sea coupled configurations and results were contrasted. We find the coupled simulation produced deeper mixed layer depth, stronger eddy kinetic energy, and larger subduction areas than their counterparts in the uncoupled ocean simulation. In both configurations, mesoscale eddies enhance the total subduction and eddy-induced subduction has the same order as the mean component. Resolving strong air-sea coupling and mesoscale eddies is therefore important for understanding EDW dynamics.

Intercomparison of state-of-the-art models for wind energy resources with mesoscale models:

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olsen, Bjarke Tobias; Hahmann, Andrea N.; Sempreviva, Anna Maria; Badger, Jake; Joergensen, Hans E.

2016-04-01

1. Introduction Mesoscale models are increasingly being used to estimate wind conditions to identify perspective areas and sites where to develop wind farm projects. Mesoscale models are functional for giving information over extensive areas with various terrain complexities where measurements are scarce and measurement campaigns costly. Several mesoscale models and families of models are being used, and each often contains thousands of setup options. Since long-term integrations are expensive and tedious to carry out, only limited comparisons exist. To remedy this problem and for evaluating the capabilities of mesoscale models to estimate site wind conditions, a tailored benchmarking study has been co-organized by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the European Energy Research Alliance Joint Programme Wind Energy (EERA JP WIND). EWEA hosted results and ensured that participants were anonymous. The blind evaluation was performed at the Wind Energy Department of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) with the following objectives: (1) To highlight common issues on mesoscale modelling of wind conditions on sites with different characteristics, and (2) To identify gaps and strengths of models and understand the root conditions for further evaluating uncertainties. 2. Approach Three experimental sites were selected: FINO 3 (offshore, GE), Høvsore (coastal, DK), and Cabauw (land-based, NL), and three other sites without observations based on . The three mast sites were chosen because the availability of concurrent suitable time series of vertical profiles of winds speed and other surface parameters. The participants were asked to provide hourly time series of wind speed, wind direction, temperature, etc., at various vertical heights for a complete year. The methodology used to derive the time series was left to the choice of the participants, but they were asked for a brief description of their model and many other parameters (e.g., horizontal and vertical resolution, model parameterizations, surface roughness length) that could be used to group the various models and interpret the results of the intercomparison. 3. Main body abstract Twenty separate entries were received by the deadline of 31 March 2015. They included simulations done with various versions of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model, but also of six other well-known mesoscale models. The various entries represent an excellent sample of the various models used in by the wind energy industry today. The analysis of the submitted time series included comparison to observations, summarized with well-known measures such as biases, RMSE, correlations, and of sector-wise statistics, e.g. frequency and Weibull A and k. The comparison also includes the observed and modeled temporal spectra. The various statistics were grouped as a function of the various models, their spatial resolution, forcing data, and the various integration methods. Many statistics have been computed and will be presented in addition to those shown in the Helsinki presentation. 4. Conclusions The analysis of the time series from twenty entries has shown to be an invaluable source of information about state of the art in wind modeling with mesoscale models. Biases between the simulated and observed wind speeds at hub heights (80-100 m AGL) from the various models are around ±1.0 m/s and fairly independent of the site and do not seem to be directly related to the model horizontal resolution used in the modeling. As probably expected, the wind speeds from the simulations using the various version of the WRF model cluster close to each other, especially in their description of the wind profile.

Deriving mesoscale temperature and moisture fields from satellite radiance measurements over the United States

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hillger, D. W.; Vonder Haar, T. H.

1977-01-01

The ability to provide mesoscale temperature and moisture fields from operational satellite infrared sounding radiances over the United States is explored. High-resolution sounding information for mesoscale analysis and forecasting is shown to be obtainable in mostly clear areas. An iterative retrieval algorithm applied to NOAA-VTPR radiances uses a mean radiosonde sounding as a best initial-guess profile. Temperature soundings are then retrieved at a horizontal resolution of about 70 km, as is an indication of the precipitable water content of the vertical sounding columns. Derived temperature values may be biased in general by the initial-guess sounding or in certain areas by the cloud correction technique, but the resulting relative temperature changes across the field when not contaminated by clouds will be useful for mesoscale forecasting and models. The derived moisture, affected only by high clouds, proves to be reliable to within 0.5 cm of precipitable water and contains valuable horizontal information. Present-day applications from polar-orbiting satellites as well as possibilities from upcoming temperature and moisture sounders on geostationary satellites are noted.

Numerical and Observational Investigations of Long-Lived Mcs-Induced Severe Surface Wind Events: the Derecho

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Jerome Michael

This study addresses the production of sustained, straight-line, severe surface winds associated with mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) of extratropical origin otherwise known as derechos. The physical processes which govern the observed derecho characteristics are identified and their possible forcing mechanisms are determined. Detailed observations of two derechos are presented along with simulations using the Colorado State University Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (CSU-RAMS). The observations revealed a derecho environment characterized by strong vertical wind shear through the depth of the troposphere and large values of convective available potential energy (CAPE). The thermodynamic environment of the troposphere in each case had a distinct three-layer structure consisting of: (i) a surface-based stable layer of 1-to-2 km in depth, (ii) an elevated well -mixed layer of 2-4 km in depth, and (iii) an upper tropospheric layer of intermediate stability that extended to the tropopause. Two primary sets of simulations were performed to assess the impact of the observed environmental profiles on the derecho structure, propagation, and longevity. The first set consisted of nested-grid regional-scale simulations initialized from the standard NMC analyses on a domain having relatively coarse horizontal resolution (75 km). The second set of simulations consisted of two and three-dimensional experiments initialized in a horizontally homogeneous environment having a relatively fine horizontal resolution (2 km) and explicit microphysics. The results from these experiments indicate the importance of convectively -induced gravity waves on the MCS structure, propagation, longevity, and severe surface wind development. The sensitivity of the simulated convection and gravity waves to variations in the vertical wind shear and moisture profiles are described. Detailed Doppler radar analyses and 3-D simulations of a severe, bow echo squall line are presented which reveal the unique 3-D circulation features which accompany these mesoscale convective systems. We illustrate how the mesoscale and convective-scale flow fields within the bow echo establish the severe surface wind maximum. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).

Error-growth dynamics and predictability of surface thermally induced atmospheric flow

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zeng, X.; Pielke, R.A.

1993-09-01

Using the CSU Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) in its nonhydrostatic and compressible configuration, over 200 two-dimensional simulations with [Delta]x = 2 km and [Delta]x = 100 m are performed to study in detail the initial adjustment process and the error-growth dynamics of surface thermally induced circulation including the sensitivity to initial conditions, boundary conditions, and model parameters, and to study the predictability as a function of the size of surface heat patches under a calm mean wind. It is found that the error growth is not sensitive to the characterisitics of the initial perturbations. The numerical smoothing has amore » strong impact on the initial adjustment process and on the error-growth dynamics. The predictability and flow structures, it is found that the vertical velocity field is strongly affected by the mean wind, and the flow structures are quite sensitive to the initial soil water content. The transition from organized flow to the situation in which fluxes are dominated by noncoherent turbulent eddies under a calm mean wind is quantitatively evaluated and this transition is different for different variables. The relationship between the predictability of a realization and of an ensemble average is discussed. The predictability and the coherent circulations modulated by the surface inhomogeneities are also studied by computing the autocorrelations and the power spectra. The three-dimensional mesoscale and large-eddy simulations are performed to verify the above results. It is found that the two-dimensional mesoscale (or fine resolution) simulation yields very close or similar results regarding the predictability as those from the three-dimensional mesoscale (or large eddy) simulation. The horizontally averaged quantities based on two-dimensional fine-resolution simulations are insensitive to initial perturbations and agree with those based on three-dimensional large-eddy simulations. 87 refs., 25 figs.« less

Mesoscale magnetism

DOE PAGES

Hoffmann, Axel; Schultheiß, Helmut

2014-12-17

Magnetic interactions give rise to a surprising amount of complexity due to the fact that both static and dynamic magnetic properties are governed by competing short-range exchange interactions and long-range dipolar coupling. Even though the underlying dynamical equations are well established, the connection of magnetization dynamics to other degrees of freedom, such as optical excitations, charge and heat flow, or mechanical motion, make magnetism a mesoscale research problem that is still wide open for exploration. Synthesizing magnetic materials and heterostructures with tailored properties will allow to take advantage of magnetic interactions spanning many length-scales, which can be probed with advancedmore » spectroscopy and microscopy and modeled with multi-scale simulations. Finally, this paper highlights some of the current basic research topics in mesoscale magnetism, which beyond their fundamental science impact are also expected to influence applications ranging from information technologies to magnetism based energy conversion.« less

Mesoscale simulation of concrete spall failure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knell, S.; Sauer, M.; Millon, O.; Riedel, W.

2012-05-01

Although intensively studied, it is still being debated which physical mechanisms are responsible for the increase of dynamic strength and fracture energy of concrete observed at high loading rates, and to what extent structural inertia forces on different scales contribute to the observation. We present a new approach for the three dimensional mesoscale modelling of dynamic damage and cracking in concrete. Concrete is approximated as a composite of spherical elastic aggregates of mm to cm size embedded in an elastic cement stone matrix. Cracking within the matrix and at aggregate interfaces in the μm range are modelled with adaptively inserted—initially rigid—cohesive interface elements. The model is applied to analyse the dynamic tensile failure observed in Hopkinson-Bar spallation experiments with strain rates up to 100/s. The influence of the key mesoscale failure parameters of strength, fracture energy and relative weakening of the ITZ on macromechanic strength, momentum and energy conservation is numerically investigated.

Evaluating and Understanding Parameterized Convective Processes and their Role in the Development of Mesoscale Precipitation Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fritsch, J. Michael; Kain, John S.

1997-01-01

Research efforts during the second year have centered on improving the manner in which convective stabilization is achieved in the Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model MM5. Ways of improving this stabilization have been investigated by (1) refining the partitioning between the Kain-Fritsch convective parameterization scheme and the grid scale by introducing a form of moist convective adjustment; (2) using radar data to define locations of subgrid-scale convection during a dynamic initialization period; and (3) parameterizing deep-convective feedbacks as subgrid-scale sources and sinks of mass. These investigations were conducted by simulating a long-lived convectively-generated mesoscale vortex that occurred during 14-18 Jul. 1982 and the 10-11 Jun. 1985 squall line that occurred over the Kansas-Oklahoma region during the PRE-STORM experiment. The long-lived vortex tracked across the central Plains states and was responsible for multiple convective outbreaks during its lifetime.

Mesoscale simulations of shockwave energy dissipation via chemical reactions.

PubMed

Antillon, Edwin; Strachan, Alejandro

2015-02-28

We use a particle-based mesoscale model that incorporates chemical reactions at a coarse-grained level to study the response of materials that undergo volume-reducing chemical reactions under shockwave-loading conditions. We find that such chemical reactions can attenuate the shockwave and characterize how the parameters of the chemical model affect this behavior. The simulations show that the magnitude of the volume collapse and velocity at which the chemistry propagates are critical to weaken the shock, whereas the energetics in the reactions play only a minor role. Shock loading results in transient states where the material is away from local equilibrium and, interestingly, chemical reactions can nucleate under such non-equilibrium states. Thus, the timescales for equilibration between the various degrees of freedom in the material affect the shock-induced chemistry and its ability to attenuate the propagating shock.

Assessment of Molecular Modeling & Simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2002-01-03

This report reviews the development and applications of molecular and materials modeling in Europe and Japan in comparison to those in the United States. Topics covered include computational quantum chemistry, molecular simulations by molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods, mesoscale modeling of material domains, molecular-structure/macroscale property correlations like QSARs and QSPRs, and related information technologies like informatics and special-purpose molecular-modeling computers. The panel's findings include the following: The United States leads this field in many scientific areas. However, Canada has particular strengths in DFT methods and homogeneous catalysis; Europe in heterogeneous catalysis, mesoscale, and materials modeling; and Japan in materialsmore » modeling and special-purpose computing. Major government-industry initiatives are underway in Europe and Japan, notably in multi-scale materials modeling and in development of chemistry-capable ab-initio molecular dynamics codes.« less

Numerical simulation of terrain-induced mesoscale circulation in the Chiang Mai area, Thailand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sathitkunarat, Surachai; Wongwises, Prungchan; Pan-Aram, Rudklao; Zhang, Meigen

2008-11-01

The regional atmospheric modeling system (RAMS) was applied to Chiang Mai province, a mountainous area in Thailand, to study terrain-induced mesoscale circulations. Eight cases in wet and dry seasons under different weather conditions were analyzed to show thermal and dynamic impacts on local circulations. This is the first study of RAMS in Thailand especially investigating the effect of mountainous area on the simulated meteorological data. Analysis of model results indicates that the model can reproduce major features of local circulation and diurnal variations in temperatures. For evaluating the model performance, model results were compared with observed wind speed, wind direction, and temperature monitored at a meteorological tower. Comparison shows that the modeled values are generally in good agreement with observations and that the model captured many of the observed features.

Understanding Ice Supersaturation, Particle Growth, and Number Concentration in Cirrus Clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Comstock, Jennifer M.; Lin, Ruei-Fong; Starr, David O'C.; Yang, Ping

2008-01-01

Many factors control the ice supersaturation and microphysical properties in cirrus clouds. We explore the effects of dynamic forcing, ice nucleation mechanisms, and ice crystal growth rate on the evolution and distribution of water vapor and cloud properties in nighttime cirrus clouds using a one-dimensional cloud model with bin microphysics and remote sensing measurements obtained at the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility located near Lamont, OK. We forced the model using both large-scale vertical ascent and, for the first time, mean mesoscale velocity derived from radar Doppler velocity measurements. Both heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation processes are explored, where a classical theory heterogeneous scheme is compared with empirical representations. We evaluated model simulations by examining both bulk cloud properties and distributions of measured radar reflectivity, lidar extinction, and water vapor profiles, as well as retrieved cloud microphysical properties. Our results suggest that mesoscale variability is the primary mechanism needed to reproduce observed quantities. Model sensitivity to the ice growth rate is also investigated. The most realistic simulations as compared with observations are forced using mesoscale waves, include fast ice crystal growth, and initiate ice by either homogeneous or heterogeneous nucleation. Simulated ice crystal number concentrations (tens to hundreds particles per liter) are typically two orders of magnitude smaller than previously published results based on aircraft measurements in cirrus clouds, although higher concentrations are possible in isolated pockets within the nucleation zone.

Environments of Long-Lived Mesoscale Convective Systems Over the Central United States in Convection Permitting Climate Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Qing; Houze, Robert A.; Leung, L. Ruby; Feng, Zhe

2017-12-01

Continental-scale convection-permitting simulations of the warm seasons of 2011 and 2012 using the Weather Research and Forecasting model reproduce realistic structure and frequency distribution of lifetime and event mean precipitation of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) over the central United States. Analysis is performed to determine the environmental conditions conducive to generating long-lived MCSs. The simulations show that MCSs systematically form over the central Great Plains ahead of a trough in the westerlies in combination with an enhanced low-level moist jet from the Gulf of Mexico. These environmental properties at the time of storm initiation are most prominent for the MCSs that persist for the longest times. MCSs reaching lifetimes of 9 h or more occur closer to the approaching trough than shorter-lived MCSs. These long-lived MCSs exhibit the strongest feedback to the environment through diabatic heating in the trailing regions of the MCSs. The feedback strengthens the synoptic-scale trough associated with the MCS by producing an anomaly circulation characterized by a divergent perturbation at high levels over the MCS and a midlevel cyclonic circulation perturbation near the trough line in association with the trailing portion of the MCS. The quasi-balanced mesoscale vortex may help to maintain the MCS over a long period of time by feeding dry, cool air into the environment at the rear of the MCS region that enhances evaporative cooling and helps maintain the MCS.

A Variable-Resolution Stretched-Grid General Circulation Model and Data Assimilation System with Multiple Areas of Interest: Studying the Anomalous Regional Climate Events of 1998

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fox-Rabinovitz, Michael S.; Takacs, Lawrence; Govindaraju, Ravi C.; Atlas, Robert (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The new stretched-grid design with multiple (four) areas of interest, one at each global quadrant, is implemented into both a stretched-grid GCM (general circulation model) and a stretched-grid data assimilation system (DAS). The four areas of interest include: the U.S./Northern Mexico, the El Nino area/Central South America, India/China, and the Eastern Indian Ocean/Australia. Both the stretched-grid GCM and DAS annual (November 1997 through December 1998) integrations are performed with 50 km regional resolution. The efficient regional down-scaling to mesoscales is obtained for each of the four areas of interest while the consistent interactions between regional and global scales and the high quality of global circulation, are preserved. This is the advantage of the stretched-grid approach. The global variable resolution DAS incorporating the stretched-grid GCM has been developed and tested as an efficient tool for producing regional analyses and diagnostics with enhanced mesoscale resolution. The anomalous regional climate events of 1998 that occurred over the U.S., Mexico, South America, China, India, African Sahel, and Australia are investigated in both simulation and data assimilation modes. Tree assimilated products are also used, along with gauge precipitation data, for validating the simulation results. The obtained results show that the stretched-grid GCM and DAS are capable of producing realistic high quality simulated and assimilated products at mesoscale resolution for regional climate studies and applications.

Investigating middle-atmospheric gravity waves associated with a sprite-producing mesoscale convective event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vollmer, D. R.; McHarg, M. G.; Harley, J.; Haaland, R. K.; Stenbaek-Nielsen, H.

2016-12-01

On 23 July 2014, a mesoscale convective event over western Nebraska produced a large number of sprites. One frame per second images obtained from a low-noise Andor Scientific CMOS camera showed regularly-spaced horizontal striations in the airglow both before and during several of the sprite events, suggesting the presence of vertically-propagating gravity waves in the middle atmosphere. Previous work hypothesized that the gravity waves were produced by the thunderstorm itself. We compare our observations with previous work, and present numerical simulations conducted to determine source, structure, and propagation of atmospheric gravity waves.

Numerical Simulation of The Mediterranean Sea Using Diecast: Interaction Between Basin, Sub-basin and Local Scale Features and Natural Variability.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández, V.; Dietrich, D. E.; Haney, R. L.; Tintoré, J.

In situ and satellite data obtained during the last ten years have shown that the circula- tion in the Mediterranean Sea is extremely complex in space, with significant features ranging from mesoscale to sub-basin and basin scale, and highly variable in time, with mesoscale to seasonal and interannual signals. Also, the steep bottom topography and the variable atmospheric conditions from one sub-basin to another, make the circula- tion to be composed of numerous energetic and narrow coastal currents, density fronts and mesoscale structures that interact at sub-basin scale with the large scale circula- tion. To simulate numerically and better understand these features, besides high grid resolution, a low numerical dispersion and low physical dissipation ocean model is required. We present the results from a 1/8z horizontal resolution numerical simula- tion of the Mediterranean Sea using DieCAST ocean model, which meets the above requirements since it is stable with low general dissipation and uses accurate fourth- order-accurate approximations with low numerical dispersion. The simulations are carried out with climatological surface forcing using monthly mean winds and relax- ation towards climatological values of temperature and salinity. The model reproduces the main features of the large basin scale circulation, as well as the seasonal variabil- ity of sub-basin scale currents that are well documented by observations in straits and channels. In addition, DieCAST brings out natural fronts and eddies that usually do not appear in numerical simulations of the Mediterranean and that lead to a natural interannual variability. The role of this intrinsic variability in the general circulation will be discussed.

Evaluating surface transport predictions of alternative ocean-atmosphere models using surface drifters in the Belizean Barrier Reef

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindo-Atichati, D.; Curcic, M.; Paris, C. B.; Buston, P. M.

2016-02-01

Determining the appropriate resolution of circulation models often lacks statistical evaluation. Thus, the gains from implementing high-resolution versus less-costly low-resolution models are not always clear. Here we construct a hierarchy of ocean-atmosphere models operating at multiple-scales within a 1×1° domain of the Belizean Barrier Reef (BBR). We compare the dispersion and velocity of 55 surface drifters released in the field in summer 2013 to the dispersion and velocity of simulated drifters under alternative model configurations. Increasing the resolution of the ocean model (from 1/12° to 1/100°, from 1 day to 1 h), the resolution of the atmosphere model forcing (from 1/2° to 1/100°, from 6 h to 1 h), and incorporating tidal forcing incrementally reduces discrepancy between simulated and observed velocities and dispersion. We also investigate the effect of semi-diurnal tides on the local circulation. The model with highest resolution and with tidal forcing resolves higher number of looping trajectories and sub-mesoscale coherent structures. This may be a key factor in reducing discrepancy between simulated and observed velocities and dispersion. Simulations conducted with the highest resolution ocean-atmosphere model and tidal forcing highlight an intensification of the velocity fields throughout the summer and reveal several processes: mesoscale anticyclonic circulation around Glovers Reef, and recurrent sub-mesoscale cyclonic eddies formed in the vicinity of Columbus Island. This study provides a general framework to estimate the best surface transport prediction from different ocean-atmosphere models using metrics derived from high frequency drifters' data. Also, this study provides an evaluated high-resolution ocean-atmosphere model that resolves tides for the Belizean Barrier Reef.

Comparison of Thunderstorm Simulations from WRF-NMM and WRF-ARW Models over East Indian Region

PubMed Central

Litta, A. J.; Mary Ididcula, Sumam; Mohanty, U. C.; Kiran Prasad, S.

2012-01-01

The thunderstorms are typical mesoscale systems dominated by intense convection. Mesoscale models are essential for the accurate prediction of such high-impact weather events. In the present study, an attempt has been made to compare the simulated results of three thunderstorm events using NMM and ARW model core of WRF system and validated the model results with observations. Both models performed well in capturing stability indices which are indicators of severe convective activity. Comparison of model-simulated radar reflectivity imageries with observations revealed that NMM model has simulated well the propagation of the squall line, while the squall line movement was slow in ARW. From the model-simulated spatial plots of cloud top temperature, we can see that NMM model has better captured the genesis, intensification, and propagation of thunder squall than ARW model. The statistical analysis of rainfall indicates the better performance of NMM than ARW. Comparison of model-simulated thunderstorm affected parameters with that of the observed showed that NMM has performed better than ARW in capturing the sharp rise in humidity and drop in temperature. This suggests that NMM model has the potential to provide unique and valuable information for severe thunderstorm forecasters over east Indian region. PMID:22645480

Evolution of Flow channels and Dipolarization Using THEMIS Observations and Global MHD Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Alaoui, M.; McPherron, R. L.; Nishimura, Y.

2017-12-01

We have extensively analyzed a substorm on March 14, 2008 for which we have observations from THEMIS spacecraft located beyond 9 RE near 2100 local time. The available data include an extensive network of all sky cameras and ground magnetometers that establish the times of various auroral and magnetic events. This arrangement provided an excellent data set with which to investigate meso-scale structures in the plasma sheet. We have used a global magnetohydrodynamic simulation to investigate the structure and dynamics of the magnetotail current sheet during this substorm. Both earthward and tailward flows were found in the observations as well as the simulations. The simulation shows that the flow channels follow tortuous paths that are often reflected or deflected before arriving at the inner magnetosphere. The simulation shows a sequence of fast flows and dipolarization events similar to what is seen in the data, though not at precisely the same times or locations. We will use our simulation results combined with the observations to investigate the global convection systems and current sheet structure during this event, showing how meso-scale structures fit into the context of the overall tail dynamics during this event. Our study includes determining the location, timing and strength of several current wedges and expansion onsets during an 8-hour interval.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sprague, Michael A.

Enabled by petascale supercomputing, the next generation of computer models for wind energy will simulate a vast range of scales and physics, spanning from turbine structural dynamics and blade-scale turbulence to mesoscale atmospheric flow. A single model covering all scales and physics is not feasible. Thus, these simulations will require the coupling of different models/codes, each for different physics, interacting at their domain boundaries.

The Santa Barbara Channel - Santa Maria Basin Study: Wind Measurements and Modeling Resolving Coastal Mesoscale Meteorology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorman, C. E.; Koracin, D.

2002-12-01

The importance of winds in driving the coastal ocean has long been recognized. Pre-World War II literature links wind stress and wind stress curl to coastal ocean responses. Nevertheless, direct measurements plausibly representative of a coastal area are few. Multiple observations on the scale of the simplest mesoscale atmospheric structure, such as the cross-coast variation along a linear coast, are even less frequent. The only wind measurements that we are aware of in a complicated coastal area backed by higher topography are in the MMS sponsored, Santa Barbara Channel/Santa Marina basin study. Taking place from 1994 to present, this study had an unheard of dense surface automated meteorological station array of up to 5 meteorological buoys, 4 oil platforms, 2 island stations, and 11 coastal stations within 1 km of the beach. Most of the land stations are maintained by other projects. Only a large, a well funded project with backed by an agency with the long-view could dedicate the resources and effort into filling the mesoscale "holes" and maintaining long-term, remotely located stations. The result of the MMS funded project is a sufficiently dense surface station array to resolve the along-coast and cross-coast atmospheric mesoscale wind structure. Great temporal and spatial variation is found in the wind, wind stress and the wind stress curl, during the extended summer season. The MM5 atmospheric mesoscale model with appropriate boundary layer physics and high-resolution horizontal and vertical grid structure successfully simulates the measured wind field from large scale down to the lower end of the mesoscale. Atmospheric models without appropriate resolution and boundary layer physics fail to capture significant mesoscale wind features. Satellite microwave wind measurements generally capture the offshore synoptic scale temporal and spatial scale in twice-a-day snap shots but fail in the crucial, innermost coastal waters and the diurnal scale.

Description of the University of Auckland Global Mars Mesoscale Meteorological Model (GM4)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wing, D. R.; Austin, G. L.

2005-08-01

The University of Auckland Global Mars Mesoscale Meteorological Model (GM4) is a numerical weather prediction model of the Martian atmosphere that has been developed through the conversion of the Penn State University / National Center for Atmospheric Research fifth generation mesoscale model (MM5). The global aspect of this model is self consistent, overlapping, and forms a continuous domain around the entire planet, removing the need to provide boundary conditions other than at initialisation, yielding independence from the constraint of a Mars general circulation model. The brief overview of the model will be given, outlining the key physical processes and setup of the model. Comparison between data collected from Mars Pathfinder during its 1997 mission and simulated conditions using GM4 have been performed. Diurnal temperature variation as predicted by the model shows very good correspondence with the surface truth data, to within 5 K for the majority of the diurnal cycle. Mars Viking Data is also compared with the model, with good agreement. As a further means of validation for the model, various seasonal comparisons of surface and vertical atmospheric structure are conducted with the European Space Agency AOPP/LMD Mars Climate Database. Selected simulations over regions of interest will also be presented.

Biomass burning CCN enhance the dynamics of a mesoscale convective system over the La Plata Basin: a numerical approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Camponogara, Gláuber; Assunção Faus da Silva Dias, Maria; Carrió, Gustavo G.

2018-02-01

High aerosol loadings are discharged into the atmosphere every year by biomass burning in the Amazon and central Brazil during the dry season (July-December). These particles, suspended in the atmosphere, can be carried via a low-level jet toward the La Plata Basin, one of the largest hydrographic basins in the world. Once they reach this region, the aerosols can affect mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), whose frequency is higher during the spring and summer over the basin. The present study is one of the first that seeks to understand the microphysical effects of biomass burning aerosols from the Amazon Basin on mesoscale convective systems over the La Plata Basin. We performed numerical simulations initialized with idealized cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) profiles for an MCS case observed over the La Plata Basin on 21 September 2010. The experiments reveal an important link between CCN number concentration and MCS dynamics, where stronger downdrafts were observed under higher amounts of aerosols, generating more updraft cells in response. Moreover, the simulations show higher amounts of precipitation as the CCN concentration increases. Despite the model's uncertainties and limitations, these results represent an important step toward the understanding of possible impacts on the Amazon biomass burning aerosols over neighboring regions such as the La Plata Basin.

Atmospheric Turbulence Estimates from a Pulsed Lidar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pruis, Matthew J.; Delisi, Donald P.; Ahmad, Nash'at N.; Proctor, Fred H.

2013-01-01

Estimates of the eddy dissipation rate (EDR) were obtained from measurements made by a coherent pulsed lidar and compared with estimates from mesoscale model simulations and measurements from an in situ sonic anemometer at the Denver International Airport and with EDR estimates from the last observation time of the trailing vortex pair. The estimates of EDR from the lidar were obtained using two different methodologies. The two methodologies show consistent estimates of the vertical profiles. Comparison of EDR derived from the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) mesoscale model with the in situ lidar estimates show good agreement during the daytime convective boundary layer, but the WRF simulations tend to overestimate EDR during the nighttime. The EDR estimates from a sonic anemometer located at 7.3 meters above ground level are approximately one order of magnitude greater than both the WRF and lidar estimates - which are from greater heights - during the daytime convective boundary layer and substantially greater during the nighttime stable boundary layer. The consistency of the EDR estimates from different methods suggests a reasonable ability to predict the temporal evolution of a spatially averaged vertical profile of EDR in an airport terminal area using a mesoscale model during the daytime convective boundary layer. In the stable nighttime boundary layer, there may be added value to EDR estimates provided by in situ lidar measurements.

The impact of dynamic data assimilation on the numerical simulations of the QE II cyclone and an analysis of the jet streak influencing the precyclogenetic environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manobianco, John; Uccellini, Louis W.; Brill, Keith F.; Kuo, Ying-Hwa

1992-01-01

A mesoscale numerical model is combined with a dynamic data assimilation via Newtonian relaxation, or 'nudging', to provide initial conditions for subsequent simulations of the QE II cyclone. Both the nudging technique and the inclusion of supplementary data are shown to have a large positive impact on the simulation of the QE II cyclone during the initial phase of rapid cyclone development. Within the initial development period (from 1200 to 1800 UTC 9 September 1978), the dynamic assimilation of operational and bogus data yields a coherent two-layer divergence pattern that is not well defined in the model run using only the operational data and static initialization. Diagnostic analysis based on the simulations show that the initial development of the QE II storm between 0000 UTC 9 September and 0000 UTC 10 September was embedded within an indirect circulation of an intense 300-hPa jet streak, was related to baroclinic processes extending throughout a deep portion of the troposphere, and was associated with a classic two-layer mass-divergence profile expected for an extratropical cyclone.

A new Method for the Estimation of Initial Condition Uncertainty Structures in Mesoscale Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, J. D.; Bach, L.; Hense, A.

2012-12-01

The estimation of fast growing error modes of a system is a key interest of ensemble data assimilation when assessing uncertainty in initial conditions. Over the last two decades three methods (and variations of these methods) have evolved for global numerical weather prediction models: ensemble Kalman filter, singular vectors and breeding of growing modes (or now ensemble transform). While the former incorporates a priori model error information and observation error estimates to determine ensemble initial conditions, the latter two techniques directly address the error structures associated with Lyapunov vectors. However, in global models these structures are mainly associated with transient global wave patterns. When assessing initial condition uncertainty in mesoscale limited area models, several problems regarding the aforementioned techniques arise: (a) additional sources of uncertainty on the smaller scales contribute to the error and (b) error structures from the global scale may quickly move through the model domain (depending on the size of the domain). To address the latter problem, perturbation structures from global models are often included in the mesoscale predictions as perturbed boundary conditions. However, the initial perturbations (when used) are often generated with a variant of an ensemble Kalman filter which does not necessarily focus on the large scale error patterns. In the framework of the European regional reanalysis project of the Hans-Ertel-Center for Weather Research we use a mesoscale model with an implemented nudging data assimilation scheme which does not support ensemble data assimilation at all. In preparation of an ensemble-based regional reanalysis and for the estimation of three-dimensional atmospheric covariance structures, we implemented a new method for the assessment of fast growing error modes for mesoscale limited area models. The so-called self-breeding is development based on the breeding of growing modes technique. Initial perturbations are integrated forward for a short time period and then rescaled and added to the initial state again. Iterating this rapid breeding cycle provides estimates for the initial uncertainty structure (or local Lyapunov vectors) given a specific norm. To avoid that all ensemble perturbations converge towards the leading local Lyapunov vector we apply an ensemble transform variant to orthogonalize the perturbations in the sub-space spanned by the ensemble. By choosing different kind of norms to measure perturbation growth, this technique allows for estimating uncertainty patterns targeted at specific sources of errors (e.g. convection, turbulence). With case study experiments we show applications of the self-breeding method for different sources of uncertainty and different horizontal scales.

Improving the representation of clouds, radiation, and precipitation using spectral nudging in the Weather Research and Forecasting model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spero, Tanya L.; Otte, Martin J.; Bowden, Jared H.; Nolte, Christopher G.

2014-10-01

Spectral nudging—a scale-selective interior constraint technique—is commonly used in regional climate models to maintain consistency with large-scale forcing while permitting mesoscale features to develop in the downscaled simulations. Several studies have demonstrated that spectral nudging improves the representation of regional climate in reanalysis-forced simulations compared with not using nudging in the interior of the domain. However, in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, spectral nudging tends to produce degraded precipitation simulations when compared to analysis nudging—an interior constraint technique that is scale indiscriminate but also operates on moisture fields which until now could not be altered directly by spectral nudging. Since analysis nudging is less desirable for regional climate modeling because it dampens fine-scale variability, changes are proposed to the spectral nudging methodology to capitalize on differences between the nudging techniques and aim to improve the representation of clouds, radiation, and precipitation without compromising other fields. These changes include adding spectral nudging toward moisture, limiting nudging to below the tropopause, and increasing the nudging time scale for potential temperature, all of which collectively improve the representation of mean and extreme precipitation, 2 m temperature, clouds, and radiation, as demonstrated using a model-simulated 20 year historical period. Such improvements to WRF may increase the fidelity of regional climate data used to assess the potential impacts of climate change on human health and the environment and aid in climate change mitigation and adaptation studies.

On the mesoscale monitoring capability of Argo floats in the Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez-Román, Antonio; Ruiz, Simón; Pascual, Ananda; Mourre, Baptiste; Guinehut, Stéphanie

2017-03-01

In this work a simplified observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) approach is used to investigate which Argo design sampling in the Mediterranean Sea would be necessary to properly capture the mesoscale dynamics in this basin. The monitoring of the mesoscale features is not an initial objective of the Argo network. However, it is an interesting question from the perspective of future network extensions in order to improve the ocean state estimates. The true field used to conduct the OSSEs is provided by a specific altimetry-gridded merged product for the Mediterranean Sea. Synthetic observations were obtained by sub-sampling this Nature Run according to different configurations of the ARGO network. The observation errors required to perform the OSSEs were obtained through the comparison of sea level anomalies (SLAs) from altimetry and dynamic height anomalies (DHAs) computed from the real in situ Argo network. This analysis also contributes to validate satellite SLAs with an increased confidence. The simulation experiments show that a configuration similar to the current Argo array in the Mediterranean (with a spatial resolution of 2° × 2°) is only able to recover the large-scale signals of the basin. Increasing the spatial resolution to nearly 75 km × 75 km, allows the capture of most of the mesoscale signal in the basin and to retrieve the SLA field with a RMSE of 3 cm for spatial scales larger than 150 km, similar to those presently captured by the altimetry. This would represent a theoretical reduction of 40 % of the actual RMSE. Such a high-resolution Argo array composed of around 450 floats, cycling every 10 days, is expected to increase the actual network cost by approximately a factor of 6.

The Catchment Runoff Attenuation Flux Tool, a minimum information requirement nutrient pollution model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, R.; Quinn, P. F.; Bowes, M. J.

2015-04-01

A model for simulating runoff pathways and water quality fluxes has been developed using the minimum information requirement (MIR) approach. The model, the Catchment Runoff Attenuation Flux Tool (CRAFT), is applicable to mesoscale catchments and focusses primarily on hydrological pathways that mobilise nutrients. Hence CRAFT can be used to investigate the impact of flow pathway management intervention strategies designed to reduce the loads of nutrients into receiving watercourses. The model can help policy makers meet water quality targets and consider methods to obtain "good" ecological status. A case study of the 414 km2 Frome catchment, Dorset, UK, has been described here as an application of CRAFT in order to highlight the above issues at the mesoscale. The model was primarily calibrated on 10-year records of weekly data to reproduce the observed flows and nutrient (nitrate nitrogen - N; phosphorus - P) concentrations. Data from 2 years with sub-daily monitoring at the same site were also analysed. These data highlighted some additional signals in the nutrient flux, particularly of soluble reactive phosphorus, which were not observable in the weekly data. This analysis has prompted the choice of using a daily time step as the minimum information requirement to simulate the processes observed at the mesoscale, including the impact of uncertainty. A management intervention scenario was also run to demonstrate how the model can support catchment managers investigating how reducing the concentrations of N and P in the various flow pathways. This mesoscale modelling tool can help policy makers consider a range of strategies to meet the European Union (EU) water quality targets for this type of catchment.

Mesoscale Modeling of Dynamic Failure of Ceramic Polycrystals

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

Wu, R. Feng, 2005. Micromechanical investigation of heterogeneous microplasticity in ceramics deformed under high confining stresses. Mechanics of...Boyce, 2010. The effect of microstructural representation on simulations of microplastic ratcheting. International Journal of Plasticity 26: 617

The Mesoscale Ionospheric Simulation Testbed (MIST) Regional Data Assimilation Model (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Comberiate, J.; Kelly, M. A.; Miller, E.; Paxton, L.

2013-12-01

The Mesoscale Ionospheric Simulation Testbed (MIST) provides a regional nowcast and forecast of electron density values and has sufficient resolution to include equatorial plasma bubbles. The SSUSI instrument on the DMSP F18 satellite has high-resolution nightly observations of plasma bubbles at 8 PM local time throughout the current solar maximum. MIST can assimilate SSUSI UV observations, GPS TEC measurements, and SCINDA S4 readings simultaneously into a single scintillation map over a region of interest. MIST also models ionospheric physics to provide a short-term UHF scintillation forecast based on assimilated data. We will present examples of electron density and scintillation maps from MIST. We will also discuss the potential to predict scintillation occurrence up to 6 hours in advance using observations of the equatorial arcs from SSUSI observations at 5:30 PM local time on the DMSP F17 satellite.

Numerical Simulation of A Right-moving Storm Over France

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chancibault, K.; Ducrocq, V.; Lafore, J.-Ph.

A three-dimensional non-hydrostatic mesoscale model is used to simulate the right- moving storm produced through storm splitting, on 30 may 1999, over northern France. The initial state is provided by the French 3D-var ARPEGE analysis and the simuation is performed with two interactive nested domains. The aim of this study is to improve our understanding of such storm dynamics. A vor- ticity analysis has been carried out, with emphasis on stretching and tilting terms of the vertical vorticity equation, thanks to the backward trajectories. The baroclinic produc- tion and stretching terms of the horizontal vorticity equation have also been studied to understand the interaction between the horizontal vorticity and a mesoscale thermal line. Finally, the spatial and temporal variation of the Storm Relative Environmental Helicity has been examined. Most of the results compare well with previous results on right-moving storms ob- tained from theoritical or numerical studies from idealized homogeneous base state.

Mesoscale Particle-Based Model of Electrophoretic Deposition

DOE PAGES

Giera, Brian; Zepeda-Ruiz, Luis A.; Pascall, Andrew J.; ...

2016-12-20

In this paper, we present and evaluate a semiempirical particle-based model of electrophoretic deposition using extensive mesoscale simulations. We analyze particle configurations in order to observe how colloids accumulate at the electrode and arrange into deposits. In agreement with existing continuum models, the thickness of the deposit increases linearly in time during deposition. Resulting colloidal deposits exhibit a transition between highly ordered and bulk disordered regions that can give rise to an appreciable density gradient under certain simulated conditions. The overall volume fraction increases and falls within a narrow range as the driving force due to the electric field increasesmore » and repulsive intercolloidal interactions decrease. We postulate ordering and stacking within the initial layer(s) dramatically impacts the microstructure of the deposits. Finally, we find a combination of parameters, i.e., electric field and suspension properties, whose interplay enhances colloidal ordering beyond the commonly known approach of only reducing the driving force.« less

A FFT-based formulation for efficient mechanical fields computation in isotropic and anisotropic periodic discrete dislocation dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertin, N.; Upadhyay, M. V.; Pradalier, C.; Capolungo, L.

2015-09-01

In this paper, we propose a novel full-field approach based on the fast Fourier transform (FFT) technique to compute mechanical fields in periodic discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) simulations for anisotropic materials: the DDD-FFT approach. By coupling the FFT-based approach to the discrete continuous model, the present approach benefits from the high computational efficiency of the FFT algorithm, while allowing for a discrete representation of dislocation lines. It is demonstrated that the computational time associated with the new DDD-FFT approach is significantly lower than that of current DDD approaches when large number of dislocation segments are involved for isotropic and anisotropic elasticity, respectively. Furthermore, for fine Fourier grids, the treatment of anisotropic elasticity comes at a similar computational cost to that of isotropic simulation. Thus, the proposed approach paves the way towards achieving scale transition from DDD to mesoscale plasticity, especially due to the method’s ability to incorporate inhomogeneous elasticity.

Impact of large-scale atmospheric refractive structures on optical wave propagation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nunalee, Christopher G.; He, Ping; Basu, Sukanta; Vorontsov, Mikhail A.; Fiorino, Steven T.

2014-10-01

Conventional techniques used to model optical wave propagation through the Earth's atmosphere typically as- sume flow fields based on various empirical relationships. Unfortunately, these synthetic refractive index fields do not take into account the influence of transient macroscale and mesoscale (i.e. larger than turbulent microscale) atmospheric phenomena. Nevertheless, a number of atmospheric structures that are characterized by various spatial and temporal scales exist which have the potential to significantly impact refractive index fields, thereby resulting dramatic impacts on optical wave propagation characteristics. In this paper, we analyze a subset of spatio-temporal dynamics found to strongly affect optical waves propagating through these atmospheric struc- tures. Analysis of wave propagation was performed in the geometrical optics approximation using a standard ray tracing technique. Using a numerical weather prediction (NWP) approach, we simulate multiple realistic atmospheric events (e.g., island wakes, low-level jets, etc.), and estimate the associated refractivity fields prior to performing ray tracing simulations. By coupling NWP model output with ray tracing simulations, we demon- strate the ability to quantitatively assess the potential impacts of coherent atmospheric phenomena on optical ray propagation. Our results show a strong impact of spatio-temporal characteristics of the refractive index field on optical ray trajectories. Such correlations validate the effectiveness of NWP models as they offer a more comprehensive representation of atmospheric refractivity fields compared to conventional methods based on the assumption of horizontal homogeneity.

Comparison of three different methods of perturbing the potential vorticity field in mesoscale forecasts of Mediterranean heavy precipitation events: PV-gradient, PV-adjoint and PV-satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vich, M.; Romero, R.; Richard, E.; Arbogast, P.; Maynard, K.

2010-09-01

Heavy precipitation events occur regularly in the western Mediterranean region. These events often have a high impact on the society due to economic and personal losses. The improvement of the mesoscale numerical forecasts of these events can be used to prevent or minimize their impact on the society. In previous studies, two ensemble prediction systems (EPSs) based on perturbing the model initial and boundary conditions were developed and tested for a collection of high-impact MEDEX cyclonic episodes. These EPSs perturb the initial and boundary potential vorticity (PV) field through a PV inversion algorithm. This technique ensures modifications of all the meteorological fields without compromising the mass-wind balance. One EPS introduces the perturbations along the zones of the three-dimensional PV structure presenting the local most intense values and gradients of the field (a semi-objective choice, PV-gradient), while the other perturbs the PV field over the MM5 adjoint model calculated sensitivity zones (an objective method, PV-adjoint). The PV perturbations are set from a PV error climatology (PVEC) that characterizes typical PV errors in the ECMWF forecasts, both in intensity and displacement. This intensity and displacement perturbation of the PV field is chosen randomly, while its location is given by the perturbation zones defined in each ensemble generation method. Encouraged by the good results obtained by these two EPSs that perturb the PV field, a new approach based on a manual perturbation of the PV field has been tested and compared with the previous results. This technique uses the satellite water vapor (WV) observations to guide the correction of initial PV structures. The correction of the PV field intents to improve the match between the PV distribution and the WV image, taking advantage of the relation between dark and bright features of WV images and PV anomalies, under some assumptions. Afterwards, the PV inversion algorithm is applied to run a forecast with the corresponding perturbed initial state (PV-satellite). The non hydrostatic MM5 mesoscale model has been used to run all forecasts. The simulations are performed for a two-day period with a 22.5 km resolution domain (Domain 1 in http://mm5forecasts.uib.es) nested in the ECMWF large-scale forecast fields. The MEDEX cyclone of 10 June 2000, also known as the Montserrat Case, is a suitable testbed to compare the performance of each ensemble and the PV-satellite method. This case is characterized by an Atlantic upper-level trough and low-level cold front which generated a stationary mesoscale cyclone over the Spanish Mediterranean coast, advecting warm and moist air toward Catalonia from the Mediterranean Sea. The consequences of the resulting mesoscale convective system were 6-h accumulated rainfall amounts of 180 mm with estimated material losses to exceed 65 million euros by media. The performace of both ensemble forecasting systems and PV-satellite technique for our case study is evaluated through the verification of the rainfall field. Since the EPSs are probabilistic forecasts and the PV-satellite is deterministic, their comparison is done using the individual ensemble members. Therefore the verification procedure uses deterministic scores, like the ROC curve, the Taylor diagram or the Q-Q plot. These scores cover the different quality attributes of the forecast such as reliability, resolution, uncertainty and sharpness. The results show that the PV-satellite technique performance lies within the performance range obtained by both ensembles; it is even better than the non-perturbed ensemble member. Thus, perturbing randomly using the PV error climatology and introducing the perturbations in the zones given by each EPS captures the mismatch between PV and WV fields better than manual perturbations made by an expert forecaster, at least for this case study.

Design, Fabrication and Characterization of Thin Film Structures through Oxidation Kinetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diaz Leon, Juan Jose

Materials science and engineering is devoted to the understanding of the physics and chemistry of materials at the mesoscale and to applying that knowledge into real-life applications. In this work, different oxide materials and different oxidation methods are studied from a materials science point of view and for specific applications. First, the deposition of complex metal oxides is explored for solar energy concentration. This requires a number of multi-cation oxide structures such as thin-film dielectric barriers, low loss waveguides or the use of continuously graded composition oxides for antireflection coatings and light concentration. Then, oxidation via Joule heating is used for the self-alignment of a selector on top of a memristor structure on a nanovia. Simulations are used to explore the necessary voltage for the insulator-to-metal transition temperature of NbO2 using finite element analysis, followed by the fabrication and the characterization of such a device. Finally, long-term copper oxidation at room temperature and pressure is studied using optical techniques. Alternative characterization techniques are used to confirm the growth rate and phase change, and an application of copper oxide as a volatile conductive bridge is shown. All these examples show how the combination of novel simulation, fabrication and characterization techniques can be used to understand physical mechanisms and enable disruptive technologies in fields such as solar cells, light emitting diodes, photodetectors or memory devices.

Meso- to micro-scale coupled simulations of flow over complex terrain at the Perdigao site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neher, J.; van Veen, L.; Chow, F. K.; Mirocha, J. D.; Lundquist, J. K.

2017-12-01

In this work, the site of the 2017 Perdigao field campaign is analyzed with high resolution large-eddy simulations generated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model as a coupled mesoscale to microscale model. The fine topographic features of the site, with its ridgelines a mere 1.2 km apart, the occurrence of intermittent turbulence at night, and the presence of a wind turbine on one of the ridgelines pose a challenge for many current numerical models. Key test cases in the observational data that demonstrate these modelling difficulties are identified, and advanced modeling techniques for overcoming these issues in the WRF model are presented. These techniques include vertical grid nesting for control of the grid aspect ratio, the cell perturbation method for accelerating the generation of turbulence at the boundary, the dynamic reconstruction model as a closure model that allows for backscatter of turbulence, and the actuator disk model for representing the turbine wake. Multiple nesting configurations are considered, with special consideration given to spanning the `grey zone' where neither PBL nor LES closures are effective. Comparisons between model results and measured sounding, meteorological tower, and Lidar data are used to evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques, and the model results are evaluated to provide a broader view of the flow field and the turbine wake interactions at the site.

The Analysis, Numerical Simulation, and Diagnosis of Extratropical Weather Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-09-30

The Analysis, Numerical Simulation, and Diagnosis of Extratropical Weather Systems Dr. Melvyn A. Shapiro NOAA/Environmental Technology Laboratory...formulation, and numerical prediction of the life cycles of synoptic-scale and mesoscale extratropical weather systems, including the influence of planetary...scale inter-annual and intra-seasonal variability on their evolution. These weather systems include: extratropical oceanic and land-falling cyclones

Comparative Evaluation of the Impact of WRF-NMM and WRF-ARW Meteorology on CMAQ Simulations for O3 and Related Species During the 2006 TexAQS/GoMACCS Campaign

EPA Science Inventory

In this paper, impact of meteorology derived from the Weather, Research and Forecasting (WRF)– Non–hydrostatic Mesoscale Model (NMM) and WRF–Advanced Research WRF (ARW) meteorological models on the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) simulations for ozone and its related prec...

Simulating North American mesoscale convective systems with a convection-permitting climate model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prein, Andreas F.; Liu, Changhai; Ikeda, Kyoko; Bullock, Randy; Rasmussen, Roy M.; Holland, Greg J.; Clark, Martyn

2017-10-01

Deep convection is a key process in the climate system and the main source of precipitation in the tropics, subtropics, and mid-latitudes during summer. Furthermore, it is related to high impact weather causing floods, hail, tornadoes, landslides, and other hazards. State-of-the-art climate models have to parameterize deep convection due to their coarse grid spacing. These parameterizations are a major source of uncertainty and long-standing model biases. We present a North American scale convection-permitting climate simulation that is able to explicitly simulate deep convection due to its 4-km grid spacing. We apply a feature-tracking algorithm to detect hourly precipitation from Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) in the model and compare it with radar-based precipitation estimates east of the US Continental Divide. The simulation is able to capture the main characteristics of the observed MCSs such as their size, precipitation rate, propagation speed, and lifetime within observational uncertainties. In particular, the model is able to produce realistically propagating MCSs, which was a long-standing challenge in climate modeling. However, the MCS frequency is significantly underestimated in the central US during late summer. We discuss the origin of this frequency biases and suggest strategies for model improvements.

Atmosphere Assessment for MARS Science Laboratory Entry, Descent and Landing Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cianciolo, Alicia D.; Cantor, Bruce; Barnes, Jeff; Tyler, Daniel, Jr.; Rafkin, Scot; Chen, Allen; Kass, David; Mischna, Michael; Vasavada, Ashwin R.

2013-01-01

On August 6, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, successfully landed on the surface of Mars. The Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) sequence was designed using atmospheric conditions estimated from mesoscale numerical models. The models, developed by two independent organizations (Oregon State University and the Southwest Research Institute), were validated against observations at Mars from three prior years. In the weeks and days before entry, the MSL "Council of Atmospheres" (CoA), a group of atmospheric scientists and modelers, instrument experts and EDL simulation engineers, evaluated the latest Mars data from orbiting assets including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Color Imager (MARCI) and Mars Climate Sounder (MCS), as well as Mars Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). The observations were compared to the mesoscale models developed for EDL performance simulation to determine if a spacecraft parameter update was necessary prior to entry. This paper summarizes the daily atmosphere observations and comparison to the performance simulation atmosphere models. Options to modify the atmosphere model in the simulation to compensate for atmosphere effects are also presented. Finally, a summary of the CoA decisions and recommendations to the MSL project in the days leading up to EDL is provided.

Simulations and Experiments of Dynamic Granular Compaction in Non-ideal Geometries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Homel, Michael; Herbold, Eric; Lind, John; Crum, Ryan; Hurley, Ryan; Akin, Minta; Pagan, Darren; LLNL Team

2017-06-01

Accurately describing the dynamic compaction of granular materials is a persistent challenge in computational mechanics. Using a synchrotron x-ray source we have obtained detailed imaging of the evolving compaction front in synthetic olivine powder impacted at 300 - 600 m / s . To facilitate imaging, a non-traditional sample geometry is used, producing multiple load paths within the sample. We demonstrate that (i) commonly used models for porous compaction may produce inaccurate results for complex loading, even if the 1 - D , uniaxial-strain compaction response is reasonable, and (ii) the experimental results can be used along with simulations to determine parameters for sophisticated constitutive models that more accurately describe the strength, softening, bulking, and poroelastic response. Effects of experimental geometry and alternative configurations are discussed. Our understanding of the material response is further enhanced using mesoscale simulations that allow us to relate the mechanisms of grain fracture, contact, and comminution to the macroscale continuum response. Numerical considerations in both continuum and mesoscale simulations are described. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LDRD#16-ERD-010. LLNL-ABS-725113.

A New Eddy Dissipation Rate Formulation for the Terminal Area PBL Prediction System(TAPPS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charney, Joseph J.; Kaplan, Michael L.; Lin, Yuh-Lang; Pfeiffer, Karl D.

2000-01-01

The TAPPS employs the MASS model to produce mesoscale atmospheric simulations in support of the Wake Vortex project at Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport (DFW). A post-processing scheme uses the simulated three-dimensional atmospheric characteristics in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) to calculate the turbulence quantities most important to the dissipation of vortices: turbulent kinetic energy and eddy dissipation rate. TAPPS will ultimately be employed to enhance terminal area productivity by providing weather forecasts for the Aircraft Vortex Spacing System (AVOSS). The post-processing scheme utilizes experimental data and similarity theory to determine the turbulence quantities from the simulated horizontal wind field and stability characteristics of the atmosphere. Characteristic PBL quantities important to these calculations are determined based on formulations from the Blackadar PBL parameterization, which is regularly employed in the MASS model to account for PBL processes in mesoscale simulations. The TAPPS forecasts are verified against high-resolution observations of the horizontal winds at DFW. Statistical assessments of the error in the wind forecasts suggest that TAPPS captures the essential features of the horizontal winds with considerable skill. Additionally, the turbulence quantities produced by the post-processor are shown to compare favorably with corresponding tower observations.

Dynamical Interpolation of Mesoscale Flows in the TOPEX/Poseidon Diamond Surrounding the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study Site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGillicuddy, Dennis J., Jr.; Kosnyrev, V. K.

2001-01-01

An open boundary ocean model is configured in a domain bounded by the four TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) ground tracks surrounding the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study (BATS) site. This implementation facilitates prescription of model boundary conditions directly from altimetric measurements (both TIP and ERS-2). The expected error characteristics for a domain of this size with periodically updated boundary conditions are established with idealized numerical experiments using simulated data. A hindcast simulation is then constructed using actual altimetric observations during the period October 1992 through September 1998. Quantitative evaluation of the simulation suggests significant skill. The correlation coefficient between predicted sea level anomaly and ERS observations in the model interior is 0.89; that for predicted versus observed dynamic height anomaly based on hydrography at the BATS site is 0.73. Comparison with the idealized experiments suggests that the main source of error in the hindcast is temporal undersampling of the boundary conditions. The hindcast simulation described herein provides a basis for retrospective analysis of BATS observations in the context of the mesoscale eddy field.

Dynamical Interpolation of Mesoscale Flows in the TOPEX/ Poseidon Diamond Surrounding the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study Site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGillicuddy, D. J.; Kosnyrev, V. K.

2001-01-01

An open boundary ocean model is configured in a domain bounded by the four TOPEX/Poseidon (TIP) ground tracks surrounding the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site. This implementation facilitates prescription of model boundary conditions directly from altimetric measurements (both TIP and ERS-2). The expected error characteristics for a domain of this size with periodically updated boundary conditions are established with idealized numerical experiments using simulated data. A hindcast simulation is then constructed using actual altimetric observations during the period October 1992 through September 1998. Quantitative evaluation of the simulation suggests significant skill. The correlation coefficient between predicted sea level anomaly and ERS observations in the model interior is 0.89; that for predicted versus observed dynamic height anomaly based on hydrography at the BATS site is 0.73. Comparison with the idealized experiments suggests that the main source of error in the hindcast is temporal undersampling of the boundary conditions. The hindcast simulation described herein provides a basis for retrospective analysis of BATS observations in the context of the mesoscale eddy field.

Simulations and Evaluation of Mesoscale Convective Systems in a Multi-scale Modeling Framework (MMF)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chern, J. D.; Tao, W. K.

2017-12-01

It is well known that the mesoscale convective systems (MCS) produce more than 50% of rainfall in most tropical regions and play important roles in regional and global water cycles. Simulation of MCSs in global and climate models is a very challenging problem. Typical MCSs have horizontal scale of a few hundred kilometers. Models with a domain of several hundred kilometers and fine enough resolution to properly simulate individual clouds are required to realistically simulate MCSs. The multiscale modeling framework (MMF), which replaces traditional cloud parameterizations with cloud-resolving models (CRMs) within a host atmospheric general circulation model (GCM), has shown some capabilities of simulating organized MCS-like storm signals and propagations. However, its embedded CRMs typically have small domain (less than 128 km) and coarse resolution ( 4 km) that cannot realistically simulate MCSs and individual clouds. In this study, a series of simulations were performed using the Goddard MMF. The impacts of the domain size and model grid resolution of the embedded CRMs on simulating MCSs are examined. The changes of cloud structure, occurrence, and properties such as cloud types, updraft and downdraft, latent heating profile, and cold pool strength in the embedded CRMs are examined in details. The simulated MCS characteristics are evaluated against satellite measurements using the Goddard Satellite Data Simulator Unit. The results indicate that embedded CRMs with large domain and fine resolution tend to produce better simulations compared to those simulations with typical MMF configuration (128 km domain size and 4 km model grid spacing).

Quantifying Carbon Flux Estimation Errors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wesloh, D.

2017-12-01

Atmospheric Bayesian inversions have been used to estimate surface carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from global to sub-continental scales using atmospheric mixing ratio measurements. These inversions use an atmospheric transport model, coupled to a set of fluxes, in order to simulate mixing ratios that can then be compared to the observations. The comparison is then used to update the fluxes to better match the observations in a manner consistent with the uncertainties prescribed for each. However, inversion studies disagree with each other at continental scales, prompting further investigations to examine the causes of these differences. Inter-comparison studies have shown that the errors resulting from atmospheric transport inaccuracies are comparable to those from the errors in the prior fluxes. However, not as much effort has gone into studying the origins of the errors induced by errors in the transport as by errors in the prior distribution. This study uses a mesoscale transport model to evaluate the effects of representation errors in the observations and of incorrect descriptions of the transport. To obtain realizations of these errors, we performed an Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs), with the transport model used for the inversion operating at two resolutions, one typical of a global inversion and the other of a mesoscale, and with various prior flux distributions to. Transport error covariances are inferred from an ensemble of perturbed mesoscale simulations while flux error covariances are computed using prescribed distributions and magnitudes. We examine how these errors can be diagnosed in the inversion process using aircraft, ground-based, and satellite observations of meteorological variables and CO2.

Intergranular Strain Evolution During Biaxial Loading: A Multiscale FE-FFT Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Upadhyay, M. V.; Capek, J.; Van Petegem, S.; Lebensohn, R. A.; Van Swygenhoven, H.

2017-05-01

Predicting the macroscopic and microscopic mechanical response of metals and alloys subjected to complex loading conditions necessarily requires a synergistic combination of multiscale material models and characterization techniques. This article focuses on the use of a multiscale approach to study the difference between intergranular lattice strain evolution for various grain families measured during in situ neutron diffraction on dog bone and cruciform 316L samples. At the macroscale, finite element simulations capture the complex coupling between applied forces and gauge stresses in cruciform geometries. The predicted gauge stresses are used as macroscopic boundary conditions to drive a mesoscale full-field elasto-viscoplastic fast Fourier transform crystal plasticity model. The results highlight the role of grain neighborhood on the intergranular strain evolution under uniaxial and equibiaxial loading.

Efficient Computation of Atmospheric Flows with Tempest: Development of Next-Generation Climate and Weather Prediction Algorithms at Non-Hydrostatic Scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guerra, J. E.; Ullrich, P. A.

2015-12-01

Tempest is a next-generation global climate and weather simulation platform designed to allow experimentation with numerical methods at very high spatial resolutions. The atmospheric fluid equations are discretized by continuous / discontinuous finite elements in the horizontal and by a staggered nodal finite element method (SNFEM) in the vertical, coupled with implicit/explicit time integration. At global horizontal resolutions below 10km, many important questions remain on optimal techniques for solving the fluid equations. We present results from a suite of meso-scale test cases to validate the performance of the SNFEM applied in the vertical. Internal gravity wave, mountain wave, convective, and Cartesian baroclinic instability tests will be shown at various vertical orders of accuracy and compared with known results.

Upper tropospheric cloud systems determined from IR Sounders and their influence on the atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stubenrauch, Claudia; Protopapadaki, Sofia; Feofilov, Artem; Velasco, Carola Barrientos

2017-02-01

Covering about 30% of the Earth, upper tropospheric clouds play a key role in the climate system by modulating the Earth's energy budget and heat transport. Infrared Sounders reliably identify cirrus down to an IR optical depth of 0.1. Recently LMD has built global cloud climate data records from AIRS and IASI observations, covering the periods from 2003-2015 and 2008-2015, respectively. Upper tropospheric clouds often form mesoscale systems. Their organization and properties are being studied by (1) distinguishing cloud regimes within 2° × 2° regions and (2) applying a spatial composite technique on adjacent cloud pressures, which estimates the horizontal extent of the mesoscale cloud systems. Convective core, cirrus anvil and thin cirrus of these systems are then distinguished by their emissivity. Compared to other studies of tropical mesoscale convective systems our data include also the thinner anvil parts, which make out about 30% of the area of tropical mesoscale convective systems. Once the horizontal and vertical structure of these upper tropospheric cloud systems is known, we can estimate their radiative effects in terms of top of atmosphere and surface radiative fluxes and by computing their heating rates.

Report of the proceedings of the Colloquium and Workshop on Multiscale Coupled Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koch, Steven E. (Editor)

1993-01-01

The Colloquium and Workshop on Multiscale Coupled Modeling was held for the purpose of addressing modeling issues of importance to planning for the Cooperative Multiscale Experiment (CME). The colloquium presentations attempted to assess the current ability of numerical models to accurately simulate the development and evolution of mesoscale cloud and precipitation systems and their cycling of water substance, energy, and trace species. The primary purpose of the workshop was to make specific recommendations for the improvement of mesoscale models prior to the CME, their coupling with cloud, cumulus ensemble, hydrology, air chemistry models, and the observational requirements to initialize and verify these models.

Detection and Attribution of Regional Climate Change

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bala, G; Mirin, A

2007-01-19

We developed a high resolution global coupled modeling capability to perform breakthrough studies of the regional climate change. The atmospheric component in our simulation uses a 1{sup o} latitude x 1.25{sup o} longitude grid which is the finest resolution ever used for the NCAR coupled climate model CCSM3. Substantial testing and slight retuning was required to get an acceptable control simulation. The major accomplishment is the validation of this new high resolution configuration of CCSM3. There are major improvements in our simulation of the surface wind stress and sea ice thickness distribution in the Arctic. Surface wind stress and oceanmore » circulation in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current are also improved. Our results demonstrate that the FV version of the CCSM coupled model is a state of the art climate model whose simulation capabilities are in the class of those used for IPCC assessments. We have also provided 1000 years of model data to Scripps Institution of Oceanography to estimate the natural variability of stream flow in California. In the future, our global model simulations will provide boundary data to high-resolution mesoscale model that will be used at LLNL. The mesoscale model would dynamically downscale the GCM climate to regional scale on climate time scales.« less

Meteorological satellite accomplishments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allison, L. J.; Arking, A.; Bandeen, W. R.; Shenk, W. E.; Wexler, R.

1974-01-01

The various types of meteorological satellites are enumerated. Vertical sounding, parameter extraction technique, and both macroscale and mesoscale meteorological phenomena are discussed. The heat budget of the earth-atmosphere system is considered, along with ocean surface and hydrology.

High-resolution 2-D Bragg diffraction reveal heterogeneous domain transformation behavior in a bulk relaxor ferroelectric

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pramanick, Abhijit, E-mail: apramani@cityu.edu.hk; Stoica, Alexandru D.; An, Ke

2016-08-29

In-situ measurement of fine-structure of neutron Bragg diffraction peaks from a relaxor single-crystal using a time-of-flight instrument reveals highly heterogeneous mesoscale domain transformation behavior under applied electric fields. It is observed that only ∼25% of domains undergo reorientation or phase transition contributing to large average strains, while at least 40% remain invariant and exhibit microstrains. Such insights could be central for designing new relaxor materials with better performance and longevity. The current experimental technique can also be applied to resolve complex mesoscale phenomena in other functional materials.

High-resolution 2-D Bragg diffraction reveal heterogeneous domain transformation behavior in a bulk relaxor ferroelectric

DOE PAGES

Pramanick, Abhijit; Stoica, Alexandru D.; An, Ke

2016-09-02

In-situ measurement of fine-structure of neutron Bragg diffraction peaks from a relaxor single-crystal using a time-of-flight instrument reveals highly heterogeneous mesoscale domain transformation behavior under applied electric fields. We observed that only 25% of domains undergo reorienta- tion or phase transition contributing to large average strains, while at least 40% remain invariant and exhibit microstrains. Such insights could be central for designing new relaxor materials with better performance and longevity. The current experimental technique can also be applied to resolve com- plex mesoscale phenomena in other functional materials.

Severe storms forecast systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaplan, M.; Zack, J.

1980-01-01

Two research tasks are described: (1) the improvement and enhancement of an existing mesoscale numerical simulation system, and (2) numerical diagnostic studies associated with an individual case of severe storm development (April 10, 1979 in the Red River Valley of Texas and Oklahoma).

An Overview of Mesoscale Modeling Software for Energetic Materials Research

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

12 2.9 Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator ( LAMMPS ...13 Table 10. LAMMPS summary...extensive reviews, lectures and workshops are available on multiscale modeling of materials applications (76-78). • Multi-phase mixtures of

How does the Red Sea outflow water interact with Gulf of Aden Eddies?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ilıcak, Mehmet; Özgökmen, Tamay M.; Johns, William E.

As the Red Sea overflow water (RSOW) enters the Gulf of Aden (GOA), it interacts with a sequence of nearly barotropic, mesoscale eddies originating in the Indian Ocean. To investigate how these eddies impact the dispersal and eastward transport of the RSOW toward the Indian Ocean, a high resolution 3D regional model is employed to explore systematically the interaction between the RSOW and mesoscale eddies. Two types of experiments are conducted. In the first set, we simulate the behavior of RSOW in the presence of an idealized cyclone and an idealized anticyclone. The second type of simulation involves nesting of the regional model (ROMS) within a data-assimilating global model (HYCOM), in which a sequence of mesoscale eddies entering the Gulf of Aden is realistically captured. This simulation is integrated for one year, and includes a simple representation of the seasonality of the RSOW. Bower et al. (2002) suggest that the Red Sea overflow might be a western boundary undercurrent. Consistent with these expectations, the idealized simulations show that the preferred pathway of the RSOW in the absence of eddies is along the coast of Somalia (southern continental shelf) as a western boundary undercurrent. Simultaneously, a cyclonic circulation is generated in the far western GOA due to vortex stretching by the descending outflow. The presence of a cyclone in the western GOA increases the peak RSOW transport, but the cyclone itself rapidly loses its coherence after interacting with the rough topography in the western GOA. The presence of an anticyclone tends to block the preferred boundary pathway and inhibits the eastward transport of the RSOW. The eddies also result in substantially increased mixing of the RSOW in the western GOA. On the basis of the more realistic ROMS experiment, it is found that the modeled RSOW leaves the western part of the Gulf of Aden in short episodic bursts with transports that are an order of magnitude greater than that associated with the quasi-steady RSOW inflow into GOA. Such enhancement in RSOW transport is shown to be induced by cyclonic eddies that cause a rapid discharge of RSOW from the western part of the GOA. We conclude that mesoscale eddies play a key role in the transport and mixing of the RSOW within GOA.

The Impact of Gulf Stream-Induced Diabatic Forcing on Coastal Mid-Atlantic Surface Cyclogenesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cione, Joseph Jerome

In this dissertation, numerical experiments were conducted using a mesoscale atmospheric model developed at North Carolina State University. Three sets of numerical experiments were conducted and were designed to: quantify the impact Gulf Stream frontal distance, initial surface air temperature and cold air outbreak timing each have on the subsequent development of the marine atmospheric boundary layer during periods of offshore cold advection; investigate critical processes associated with Gulf Stream -induced mesocyclogenesis and; elucidate the role SST gradients and surface fluxes of heat and moisture have on the intensification and track of propagating mesocyclonic systems within the highly baroclinic Gulf Stream region. A major finding from the offshore cold advection simulations is that the initial air-sea contrast is the dominant forcing mechanism linked to the offshore circulation development and marine boundary layer modification. Results from the mesocyclogenesis experiments indicate that surface cyclogenesis was simulated to occur along a Gulf Stream meander in a region where the gradients in sea surface temperature (SST) were maximized. Results from sensitivity experiments illustrate that changes in the Gulf Stream SST gradient pattern can act to alter the timing and degree of cyclonic development simulated, while the inclusion of surface fluxes and moist convective processes during the development phase act to strongly enhance the intensity and/or occurrence of simulated mesocyclogenesis. Both observational and numerical results from studies investigating the impact strong Gulf Stream SST gradients have on the development of pre-existing, propagating cyclonic systems show that the baroclinic nature of the low level environment near the circulation center (as well as the degree of simulated/observed surface cyclonic intensification) appear to be highly dependent upon the mesoscale storm track within the Gulf Stream frontal zone. Furthermore, the numerical storm track experiments conducted in this research illustrate that surfaces fluxes can act to significantly alter the storm track of the surface mesocyclone (in addition to impacting the overall intensification of the simulated cyclonic system). This work also presents the technique development and operational utilization of the recently devised Atlantic Surface Cyclone Intensification Index (ASCII). The index continues to be implemented by the National Weather Service at the Raleigh-Durham and surrounding coastal forecast offices, and to date, has been successfully utilized for 11 coastal winter storm events over the February 1994-January 1996 period.

Numerical simulation of systems of shear bands in ductile metal with inclusions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plohr, Jeeyeon

2017-06-01

We develop a method for numerical simulations of high strain-rate loading of mesoscale samples of ductile metal with inclusions. Because of its small-scale inhomogeneity, the composite material is prone to localized shear deformation. This method employs the Generalized Method of Cells to ensure that the micro mechanical behavior of the metal and inclusions is reflected properly in the behavior of the composite at the mesoscale. To find the effective plastic strain rate when shear bands are present, we extend and apply the analytic and numerical analysis of shear bands of Glimm, Plohr, and Sharp. Our tests of the method focus on the stress/strain response in uniaxial-strain flow, both compressive and tensile, of depleted uranium metal containing silicon carbide inclusions. In results, we verify the elevated temperature and thermal softening at shear bands in our simulations of pure DU and DU/SiC composites. We also note that in composites, due the asymmetry caused by the inclusions, shear band form at different times in different subcells. In particular, in the subcells near inclusions, shear band form much earlier than they do in pure DU.

Evaluation of planetary boundary layer schemes in meso-scale simulations above the North and Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wurps, Hauke; Tambke, Jens; Steinfeld, Gerald; von Bremen, Lueder

2014-05-01

The development and design of wind energy converters for offshore wind farms require profound knowledge of the wind profile in the lower atmosphere. Especially an accurate and reliable estimation of turbulence, shear and veer are necessary for the prediction of energy production and loads. Currently existing wind energy turbines in the North Sea have hub heights of around 90 m and upper tip heights around 150 m, which is already higher than the highest measurement masts (e.g. FINO1: 103 m). The next generation of wind turbines will clearly outrange these altitudes, so the interest is to examine the atmosphere's properties above the North Sea up to 300 m. Therefore, besides the Prandtl layer also the Ekman layer has to be taken into account, which implies that changes of the wind direction with height become more relevant. For this investigation we use the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF), a meso-scale numerical weather prediction system. In this study we compare different planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes (MYJ, MYNN, QNSE) with the same high quality input from ECMWF used as boundary conditions (ERA-Interim). It was found in previous studies that the quality of the boundary conditions is crucially important for the accuracy of comparisons between different PBL schemes. This is due to the fact that the major source of meso-scale simulation errors is introduced by the driving boundary conditions and not by the different schemes of the meso-scale model itself. Hence, small differences in results from different PBL schemes can be distorted arbitrarily by coarse input data. For instance, ERA-Interim data leads to meso-scale RMSE values of 1.4 m/s at 100 m height above sea surface with mean wind speeds around 10 m/s, whereas other Reanalysis products lead to RMSEs larger than 2 m/s. Second, we compare our simulations to operational NWP results from the COSMO model (run by the DWD). In addition to the wind profile, also the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and the atmosphere's thermal stability are important to estimate power production and loads. Especially the TKE is in the focus of our research since the Master Length Scale of the closure schemes depends on it. A third step is the validation of the results using wind measurements around the North Sea. Because the considered heights are much larger than available data from met masts, we use LiDAR observations (light detection and ranging) and prospectively UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sen, Oishik, E-mail: oishik-sen@uiowa.edu; Gaul, Nicholas J., E-mail: nicholas-gaul@ramdosolutions.com; Choi, K.K., E-mail: kyung-choi@uiowa.edu

Macro-scale computations of shocked particulate flows require closure laws that model the exchange of momentum/energy between the fluid and particle phases. Closure laws are constructed in this work in the form of surrogate models derived from highly resolved mesoscale computations of shock-particle interactions. The mesoscale computations are performed to calculate the drag force on a cluster of particles for different values of Mach Number and particle volume fraction. Two Kriging-based methods, viz. the Dynamic Kriging Method (DKG) and the Modified Bayesian Kriging Method (MBKG) are evaluated for their ability to construct surrogate models with sparse data; i.e. using the leastmore » number of mesoscale simulations. It is shown that if the input data is noise-free, the DKG method converges monotonically; convergence is less robust in the presence of noise. The MBKG method converges monotonically even with noisy input data and is therefore more suitable for surrogate model construction from numerical experiments. This work is the first step towards a full multiscale modeling of interaction of shocked particle laden flows.« less

A numerical study of circulation in the Gulf of Riga, Baltic Sea. Part II: Mesoscale features and freshwater transport pathways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lips, Urmas; Zhurbas, Victor; Skudra, Maris; Väli, Germo

2016-03-01

A regional eddy-resolving model is developed to study mesoscale processes in the Gulf of Riga in relation to river runoff, saltwater inflow, and atmospheric forcing. A number of mesoscale phenomena are simulated and discussed, such as meandering of coastal buoyant plume/current of riverine waters and formation and splitting of cyclonic eddies related to the saltwater inflow. It is shown that the Daugava River discharge forms a surface-advected plume (Yankovsky and Chapman, 1997) consisting of an anticyclonic bulge and coastal buoyant jet. In case of no saltwater inflow and no atmospheric forcing, the river runoff is distributed between the growing anticyclonic bulge and the coastal current in proportion of about 7:6. In the summer season, a substantial fraction of freshwater from the anticyclonic bulge can be transported to the north by the anticyclonic whole-basin circulation gyre leading to the bimodal transport pathways of the Daugava River plume.

Mesoscale Diffractive Photonics in Geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minin, I. V.; Minin, O. V.

2016-06-01

The scattered light by various dielectric particles in atmosphere give information about the type of molecules and particles and their location, which are important to definition of propagation limitations through atmospheric and space weather variations, crisis communications, etc. Although these investigations explain far field properties of disturbed radiations, the solution of the physical problem requires simulations of the interactions in near-field. It has been shown that strongly localized EM field near the surface of single dielectric particle may be form by non-spherical and non-symmetrical mesoscale particles both as in transmitting as in reflection mode. It was also shown that the main lobe is narrower in case of 3 cube chain than single cube in far field, but there are many side-scattering lobes. It was mentioned that unique advantages provided by mesoscale dielectric photonic crystal based particles with three spatial dimensions of arbitrary shape allow developing a new types of micro/nano-probes with subwavelength resolution for ultra compact spectrometer-free sensor for on board a spacecraft or a plane.

`Log-Chipper' Turbulence in the Convective Boundary Layer.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kimmel, Shari J.; Wyngaard, John C.; Otte, Martin J.

2002-03-01

Turbulent fluctuations of a conservative scalar in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) can be generated by a scalar flux at the surface, a scalar flux of entrainment at the ABL top, and the `chewing up' of scalar variations on the mesoscale. The first two have been previously studied, while the third is examined in this paper through large-eddy simulation (LES). The LES results show that the scalar fluctuations due to the breakdown of mesoscale variations in advected conservative scalar fields, which the authors call the `log-chipper' component of scalar fluctuations, are uniformly distributed through the depth of the convective ABL, unlike the top-down and bottom-up components.A similarity function, similar to those for the top-down and bottom-up scalars, is derived for the log-chipper scalar variance in the convective ABL and used to compare the relative importance of these three processes for generating scalar fluctuations. Representative mesoscale gradients for water vapor mixing ratio and potential temperature are computed from airplane measurements over both land and water. In situations where the entrainment and surface fluxes are sufficiently small, or the ABL depth, turbulence intensity, or the mesoscale scalar gradient is sufficiently large, the variance of the log-chipper scalar fluctuations in mid-ABL can be of the order of the variance of top-down and bottom-up scalars.

Sensitivities of Summertime Mesoscale Circulations in the Coastal Carolinas to Modifications of the Kain-Fritsch Cumulus Parameterization.

PubMed

Sims, Aaron P; Alapaty, Kiran; Raman, Sethu

2017-01-01

Two mesoscale circulations, the Sandhills circulation and the sea breeze, influence the initiation of deep convection over the Sandhills and the coast in the Carolinas during the summer months. The interaction of these two circulations causes additional convection in this coastal region. Accurate representation of mesoscale convection is difficult as numerical models have problems with the prediction of the timing, amount, and location of precipitation. To address this issue, the authors have incorporated modifications to the Kain-Fritsch (KF) convective parameterization scheme and evaluated these mesoscale interactions using a high-resolution numerical model. The modifications include changes to the subgrid-scale cloud formulation, the convective turnover time scale, and the formulation of the updraft entrainment rates. The use of a grid-scaling adjustment parameter modulates the impact of the KF scheme as a function of the horizontal grid spacing used in a simulation. Results indicate that the impact of this modified cumulus parameterization scheme is more effective on domains with coarser grid sizes. Other results include a decrease in surface and near-surface temperatures in areas of deep convection (due to the inclusion of the effects of subgrid-scale clouds on the radiation), improvement in the timing of convection, and an increase in the strength of deep convection.

Meteorological predictions for Mars 2020 Exploration Rover high-priority landing sites throug MRAMS Mesoscale Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pla-García, Jorge; Rafkin, Scot C. R.

2015-04-01

The Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (MRAMS) is used to predict meteorological conditions that are likely to be encountered by the Mars 2020 Exploration Rover at several proposed landing sites during entry, descent, and landing (EDL). The meteorology during the EDL window at most of the sites is dynamic. The intense heating of the lower atmosphere drives intense thermals and mesoscale thermal circulations. Moderate mean winds, wind shear, turbulence, and vertical air currents associated with convection are present and potentially hazardous to EDL [1]. Nine areas with specific high-priority landing ellipses of the 2020 Rover, are investigated: NE Syrtis, Nili Fossae, Nili Fossae Carbonates, Jezero Crater Delta, Holden Crater, McLaughlin Crater, Southwest Melas Basin, Mawrth Vallis and East Margaritifer Chloride. MRAMS was applied to the landing site regions using nested grids with a spacing of 330 meters on the innermost grid that is centered over each landing site. MRAMS is ideally suited for this investigation; the model is explicitly designed to simulate Mars' atmospheric thermal circulations at the mesoscale and smaller with realistic, high-resolution surface properties [2, 3]. Horizontal wind speeds, both vertical profiles and vertical cross-sections wind speeds, are studied. For some landing sites simulations, two example configurations -including and not including Hellas basin in the mother domain- were generated, in order to study how the basin affects the innermost grids circulations. Afternoon circulations at all sites pose some risk entry, descent, and landing. Most of the atmospheric hazards are not evident in current observational data and general circulation model simulations and can only be ascertained through mesoscale modeling of the region. Decide where to go first and then design a system that can tolerate the environment would greatly minimize risk. References: [1] Rafkin, S. C. R., and T. I. Michaels (2003), J. Geophys. Res., 108(E12), 8091. [2] Rafkin, S. C. R., R. M. Haberle, and T. I. Michaels (2001), Icarus, 151, 228-256.
[3] Rafkin, S. C. R., M. R. V. Sta. Maria, and T. I. Michaels (2002), Nature, 419, 697-699.

Fish habitat characterization and quantification using lidar and conventional topographic information in river survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchamalo, Miguel; Bejarano, María-Dolores; García de Jalón, Diego; Martínez Marín, Rubén

2007-10-01

This study presents the application of LIDAR data to the evaluation and quantification of fluvial habitat in river systems, coupling remote sensing techniques with hydrological modeling and ecohydraulics. Fish habitat studies depend on the quality and continuity of the input topographic data. Conventional fish habitat studies are limited by the feasibility of field survey in time and budget. This limitation results in differences between the level of river management and the level of models. In order to facilitate upscaling processes from modeling to management units, meso-scale methods were developed (Maddock & Bird, 1996; Parasiewicz, 2001). LIDAR data of regulated River Cinca (Ebro Basin, Spain) were acquired in the low flow season, maximizing the recorded instream area. DTM meshes obtained from LIDAR were used as the input for hydraulic simulation for a range of flows using GUAD2D software. Velocity and depth outputs were combined with gradient data to produce maps reflecting the availability of each mesohabitat unit type for each modeled flow. Fish habitat was then estimated and quantified according to the preferences of main target species as brown trout (Salmo trutta). LIDAR data combined with hydraulic modeling allowed the analysis of fluvial habitat in long fluvial segments which would be time-consuming with traditional survey. LIDAR habitat assessment at mesoscale level avoids the problems of time efficiency and upscaling and is a recommended approach for large river basin management.

Using Coupled Mesoscale Experiments and Simulations to Investigate High Burn-Up Oxide Fuel Thermal Conductivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teague, Melissa C.; Fromm, Bradley S.; Tonks, Michael R.; Field, David P.

2014-12-01

Nuclear energy is a mature technology with a small carbon footprint. However, work is needed to make current reactor technology more accident tolerant and to allow reactor fuel to be burned in a reactor for longer periods of time. Optimizing the reactor fuel performance is essentially a materials science problem. The current understanding of fuel microstructure have been limited by the difficulty in studying the structure and chemistry of irradiated fuel samples at the mesoscale. Here, we take advantage of recent advances in experimental capabilities to characterize the microstructure in 3D of irradiated mixed oxide (MOX) fuel taken from two radial positions in the fuel pellet. We also reconstruct these microstructures using Idaho National Laboratory's MARMOT code and calculate the impact of microstructure heterogeneities on the effective thermal conductivity using mesoscale heat conduction simulations. The thermal conductivities of both samples are higher than the bulk MOX thermal conductivity because of the formation of metallic precipitates and because we do not currently consider phonon scattering due to defects smaller than the experimental resolution. We also used the results to investigate the accuracy of simple thermal conductivity approximations and equations to convert 2D thermal conductivities to 3D. It was found that these approximations struggle to predict the complex thermal transport interactions between metal precipitates and voids.

Will high-resolution global ocean models benefit coupled predictions on short-range to climate timescales?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hewitt, Helene T.; Bell, Michael J.; Chassignet, Eric P.; Czaja, Arnaud; Ferreira, David; Griffies, Stephen M.; Hyder, Pat; McClean, Julie L.; New, Adrian L.; Roberts, Malcolm J.

2017-12-01

As the importance of the ocean in the weather and climate system is increasingly recognised, operational systems are now moving towards coupled prediction not only for seasonal to climate timescales but also for short-range forecasts. A three-way tension exists between the allocation of computing resources to refine model resolution, the expansion of model complexity/capability, and the increase of ensemble size. Here we review evidence for the benefits of increased ocean resolution in global coupled models, where the ocean component explicitly represents transient mesoscale eddies and narrow boundary currents. We consider lessons learned from forced ocean/sea-ice simulations; from studies concerning the SST resolution required to impact atmospheric simulations; and from coupled predictions. Impacts of the mesoscale ocean in western boundary current regions on the large-scale atmospheric state have been identified. Understanding of air-sea feedback in western boundary currents is modifying our view of the dynamics in these key regions. It remains unclear whether variability associated with open ocean mesoscale eddies is equally important to the large-scale atmospheric state. We include a discussion of what processes can presently be parameterised in coupled models with coarse resolution non-eddying ocean models, and where parameterizations may fall short. We discuss the benefits of resolution and identify gaps in the current literature that leave important questions unanswered.

Numerical simulations of island-scale airflow over Maui and the Maui vortex under summer trade wind conditions

Treesearch

DaNa L. Carlis; Yi-Leng Chen; Vernon R. Morris

2010-01-01

The fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) coupled with the Noah land surface model (LSM) is employed to simulate island-scale airflow and circulations over Maui County, Hawaii, under summer trade wind conditions, during July–August 2005. The model forecasts are validated by surface observations with good agreement.

Top-down estimates of methane and nitrogen oxide emissions from shale gas production regions using aircraft measurements and a mesoscale Bayesian inversion system together with a flux ratio inversion technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Y.; Brioude, J. F.; Angevine, W. M.; McKeen, S. A.; Henze, D. K.; Bousserez, N.; Liu, Z.; McDonald, B.; Peischl, J.; Ryerson, T. B.; Frost, G. J.; Trainer, M.

2016-12-01

Production of unconventional natural gas grew rapidly during the past ten years in the US which led to an increase in emissions of methane (CH4) and, depending on the shale region, nitrogen oxides (NOx). In terms of radiative forcing, CH4 is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2. NOx is a precursor of ozone (O3) in the troposphere and nitrate particles, both of which are regulated by the US Clean Air Act. Emission estimates of CH4 and NOx from the shale regions are still highly uncertain. We present top-down estimates of CH4 and NOx surface fluxes from the Haynesville and Fayetteville shale production regions using aircraft data collected during the Southeast Nexus of Climate Change and Air Quality (SENEX) field campaign (June-July, 2013) and the Shale Oil and Natural Gas Nexus (SONGNEX) field campaign (March-May, 2015) within a mesoscale inversion framework. The inversion method is based on a mesoscale Bayesian inversion system using multiple transport models. EPA's 2011 National CH4 and NOx Emission Inventories are used as prior information to optimize CH4 and NOx emissions. Furthermore, the posterior CH4 emission estimates are used to constrain NOx emission estimates using a flux ratio inversion technique. Sensitivity of the posterior estimates to the use of off-diagonal terms in the error covariance matrices, the transport models, and prior estimates is discussed. Compared to the ground-based in-situ observations, the optimized CH4 and NOx inventories improve ground level CH4 and O3 concentrations calculated by the Weather Research and Forecasting mesoscale model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem).

10 Ways to Improve the Representation of MCSs in Climate Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schumacher, C.

2017-12-01

1. The first way to improve the representation of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in global climate models (GCMs) is to recognize that MCSs are important to climate. That may be obvious to most of the people attending this session, but it cannot be taken for granted in the wider community. The fact that MCSs produce large amounts of the global rainfall and that they dramatically impact the atmosphere via transports of heat, moisture, and momentum must be continuously stressed. 2-4. There has traditionally been three approaches to representing MCSs and/or their impacts in GCMs. The first is to focus on improving cumulus parameterizations by implementing things like cold pools that are assumed to better organize convection. The second is to focus on including mesoscale processes in the cumulus parameterization such as mesoscale vertical motions. The third is to just buy your way out with higher resolution using techniques like super-parameterization or global cloud-resolving model runs. All of these approaches have their pros and cons, but none of them satisfactorily solve the MCS climate modeling problem. 5-10. Looking forward, there is active discussion and new ideas in the modeling community on how to better represent convective organization in models. A number of ideas are a dramatic shift from the traditional plume-based cumulus parameterizations of most GCMs, such as implementing mesoscale parmaterizations based on their physical impacts (e.g., via heating), on empirical relationships based on big data/machine learning, or on stochastic approaches. Regardless of the technique employed, smart evaluation processes using observations are paramount to refining and constraining the inevitable tunable parameters in any parameterization.

Diabatic Initialization of Mesoscale Models in the Southeastern United States: Can 0 to 12h Warm Season QPF be Improved?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lapenta, William M.; Bradshaw, Tom; Burks, Jason; Darden, Chris; Dembek, Scott

2003-01-01

It is well known that numerical warm season quantitative precipitation forecasts lack significant skill for numerous reasons. Some are related to the model--it may lack physical processes required to realistically simulate convection or the numerical algorithms and dynamics employed may not be adequate. Others are related to initialization-mesoscale features play an important role in convective initialization and atmospheric observation systems are incapable of properly depicting the three-dimensional stability structure at the mesoscale. The purpose of this study is to determine if a mesoscale model initialized with a diabatic initialization scheme can improve short-term (0 to 12h) warm season quantitative precipitation forecasts in the Southeastern United States. The Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS) developed at the Forecast System Laboratory is used to diabatically initialize the Pennsylvania State University/National center for Atmospheric Research (PSUNCAR) Mesoscale Model version 5 (MM5). The SPORT Center runs LAPS operationally on an hourly cycle to produce analyses on a 15 km covering the eastern 2/3 of the United States. The 20 km National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Rapid Update Cycle analyses are used for the background fields. Standard observational data are acquired from MADIS with GOES/CRAFT Nexrad data acquired from in-house feeds. The MM5 is configured on a 140 x 140 12 km grid centered on Huntsville Alabama. Preliminary results indicate that MM5 runs initialized with LAPS produce improved 6 and 12h QPF threat scores compared with those initialized with the NCEP RUC.

Characteristics of mesoscale vortices over China in 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shu, Yu; Sun, Jisong; Pan, Yinong

2017-12-01

Mesoscale vortices, which appear at middle and lower levels of rainstorms, are cyclonic circulations with a size ranging from tens of kilometers to several hundred kilometers. Mesoscale vortices often have close relationships with convective activities. The ERA-Interim dataset and an automatic vortex-searching method were used to identify the mesoscale vortices occurring over China in 2015 and their basic characteristics were analyzed. The mesoscale vortices are divided into three categories: mesoscale convective vortices, mesoscale stratiform vortices, and mesoscale dry vortices. The mesoscale convective vortices have the largest intensity, size, and duration, whereas the mesoscale dry vortices have the smallest. Mesoscale convective vortices are able to form in any direction of the parent mesoscale convective system, although the secondary convection tends to appear to the southeast of the parent vortices. The mesoscale vortices tend to generate in the transition area between high and low altitudes. The leeward side of the Tibetan Plateau is the main source region of mesoscale vortices in China. Most of vortices are generated at midday and midnight. The activities of mesoscale convective vortices and mesoscale stratiform vortices peak in summer, whereas those of the mesoscale dry vortices peak in winter.

Orographic precipitation at global and regional scales: Observational uncertainty and evaluation of 25-km global model simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schiemann, Reinhard; Roberts, Charles J.; Bush, Stephanie; Demory, Marie-Estelle; Strachan, Jane; Vidale, Pier Luigi; Mizielinski, Matthew S.; Roberts, Malcolm J.

2015-04-01

Precipitation over land exhibits a high degree of variability due to the complex interaction of the precipitation generating atmospheric processes with coastlines, the heterogeneous land surface, and orography. Global general circulation models (GCMs) have traditionally had very limited ability to capture this variability on the mesoscale (here ~50-500 km) due to their low resolution. This has changed with recent investments in resolution and ensembles of multidecadal climate simulations of atmospheric GCMs (AGCMs) with ~25 km grid spacing are becoming increasingly available. Here, we evaluate the mesoscale precipitation distribution in one such set of simulations obtained in the UPSCALE (UK on PrACE - weather-resolving Simulations of Climate for globAL Environmental risk) modelling campaign with the HadGEM-GA3 AGCM. Increased model resolution also poses new challenges to the observational datasets used to evaluate models. Global gridded data products such as those provided by the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) are invaluable for assessing large-scale features of the precipitation distribution but may not sufficiently resolve mesoscale structures. In the absence of independent estimates, the intercomparison of different observational datasets may be the only way to get some insight into the uncertainties associated with these observations. Here, we focus on mid-latitude continental regions where observations based on higher-density gauge networks are available in addition to the global data sets: Europe/the Alps, South and East Asia, and the continental US. The ability of GCMs to represent mesoscale variability is of interest in its own right, as climate information on this scale is required by impact studies. An additional motivation for the research proposed here arises from continuing efforts to quantify the components of the global radiation budget and water cycle. Recent estimates based on radiation measurements suggest that the global mean precipitation/evaporation may be up to 10 Wm-2 (about 0.35 mm day-1) larger than the estimate obtained from GPCP. While the main part of this discrepancy is thought to be due to the underestimation of remotely-sensed ocean precipitation, there is also considerable uncertainty about 'unobserved' precipitation over land, in particular in the form of snow in regions of high latitude/altitude. We aim to contribute to this discussion, at least at a qualitative level, by considering case studies of how area-averaged mountain precipitation is represented in different observational datasets and by HadGEM3-GA3 at different resolutions. Our results show that the AGCM simulates considerably more orographic precipitation at higher resolution. We find this at the global scale both for the winter and summer hemispheres, as well as in several case studies in mid-latitude regions. Gridded observations based on gauge measurements generally capture the mesoscale spatial variability of precipitation, but differ strongly from one another in the magnitude of area-averaged precipitation, so that they are of very limited use for evaluating this aspect of the modelled climate. We are currently conducting a sensitivity experiment (coarse-grained orography in high-resolution HadGEM3) to further investigate the resolution sensitivity seen in the model.

Comparison of Measured and Numerically Simulated Turbulence Statistics in a Convective Boundary Layer Over Complex Terrain

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rai, Raj K.; Berg, Larry K.; Kosović, Branko

High resolution numerical simulation can provide insight into important physical processes that occur within the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The present work employs large eddy simulation (LES) using the Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) model, with the LES domain nested within mesoscale simulation, to simulate real conditions in the convective PBL over an area of complex terrain. A multiple nesting approach has been used to downsize the grid spacing from 12.15 km (mesoscale) to 0.03 km (LES). A careful selection of grid spacing in the WRF Meso domain has been conducted to minimize artifacts in the WRF-LES solutions. The WRF-LESmore » results have been evaluated with in situ and remote sensing observations collected during the US Department of Energy-supported Columbia BasinWind Energy Study (CBWES). Comparison of the first- and second-order moments, turbulence spectrum, and probability density function (PDF) of wind speed shows good agreement between the simulations and data. Furthermore, the WRF-LES variables show a great deal of variability in space and time caused by the complex topography in the LES domain. The WRF-LES results show that the flow structures, such as roll vortices and convective cells, vary depending on both the location and time of day. In addition to basic studies related to boundary-layer meteorology, results from these simulations can be used in other applications, such as studying wind energy resources, atmospheric dispersion, fire weather etc.« less

Diabatic modification of potential vorticity in extratropical cyclones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chagnon, J.

2012-12-01

Representation of diabatic processes and their impact on extratropical cyclones is a likely source of skill degradation in operational numerical weather prediction systems. This investigation examines the source, structure, and magnitude of diabatic potential vorticity (PV) anomalies generated by small-scale and parameterized processes in both mesoscale and global model simulations of extratropical cyclones in the North Atlantic. Simulations of several cold season extratropical storms have been performed using the Met Office Unified Model. Several cases simulated were drawn from the DIAbatic influences on Mesoscale structures in ExTratropical cyclones (DIAMET) observational campaign during which the National Environmental Research Council (NERC) Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurement (FAAM) BAE-146 aircraft was deployed. The influence of specific modelled processes was quantified using a set of tracers, each of which represents a history of the PV contributed by a specific segment of the model (e.g., boundary-layer scheme, cloud microphysics, convection scheme , radiation, etc.). This presentation will highlight several differences and similarities in high and low resolution simulations. For example, in high resolution simulations, tropopause folds are sharpened by a tripolar PV anomaly arising from the convection, boundary-layer, and microphysics schemes; this structure is not present in coarser global model simulations. However, a dipole of PV straddling the tropopause is diagnosed in both coarse- and fine-resolution simulations. The PV dipole, which is strongly influenced by long-wave radiative cooling, increases the gradient of PV near the tropopause and therefore modifies the characteristics Rossby wave propagation and moist baroclinic wave growth.

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN URBAN CANOPY PARAMETERIZATION IN MM5

EPA Science Inventory

The Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) (Grell et al. 1994) has been modified to include an urban canopy parameterization (UCP) for fine-scale urban simulations (~1-km horizontal grid spacing). The UCP accounts for drag ...

Evaluation of a Mesoscale Convective System in Variable-Resolution CESM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Payne, A. E.; Jablonowski, C.

2017-12-01

Warm season precipitation over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) follows a well observed diurnal pattern of variability, peaking at night-time, due to the eastward propagation of mesoscale convection systems that develop over the eastern slopes of the Rockies in the late afternoon. While most climate models are unable to adequately capture the organization of convection and characteristic pattern of precipitation over this region, models with high enough resolution to explicitly resolve convection show improvement. However, high resolution simulations are computationally expensive and, in the case of regional climate models, are subject to boundary conditions. Newly developed variable resolution global climate models strike a balance between the benefits of high-resolution regional climate models and the large-scale dynamics of global climate models and low computational cost. Recently developed parameterizations that are insensitive to the model grid scale provide a way to improve model performance. Here, we present an evaluation of the newly available Cloud Layers Unified by Binormals (CLUBB) parameterization scheme in a suite of variable-resolution CESM simulations with resolutions ranging from 110 km to 7 km within a regionally refined region centered over the SGP Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site. Simulations utilize the hindcast approach developed by the Department of Energy's Cloud-Associated Parameterizations Testbed (CAPT) for the assessment of climate models. We limit our evaluation to a single mesoscale convective system that passed over the region on May 24, 2008. The effects of grid-resolution on the timing and intensity of precipitation, as well as, on the transition from shallow to deep convection are assessed against ground-based observations from the SGP ARM site, satellite observations and ERA-Interim reanalysis.

Modeling the spatial and temporal population dynamics of the copepod Centropages typicus in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea during the year 2001 using a 3D ecosystem model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlotti, F.; Eisenhauer, L.; Campbell, R.; Diaz, F.

2014-07-01

The spatio-temporal dynamics of a simulated Centropages typicus (Kröyer) population during the year 2001 at the regional scale of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea are addressed using a 3D coupled physical-biogeochemical model. The setup of the coupled biological model comprises a pelagic plankton ecosystem model and a stage-structured population model forced by the 3D velocity and temperature fields provided by an eddy-resolving regional circulation model. The population model for C. typicus (C. t. below) represents demographic processes through five groups of developmental stages, which depend on underlying individual growth and development processes and are forced by both biotic (prey and predator fields) and abiotic (temperature, advection) factors from the coupled physical-biogeochemical model. The objective is to characterize C. t. ontogenic habitats driven by physical and trophic processes. The annual dynamics are presented for two of the main oceanographic stations in the Gulf of Lions, which are representative of shelf and open sea conditions, while the spatial distributions over the whole area are presented for three dates during the year, in early and late spring and in winter. The simulated spatial patterns of C. t. developmental stages are closely related to mesoscale hydrodynamic features and circulation patterns. The seasonal and spatial distributions on the Gulf of Lions shelf depend on the seasonal interplay between the Rhône river plume, the mesoscale eddies on the shelf and the Northern Current acting as either as a dynamic barrier between the shelf and the open sea or allowing cross-shelf exchanges. In the central gyre of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea, the patchiness of plankton is tightly linked to mesoscale frontal systems, surface eddies and filaments and deep gradients. Due to its flexibility in terms of its diet, C. t. succeeds in maintaining its population in both coastal and offshore areas year round. The simulations suggest that the winte-spring food conditions are more favorable on the shelf for C. t., whereas in late summer and fall, the offshore depth-integrated food biomasses represent a larger resource for C. t., particularly when mesoscale structures and vertical discontinuities increase food patchiness. The development and reproduction of C. t. depend on the prey field within the mesoscale structures that induce a contrasting spatial distribution of successive developmental stages on a given observation date. In late fall and winter, the results of the model suggest the existence of three refuge areas where the population maintains winter generations near the coast and within the Rhone River plume, or offshore within canyons within the shelf break, or in the frontal system related to the Northern Current. The simulated spatial and temporal distributions as well as the life cycle and physiological features of C. t. are discussed in light of recent reviews on the dynamics of C. t. in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea.

The troposphere-to-stratosphere transition in kinetic energy spectra and nonlinear spectral fluxes as seen in ECMWF analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burgess, A. B. H.; Erler, A. R.; Shepherd, T. G.

2012-04-01

We present spectra, nonlinear interaction terms, and fluxes computed for horizontal wind fields from high-resolution meteorological analyses made available by ECMWF for the International Polar Year. Total kinetic energy spectra clearly show two spectral regimes: a steep spectrum at large scales and a shallow spectrum in the mesoscale. The spectral shallowing appears at ~200 hPa, and is due to decreasing rotational power with height, which results in the shallower divergent spectrum dominating in the mesoscale. The spectra we find are steeper than those observed in aircraft data and GCM simulations. Though the analyses resolve total spherical harmonic wavenumbers up to n = 721, effects of dissipation on the fluxes and spectra are visible starting at about n = 200. We find a weak forward energy cascade and a downscale enstrophy cascade in the mesoscale. Eddy-eddy nonlinear kinetic energy transfers reach maximum amplitudes at the tropopause, and decrease with height thereafter; zonal mean-eddy transfers dominate in the stratosphere. In addition, zonal anisotropy reaches a minimum at the tropopause. Combined with strong eddy-eddy interactions, this suggests flow in the tropopause region is very active and bears the greatest resemblance to isotropic turbulence. We find constant enstrophy flux over a broad range of wavenumbers around the tropopause and in the upper stratosphere. A relatively constant spectral enstrophy flux at the tropopause suggests a turbulent inertial range, and that the enstrophy flux is resolved. A main result of our work is its implications for explaining the shallow mesoscale spectrum observed in aircraft wind measurements, GCM studies, and now meteorological analyses. The strong divergent component in the shallow mesoscale spectrum indicates unbalanced flow, and nonlinear transfers decreasing quickly with height are characteristic of waves, not turbulence. Together with the downscale flux of energ y through the shallow spectral range, these findings add further evidence that the shallow mesoscale spectrum is not generated by balanced two-dimensional turbulence.

Recent developments and assessment of a three-dimensional PBL parameterization for improved wind forecasting over complex terrain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosovic, B.; Jimenez, P. A.; Haupt, S. E.; Martilli, A.; Olson, J.; Bao, J. W.

2017-12-01

At present, the planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterizations available in most numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are one-dimensional. One-dimensional parameterizations are based on the assumption of horizontal homogeneity. This homogeneity assumption is appropriate for grid cell sizes greater than 10 km. However, for mesoscale simulations of flows in complex terrain with grid cell sizes below 1 km, the assumption of horizontal homogeneity is violated. Applying a one-dimensional PBL parameterization to high-resolution mesoscale simulations in complex terrain could result in significant error. For high-resolution mesoscale simulations of flows in complex terrain, we have therefore developed and implemented a three-dimensional (3D) PBL parameterization in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The implementation of the 3D PBL scheme is based on the developments outlined by Mellor and Yamada (1974, 1982). Our implementation in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model uses a pure algebraic model (level 2) to diagnose the turbulent fluxes. To evaluate the performance of the 3D PBL model, we use observations from the Wind Forecast Improvement Project 2 (WFIP2). The WFIP2 field study took place in the Columbia River Gorge area from 2015-2017. We focus on selected cases when physical phenomena of significance for wind energy applications such as mountain waves, topographic wakes, and gap flows were observed. Our assessment of the 3D PBL parameterization also considers a large-eddy simulation (LES). We carried out a nested LES with grid cell sizes of 30 m and 10 m covering a large fraction of the WFIP2 study area. Both LES domains were discretized using 6000 x 3000 x 200 grid cells in zonal, meridional, and vertical direction, respectively. The LES results are used to assess the relative magnitude of horizontal gradients of turbulent stresses and fluxes in comparison to vertical gradients. The presentation will highlight the advantages of the 3D PBL scheme in regions of complex terrain.

Toward Improved Parameterization of a Meso-Scale Hydrologic Model in a Discontinuous Permafrost, Boreal Forest Ecosystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endalamaw, A. M.; Bolton, W. R.; Young, J. M.; Morton, D.; Hinzman, L. D.

2013-12-01

The sub-arctic environment can be characterized as being located in the zone of discontinuous permafrost. Although the distribution of permafrost is site specific, it dominates many of the hydrologic and ecologic responses and functions including vegetation distribution, stream flow, soil moisture, and storage processes. In this region, the boundaries that separate the major ecosystem types (deciduous dominated and coniferous dominated ecosystems) as well as permafrost (permafrost verses non-permafrost) occur over very short spatial scales. One of the goals of this research project is to improve parameterizations of meso-scale hydrologic models in this environment. Using the Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed (CPCRW) as the test area, simulations of the headwater catchments of varying permafrost and vegetation distributions were performed. CPCRW, located approximately 50 km northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, is located within the zone of discontinuous permafrost and the boreal forest ecosystem. The Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model was selected as the hydrologic model. In CPCRW, permafrost and coniferous vegetation is generally found on north facing slopes and valley bottoms. Permafrost free soils and deciduous vegetation is generally found on south facing slopes. In this study, hydrologic simulations using fine scale vegetation and soil parameterizations - based upon slope and aspect analysis at a 50 meter resolution - were conducted. Simulations were also conducted using downscaled vegetation from the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) (1 km resolution) and soil data sets from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (approximately 9 km resolution). Preliminary simulation results show that soil and vegetation parameterizations based upon fine scale slope/aspect analysis increases the R2 values (0.5 to 0.65 in the high permafrost (53%) basin; 0.43 to 0.56 in the low permafrost (2%) basin) relative to parameterization based on coarse scale data. These results suggest that using fine resolution parameterizations can be used to improve meso-scale hydrological modeling in this region.

Thermodynamic sensitivities in observed and simulated extreme-rain-producing mesoscale convective systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schumacher, R. S.; Peters, J. M.

2015-12-01

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are responsible for a large fraction of warm-season extreme rainfall events over the continental United States, as well as other midlatitude regions globally. The rainfall production in these MCSs is determined by numerous factors, including the large-scale forcing for ascent, the organization of the convection, cloud microphysical processes, and the surrounding thermodynamic and kinematic environment. Furthermore, heavy-rain-producing MCSs are most common at night, which means that well-studied mechanisms for MCS maintenance and organization such as cold pools (gravity currents) are not always at work. In this study, we use numerical model simulations and recent field observations to investigate the sensitivity of low-level MCS structures, and their influences on rainfall, to the details of the thermodynamic environment. In particular, small alterations to the initial conditions in idealized and semi-idealized simulations result in comparatively large precipitation changes, both in terms of the intensity and the spatial distribution. The uncertainties in the thermodynamic enviroments in the model simulations will be compared with high-resolution observations from the Plains Elevated Convection At Night (PECAN) field experiment in 2015. The results have implications for the paradigms of "surface-based" versus "elevated" convection, as well as for the predictability of warm-season convective rainfall.

Balanced and Unbalanced Circulations in a Primitive Equation Simulation of a Midlatitude MCC. Part I: The Numerical Simulation.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olsson, Peter Q.; Cotton, William R.

1997-02-01

A midlatitude mesoscale convective complex (MCC), which occurred over the central United States on 23-24 June 1985, was simulated using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). The multiply nested-grid simulation agreed reasonably well with surface, upper-air, and satellite observations and ground-based radar plots. The simulated MCC had a typical structure consisting of a leading line of vigorous convection and a trailing region of less intense stratiform rainfall. Several other characteristic MCC circulations were also simulated: a divergent cold pool in the lower troposphere, midlevel convergence coupled with a relatively cool descending rear-inflow jet, and relatively warm updraft structure, and a cold divergent anticyclone in the tropopause region. Early in the MCC simulation, a mesoscale convectively induced vortex (MCV) formed on the eastern edge of the convective line. While frequently associated with MCCs and other mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), MCVs are more typically reported in the mature and decaying stages of the life cycle. Several hours later, a second MCV formed near the opposite end of the convective line, and by the mature phase of the MCC, these MCVs were embedded within a more complex system-wide vortical flow in the lower troposphere.Analysis of the first MCV during its incipient phase indicates that the vortex initially formed near the surface by convergence/stretching of the large low-level ambient vertical vorticity in this region. Vertical advection appeared largely responsible for the upward extension of this MCV to about 3.5 km above the surface, with tilting of horizontal vorticity playing a secondary role. This mechanism of MCV formation is in contrast to recent idealized high-resolution squall line simulations, where MCVs were found to result from the tilting into the vertical of storm-induced horizontal vorticity formed near the top of the cold pool.Another interesting aspect of the simulation was the development of a banded vorticity structure at midtropospheric levels. These bands were found to be due to the apparent vertical transport of zonal momentum by the descending rear-to-front circulation, or rear-inflow jet. An equivalent alternative viewpoint of this process, deformation of horizontal vorticity filaments by the convective updrafts and rear-inflow jet, is discussed.Part II of this work presents a complementary approach to the analysis presented here, demonstrating that the circulations seen in this MCC simulation are, to a large degree, contained within the nonlinear balance approximation, the related balanced omega equation, and the PV as analyzed from the PE model results.

Micro- and meso-scale simulations of magnetospheric processes related to the aurora and substorm morphology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swift, Daniel W.

1991-01-01

The primary methodology during the grant period has been the use of micro or meso-scale simulations to address specific questions concerning magnetospheric processes related to the aurora and substorm morphology. This approach, while useful in providing some answers, has its limitations. Many of the problems relating to the magnetosphere are inherently global and kinetic. Effort during the last year of the grant period has increasingly focused on development of a global-scale hybrid code to model the entire, coupled magnetosheath - magnetosphere - ionosphere system. In particular, numerical procedures for curvilinear coordinate generation and exactly conservative differencing schemes for hybrid codes in curvilinear coordinates have been developed. The new computer algorithms and the massively parallel computer architectures now make this global code a feasible proposition. Support provided by this project has played an important role in laying the groundwork for the eventual development or a global-scale code to model and forecast magnetospheric weather.

Modeling of Cluster-Induced Turbulence in Particle-Laden Channel Flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, Michael; Capecelatro, Jesse; Kong, Bo; Fox, Rodney; Desjardins, Olivier

2017-11-01

A phenomenon often observed in gas-solid flows is the formation of mesoscale clusters of particles due to the relative motion between the solid and fluid phases that is sustained through the dampening of collisional particle motion from interphase momentum coupling inside these clusters. The formation of such sustained clusters, leading to cluster-induced turbulence (CIT), can have a significant impact in industrial processes, particularly in regards to mixing, reaction progress, and heat transfer. Both Euler-Lagrange (EL) and Euler-Euler anisotropic Gaussian (EE-AG) approaches are used in this work to perform mesoscale simulations of CIT in fully developed gas-particle channel flow. The results from these simulations are applied in the development of a two-phase Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model to capture the wall-normal flow characteristics in a less computationally expensive manner. Parameters such as mass loading, particle size, and gas velocity are varied to examine their respective impact on cluster formation and turbulence statistics. Acknowledging support from the NSF (AN:1437865).

A smoothed particle hydrodynamics framework for modelling multiphase interactions at meso-scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ling; Shen, Luming; Nguyen, Giang D.; El-Zein, Abbas; Maggi, Federico

2018-01-01

A smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) framework is developed for modelling multiphase interactions at meso-scale, including the liquid-solid interaction induced deformation of the solid phase. With an inter-particle force formulation that mimics the inter-atomic force in molecular dynamics, the proposed framework includes the long-range attractions between particles, and more importantly, the short-range repulsive forces to avoid particle clustering and instability problems. Three-dimensional numerical studies have been conducted to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed framework to quantitatively replicate the surface tension of water, to model the interactions between immiscible liquids and solid, and more importantly, to simultaneously model the deformation of solid and liquid induced by the multiphase interaction. By varying inter-particle potential magnitude, the proposed SPH framework has successfully simulated various wetting properties ranging from hydrophobic to hydrophilic surfaces. The simulation results demonstrate the potential of the proposed framework to genuinely study complex multiphase interactions in wet granular media.

The Influence of Aerosol Hygroscopicity on Precipitation Intensity During a Mesoscale Convective Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawecki, Stacey; Steiner, Allison L.

2018-01-01

We examine how aerosol composition affects precipitation intensity using the Weather and Research Forecasting Model with Chemistry (version 3.6). By changing the prescribed default hygroscopicity values to updated values from laboratory studies, we test model assumptions about individual component hygroscopicity values of ammonium, sulfate, nitrate, and organic species. We compare a baseline simulation (BASE, using default hygroscopicity values) with four sensitivity simulations (SULF, increasing the sulfate hygroscopicity; ORG, decreasing organic hygroscopicity; SWITCH, using a concentration-dependent hygroscopicity value for ammonium; and ALL, including all three changes) to understand the role of aerosol composition on precipitation during a mesoscale convective system (MCS). Overall, the hygroscopicity changes influence the spatial patterns of precipitation and the intensity. Focusing on the maximum precipitation in the model domain downwind of an urban area, we find that changing the individual component hygroscopicities leads to bulk hygroscopicity changes, especially in the ORG simulation. Reducing bulk hygroscopicity (e.g., ORG simulation) initially causes fewer activated drops, weakened updrafts in the midtroposphere, and increased precipitation from larger hydrometeors. Increasing bulk hygroscopicity (e.g., SULF simulation) simulates more numerous and smaller cloud drops and increases precipitation. In the ALL simulation, a stronger cold pool and downdrafts lead to precipitation suppression later in the MCS evolution. In this downwind region, the combined changes in hygroscopicity (ALL) reduces the overprediction of intense events (>70 mm d-1) and better captures the range of moderate intensity (30-60 mm d-1) events. The results of this single MCS analysis suggest that aerosol composition can play an important role in simulating high-intensity precipitation events.

Data-driven and hybrid coastal morphological prediction methods for mesoscale forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reeve, Dominic E.; Karunarathna, Harshinie; Pan, Shunqi; Horrillo-Caraballo, Jose M.; Różyński, Grzegorz; Ranasinghe, Roshanka

2016-03-01

It is now common for coastal planning to anticipate changes anywhere from 70 to 100 years into the future. The process models developed and used for scheme design or for large-scale oceanography are currently inadequate for this task. This has prompted the development of a plethora of alternative methods. Some, such as reduced complexity or hybrid models simplify the governing equations retaining processes that are considered to govern observed morphological behaviour. The computational cost of these models is low and they have proven effective in exploring morphodynamic trends and improving our understanding of mesoscale behaviour. One drawback is that there is no generally agreed set of principles on which to make the simplifying assumptions and predictions can vary considerably between models. An alternative approach is data-driven techniques that are based entirely on analysis and extrapolation of observations. Here, we discuss the application of some of the better known and emerging methods in this category to argue that with the increasing availability of observations from coastal monitoring programmes and the development of more sophisticated statistical analysis techniques data-driven models provide a valuable addition to the armoury of methods available for mesoscale prediction. The continuation of established monitoring programmes is paramount, and those that provide contemporaneous records of the driving forces and the shoreline response are the most valuable in this regard. In the second part of the paper we discuss some recent research that combining some of the hybrid techniques with data analysis methods in order to synthesise a more consistent means of predicting mesoscale coastal morphological evolution. While encouraging in certain applications a universally applicable approach has yet to be found. The route to linking different model types is highlighted as a major challenge and requires further research to establish its viability. We argue that key elements of a successful solution will need to account for dependencies between driving parameters, (such as wave height and tide level), and be able to predict step changes in the configuration of coastal systems.

Improving weather modeling in South America through IDD-Brasil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chagas, G. O.

2007-05-01

The IDD-Brasil constitutes of an international collaboration among Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (LPM/UFRJ), Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos (CPTEC/INPE) and the Unidata Program Center (Unidata/UCAR), which connects several universities and research centers across the Americas in a network to share real-time hydro meteorological data. Using this network as a new path to deliver and acquire observational data, IDD-Brazil participants are capable of receiving observational data from GTS (Global Telecommunication System), locally ingested data from several automatic weather stations networks (mesonets) from INPE, the entire array of METAR and SYNOP observations, and several model outputs and satellite imagery. During recent years Numerical Models have been used constantly, especially in mesoscale research, but the lack of a dense observational network in South America leads to several constraints during the data assimilation and model validation. Since the IDD-Brasil offers an improved and simple method to have new datasets readily accessible, it has been used continuously as a new manner to distribute surface observations that are not currently available in GTS, such as several mesonets in Brazil that account for an increase in data density. Through the usage of data ingested in IDD-Brasil as guess fields it is possible to study how the assimilation in several global models frequently used as initial conditions for mesoscale simulations can be affected, since in certain areas in Brazil the density of data nearly doubles if compared to GTS. Therefore it is also possible to better validate the results generated in mesoscale simulations, in view of the fact that the network has an improved spatial distribution. It is expected that the increase of locally held numerical model output from South American institutions in IDD- Brasil leads to an increased awareness of the need to constantly validate these results with observational data, thus improving mesoscale research.

Continuum dislocation-density based models for the dynamic shock response of single-crystal and polycrystalline materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luscher, Darby

2017-06-01

The dynamic thermomechanical responses of polycrystalline materials under shock loading are often dominated by the interaction of defects and interfaces. For example, polymer-bonded explosives (PBX) can initiate under weak shock impacts whose energy, if distributed homogeneously throughout the material, translates to temperature increases that are insufficient to drive the rapid chemistry observed. In such cases, heterogeneous thermomechanical interactions at the mesoscale (i.e. between single-crystal and macroscale) lead to the formation of localized hot spots. Within metals, a prescribed deformation associated with a shock wave may be accommodated by crystallographic slip, provided a sufficient population of mobile dislocations is available. However, if the deformation rate is large enough, there may be an insufficient number of freely mobile dislocations. In these cases, additional dislocations may be nucleated, or alternate mechanisms (e.g. twinning, damage) activated in order to accommodate the deformation. Direct numerical simulation at the mesoscale offers insight into these physical processes that can be invaluable to the development of macroscale constitutive theories, if the mesoscale models adequately represent the anisotropic nonlinear thermomechanical response of individual crystals and their interfaces. This talk will briefly outline a continuum mesoscale modeling framework founded upon local and nonlocal variations of dislocation-density based crystal plasticity theory. The nonlocal theory couples continuum dislocation transport with the local theory. In the latter, dislocation transport is modeled by enforcing dislocation conservation at a slip-system level through the solution of advection-diffusion equations. The configuration of geometrically necessary dislocation density gives rise to a back-stress that inhibits or accentuates the flow of dislocations. Development of the local theory and application to modeling the explosive molecular crystal RDX and polycrystalline PBX will be discussed. The talk will also emphasize recent implementation of the coupled nonlocal model into a 3D shock hydrocode and simulation results for the dynamic response of polycrystalline copper in two and three dimensions.

Fluctuating Finite Element Analysis (FFEA): A continuum mechanics software tool for mesoscale simulation of biomolecules.

PubMed

Solernou, Albert; Hanson, Benjamin S; Richardson, Robin A; Welch, Robert; Read, Daniel J; Harlen, Oliver G; Harris, Sarah A

2018-03-01

Fluctuating Finite Element Analysis (FFEA) is a software package designed to perform continuum mechanics simulations of proteins and other globular macromolecules. It combines conventional finite element methods with stochastic thermal noise, and is appropriate for simulations of large proteins and protein complexes at the mesoscale (length-scales in the range of 5 nm to 1 μm), where there is currently a paucity of modelling tools. It requires 3D volumetric information as input, which can be low resolution structural information such as cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) maps or much higher resolution atomistic co-ordinates from which volumetric information can be extracted. In this article we introduce our open source software package for performing FFEA simulations which we have released under a GPLv3 license. The software package includes a C ++ implementation of FFEA, together with tools to assist the user to set up the system from Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB) or Protein Data Bank (PDB) data files. We also provide a PyMOL plugin to perform basic visualisation and additional Python tools for the analysis of FFEA simulation trajectories. This manuscript provides a basic background to the FFEA method, describing the implementation of the core mechanical model and how intermolecular interactions and the solvent environment are included within this framework. We provide prospective FFEA users with a practical overview of how to set up an FFEA simulation with reference to our publicly available online tutorials and manuals that accompany this first release of the package.

Quantifying the imprint of mesoscale and synoptic-scale atmospheric transport on total column carbon dioxide measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torres, A. D.; Keppel-Aleks, G.; Doney, S. C.; Feng, S.; Lauvaux, T.; Fendrock, M. A.; Rheuben, J.

2017-12-01

Remote sensing instruments provide an unprecedented density of observations of the atmospheric CO2 column average mole fraction (denoted as XCO2), which can be used to constrain regional scale carbon fluxes. Inferring fluxes from XCO2 observations is challenging, as measurements and inversion methods are sensitive to not only the imprint local and large-scale fluxes, but also mesoscale and synoptic-scale atmospheric transport. Quantifying the fine-scale variability in XCO2 from mesoscale and synoptic-scale atmospheric transport will likely improve overall error estimates from flux inversions by improving estimates of representation errors that occur when XCO2 observations are compared to modeled XCO2 in relatively coarse transport models. Here, we utilize various statistical methods to quantify the imprint of atmospheric transport on XCO2 observations. We compare spatial variations along Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) satellite tracks to temporal variations observed by the Total Column Carbon Observing Network (TCCON). We observe a coherent seasonal cycle of both within-day temporal and fine-scale spatial variability (of order 10 km) of XCO2 from these two datasets, suggestive of the imprint of mesoscale systems. To account for other potential sources of error in XCO2 retrieval, we compare observed temporal and spatial variations of XCO2 to high-resolution output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model run at 9 km resolution. In both simulations and observations, the Northern hemisphere mid-latitude XCO2 showed peak variability during the growing season when atmospheric gradients are largest. These results are qualitatively consistent with our expectations of seasonal variations of the imprint of synoptic and mesoscale atmospheric transport on XCO2 observations; suggesting that these statistical methods could be sensitive to the imprint of atmospheric transport on XCO2 observations.

Meso-beta scale numerical simulation studies of terrain-induced jet streak mass/momentum perturbations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Yuh-Lang; Kaplan, Michael L.

1995-01-01

Mesoscale model simulations provide insight into the complex jet streak adjustments on 11-12 July 1981 that preceded the first of two significant gravity wave events to have been generated over the Rocky Mountains in Montana. Simulations employing a variety of terrain treatments indicate that prior to wave formation, geostrophic adjustment processes modified the structure of the mid-upper tropospheric jet streak by creating secondary jetlets to the southeast of the polar jet streak in proximity to the gravity wave generation region. This simulated restructuring of the mid-upper tropospheric jet streak is the result of a four stage process. During stage 1, the wind adjusts to the mass field as the jet streak exit region propagates into the inflection point between the upstream trough and downstream ridge in the height field. Stage 2 is initiated as the mass field is forced to adjust to the new ageostrophic wind field created during stage 1. Stage 3 is defined by a second geostrophic adjustment process occurring in a similar manner but to the south and east of the adjustment which occurs during stage 1. A low-level mesoscale jetlet is formed during stage 4 in response to the low-level pressure falls that are established during stage 3. The perturbation of this jetlet, caused by orographically-induced adiabatic and diabatic physical processes, is the likely mechanism responsible for the generation of the first and second episode of observed gravity waves. The dynamics responsible for this wave episode are discussed as differential surface sensible heating inducing an orographically-forced mountain-plains solenoid, resulting in the formation of additional mesoscale jetlets and internal gravity waves. Also discussed is how convective latent heating modifies the numerically simulated terrain-induced internal gravity waves, especially their amplitude and phase velocities, which provide better agreement with those wave characteristics observed in nature. Finally, the three-dimensional linear response of a zonally uniform barotropic flow in a vertically unbounded, continuously stratified, Boussinesq atmosphere which is perturbed from geostrophic equilibrium is investigated.

MODELED MESOSCALE METEOROLOGICAL FIELDS WITH FOUR-DIMENSIONAL DATA ASSIMILATION IN REGIONAL SCALE AIR QUALITY MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

This paper addresses the need to increase the temporal and spatial resolution of meteorological data currently used in air quality simulation models, AQSMs. ransport and diffusion parameters including mixing heights and stability used in regulatory air quality dispersion models a...

Impacts of mesoscale eddies in the South China Sea on biogeochemical cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Mingxian; Chai, Fei; Xiu, Peng; Li, Shiyu; Rao, Shivanesh

2015-09-01

Biogeochemical cycles associated with mesoscale eddies in the South China Sea (SCS) were investigated. The study was based on a coupled physical-biogeochemical Pacific Ocean model (Regional Ocean Model System-Carbon, Silicate, and Nitrogen Ecosystem, ROMS-CoSiNE) simulation for the period from 1991 to 2008. A total of 568 mesoscale eddies with lifetime longer than 30 days were used in the analysis. Composite analysis revealed that the cyclonic eddies were associated with abundance of nutrients, phytoplankton, and zooplankton while the anticyclonic eddies depressed biogeochemical cycles, which are generally controlled by the eddy pumping mechanism. In addition, diatoms were dominant in phytoplankton species due to the abundance of silicate. Dipole structures of vertical fluxes with net upward motion in cyclonic eddies and net downward motion in anticyclonic eddies were revealed. During the lifetime of an eddy, the evolutions of physical, biological, and chemical structures were not linearly coupled at the eddy core where plankton grew, and composition of the community depended not only on the physical and chemical processes but also on the adjustments by the predator-prey relationship.

Mesoscale modeling of photoelectrochemical devices: light absorption and carrier collection in monolithic, tandem, Si|WO3 microwires.

PubMed

Fountaine, Katherine T; Atwater, Harry A

2014-10-20

We analyze mesoscale light absorption and carrier collection in a tandem junction photoelectrochemical device using electromagnetic simulations. The tandem device consists of silicon (E(g,Si) = 1.1 eV) and tungsten oxide (E(g,WO3) = 2.6 eV) as photocathode and photoanode materials, respectively. Specifically, we investigated Si microwires with lengths of 100 µm, and diameters of 2 µm, with a 7 µm pitch, covered vertically with 50 µm of WO3 with a thickness of 1 µm. Many geometrical variants of this prototypical tandem device were explored. For conditions of illumination with the AM 1.5G spectra, the nominal design resulted in a short circuit current density, J(SC), of 1 mA/cm(2), which is limited by the WO3 absorption. Geometrical optimization of photoanode and photocathode shape and contact material selection, enabled a three-fold increase in short circuit current density relative to the initial design via enhanced WO3 light absorption. These findings validate the usefulness of a mesoscale analysis for ascertaining optimum optoelectronic performance in photoelectrochemical devices.

Interrogating heterogeneous compaction of meteoritic material at the mesoscale using analog experiments and numerical models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derrick, James; Rutherford, Michael; Davison, Thomas; Chapman, David; Eakins, Daniel; Collins, Gareth

2017-06-01

Chondritic meteorites were lithified during solar system formation by compaction of bimodal mixtures of mm-scale, spherical, solidified melt droplets (chondrules) surrounded by a porous matrix of much finer grained dust. A possible compaction mechanism is low-velocity planetesimal collisions, which were common in the early solar system. Mesoscale numerical simulations of such impacts indicate heterogeneous compaction, with large porosity and temperature variations over sub-mm scales in the matrix and chondrules largely unaffected. In particular, compaction and heating are enhanced in front of the chondrule and suppressed in its wake. Such observations may provide a new tool for interpreting evidence for impact in meteorites. Here we present impact experiments that replicate compaction surrounding an individual chondrule using analog materials: Soda Lime glass beads/rods and 70% porous silica powder matrix (Sipernat). Real-time, X-ray imaging of the experiments, combined with mesoscale modelling, provides experimental confirmation of anisotropic matrix compaction surrounding individual chondrules, aligned with the shock direction. JGD is supported by EPSRC studentship funding; GSC are supported by STFC Grant ST/N000803/1.

Anisotropic mesoscale eddy transport in ocean general circulation models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reckinger, Scott; Fox-Kemper, Baylor; Bachman, Scott; Bryan, Frank; Dennis, John; Danabasoglu, Gokhan

2014-11-01

In modern climate models, the effects of oceanic mesoscale eddies are introduced by relating subgrid eddy fluxes to the resolved gradients of buoyancy or other tracers, where the proportionality is, in general, governed by an eddy transport tensor. The symmetric part of the tensor, which represents the diffusive effects of mesoscale eddies, is universally treated isotropically. However, the diffusive processes that the parameterization approximates, such as shear dispersion and potential vorticity barriers, typically have strongly anisotropic characteristics. Generalizing the eddy diffusivity tensor for anisotropy extends the number of parameters from one to three: major diffusivity, minor diffusivity, and alignment. The Community Earth System Model (CESM) with the anisotropic eddy parameterization is used to test various choices for the parameters, which are motivated by observations and the eddy transport tensor diagnosed from high resolution simulations. Simply setting the ratio of major to minor diffusivities to a value of five globally, while aligning the major axis along the flow direction, improves biogeochemical tracer ventilation and reduces temperature and salinity biases. These effects can be improved by parameterizing the oceanic anisotropic transport mechanisms.

Trade-Wind Cloudiness and Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Randall, David A.

1997-01-01

Closed Mesoscale Cellular Convection (MCC) consists of mesoscale cloud patches separated by narrow clear regions. Strong radiative cooling occurs at the cloud top. A dry two-dimensional Bousinesq model is used to study the effects of cloud-top cooling on convection. Wide updrafts and narrow downdrafts are used to indicate the asymmetric circulations associated with the mesoscale cloud patches. Based on the numerical results, a conceptual model was constructed to suggest a mechanism for the formation of closed MCC over cool ocean surfaces. A new method to estimate the radioative and evaporative cooling in the entrainment layer of a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer has been developed. The method was applied to a set of Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) results and to a set of tethered-balloon data obtained during FIRE. We developed a statocumulus-capped marine mixed layer model which includes a parameterization of drizzle based on the use of a predicted Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) number concentration. We have developed, implemented, and tested a very elaborate new stratiform cloudiness parameterization for use in GCMs. Finally, we have developed a new, mechanistic parameterization of the effects of cloud-top cooling on the entrainment rate.

Nonhydrostatic icosahedral atmospheric model (NICAM) for global cloud resolving simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Satoh, M.; Matsuno, T.; Tomita, H.; Miura, H.; Nasuno, T.; Iga, S.

2008-03-01

A new type of ultra-high resolution atmospheric global circulation model is developed. The new model is designed to perform "cloud resolving simulations" by directly calculating deep convection and meso-scale circulations, which play key roles not only in the tropical circulations but in the global circulations of the atmosphere. Since cores of deep convection have a few km in horizontal size, they have not directly been resolved by existing atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). In order to drastically enhance horizontal resolution, a new framework of a global atmospheric model is required; we adopted nonhydrostatic governing equations and icosahedral grids to the new model, and call it Nonhydrostatic ICosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM). In this article, we review governing equations and numerical techniques employed, and present the results from the unique 3.5-km mesh global experiments—with O(10 9) computational nodes—using realistic topography and land/ocean surface thermal forcing. The results show realistic behaviors of multi-scale convective systems in the tropics, which have not been captured by AGCMs. We also argue future perspective of the roles of the new model in the next generation atmospheric sciences.

Coherent Doppler Lidar for Boundary Layer Studies and Wind Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choukulkar, Aditya

This thesis outlines the development of a vector retrieval technique, based on data assimilation, for a coherent Doppler LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). A detailed analysis of the Optimal Interpolation (OI) technique for vector retrieval is presented. Through several modifications to the OI technique, it is shown that the modified technique results in significant improvement in velocity retrieval accuracy. These modifications include changes to innovation covariance portioning, covariance binning, and analysis increment calculation. It is observed that the modified technique is able to make retrievals with better accuracy, preserves local information better, and compares well with tower measurements. In order to study the error of representativeness and vector retrieval error, a lidar simulator was constructed. Using the lidar simulator a thorough sensitivity analysis of the lidar measurement process and vector retrieval is carried out. The error of representativeness as a function of scales of motion and sensitivity of vector retrieval to look angle is quantified. Using the modified OI technique, study of nocturnal flow in Owens' Valley, CA was carried out to identify and understand uncharacteristic events on the night of March 27th 2006. Observations from 1030 UTC to 1230 UTC (0230 hr local time to 0430 hr local time) on March 27 2006 are presented. Lidar observations show complex and uncharacteristic flows such as sudden bursts of westerly cross-valley wind mixing with the dominant up-valley wind. Model results from Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS RTM) and other in-situ instrumentations are used to corroborate and complement these observations. The modified OI technique is used to identify uncharacteristic and extreme flow events at a wind development site. Estimates of turbulence and shear from this technique are compared to tower measurements. A formulation for equivalent wind speed in the presence of variations in wind speed and direction, combined with shear is developed and used to determine wind energy content in presence of turbulence.

Comprehensive Performance Evaluation for Hydrological and Nutrients Simulation Using the Hydrological Simulation Program–Fortran in a Mesoscale Monsoon Watershed, China

PubMed Central

Luo, Chuan; Jiang, Kaixia; Wan, Rongrong; Li, Hengpeng

2017-01-01

The Hydrological Simulation Program–Fortran (HSPF) is a hydrological and water quality computer model that was developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Comprehensive performance evaluations were carried out for hydrological and nutrient simulation using the HSPF model in the Xitiaoxi watershed in China. Streamflow simulation was calibrated from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2007 and then validated from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2010 using daily observed data, and nutrient simulation was calibrated and validated using monthly observed data during the period from July 2009 to July 2010. These results of model performance evaluation showed that the streamflows were well simulated over the study period. The determination coefficient (R2) was 0.87, 0.77 and 0.63, and the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (Ens) was 0.82, 0.76 and 0.65 for the streamflow simulation in annual, monthly and daily time-steps, respectively. Although limited to monthly observed data, satisfactory performance was still achieved during the quantitative evaluation for nutrients. The R2 was 0.73, 0.82 and 0.92, and the Ens was 0.67, 0.74 and 0.86 for nitrate, ammonium and orthophosphate simulation, respectively. Some issues may affect the application of HSPF were also discussed, such as input data quality, parameter values, etc. Overall, the HSPF model can be successfully used to describe streamflow and nutrients transport in the mesoscale watershed located in the East Asian monsoon climate area. This study is expected to serve as a comprehensive and systematic documentation of understanding the HSPF model for wide application and avoiding possible misuses. PMID:29257117

Comprehensive Performance Evaluation for Hydrological and Nutrients Simulation Using the Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran in a Mesoscale Monsoon Watershed, China.

PubMed

Li, Zhaofu; Luo, Chuan; Jiang, Kaixia; Wan, Rongrong; Li, Hengpeng

2017-12-19

The Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) is a hydrological and water quality computer model that was developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Comprehensive performance evaluations were carried out for hydrological and nutrient simulation using the HSPF model in the Xitiaoxi watershed in China. Streamflow simulation was calibrated from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2007 and then validated from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2010 using daily observed data, and nutrient simulation was calibrated and validated using monthly observed data during the period from July 2009 to July 2010. These results of model performance evaluation showed that the streamflows were well simulated over the study period. The determination coefficient ( R ²) was 0.87, 0.77 and 0.63, and the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (Ens) was 0.82, 0.76 and 0.65 for the streamflow simulation in annual, monthly and daily time-steps, respectively. Although limited to monthly observed data, satisfactory performance was still achieved during the quantitative evaluation for nutrients. The R ² was 0.73, 0.82 and 0.92, and the Ens was 0.67, 0.74 and 0.86 for nitrate, ammonium and orthophosphate simulation, respectively. Some issues may affect the application of HSPF were also discussed, such as input data quality, parameter values, etc. Overall, the HSPF model can be successfully used to describe streamflow and nutrients transport in the mesoscale watershed located in the East Asian monsoon climate area. This study is expected to serve as a comprehensive and systematic documentation of understanding the HSPF model for wide application and avoiding possible misuses.

Impact of different parameterization schemes on simulation of mesoscale convective system over south-east India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madhulatha, A.; Rajeevan, M.

2018-02-01

Main objective of the present paper is to examine the role of various parameterization schemes in simulating the evolution of mesoscale convective system (MCS) occurred over south-east India. Using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, numerical experiments are conducted by considering various planetary boundary layer, microphysics, and cumulus parameterization schemes. Performances of different schemes are evaluated by examining boundary layer, reflectivity, and precipitation features of MCS using ground-based and satellite observations. Among various physical parameterization schemes, Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) boundary layer scheme is able to produce deep boundary layer height by simulating warm temperatures necessary for storm initiation; Thompson (THM) microphysics scheme is capable to simulate the reflectivity by reasonable distribution of different hydrometeors during various stages of system; Betts-Miller-Janjic (BMJ) cumulus scheme is able to capture the precipitation by proper representation of convective instability associated with MCS. Present analysis suggests that MYJ, a local turbulent kinetic energy boundary layer scheme, which accounts strong vertical mixing; THM, a six-class hybrid moment microphysics scheme, which considers number concentration along with mixing ratio of rain hydrometeors; and BMJ, a closure cumulus scheme, which adjusts thermodynamic profiles based on climatological profiles might have contributed for better performance of respective model simulations. Numerical simulation carried out using the above combination of schemes is able to capture storm initiation, propagation, surface variations, thermodynamic structure, and precipitation features reasonably well. This study clearly demonstrates that the simulation of MCS characteristics is highly sensitive to the choice of parameterization schemes.

Mesoscale density variability in the mesosphere and thermosphere: Effects of vertical flow accelerations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Revelle, D. O.

1987-01-01

A mechanistic one dimensional numerical (iteration) model was developed which can be used to simulate specific types of mesoscale atmospheric density (and pressure) variability in the mesosphere and the thermosphere, namely those due to waves and those due to vertical flow accelerations. The model was developed with the idea that it could be used as a supplement to the TGCMs (thermospheric general circulation models) since such models have a very limited ability to model phenomena on small spatial scales. The simplest case to consider was the integration upward through a time averaged, height independent, horizontally divergent flow field. Vertical winds were initialized at the lower boundary using the Ekman pumping theory over flat terrain. The results of the computations are summarized.

Synthesis of mesoscale, crumpled, reduced graphene oxide roses by water-in-oil emulsion approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Shruti; Pham, Viet H.; Boscoboinik, Jorge A.; Camino, Fernando; Dickerson, James H.; Tannenbaum, Rina

2018-05-01

Mesoscale crumpled graphene oxide roses (GO roses) were synthesized by using colloidal graphene oxide (GO) variants as precursors for a hybrid emulsification-rapid evaporation approach. This process produced rose-like, spherical, reduced mesostructures of colloidal GO sheets, with corrugated surfaces and particle sizes tunable in the range of ∼800 nm to 15 μm. Excellent reproducibility for particle size distribution is shown for each selected speed of homogenizer rotor among different sample batches. The morphology and chemical structure of these produced GO roses was investigated using electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. The proposed synthesis route provides control over particle size, morphology and chemical properties of the synthesized GO roses.

MaRIE 1.0: The Matter-Radiation Interactions in Extremes Project, and the Challenge of Dynamic Mesoscale Imaging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnes, Cris William; Barber, John L.; Kober, Edward Martin

The Matter-Radiation Interactions in Extremes project will build the experimental facility for the time-dependent control of dynamic material performance. An x-ray free electron laser at up to 42-keV fundamental energy and with photon pulses down to sub-nanosecond spacing, MaRIE 1.0 is designed to meet the challenges of time-dependent mesoscale materials science. Those challenges will be outlined, the techniques of coherent diffractive imaging and dynamic polycrystalline diffraction described, and the resulting requirements defined for a coherent x-ray source. The talk concludes with the role of the MaRIE project and science in the future.

Spectral Gap Energy Transfer in Atmospheric Boundary Layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhushan, S.; Walters, K.; Barros, A. P.; Nogueira, M.

2012-12-01

Experimental measurements of atmospheric turbulence energy spectra show E(k) ~ k-3 slopes at synoptic scales (~ 600 km - 2000 km) and k-5/3 slopes at the mesoscales (< 400 km). The -5/3 spectra is presumably related to 3D turbulence which is dominated by the classical Kolmogrov energy cascade. The -3 spectra is related to 2D turbulence, which is dominated by strong forward scatter of enstrophy and weak forward scatter of energy. In classical 2D turbulence theory, it is expected that a strong backward energy cascade would develop at the synoptic scale, and that circulation would grow infinitely. To limit this backward transfer, energy arrest at macroscales must be introduced. The most commonly used turbulence models developed to mimic the above energy transfer include the energy backscatter model for 2D turbulence in the horizontal plane via Large Eddy Simulation (LES) models, dissipative URANS models in the vertical plane, and Ekman friction for the energy arrest. One of the controversial issues surrounding the atmospheric turbulence spectra is the explanation of the generation of the 2D and 3D spectra and transition between them, for energy injection at the synoptic scales. Lilly (1989) proposed that the existence of 2D and 3D spectra can only be explained by the presence of an additional energy injection in the meso-scale region. A second issue is related to the observations of dual peak spectra with small variance in meso-scale, suggesting that the energy transfer occurs across a spectral gap (Van Der Hoven, 1957). Several studies have confirmed the spectral gap for the meso-scale circulations, and have suggested that they are enhanced by smaller scale vertical convection rather than by the synoptic scales. Further, the widely accepted energy arrest mechanism by boundary layer friction is closely related to the spectral gap transfer. This study proposes an energy transfer mechanism for atmospheric turbulence with synoptic scale injection, wherein the generation of 2D and 3D spectra is explained using spectral gap energy transfer. The existence of the spectral gap energy transfer is validated by performing LES for the interaction of large scale circulation with a wall, and studying the evolution of the energy spectra both near to and far from the wall. Simulations are also performed using the Advanced Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF-ARW) for moist zonal flow over Gaussian ridge, and the energy spectra close and away from the ground are studied. The energy spectra predicted by WRF-ARW are qualitatively compared with LES results to emphasize the limitations of the currently used turbulence parameterizations. Ongoing validation efforts include: (1) extending the interaction of large scale circulation with wall simulations to finer grids to capture a wider range of wavenumbers; and (2) a coupled 2D-3D simulation is planned to predict the entire atmospheric turbulence spectra at a very low computational expense. The overarching objective of this study to develop turbulence modeling capability based on the energy transfer mechanisms proposed in this study. Such a model will be implemented in WRF-ARW, and applied to atmospheric simulations, for example the prediction of moisture convergence patterns at the meso-scale in the southeast United States (Tao & Barros, 2008).

The influence of the Great Lakes on MCS formation and development in the warm season

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srock, Alan F.

This study focuses on how near-surface thermal boundaries that form near the Great Lakes during the warm season can contribute to the formation of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). Differential heating across land-water interfaces can create a cold dome of air over the lake; convection may develop when the relatively-cold dome of air becomes deep enough to enable air parcels that intersect these boundaries to reach their level of free convection. A radar-based climatology of MCS events surrounding the Great Lakes for 2002-2005 showed that MCSs frequently form in the vicinity of the Great Lakes. Composites of MCS events over the Great Lakes and in sub-regions defined by proximity to a Great Lake showed that the most important synoptic-scale precursor for MCS initiation is the presence of a low-level moisture plume, which is often (but not always) provided by a low-level jet (LLJ). Case studies of two MCSs that formed along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan showed how differential heating across the land-lake interface enabled the development of a near-surface mesoscale thermal boundary along which forced ascent was able to trigger convection. A third case study of an MCS that formed along the southern shore of Lake Superior showed that a strong land-lake thermal boundary provided a focus for long-lived MCS development beneath a plume of warm, moist air along the LLJ. High-resolution WRF-modeling studies were used to test the effect of the presence of a Great Lake on land-lake thermal boundary development and MCS generation. In one pair of simulations, differential heating in the control run created an over-lake cold dome that grew stronger and deeper during the day. Removing the lake removed the differential heating, so the no-lake run became comparatively warmer and moister in the lowest 1000 m over the "lake". Convection focused and organized along the near-lake mesoscale boundary in the control run, but was less organized and forced by larger-scale processes in the no-lake simulation. A second set of simulations failed to develop the near-lake MCS because the model did not properly resolve near-surface mesoscale boundaries in a weakly-forced synoptic environment in the initialization.

Predictive characterization of aging and degradation of reactor materials in extreme environments. Final report, December 20, 2013 - September 20, 2017

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Qu, Jianmin

Understanding of reactor material behavior in extreme environments is vital not only to the development of new materials for the next generation nuclear reactors, but also to the extension of the operating lifetimes of the current fleet of nuclear reactors. To this end, this project conducted a suite of unique experimental techniques, augmented by a mesoscale computational framework, to understand and predict the long-term effects of irradiation, temperature, and stress on material microstructures and their macroscopic behavior. The experimental techniques and computational tools were demonstrated on two distinctive types of reactor materials, namely, Zr alloys and high-Cr martensitic steels. Thesemore » materials are chosen as the test beds because they are the archetypes of high-performance reactor materials (cladding, wrappers, ducts, pressure vessel, piping, etc.). To fill the knowledge gaps, and to meet the technology needs, a suite of innovative in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization techniques (heating, heavy ion irradiation, He implantation, quantitative small-scale mechanical testing, and various combinations thereof) were developed and used to elucidate and map the fundamental mechanisms of microstructure evolution in both Zr and Cr alloys for a wide range environmental boundary conditions in the thermal-mechanical-irradiation input space. Knowledge gained from the experimental observations of the active mechanisms and the role of local microstructural defects on the response of the material has been incorporated into a mathematically rigorous and comprehensive three-dimensional mesoscale framework capable of accounting for the compositional variation, microstructural evolution and localized deformation (radiation damage) to predict aging and degradation of key reactor materials operating in extreme environments. Predictions from this mesoscale framework were compared with the in situ TEM observations to validate the model.« less

Global Ocean Circulation in Thermohaline Coordinates and Small-scale and Mesoscale mixing: An Inverse Estimate.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Groeskamp, S.; Zika, J. D.; McDougall, T. J.; Sloyan, B.

2016-02-01

I will present results of a new inverse technique that infers small-scale turbulent diffusivities and mesoscale eddy diffusivities from an ocean climatology of Salinity (S) and Temperature (T) in combination with surface freshwater and heat fluxes.First, the ocean circulation is represented in (S,T) coordinates, by the diathermohaline streamfunction. Framing the ocean circulation in (S,T) coordinates, isolates the component of the circulation that is directly related to water-mass transformation.Because water-mass transformation is directly related to fluxes of salt and heat, this framework allows for the formulation of an inverse method in which the diathermohaline streamfunction is balanced with known air-sea forcing and unknown mixing. When applying this inverse method to observations, we obtain observationally based estimates for both the streamfunction and the mixing. The results reveal new information about the component of the global ocean circulation due to water-mass transformation and its relation to surface freshwater and heat fluxes and small-scale and mesoscale mixing. The results provide global constraints on spatially varying patterns of diffusivities, in order to obtain a realistic overturning circulation. We find that mesoscale isopycnal mixing is much smaller than expected. These results are important for our understanding of the relation between global ocean circulation and mixing and may lead to improved parameterisations in numerical ocean models.

The response of a simulated mesoscale convective system to increased aerosol pollution: Part I: Precipitation intensity, distribution, and efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clavner, Michal; Cotton, William R.; van den Heever, Susan C.; Saleeby, Stephen M.; Pierce, Jeffery R.

2018-01-01

Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) are important contributors to rainfall in the High Plains of the United States and elsewhere in the world. It is therefore of interest to understand how different aerosols serving as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) may impact the total amount, rates and spatial distribution of precipitation produced by MCSs. In this study, different aerosol concentrations and their effects on precipitation produced by an MCS are examined by simulating the 8 May 2009 "Super-Derecho" MCS using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), a cloud-resolving model (CRM) with sophisticated aerosol and microphysical parameterizations. Three simulations were conducted that differed only in the initial concentration, spatial distribution, and chemical composition of aerosols. Aerosol fields were derived from the output of GEOS-Chem, a 3D chemical transport numerical model. Results from the RAMS simulations show that the total domain precipitation was not significantly affected by variations in aerosol concentrations, however, the pollution aerosols altered the precipitation characteristics. The more polluted simulations exhibited higher precipitation rates, higher bulk precipitation efficiency, a larger area with heavier precipitation, and a smaller area with lighter precipitation. These differences arose as a result of aerosols enhancing precipitation in the convective region of the MCS while suppressing precipitation from the MCS's stratiform-anvil. In the convective region, several processes likely contributed to an increase of precipitation. First, owing to the very humid environment of this storm, the enhanced amount of cloud water available to be collected overwhelmed the reduction in precipitation efficiency associated with the aerosol-induced production of smaller droplets which led to a net increase in the conversion of cloud droplets to precipitation. Second, higher aerosol concentrations led to invigoration of convective updrafts which enhanced precipitation in accordance to the convective invigoration hypothesis. The reduction in stratiform precipitation in the more polluted simulations was found to be attributed to the presence of greater aerosol number concentrations that reduced both collision-coalescence and riming. Analysis of back trajeocty flow showed that the air feeding the stratiform-anvil originated within the free troposphere, by mesoscale ascent. Therefore, increased aerosol pollution at higher elevations impacted the stratiform precipitation formation within the simulated MCS. As a consequence, the more polluted simulations produced the smallest precipitation from the MCS stratiform-anvil region. In Part II the impact of aerosols on the severe winds produced by this storm is examined.

Altimetric lagrangian advection to reconstruct Pacific Ocean fine scale surface tracer fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogé, Marine; Morrow, Rosemary; Dencausse, Guillaume

2015-04-01

In past studies, lagrangian stirring of surface tracer fields by altimetric surface geostrophic currents has been performed in different mid to high-latitude regions, showing good results in reconstructing finer-scale tracer patterns. Here we apply the technique to three different regions in the eastern and western tropical Pacific, and in the subtropical southwest Pacific. Initial conditions are derived from weekly gridded temperature and salinity fields, based on hydrographic data and Argo. Validation of the improved fine-scale surface tracer fields is performed using satellite AMSRE SST data, and high-resolution ship thermosalinograph data. We test two kinds of lagrangian advection. The standard one-way advection is shown to introduce an increased tracer bias as the advection time increases. Indeed, since we only use passive stirring, a bias is introduced from the missing physics, such as air-sea fluxes or mixing. A second "backward-forward" advection technique is shown to reduce the seasonal bias, but more data is lost around coasts and islands, a strong handicap in the tropical Pacific with many small islands. In the subtropical Pacific Ocean, the mesoscale temperature and salinity fronts are well represented by the one-way advection over a 10-day advection time, including westward propagating features not apparent in the initial fields. In the tropics, the results are less clear. The validation is hampered by the complex vertical stratification, and the technique is limited by the lack of accurate surface currents for the stirring - the gridded altimetric fields poorly represent the meridional currents, and are not detecting the fast tropical instability waves, nor the wind-driven circulation. We suggest that the passive lateral stirring technique is efficient in regions with moderate the high mesoscale energy and correlated mesoscale surface temperature and surface height. In other regions, more complex dynamical processes may need to be included.

Numerical simulation of a mistral wind event occuring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guenard, V.; Caccia, J. L.; Tedeschi, G.

2003-04-01

The experimental network of the ESCOMPTE field experiment (june-july 2001) is turned into account to investigate the Mistral wind affecting the Marseille area (South of France). Mistral wind is a northerly flow blowing across the Rhône valley and toward the Mediterranean sea resulting from the dynamical low pressure generated in the wake of the Alps ridge. It brings cold, dry air masses and clear sky conditions over the south-eastern part of France. Up to now, few scientific studies have been carried out on the Mistral wind especially the evolution of its 3-D structure so that its mesoscale numerical simulation is still relevant. Non-hydrostatic RAMS model is performed to better investigate this mesoscale phenomena. Simulations at a 12 km horizontal resolution are compared to boundary layer wind profilers and ground measurements. Preliminary results suit quite well with the Mistral statistical studies carried out by the operational service of Météo-France and observed wind profiles are correctly reproduced by the numerical model RAMS which appears to be an efficient tool for its understanding of Mistral. Owing to the absence of diabatic effect in Mistral events which complicates numerical simulations, the present work is the first step for the validation of RAMS model in that area. Further works will consist on the study of the interaction of Mistral wind with land-sea breeze. Also, RAMS simulations will be combined with aerosol production and ocean circulation models to supply chemists and oceanographers with some answers for their studies.

High-resolution simulations of cylindrical void collapse in energetic materials: Effect of primary and secondary collapse on initiation thresholds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rai, Nirmal Kumar; Schmidt, Martin J.; Udaykumar, H. S.

2017-04-01

Void collapse in energetic materials leads to hot spot formation and enhanced sensitivity. Much recent work has been directed towards simulation of collapse-generated reactive hot spots. The resolution of voids in calculations to date has varied as have the resulting predictions of hot spot intensity. Here we determine the required resolution for reliable cylindrical void collapse calculations leading to initiation of chemical reactions. High-resolution simulations of collapse provide new insights into the mechanism of hot spot generation. It is found that initiation can occur in two different modes depending on the loading intensity: Either the initiation occurs due to jet impact at the first collapse instant or it can occur at secondary lobes at the periphery of the collapsed void. A key observation is that secondary lobe collapse leads to large local temperatures that initiate reactions. This is due to a combination of a strong blast wave from the site of primary void collapse and strong colliding jets and vortical flows generated during the collapse of the secondary lobes. The secondary lobe collapse results in a significant lowering of the predicted threshold for ignition of the energetic material. The results suggest that mesoscale simulations of void fields may suffer from significant uncertainty in threshold predictions because unresolved calculations cannot capture the secondary lobe collapse phenomenon. The implications of this uncertainty for mesoscale simulations are discussed in this paper.

A New Scheme for the Simulation of Microscale Flow and Dispersion in Urban Areas by Coupling Large-Eddy Simulation with Mesoscale Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Haifeng; Cui, Guixiang; Zhang, Zhaoshun

2018-04-01

A coupling scheme is proposed for the simulation of microscale flow and dispersion in which both the mesoscale field and small-scale turbulence are specified at the boundary of a microscale model. The small-scale turbulence is obtained individually in the inner and outer layers by the transformation of pre-computed databases, and then combined in a weighted sum. Validation of the results of a flow over a cluster of model buildings shows that the inner- and outer-layer transition height should be located in the roughness sublayer. Both the new scheme and the previous scheme are applied in the simulation of the flow over the central business district of Oklahoma City (a point source during intensive observation period 3 of the Joint Urban 2003 experimental campaign), with results showing that the wind speed is well predicted in the canopy layer. Compared with the previous scheme, the new scheme improves the prediction of the wind direction and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in the canopy layer. The flow field influences the scalar plume in two ways, i.e. the averaged flow field determines the advective flux and the TKE field determines the turbulent flux. Thus, the mean, root-mean-square and maximum of the concentration agree better with the observations with the new scheme. These results indicate that the new scheme is an effective means of simulating the complex flow and dispersion in urban canopies.

Real-data tests of a single-Doppler radar assimilation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nehrkorn, Thomas; Hegarty, James; Hamill, Thomas M.

1994-06-01

Real data tests of a single-Doppler radar data assimilation and forecast system have been conducted for a Florida sea breeze case. The system consists of a hydrostatic mesoscale model used for prediction of the preconvective boundary layer, an objective analysis that combines model first guess fields with radar derived horizontal winds, a thermodynamic retrieval scheme that obtains temperature information from the three-dimensional wind field and its temporal evolution, and a Newtonian nudging scheme for forcing the model forecast to closer agreement with the analysis. As was found in earlier experiments with simulated data, assimilation using Newtonian nudging benefits from temperature data in addition to wind data. The thermodynamic retrieval technique was successful in retrieving a horizontal temperature gradient from the radar-derived wind fields that, when assimilated into the model, led to a significantly improved forecast of the seabreeze strength and position.

Marine Vehicle Sensor Network Architecture and Protocol Designs for Ocean Observation

PubMed Central

Zhang, Shaowei; Yu, Jiancheng; Zhang, Aiqun; Yang, Lei; Shu, Yeqiang

2012-01-01

The micro-scale and meso-scale ocean dynamic processes which are nonlinear and have large variability, have a significant impact on the fisheries, natural resources, and marine climatology. A rapid, refined and sophisticated observation system is therefore needed in marine scientific research. The maneuverability and controllability of mobile sensor platforms make them a preferred choice to establish ocean observing networks, compared to the static sensor observing platform. In this study, marine vehicles are utilized as the nodes of mobile sensor networks for coverage sampling of a regional ocean area and ocean feature tracking. A synoptic analysis about marine vehicle dynamic control, multi vehicles mission assignment and path planning methods, and ocean feature tracking and observing techniques is given. Combined with the observation plan in the South China Sea, we provide an overview of the mobile sensor networks established with marine vehicles, and the corresponding simulation results. PMID:22368475

Eulerian and Lagrangian Parameterization of the Oceanic Mixed Layer using Large Eddy Simulation and MPAS-Ocean

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Van Roekel, Luke

We have conducted a suite of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to form the basis of a multi-model comparison (left). The results have led to proposed model improvements. We have verified that Eulerian-Lagrangian effective diffusivity estimates of mesoscale mixing are consistent with traditional particle statistics metrics (right). LES and Lagrangian particles will be utilized to better represent the movement of water into and out of the mixed layer.

The MST radar technique: Requirements for operational weather forecasting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larsen, M. F.

1983-01-01

There is a feeling that the accuracy of mesoscale forecasts for spatial scales of less than 1000 km and time scales of less than 12 hours can be improved significantly if resources are applied to the problem in an intensive effort over the next decade. Since the most dangerous and damaging types of weather occur at these scales, there are major advantages to be gained if such a program is successful. The interest in improving short term forecasting is evident. The technology at the present time is sufficiently developed, both in terms of new observing systems and the computing power to handle the observations, to warrant an intensive effort to improve stormscale forecasting. An assessment of the extent to which the so-called MST radar technique fulfills the requirements for an operational mesoscale observing network is reviewed and the extent to which improvements in various types of forecasting could be expected if such a network is put into operation are delineated.

Mesoscale Ionospheric Prediction

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-30

Mesoscale Ionospheric Prediction Gary S. Bust 10000 Burnet Austin Texas, 78758 phone: (512) 835-3623 fax: (512) 835-3808 email: gbust...time-evolving non-linear numerical model of the mesoscale ionosphere , second to couple the mesoscale model to a mesoscale data assimilative analysis...third to use the new data-assimilative mesoscale model to investigate ionospheric structure and plasma instabilities, and fourth to apply the data

Use of satellites to determine optimum locations for solar power stations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hiser, H. W.; Senn, H. V.

1976-01-01

Ground measurements of solar radiation are too sparse to determine important mesoscale differences that can be of major significance in solar power station locations. Cloud images in the visual spectrum from the SMS/GOES geostationary satellites are used to determine the hourly distribution of sunshine on a mesoscale in the continental United States excluding Alaska. Cloud coverage and density as a function of time of day and season are considered through the use of digital data processing techniques. Low density cirrus clouds are less detrimental to solar energy collection than other types; and clouds in the morning and evening are less detrimental than those during midday hours of maximum insolation. The seasonal geographic distributions of sunshine are converted to Langleys of solar radiation received at the earth's surface through the use of transform equations developed from long-term measurements of these two parameters at 18 widely distributed stations. The high correlation between measurements of sunshine and radiation makes this possible. The output product will be maps showing the geographic distribution of total solar radiation on the mesoscale which is received at the earth's surface during each season.

Optogenetic stimulation of a meso-scale human cortical model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Selvaraj, Prashanth; Szeri, Andrew; Sleigh, Jamie; Kirsch, Heidi

2015-03-01

Neurological phenomena like sleep and seizures depend not only on the activity of individual neurons, but on the dynamics of neuron populations as well. Meso-scale models of cortical activity provide a means to study neural dynamics at the level of neuron populations. Additionally, they offer a safe and economical way to test the effects and efficacy of stimulation techniques on the dynamics of the cortex. Here, we use a physiologically relevant meso-scale model of the cortex to study the hypersynchronous activity of neuron populations during epileptic seizures. The model consists of a set of stochastic, highly non-linear partial differential equations. Next, we use optogenetic stimulation to control seizures in a hyperexcited cortex, and to induce seizures in a normally functioning cortex. The high spatial and temporal resolution this method offers makes a strong case for the use of optogenetics in treating meso scale cortical disorders such as epileptic seizures. We use bifurcation analysis to investigate the effect of optogenetic stimulation in the meso scale model, and its efficacy in suppressing the non-linear dynamics of seizures.

Convectively induced mesoscale weather systems in the tropical and warm-season midlatitude atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smull, Bradley F.

1995-07-01

As anticipated by Nelson [1991] in the last U.S. National Report, mesoscale meteorology has continued to be an area of vigorous research activity. Progress is evinced by a growing number of process-oriented studies capitalizing on expanded observational capabilities, as well as more theoretical treatments employing numerical simulations of increasing sophistication. While the majority of papers within the scope of this review fall into the category of basic research, the field's maturation is evident in the emergence of a growing number of applications to operational weather forecasting. Even as our ability to anticipate shifts in synoptic scale upper-air patterns and associated baroclinic developments has steadily improved, lagging skill with regard to quantitative forecasts of precipitation—particularly in situations where deep moist convection is prevalent—has sustained research in warm-season mesoscale meteorology. Each spring and summer midlatitude populations are exposed to life-threatening natural weather phenomena in the form of lightning, tornadoes, straight-line winds, hail, and flash floods. This point was driven home during the summer of 1993, when an extraordinarily persistent series of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) led to unusually severe and widespread flooding throughout the Mississippi and Missouri river basins. In addition to this obvious impact on regional climate, the 1990's have brought an increased appreciation for the less direct yet potentially significant role that tropical convection may play in shaping global climate through phenomena such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Anisotropic Mesoscale Eddy Transport in Ocean General Circulation Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reckinger, S. J.; Fox-Kemper, B.; Bachman, S.; Bryan, F.; Dennis, J.; Danabasoglu, G.

2014-12-01

Modern climate models are limited to coarse-resolution representations of large-scale ocean circulation that rely on parameterizations for mesoscale eddies. The effects of eddies are typically introduced by relating subgrid eddy fluxes to the resolved gradients of buoyancy or other tracers, where the proportionality is, in general, governed by an eddy transport tensor. The symmetric part of the tensor, which represents the diffusive effects of mesoscale eddies, is universally treated isotropically in general circulation models. Thus, only a single parameter, namely the eddy diffusivity, is used at each spatial and temporal location to impart the influence of mesoscale eddies on the resolved flow. However, the diffusive processes that the parameterization approximates, such as shear dispersion, potential vorticity barriers, oceanic turbulence, and instabilities, typically have strongly anisotropic characteristics. Generalizing the eddy diffusivity tensor for anisotropy extends the number of parameters to three: a major diffusivity, a minor diffusivity, and the principal axis of alignment. The Community Earth System Model (CESM) with the anisotropic eddy parameterization is used to test various choices for the newly introduced parameters, which are motivated by observations and the eddy transport tensor diagnosed from high resolution simulations. Simply setting the ratio of major to minor diffusivities to a value of five globally, while aligning the major axis along the flow direction, improves biogeochemical tracer ventilation and reduces global temperature and salinity biases. These effects can be improved even further by parameterizing the anisotropic transport mechanisms in the ocean.

Numerical simulations of Hurricane Katrina (2005) in the turbulent gray zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, Benjamin W.; Zhang, Fuqing

2015-03-01

Current numerical simulations of tropical cyclones (TCs) use a horizontal grid spacing as small as Δx = 103 m, with all boundary layer (BL) turbulence parameterized. Eventually, TC simulations can be conducted at Large Eddy Simulation (LES) resolution, which requires Δx to fall in the inertial subrange (often <102 m) to adequately resolve the large, energy-containing eddies. Between the two lies the so-called "terra incognita" because some of the assumptions used by mesoscale models and LES to treat BL turbulence are invalid. This study performs several 4-6 h simulations of Hurricane Katrina (2005) without a BL parameterization at extremely fine Δx [333, 200, and 111 m, hereafter "Large Eddy Permitting (LEP) runs"] and compares with mesoscale simulations with BL parameterizations (Δx = 3 km, 1 km, and 333 m, hereafter "PBL runs"). There are profound differences in the hurricane BL structure between the PBL and LEP runs: the former have a deeper inflow layer and secondary eyewall formation, whereas the latter have a shallow inflow layer without a secondary eyewall. Among the LEP runs, decreased Δx yields weaker subgrid-scale vertical momentum fluxes, but the sum of subgrid-scale and "grid-scale" fluxes remain similar. There is also evidence that the size of the prevalent BL eddies depends upon Δx, suggesting that convergence to true LES has not yet been reached. Nevertheless, the similarities in the storm-scale BL structure among the LEP runs indicate that the net effect of the BL on the rest of the hurricane may be somewhat independent of Δx.

The Impact of Simulated Mesoscale Convective Systems on Global Precipitation: A Multiscale Modeling Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Chern, Jiun-Dar

2017-01-01

The importance of precipitating mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) has been quantified from TRMM precipitation radar and microwave imager retrievals. MCSs generate more than 50% of the rainfall in most tropical regions. MCSs usually have horizontal scales of a few hundred kilometers (km); therefore, a large domain with several hundred km is required for realistic simulations of MCSs in cloud-resolving models (CRMs). Almost all traditional global and climate models do not have adequate parameterizations to represent MCSs. Typical multi-scale modeling frameworks (MMFs) may also lack the resolution (4 km grid spacing) and domain size (128 km) to realistically simulate MCSs. In this study, the impact of MCSs on precipitation is examined by conducting model simulations using the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model and Goddard MMF (GMMF). The results indicate that both models can realistically simulate MCSs with more grid points (i.e., 128 and 256) and higher resolutions (1 or 2 km) compared to those simulations with fewer grid points (i.e., 32 and 64) and low resolution (4 km). The modeling results also show the strengths of the Hadley circulations, mean zonal and regional vertical velocities, surface evaporation, and amount of surface rainfall are weaker or reduced in the GMMF when using more CRM grid points and higher CRM resolution. In addition, the results indicate that large-scale surface evaporation and wind feed back are key processes for determining the surface rainfall amount in the GMMF. A sensitivity test with reduced sea surface temperatures shows both reduced surface rainfall and evaporation.

The impact of simulated mesoscale convective systems on global precipitation: A multiscale modeling study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo; Chern, Jiun-Dar

2017-06-01

The importance of precipitating mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) has been quantified from TRMM precipitation radar and microwave imager retrievals. MCSs generate more than 50% of the rainfall in most tropical regions. MCSs usually have horizontal scales of a few hundred kilometers (km); therefore, a large domain with several hundred km is required for realistic simulations of MCSs in cloud-resolving models (CRMs). Almost all traditional global and climate models do not have adequate parameterizations to represent MCSs. Typical multiscale modeling frameworks (MMFs) may also lack the resolution (4 km grid spacing) and domain size (128 km) to realistically simulate MCSs. The impact of MCSs on precipitation is examined by conducting model simulations using the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE, a CRM) model and Goddard MMF that uses the GCEs as its embedded CRMs. Both models can realistically simulate MCSs with more grid points (i.e., 128 and 256) and higher resolutions (1 or 2 km) compared to those simulations with fewer grid points (i.e., 32 and 64) and low resolution (4 km). The modeling results also show the strengths of the Hadley circulations, mean zonal and regional vertical velocities, surface evaporation, and amount of surface rainfall are weaker or reduced in the Goddard MMF when using more CRM grid points and higher CRM resolution. In addition, the results indicate that large-scale surface evaporation and wind feedback are key processes for determining the surface rainfall amount in the GMMF. A sensitivity test with reduced sea surface temperatures shows both reduced surface rainfall and evaporation.

Impact of Assimilation of Conventional and Satellite Radiance GTS Observations on Simulation of Mesoscale Convective System Over Southeast India Using WRF-3DVar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madhulatha, A.; Rajeevan, M.; Bhowmik, S. K. Roy; Das, A. K.

2018-01-01

The primary goal of present study is to investigate the impact of assimilation of conventional and satellite radiance observations in simulating the mesoscale convective system (MCS) formed over south east India. An assimilation methodology based on Weather Research and Forecasting model three dimensional variational data assimilation is considered. Few numerical experiments are carried out to examine the individual and combined impact of conventional and non-conventional (satellite radiance) observations. After the successful inclusion of additional observations, strong analysis increments of temperature and moisture fields are noticed and contributed to significant improvement in model's initial fields. The resulting model simulations are able to successfully reproduce the prominent synoptic features responsible for the initiation of MCS. Among all the experiments, the final experiment in which both conventional and satellite radiance observations assimilated has showed considerable impact on the prediction of MCS. The location, genesis, intensity, propagation and development of rain bands associated with the MCS are simulated reasonably well. The biases of simulated temperature, moisture and wind fields at surface and different pressure levels are reduced. Thermodynamic, dynamic and vertical structure of convective cells associated with the passage of MCS are well captured. Spatial distribution of rainfall is fairly reproduced and comparable to TRMM observations. It is demonstrated that incorporation of conventional and satellite radiance observations improved the local and synoptic representation of temperature, moisture fields from surface to different levels of atmosphere. This study highlights the importance of assimilation of conventional and satellite radiances in improving the models initial conditions and simulation of MCS.

Fluctuating Finite Element Analysis (FFEA): A continuum mechanics software tool for mesoscale simulation of biomolecules

PubMed Central

Solernou, Albert

2018-01-01

Fluctuating Finite Element Analysis (FFEA) is a software package designed to perform continuum mechanics simulations of proteins and other globular macromolecules. It combines conventional finite element methods with stochastic thermal noise, and is appropriate for simulations of large proteins and protein complexes at the mesoscale (length-scales in the range of 5 nm to 1 μm), where there is currently a paucity of modelling tools. It requires 3D volumetric information as input, which can be low resolution structural information such as cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) maps or much higher resolution atomistic co-ordinates from which volumetric information can be extracted. In this article we introduce our open source software package for performing FFEA simulations which we have released under a GPLv3 license. The software package includes a C ++ implementation of FFEA, together with tools to assist the user to set up the system from Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB) or Protein Data Bank (PDB) data files. We also provide a PyMOL plugin to perform basic visualisation and additional Python tools for the analysis of FFEA simulation trajectories. This manuscript provides a basic background to the FFEA method, describing the implementation of the core mechanical model and how intermolecular interactions and the solvent environment are included within this framework. We provide prospective FFEA users with a practical overview of how to set up an FFEA simulation with reference to our publicly available online tutorials and manuals that accompany this first release of the package. PMID:29570700

Large Eddy Simulation of Cirrus Clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Ting; Cotton, William R.

1999-01-01

The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) with mesoscale interactive nested-grids and a Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) version of RAMS, coupled to two-moment microphysics and a new two-stream radiative code were used to investigate the dynamic, microphysical, and radiative aspects of the November 26, 1991 cirrus event. Wu (1998) describes the results of that research in full detail and is enclosed as Appendix 1. The mesoscale nested grid simulation successfully reproduced the large scale circulation as compared to the Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System's (MAPS) analyses and other observations. Three cloud bands which match nicely to the three cloud lines identified in an observational study (Mace et al., 1995) are predicted on Grid #2 of the nested grids, even though the mesoscale simulation predicts a larger west-east cloud width than what was observed. Large-eddy simulations (LES) were performed to study the dynamical, microphysical, and radiative processes in the 26 November 1991 FIRE 11 cirrus event. The LES model is based on the RAMS version 3b developed at Colorado State University. It includes a new radiation scheme developed by Harrington (1997) and a new subgrid scale model developed by Kosovic (1996). The LES model simulated a single cloud layer for Case 1 and a two-layer cloud structure for Case 2. The simulations demonstrated that latent heat release can play a significant role in the formation and development of cirrus clouds. For the thin cirrus in Case 1, the latent heat release was insufficient for the cirrus clouds to become positively buoyant. However, in some special cases such as Case 2, positively buoyant cells can be embedded within the cirrus layers. These cells were so active that the rising updraft induced its own pressure perturbations that affected the cloud evolution. Vertical profiles of the total radiative and latent heating rates indicated that for well developed, deep, and active cirrus clouds, radiative cooling and latent heating could be comparable in magnitude in the cloudy layer. This implies that latent heating cannot be neglected in the construction of a cirrus cloud model. The probability density function (PDF) of w was analyzed to assist in the parameterization of cloud-scale velocities in large-scale models. For the more radiatively-driven, thin cirrus case, the PDFs are approximately Gaussian. However, in the interior of the deep, convectively unstable case, the PDFs of w are multi-modal and very broad, indicating that parameterizing cloud-scale motions for such clouds can be very challenging. The results of this research are described in detail in a paper submitted to the Journal of Atmospheric Science (Wu and Cotton, 1999), which is enclosed as Appendix 2. Using soundings extracted from a mesoscale simulation of the November 26, 1991 cirrus event, the radiative effects on vapor deposition/sublimation of ice crystals was studied using a two-dimensional cloud-resolving model (CRM) version of RAMS, coupled to an explicit bin-resolving microphysics. The CRM simulations of the November 26, 1991 cirrus event demonstrate that the radiative impact on the diffusional growth (or sublimation) of ice crystals is significant. In this case, the ice particles experienced radiative warming. Model results show that radiative feedbacks in the diffusional growth of ice particles can be very complex. Radiative warming of an ice particle will restrict the particle's diffusional growth. In the case of radiative warming, ice particles larger than a certain size will experience so much radiative warming that surface ice saturation vapor pressures become large enough to cause sublimation of the larger crystals, while smaller crystals are growing by vapor deposition. However, ice mass production can be enhanced in the case of radiative cooling of an ice particle. For the November 26, 1991 cirrus event, radiative feedback results in significant reduction in the total ice mass, especially in the production of large ice crystals, and consequently, both radiative and dynamic properties of the cirrus cloud are significantly affected. A complete description of this research has been submitted as a paper to the Journal of Atmospheric Science (Wu et al., 1999), and included as Appendix 3.

Assimilation of GOES Land Surface Data Within a Rapid Update Cycle Format: Impact on MM5 Warm Season QPF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lapenta, William M.; Suggs, Ron; Jedlovec, Gary; McNider, Richard T.; Dembek, Scott; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A technique has been developed for assimilating GOES-derived skin temperature tendencies and insolation into the surface energy budget equation of a mesoscale model so that the simulated rate of temperature change closely agrees with the satellite observations. A critical assumption of the technique is that the availability of moisture (either from the soil or vegetation) is the least known term in the model's surface energy budget. Therefore, the simulated latent heat flux, which is a function of surface moisture availability, is adjusted based upon differences between the modeled and satellite-observed skin temperature tendencies. An advantage of this technique is that satellite temperature tendencies are assimilated in an energetically consistent manner that avoids energy imbalances and surface stability problems that arise from direct assimilation of surface shelter temperatures. The fact that the rate of change of the satellite skin temperature is used rather than the absolute temperature means that sensor calibration is not as critical. The focus of this paper is to examine how the satellite assimilation technique impacts simulations of near-surface meteorology on the 0-to 12-hour time scale when implemented within a local rapid update cycle (LRUC) format. The PSU/NCAR MM5 V34 is used and configured with a 36-km CONUS domain and a 12-km nest centered over the southeastern US. The LRUC format consists of a sequence of 12-hour forecasts initialized every hour between 12 and 18 UTC seven days a week. GOES skin temperature tendencies and solar insolation are assimilated in a 1-hour period prior to the start of each twelve-hour forecast. A unique aspect of the LRUC is the satellite assimilation and the continuous recycling of the adjusted moisture availability field from one forecast cycle to the next. Preliminary results for a seven-day trial period indicate that hourly LST tendencies assimilated in a 1 hour LRUC showed improved simulated air and dewpoint temperatures for all cycles on each day. The LRUC will be used during the 2001 summer months to identify the impact of the assimilation on warm season QPF Results will be presented at the meeting.

Sensitivity of Land Surface Parameters on Thunderstorm Simulation through HRLDAS-WRF Coupling Mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Dinesh; Kumar, Krishan; Mohanty, U. C.; Kisore Osuri, Krishna

2016-07-01

Land surface characteristics play an important role in large scale, regional and mesoscale atmospheric process. Representation of land surface characteristics can be improved through coupling of mesoscale atmospheric models with land surface models. Mesoscale atmospheric models depend on Land Surface Models (LSM) to provide land surface variables such as fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum for lower boundary layer evolution. Studies have shown that land surface properties such as soil moisture, soil temperature, soil roughness, vegetation cover, have considerable effect on lower boundary layer. Although, the necessity to initialize soil moisture accurately in NWP models is widely acknowledged, monitoring soil moisture at regional and global scale is a very tough task due to high spatial and temporal variability. As a result, the available observation network is unable to provide the required spatial and temporal data for the most part of the globe. Therefore, model for land surface initializations rely on updated land surface properties from LSM. The solution for NWP land-state initialization can be found by combining data assimilation techniques, satellite-derived soil data, and land surface models. Further, it requires an intermediate step to use observed rainfall, satellite derived surface insolation, and meteorological analyses to run an uncoupled (offline) integration of LSM, so that the evolution of modeled soil moisture can be forced by observed forcing conditions. Therefore, for accurate land-state initialization, high resolution land data assimilation system (HRLDAS) is used to provide the essential land surface parameters. Offline-coupling of HRLDAS-WRF has shown much improved results over Delhi, India for four thunder storm events. The evolution of land surface variables particularly soil moisture, soil temperature and surface fluxes have provided more realistic condition. Results have shown that most of domain part became wetter and warmer after assimilation of soil moisture and soil temperature at the initial condition which helped to improve the exchange fluxes at lower atmospheric level. Mixing ratio were increased along with elevated theta-e at lower level giving a signature of improvement in LDAS experiment leading to a suitable condition for convection. In the analysis, moisture convergence, mixing ratio and vertical velocities have improved significantly in terms of intensity and time lag. Surface variables like soil moisture, soil temperature, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux have progressed in a possible realistic pattern. Above discussion suggests that assimilation of soil moisture and soil temperature improves the overall simulations significantly.

CWEX: Crop/wind-energy experiment: Observations of surface-layer, boundary-layer and mesoscale interactions with a wind farm

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Large wind turbines perturb mean and turbulent wind characteristics, which modify fluxes between the vegetated surface and the lower boundary layer. While simulations have suggested that wind farms could create significant changes in surface fluxes of heat, momentum, moisture, and CO2 over hundreds ...

Crop/Wind-energy Experiment (CWEX): Observations of surface-layer, boundary-layer and mesoscale interactions with a wind farm

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Perturbations of mean and turbulent wind characteristics by large wind turbines modify fluxes between the vegetated surface and the lower boundary layer. While simulations have suggested that wind farms could significantly change surface fluxes of heat, momentum, moisture, and CO2 over hundreds of s...

Development and Utilization of Regional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS) & Delicacy, Imprecision, and Uncertainty of Oceanic Simulations: An Investigation with ROMS

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-30

and Ecosystems: An important community use for ROMS is biogeochemisty: chemical cycles, water quality, blooms , micro-nutrients, larval dispersal... Chile current system. J. Climate, submitted. Colas, F., X. Capet, and J. McWilliams, 2010b: Mesoscale eddy buoyancy flux and eddy-induced

Mesoscale Modeling of Nonlinear Elasticity and Fracture in Ceramic Polycrystals Under Dynamic Shear and Compression

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

investigation of heterogeneous microplasticity in ceramics deformed under high confining stresses. Mech. Mater. 37, 95–112. Zhang, K., Wu, M., Feng, R., 2005b...Simulation of microplasticity -induced deformation in uniaxially strained ceramics by 3-D Voronoi polycrystal modeling. Int. J. Plasticity 21, 801–834

Army Maneuver Center of Excellence

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-18

agreements throughout DoD DARPA, JIEDDO, DHS, FAA, DoE, NSA , NASA, SMDC, etc. Strategic Partnerships Benefit the Army Materiel Enterprise External... Neuroscience Network Sciences Hierarchical Computing Extreme Energy Science Autonomous Systems Technology Emerging Sciences Meso-scale (grain...scales • Improvements in Soldier-system overall performance → operational neuroscience and advanced simulation and training technologies

Improving Surface Flux Parameterizations in the NRL Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-30

these days from a suite of instruments were analyzed, including those from rawinsonde launches, acoustic radar, and the 20 m flux tower. The objective...aircraft IR pyrometer in CBLAST-Low on (c) August 18, and (d) August 25, 2003. The NCOM simulation suggests that the high SST variability observed on

Mesoscale Circulation Variability from Five years of Quasi-continuous Glider Observations and Numerical Simulation at a Key Sub-basin 'Choke' Point.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heslop, E. E.; Mourre, B.; Juza, M.; Troupin, C.; Escudier, R.; Torner, M.; Tintore, J.

2016-02-01

Quasi-continuous glider observations over 5 years have uniquely characterised a high frequency variability in the circulation through the Ibiza Channel, an important `choke' point in the Western Mediterranean Sea. This `choke' point governs the basin/sub-basin scale circulation and the north/south exchanges of different water masses. The resulting multi-scale variability impacts the regional shelf and open ocean ecosystems, including the spawning grounds of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Through the unique glider record we show the relevance of the weekly/mesoscale variability, which is of same order as the previously established seasonal and inter-annual variability. To understand the drivers of this variability we combine the glider data with numerical simulations (WMOP) and altimetry. Two key drivers are identified; extreme winter events, which cause the formation of a cold winter mode water (Winter Intermediate Water) in the shelf areas to the north of the Ibiza Channel, and mesoscale activity, which to the north produce channel `blocking' eddies and to the south intermittent and vigorous flows of fresher `Atlantic' waters through the Ibiza Channel. Results from the 2 km resolution WMOP are compared with the high-resolution (2 - 3 km.) glider data, giving insight into model validation across different scales, for both circulation and water masses. There is an emerging consensus that gliders can uniquely access critical time and length scales and in this study gliders complement existing satellite measurements and models, while opening up new capabilities for multidisciplinary, autonomous and high-resolution ocean observation.

Influence of Soil Heterogeneity on Mesoscale Land Surface Fluxes During Washita '92

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jasinski, Michael F.; Jin, Hao

1998-01-01

The influence of soil heterogeneity on the partitioning of mesoscale land surface energy fluxes at diurnal time scales is investigated over a 10(exp 6) sq km domain centered on the Little Washita Basin, Oklahoma, for the period June 10 - 18, 1992. The sensitivity study is carried out using MM5/PLACE, the Penn State/NCAR MM5 model enhanced with the Parameterization for Land-Atmosphere-Cloud Exchange or PLACE. PLACE is a one-dimensional land surface model possessing detailed plant and soil water physics algorithms, multiple soil layers, and the capacity to model subgrid heterogeneity. A series of 12-hour simulations were conducted with identical atmospheric initialization and land surface characterization but with different initial soil moisture and texture. A comparison then was made of the simulated land surface energy flux fields, the partitioning of net radiation into latent and sensible heat, and the soil moisture fields. Results indicate that heterogeneity in both soil moisture and texture affects the spatial distribution and partitioning of mesoscale energy balance. Spatial averaging results in an overprediction of latent heat flux, and an underestimation of sensible heat flux. In addition to the primary focus on the partitioning of the land surface energy, the modeling effort provided an opportunity to examine the issue of initializing the soil moisture fields for coupled three-dimensional models. For the present case, the initial soil moisture and temperature were determined from off-line modeling using PLACE at each grid box, driven with a combination of observed and assimilated data fields.

Mesoscale Phase Field Modeling of Glass Strengthening Under Triaxial Compression

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Yulan; Sun, Xin

2015-09-28

Recent hydraulic bomb and confined sleeve tests on transparent armor glass materials such as borosilicate glass and soda-lime glass showed that the glass strength was a function of confinement pressure. The measured stress-strain relation is not a straight line as most brittle materials behave under little or no confinement. Moreover, borosilicate glass exhibited a stronger compressive strength when compared to soda-lime glass, even though soda-lime has higher bulk and shear moduli as well as apparent yield strength. To better understand these experimental findings, a mesoscale phase field model is developed to simulate the nonlinear stress versus strain behaviors under confinementmore » by considering heterogeneity formation under triaxial compression and the energy barrier of a micro shear banding event (referred to as pseudo-slip hereafter) in the amorphous glass. With calibrated modeling parameters, the simulation results demonstrate that the developed phase field model can quantitatively predict the pressure-dependent strength, and it can also explain the difference between the two types of glasses from the perspective of energy barrier associated with a pseudo-slip event.« less

Mesoscale simulations of shock compaction of a granular ceramic: effects of mesostructure and mixed-cell strength treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derrick, J. G.; LaJeunesse, J. W.; Davison, T. M.; Borg, J. P.; Collins, G. S.

2018-04-01

The shock response of granular materials is important in a variety of contexts but the precise dynamics of grains during compaction is poorly understood. Here we use 2D mesoscale numerical simulations of the shock compaction of granular tungsten carbide to investigate the effect of internal structure within the particle bed and ‘stiction’ between grains on the shock response. An increase in the average number of contacts with other particles, per particle, tends to shift the Hugoniot to higher shock velocities, lower particle velocities and lower densities. This shift is sensitive to inter-particle shear resistance. Eulerian shock physics codes approximate friction between, and interlocking of, grains with their treatment of mixed cell strength (stiction) and here we show that this has a significant effect on the shock response. When studying the compaction of particle beds it is not common to quantify the pre-compaction internal structure, yet our results suggest that such differences should be taken into account, either by using identical beds or by averaging results over multiple experiments.

Uncertainty, ensembles and air quality dispersion modeling: applications and challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dabberdt, Walter F.; Miller, Erik

The past two decades have seen significant advances in mesoscale meteorological modeling research and applications, such as the development of sophisticated and now widely used advanced mesoscale prognostic models, large eddy simulation models, four-dimensional data assimilation, adjoint models, adaptive and targeted observational strategies, and ensemble and probabilistic forecasts. Some of these advances are now being applied to urban air quality modeling and applications. Looking forward, it is anticipated that the high-priority air quality issues for the near-to-intermediate future will likely include: (1) routine operational forecasting of adverse air quality episodes; (2) real-time high-level support to emergency response activities; and (3) quantification of model uncertainty. Special attention is focused here on the quantification of model uncertainty through the use of ensemble simulations. Application to emergency-response dispersion modeling is illustrated using an actual event that involved the accidental release of the toxic chemical oleum. Both surface footprints of mass concentration and the associated probability distributions at individual receptors are seen to provide valuable quantitative indicators of the range of expected concentrations and their associated uncertainty.

Modeling and comparative study of fluid velocities in heterogeneous rocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hingerl, Ferdinand F.; Romanenko, Konstantin; Pini, Ronny; Balcom, Bruce; Benson, Sally

2013-04-01

Detailed knowledge of the distribution of effective porosity and fluid velocities in heterogeneous rock samples is crucial for understanding and predicting spatially resolved fluid residence times and kinetic reaction rates of fluid-rock interactions. The applicability of conventional MRI techniques to sedimentary rocks is limited by internal magnetic field gradients and short spin relaxation times. The approach developed at the UNB MRI Centre combines the 13-interval Alternating-Pulsed-Gradient Stimulated-Echo (APGSTE) scheme and three-dimensional Single Point Ramped Imaging with T1 Enhancement (SPRITE). These methods were designed to reduce the errors due to effects of background gradients and fast transverse relaxation. SPRITE is largely immune to time-evolution effects resulting from background gradients, paramagnetic impurities and chemical shift. Using these techniques quantitative 3D porosity maps as well as single-phase fluid velocity fields in sandstone core samples were measured. Using a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging technique developed at the MRI Centre at UNB, we created 3D maps of porosity distributions as well as single-phase fluid velocity distributions of sandstone rock samples. Then, we evaluated the applicability of the Kozeny-Carman relationship for modeling measured fluid velocity distributions in sandstones samples showing meso-scale heterogeneities using two different modeling approaches. The MRI maps were used as reference points for the modeling approaches. For the first modeling approach, we applied the Kozeny-Carman relationship to the porosity distributions and computed respective permeability maps, which in turn provided input for a CFD simulation - using the Stanford CFD code GPRS - to compute averaged velocity maps. The latter were then compared to the measured velocity maps. For the second approach, the measured velocity distributions were used as input for inversely computing permeabilities using the GPRS CFD code. The computed permeabilities were then correlated with the ones based on the porosity maps and the Kozeny-Carman relationship. The findings of the comparative modeling study are discussed and its potential impact on the modeling of fluid residence times and kinetic reaction rates of fluid-rock interactions in rocks containing meso-scale heterogeneities are reviewed.

Simulations of free-solution electrophoresis of polyelectrolytes with a finite Debye length using the Debye-Hückel approximation.

PubMed

Hickey, Owen A; Shendruk, Tyler N; Harden, James L; Slater, Gary W

2012-08-31

We introduce a mesoscale simulation method based on multiparticle collision dynamics (MPCD) for the electrohydrodynamics of polyelectrolytes with finite Debye lengths. By applying the Debye-Hückel approximation to assign an effective charge to MPCD particles near charged monomers, our simulations are able to reproduce the rapid rise in the electrophoretic mobility with respect to the degree of polymerization for the shortest polymer lengths followed by a small decrease for longer polymers due to charge condensation. Moreover, these simulations demonstrate the importance of a finite Debye length in accurately determining the mobility of uniformly charged polyelectrolytes and net neutral polyampholytes.

Preliminary simulations of the large-scale environment during the FIRE cirrus IFO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Westphal, Douglas L.; Toon, Owen B.

1990-01-01

Large scale forcing (scales greater than 500 km) is the dominant factor in the generation, maintenance, and dissipation of cirrus cloud systems. However, the analyses of data acquired during the first Cirrus IFO have highlighted the importance of mesoscale processes (scales of 20 to 500 km) to the development of cirrus cloud systems. Unfortunately, Starr and Wylie found that the temporal and spatial resolution of the standard and supplemental rawinsonde data were insufficient to allow an explanation of all of the mesoscale cloud features that were present on the 27 to 28 Oct. 1986. It is described how dynamic initialization, or 4-D data assimilation (FDDA) can provide a method to address this problem. The first steps towards application of FDDA to FIRE are also described.

Development and analysis of prognostic equations for mesoscale kinetic energy and mesoscale (subgrid scale) fluxes for large-scale atmospheric models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Avissar, Roni; Chen, Fei

1993-01-01

Generated by landscape discontinuities (e.g., sea breezes) mesoscale circulation processes are not represented in large-scale atmospheric models (e.g., general circulation models), which have an inappropiate grid-scale resolution. With the assumption that atmospheric variables can be separated into large scale, mesoscale, and turbulent scale, a set of prognostic equations applicable in large-scale atmospheric models for momentum, temperature, moisture, and any other gaseous or aerosol material, which includes both mesoscale and turbulent fluxes is developed. Prognostic equations are also developed for these mesoscale fluxes, which indicate a closure problem and, therefore, require a parameterization. For this purpose, the mean mesoscale kinetic energy (MKE) per unit of mass is used, defined as E-tilde = 0.5 (the mean value of u'(sub i exp 2), where u'(sub i) represents the three Cartesian components of a mesoscale circulation (the angle bracket symbol is the grid-scale, horizontal averaging operator in the large-scale model, and a tilde indicates a corresponding large-scale mean value). A prognostic equation is developed for E-tilde, and an analysis of the different terms of this equation indicates that the mesoscale vertical heat flux, the mesoscale pressure correlation, and the interaction between turbulence and mesoscale perturbations are the major terms that affect the time tendency of E-tilde. A-state-of-the-art mesoscale atmospheric model is used to investigate the relationship between MKE, landscape discontinuities (as characterized by the spatial distribution of heat fluxes at the earth's surface), and mesoscale sensible and latent heat fluxes in the atmosphere. MKE is compared with turbulence kinetic energy to illustrate the importance of mesoscale processes as compared to turbulent processes. This analysis emphasizes the potential use of MKE to bridge between landscape discontinuities and mesoscale fluxes and, therefore, to parameterize mesoscale fluxes generated by such subgrid-scale landscape discontinuities in large-scale atmospheric models.

Holistic view to integrated climate change assessment and extreme weather adaptation in the Lake Victoria Basin East Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mutua, F.; Koike, T.

2013-12-01

Extreme weather events have been the leading cause of disasters and damage all over the world.The primary ingredient to these disasters especially floods is rainfall which over the years, despite advances in modeling, computing power and use of new data and technologies, has proven to be difficult to predict. Also, recent climate projections showed a pattern consistent with increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme events in the East African region.We propose a holistic integrated approach to climate change assessment and extreme event adaptation through coupling of analysis techniques, tools and data. The Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) in East Africa supports over three million livelihoods and is a valuable resource to five East African countries as a source of water and means of transport. However, with a Mesoscale weather regime driven by land and lake dynamics,extreme Mesoscale events have been prevalent and the region has been on the receiving end during anomalously wet years in the region. This has resulted in loss of lives, displacements, and food insecurity. In the LVB, the effects of climate change are increasingly being recognized as a significant contributor to poverty, by its linkage to agriculture, food security and water resources. Of particular importance are the likely impacts of climate change in frequency and intensity of extreme events. To tackle this aspect, this study adopted an integrated regional, mesoscale and basin scale approach to climate change assessment. We investigated the projected changes in mean climate over East Africa, diagnosed the signals of climate change in the atmosphere, and transferred this understanding to mesoscale and basin scale. Changes in rainfall were analyzed and similar to the IPCC AR4 report; the selected three General Circulation Models (GCMs) project a wetter East Africa with intermittent dry periods in June-August. Extreme events in the region are projected to increase; with the number of wet days exceeding the 90% percentile of 1981-2000 likely to increase by 20-40% in the whole region. We also focused on short-term weather forecasting as a step towards adapting to a changing climate. This involved dynamic downscaling of global weather forecasts to high resolution with a special focus on extreme events. By utilizing complex model dynamics, the system was able to reproduce the Mesoscale dynamics well, simulated the land/lake breeze and diurnal pattern but was inadequate in some aspects. The quantitative prediction of rainfall was inaccurate with overestimation and misplacement but with reasonable occurrence. To address these shortcomings we investigated the value added by assimilating Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) brightness temperature during the event. By assimilating 23GHz (sensitive to water) and 89GHz (sensitive to cloud) frequency brightness temperature; the predictability of an extreme rain weather event was investigated. The assimilation through a Cloud Microphysics Data Assimilation (CMDAS) into the weather prediction model considerably improved the spatial distribution of this event.

The implications of dust ice nuclei effect on cloud top temperature in a complex mesoscale convective system.

PubMed

Li, Rui; Dong, Xue; Guo, Jingchao; Fu, Yunfei; Zhao, Chun; Wang, Yu; Min, Qilong

2017-10-23

Mineral dust is the most important natural source of atmospheric ice nuclei (IN) which may significantly mediate the properties of ice cloud through heterogeneous nucleation and lead to crucial impacts on hydrological and energy cycle. The potential dust IN effect on cloud top temperature (CTT) in a well-developed mesoscale convective system (MCS) was studied using both satellite observations and cloud resolving model (CRM) simulations. We combined satellite observations from passive spectrometer, active cloud radar, lidar, and wind field simulations from CRM to identify the place where ice cloud mixed with dust particles. For given ice water path, the CTT of dust-mixed cloud is warmer than that in relatively pristine cloud. The probability distribution function (PDF) of CTT for dust-mixed clouds shifted to the warmer end and showed two peaks at about -45 °C and -25 °C. The PDF for relatively pristine cloud only show one peak at -55 °C. Cloud simulations with different microphysical schemes agreed well with each other and showed better agreement with satellite observations in pristine clouds, but they showed large discrepancies in dust-mixed clouds. Some microphysical schemes failed to predict the warm peak of CTT related to heterogeneous ice formation.

Weather Research and Forecasting model simulation of an onshore wind farm: assessment against LiDAR and SCADA data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santoni, Christian; Garcia-Cartagena, Edgardo J.; Zhan, Lu; Iungo, Giacomo Valerio; Leonardi, Stefano

2017-11-01

The integration of wind farm parameterizations into numerical weather prediction models is essential to study power production under realistic conditions. Nevertheless, recent models are unable to capture turbine wake interactions and, consequently, the mean kinetic energy entrainment, which are essential for the development of power optimization models. To address the study of wind turbine wake interaction, one-way nested mesoscale to large-eddy simulation (LES) were performed using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). The simulation contains five nested domains modeling the mesoscale wind on the entire North Texas Panhandle region to the microscale wind fluctuations and turbine wakes of a wind farm located at Panhandle, Texas. The wind speed, direction and boundary layer profile obtained from WRF were compared against measurements obtained with a sonic anemometer and light detection and ranging system located within the wind farm. Additionally, the power production were assessed against measurements obtained from the supervisory control and data acquisition system located in each turbine. Furthermore, to incorporate the turbines into very coarse LES, a modification to the implementation of the wind farm parameterization by Fitch et al. (2012) is proposed. This work was supported by the NSF, Grants No. 1243482 (WINDINSPIRE) and IIP 1362033 (WindSTAR), and TACC.

Mesoscale model response to random, surface-based perturbations — A sea-breeze experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garratt, J. R.; Pielke, R. A.; Miller, W. F.; Lee, T. J.

1990-09-01

The introduction into a mesoscale model of random (in space) variations in roughness length, or random (in space and time) surface perturbations of temperature and friction velocity, produces a measurable, but barely significant, response in the simulated flow dynamics of the lower atmosphere. The perturbations are an attempt to include the effects of sub-grid variability into the ensemble-mean parameterization schemes used in many numerical models. Their magnitude is set in our experiments by appeal to real-world observations of the spatial variations in roughness length and daytime surface temperature over the land on horizontal scales of one to several tens of kilometers. With sea-breeze simulations, comparisons of a number of realizations forced by roughness-length and surface-temperature perturbations with the standard simulation reveal no significant change in ensemble mean statistics, and only small changes in the sea-breeze vertical velocity. Changes in the updraft velocity for individual runs, of up to several cms-1 (compared to a mean of 14 cms-1), are directly the result of prefrontal temperature changes of 0.1 to 0.2K, produced by the random surface forcing. The correlation and magnitude of the changes are entirely consistent with a gravity-current interpretation of the sea breeze.

Mesoscale Simulations of Gravity Waves During the 2008-2009 Major Stratospheric Sudden Warming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Limpasuvan, Varavut; Alexander, M. Joan; Orsolini, Yvan J.; Wu, Dong L.; Xue, Ming; Richter, Jadwiga H.; Yamashita, Chihoko

2011-01-01

A series of 24 h mesoscale simulations (of 10 km horizontal and 400 m vertical resolution) are performed to examine the characteristics and forcing of gravity waves (GWs) relative to planetary waves (PWs) during the 2008-2009 major stratospheric sudden wam1ing (SSW). Just prior to SSW occurrence, widespread westward propagating GWs are found along the vortex's edge and associated predominantly with major topographical features and strong near-surface winds. Momentum forcing due to GWs surpasses PW forcing in the upper stratosphere and tends to decelerate the polar westerly jet in excess of 30 m/s/d. With SSW onset, PWs dominate the momentum forcing, providing decelerative effects in excess of 50 m/s/d throughout the upper polar stratosphere. GWs related to topography become less widespread largely due to incipient wind reversal as the vortex starts to elongate. During the SSW maturation and early recovery, the polar vortex eventually splits and both wave signatures and forcing greatly subside. Nonetheless, during SSW, westward and eastward propagating GWs are found in the polar region and may be generated in situ by flow adjustment processes in the stratosphere or by secondary GW breaking. The simulated large-scale features agree well with those resolved in satellite observations and analysis products.

Synchrotron characterization of nanograined UO 2 grain growth

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mo, Kun; Miao, Yinbin; Yun, Di

2015-09-30

This activity is supported by the US Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Fuels Product Line (FPL) and aims at providing experimental data for the validation of the mesoscale simulation code MARMOT. MARMOT is a mesoscale multiphysics code that predicts the coevolution of microstructure and properties within reactor fuel during its lifetime in the reactor. It is an important component of the Moose-Bison-Marmot (MBM) code suite that has been developed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to enable next generation fuel performance modeling capability as part of the NEAMS Program FPL. In order to ensure the accuracy of the microstructuremore » based materials models being developed within the MARMOT code, extensive validation efforts must be carried out. In this report, we summarize our preliminary synchrotron radiation experiments at APS to determine the grain size of nanograin UO 2. The methodology and experimental setup developed in this experiment can directly apply to the proposed in-situ grain growth measurements. The investigation of the grain growth kinetics was conducted based on isothermal annealing and grain growth characterization as functions of duration and temperature. The kinetic parameters such as activation energy for grain growth for UO 2 with different stoichiometry are obtained and compared with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.« less

Supplying materials needed for grain growth characterizations of nano-grained UO 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mo, Kun; Miao, Yinbin; Yun, Di

2015-09-30

This activity is supported by the US Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Fuels Product Line (FPL) and aims at providing experimental data for the validation of the mesoscale simulation code MARMOT. MARMOT is a mesoscale multiphysics code that predicts the coevolution of microstructure and properties within reactor fuel during its lifetime in the reactor. It is an important component of the Moose-Bison-Marmot (MBM) code suite that has been developed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to enable next generation fuel performance modeling capability as part of the NEAMS Program FPL. In order to ensure the accuracy of the microstructuremore » based materials models being developed within the MARMOT code, extensive validation efforts must be carried out. In this report, we summarize our preliminary synchrotron radiation experiments at APS to determine the grain size of nanograin UO 2. The methodology and experimental setup developed in this experiment can directly apply to the proposed in-situ grain growth measurements. The investigation of the grain growth kinetics was conducted based on isothermal annealing and grain growth characterization as functions of duration and temperature. The kinetic parameters such as activation energy for grain growth for UO 2 with different stoichiometry are obtained and compared with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.« less

Mesoscale Simulations of a Florida Sea Breeze Using the PLACE Land Surface Model Coupled to a 1.5-Order Turbulence Parameterization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynn, Barry H.; Stauffer, David R.; Wetzel, Peter J.; Tao, Wei-Kuo; Perlin, Natal; Baker, R. David; Munoz, Ricardo; Boone, Aaron; Jia, Yiqin

1999-01-01

A sophisticated land-surface model, PLACE, the Parameterization for Land Atmospheric Convective Exchange, has been coupled to a 1.5-order turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) turbulence sub-model. Both have been incorporated into the Penn State/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) mesoscale model MM5. Such model improvements should have their greatest effect in conditions where surface contrasts dominate over dynamic processes, such as the simulation of warm-season, convective events. A validation study used the newly coupled model, MM5 TKE-PLACE, to simulate the evolution of Florida sea-breeze moist convection during the Convection and Precipitation Electrification Experiment (CaPE). Overall, eight simulations tested the sensitivity of the MM5 model to combinations of the new and default model physics, and initialization of soil moisture and temperature. The TKE-PLACE model produced more realistic surface sensible heat flux, lower biases for surface variables, more realistic rainfall, and cloud cover than the default model. Of the 8 simulations with different factors (i.e., model physics or initialization), TKE-PLACE compared very well when each simulation was ranked in terms of biases of the surface variables and rainfall, and percent and root mean square of cloud cover. A factor separation analysis showed that a successful simulation required the inclusion of a multi-layered, land surface soil vegetation model, realistic initial soil moisture, and higher order closure of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). These were needed to realistically model the effect of individual, joint, and synergistic contributions from the land surface and PBL on the CAPE sea-breeze, Lake Okeechobee lake breeze, and moist convection.

Tools and Methods for Visualization of Mesoscale Ocean Eddies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bemis, K. G.; Liu, L.; Silver, D.; Kang, D.; Curchitser, E.

2017-12-01

Mesoscale ocean eddies form in the Gulf Stream and transport heat and nutrients across the ocean basin. The internal structure of these three-dimensional eddies and the kinematics with which they move are critical to a full understanding of their transport capacity. A series of visualization tools have been developed to extract, characterize, and track ocean eddies from 3D modeling results, to visually show the ocean eddy story by applying various illustrative visualization techniques, and to interactively view results stored on a server from a conventional browser. In this work, we apply a feature-based method to track instances of ocean eddies through the time steps of a high-resolution multidecadal regional ocean model and generate a series of eddy paths which reflect the life cycle of individual eddy instances. The basic method uses the Okubu-Weiss parameter to define eddy cores but could be adapted to alternative specifications of an eddy. Stored results include pixel-lists for each eddy instance, tracking metadata for eddy paths, and physical and geometric properties. In the simplest view, isosurfaces are used to display eddies along an eddy path. Individual eddies can then be selected and viewed independently or an eddy path can be viewed in the context of all eddy paths (longer than a specified duration) and the ocean basin. To tell the story of mesoscale ocean eddies, we combined illustrative visualization techniques, including visual effectiveness enhancement, focus+context, and smart visibility, with the extracted volume features to explore eddy characteristics at multiple scales from ocean basin to individual eddy. An evaluation by domain experts indicates that combining our feature-based techniques with illustrative visualization techniques provides an insight into the role eddies play in ocean circulation. A web-based GUI is under development to facilitate easy viewing of stored results. The GUI provides the user control to choose amongst available datasets, to specify the variables (such as temperature or salinity) to display on the isosurfaces, and to choose the scale and orientation of the view. These techniques allow an oceanographer to browse the data based on eddy paths and individual eddies rather than slices or volumes of data.

Assessment of the turbulence parameterization schemes for the Martian mesoscale simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Temel, Orkun; Karatekin, Ozgur; Van Beeck, Jeroen

2016-07-01

Turbulent transport within the Martian atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is one of the most important physical processes in the Martian atmosphere due to the very thin structure of Martian atmosphere and super-adiabatic conditions during the diurnal cycle [1]. The realistic modeling of turbulent fluxes within the Martian ABL has a crucial effect on the many physical phenomena including dust devils [2], methane dispersion [3] and nocturnal jets [4]. Moreover, the surface heat and mass fluxes, which are related with the mass transport within the sub-surface of Mars, are being computed by the turbulence parameterization schemes. Therefore, in addition to the possible applications within the Martian boundary layer, parameterization of turbulence has an important effect on the biological research on Mars including the investigation of water cycle or sub-surface modeling. In terms of the turbulence modeling approaches being employed for the Martian ABL, the "planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes" have been applied not only for the global circulation modeling but also for the mesoscale simulations [5]. The PBL schemes being used for Mars are the variants of the PBL schemes which had been developed for the Earth and these schemes are either based on the empirical determination of turbulent fluxes [6] or based on solving a one dimensional turbulent kinetic energy equation [7]. Even though, the Large Eddy Simulation techniques had also been applied with the regional models for Mars, it must be noted that these advanced models also use the features of these traditional PBL schemes for sub-grid modeling [8]. Therefore, assessment of these PBL schemes is vital for a better understanding the atmospheric processes of Mars. In this framework, this present study is devoted to the validation of different turbulence modeling approaches for the Martian ABL in comparison to Viking Lander [9] and MSL [10] datasets. The GCM/Mesoscale code being used is the PlanetWRF, the extended version of WRF model for the extraterrestrial atmospheres [11]. Based on the measurements, the performances of different PBL schemes have been evaluated and some improvements have been proposed. [1] Colaïtis, A., Spiga, A., Hourdin, F., Rio, C., Forget, F., & Millour, E. (2013). A thermal plume model for the Martian convective boundary layer. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 118(7), 1468-1487. [2] Balme, M., & Greeley, R. (2006). Dust devils on Earth and Mars. Reviews of Geophysics, 44(3). [3] Olsen, K. S., Cloutis, E., & Strong, K. (2012). Small-scale methane dispersion modelling for possible plume sources on the surface of Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, 39(19). [4] Savijärvi, H., & Siili, T. (1993). The Martian slope winds and the nocturnal PBL jet. Journal of the atmospheric sciences, 50(1), 77-88. [5] Fenton, L. K., Toigo, A. D., & Richardson, M. I. (2005). Aeolian processes in Proctor crater on Mars: Mesoscale modeling of dune-forming winds. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 110(E6). [6] Hong, Song-You, Yign Noh, Jimy Dudhia, 2006: A new vertical diffusion package with an explicit treatment of entrainment processes. Mon. Wea. Rev., 134, 2318-2341. [7] Janjic, Zavisa I., 1994: The Step-Mountain Eta Coordinate Model: Further developments of the convection, viscous sublayer, and turbulence closure schemes. Mon. Wea. Rev., 122, 927-945. [8] Michaels, T. I., & Rafkin, S. C. (2004). Large-eddy simulation of atmospheric convection on Mars. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 130(599), 1251-1274. [9] Hess, S. L., Henry, R. M., Leovy, C. B., Ryan, J. A., & Tillman, J. E. (1977). Meteorological results from the surface of Mars: Viking 1 and 2. Journal of Geophysical Research, 82(28), 4559-4574. [10] Martínez, G. et Al. (2015). Likely frost events at Gale crater: Analysis from MSL/REMS measurements. Icarus. [11] Richardson, M. I., Toigo, A. D., & Newman, C. E. (2007). PlanetWRF: A general purpose, local to global numerical model for planetary atmospheric and climate dynamics. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 112(E9).

A Novel Observation-Guided Approach for Evaluating Mesoscale Convective Systems Simulated by the DOE ACME Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Z.; Ma, P. L.; Hardin, J. C.; Houze, R.

2017-12-01

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are the largest type of convective storms that develop when convection aggregates and induces mesoscale circulation features. Over North America, MCSs contribute over 60% of the total warm-season precipitation and over half of the extreme daily precipitation in the central U.S. Our recent study (Feng et al. 2016) found that the observed increases in springtime total and extreme rainfall in this region are dominated by increased frequency and intensity of long-lived MCSs*. To date, global climate models typically do not run at a resolution high enough to explicitly simulate individual convective elements and may not have adequate process representations for MCSs, resulting in a large deficiency in projecting changes of the frequency of extreme precipitation events in future climate. In this study, we developed a novel observation-guided approach specifically designed to evaluate simulated MCSs in the Department of Energy's climate model, Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy (ACME). The ACME model has advanced treatments for convection and subgrid variability and for this study is run at 25 km and 100 km grid spacings. We constructed a robust MCS database consisting of over 500 MCSs from 3 warm-season observations by applying a feature-tracking algorithm to 4-km resolution merged geostationary satellite and 3-D NEXRAD radar network data over the Continental US. This high-resolution MCS database is then down-sampled to the 25 and 100 km ACME grids to re-characterize key MCS properties. The feature-tracking algorithm is adapted with the adjusted characteristics to identify MCSs from ACME model simulations. We demonstrate that this new analysis framework is useful for evaluating ACME's warm-season precipitation statistics associated with MCSs, and provides insights into the model process representations related to extreme precipitation events for future improvement. *Feng, Z., L. R. Leung, S. Hagos, R. A. Houze, C. D. Burleyson, and K. Balaguru (2016), More frequent intense and long-lived storms dominate the springtime trend in central US rainfall, Nat Commun, 7, 13429, doi: 10.1038/ncomms13429.

Atmospheric Boundary Layer Dynamics Near Ross Island and Over West Antarctica.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhong

The atmospheric boundary layer dynamics near Ross Island and over West Antarctica has been investigated. The study consists of two parts. The first part involved the use of data from ground-based remote sensing equipment (sodar and RASS), radiosondes, pilot balloons, automatic weather stations, and NOAA AVHRR satellite imagery. The second part involved the use of a high resolution boundary layer model coupled with a three-dimensional primitive equation mesoscale model to simulate the observed atmospheric boundary layer winds and temperatures. Turbulence parameters were simulated with an E-epsilon turbulence model driven by observed winds and temperatures. The observational analysis, for the first time, revealed that the airflow passing through the Ross Island area is supplied mainly by enhanced katabatic drainage from Byrd Glacier and secondarily drainage from Mulock and Skelton glaciers. The observed diurnal variation of the blocking effect near Ross Island is dominated by the changes in the upstream katabatic airflow. The synthesized analysis over West Antarctica found that the Siple Coast katabatic wind confluence zone consists of two superimposed katabatic airflows: a relatively warm and more buoyant katabatic flow from West Antarctica overlies a colder and less buoyant katabatic airflow from East Antarctica. The force balance analysis revealed that, inside the West Antarctic katabatic wind zone, the pressure gradient force associated with the blocked airflow against the Transantarctic Mountains dominates; inside the East Antarctic katabatic wind zone, the downslope buoyancy force due to the cold air overlying the sloping terrain is dominant. The analysis also shows that these forces are in geostrophic balance with the Coriolis force. An E-epsilon turbulence closure model is used to simulate the diurnal variation of sodar backscatter. The results show that the model is capable of qualitatively capturing the main features of the observed sodar backscatter. To improve the representation of the atmospheric boundary layer, a second-order turbulence closure model coupled with the input from a mesoscale model was applied to the springtime Siple Coast katabatic wind confluence zone. The simulation was able to capture the main features of the confluence zone, which were not well resolved by the mesoscale model.

A Multiscale Nested Modeling Framework to Simulate the Interaction of Surface Gravity Waves with Nonlinear Internal Gravity Waves

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-30

Meneveau, C., and L. Shen (2014), Large-eddy simulation of offshore wind farm , Physics of Fluids, 26, 025101. Zhang, Z., Fringer, O.B., and S.R...being centimeter scale, surface mixed layer processes arising from the combined actions of tides, winds and mesoscale currents. Issues related to...the internal wave field and how it impacts the surface waves. APPROACH We are focusing on the problem of modification of the wind -wave field

Overlooked Role of Mesoscale Winds in Powering Ocean Diapycnal Mixing.

PubMed

Jing, Zhao; Wu, Lixin; Ma, Xiaohui; Chang, Ping

2016-11-16

Diapycnal mixing affects the uptake of heat and carbon by the ocean as well as plays an important role in global ocean circulations and climate. In the thermocline, winds provide an important energy source for furnishing diapycnal mixing primarily through the generation of near-inertial internal waves. However, this contribution is largely missing in the current generation of climate models. In this study, it is found that mesoscale winds at scales of a few hundred kilometers account for more than 65% of near-inertial energy flux into the North Pacific basin and 55% of turbulent kinetic dissipation rate in the thermocline, suggesting their dominance in powering diapycnal mixing in the thermocline. Furthermore, a new parameterization of wind-driven diapycnal mixing in the ocean interior for climate models is proposed, which, for the first time, successfully captures both temporal and spatial variations of wind-driven diapycnal mixing in the thermocline. It is suggested that as mesoscale winds are not resolved by the climate models participated in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) due to insufficient resolutions, the diapycnal mixing is likely poorly represented, raising concerns about the accuracy and robustness of climate change simulations and projections.

Overlooked Role of Mesoscale Winds in Powering Ocean Diapycnal Mixing

PubMed Central

Jing, Zhao; Wu, Lixin; Ma, Xiaohui; Chang, Ping

2016-01-01

Diapycnal mixing affects the uptake of heat and carbon by the ocean as well as plays an important role in global ocean circulations and climate. In the thermocline, winds provide an important energy source for furnishing diapycnal mixing primarily through the generation of near-inertial internal waves. However, this contribution is largely missing in the current generation of climate models. In this study, it is found that mesoscale winds at scales of a few hundred kilometers account for more than 65% of near-inertial energy flux into the North Pacific basin and 55% of turbulent kinetic dissipation rate in the thermocline, suggesting their dominance in powering diapycnal mixing in the thermocline. Furthermore, a new parameterization of wind-driven diapycnal mixing in the ocean interior for climate models is proposed, which, for the first time, successfully captures both temporal and spatial variations of wind-driven diapycnal mixing in the thermocline. It is suggested that as mesoscale winds are not resolved by the climate models participated in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) due to insufficient resolutions, the diapycnal mixing is likely poorly represented, raising concerns about the accuracy and robustness of climate change simulations and projections. PMID:27849059

Description of surface transport in the region of the Belizean Barrier Reef based on observations and alternative high-resolution models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindo-Atichati, D.; Curcic, M.; Paris, C. B.; Buston, P. M.

2016-10-01

The gains from implementing high-resolution versus less costly low-resolution models to describe coastal circulation are not always clear, often lacking statistical evaluation. Here we construct a hierarchy of ocean-atmosphere models operating at multiple scales within a 1 × 1° domain of the Belizean Barrier Reef (BBR). The various components of the atmosphere-ocean models are evaluated with in situ observations of surface drifters, wind and sea surface temperature. First, we compare the dispersion and velocity of 55 surface drifters released in the field in summer 2013 to the dispersion and velocity of simulated drifters under alternative model configurations. Increasing the resolution of the ocean model (from 1/12° to 1/100°, from 1 day to 1 h) and atmosphere model forcing (from 1/2° to 1/100°, from 6 h to 1 h), and incorporating tidal forcing incrementally reduces discrepancy between simulated and observed velocities and dispersion. Next, in trying to understand why the high-resolution models improve prediction, we find that resolving both the diurnal sea-breeze and semi-diurnal tides is key to improving the Lagrangian statistics and transport predictions along the BBR. Notably, the model with the highest ocean-atmosphere resolution and with tidal forcing generates a higher number of looping trajectories and sub-mesoscale coherent structures that are otherwise unresolved. Finally, simulations conducted with this model from June to August of 2013 show an intensification of the velocity fields throughout the summer and reveal a mesoscale anticyclonic circulation around Glovers Reef, and sub-mesoscale cyclonic eddies formed in the vicinity of Columbus Island. This study provides a general framework to assess the best surface transport prediction from alternative ocean-atmosphere models using metrics derived from high frequency drifters' data and meteorological stations.

Meso-beta scale numerical simulation studies of terrain-induced jet streak mass and momentum perturbations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Yuh-Lang; Kaplan, Michael L.

1994-01-01

An in-depth analysis of observed gravity waves and their relationship to precipitation bands over the Montana mesonetwork during the 11-12 July 1981 CCOPE case study indicated two episodes of coherent waves. While geostrophic adjustment, shearing instability, and terrain were all implicated separately or in combination as possible wave generation mechanisms, the lack of upper-air data within the wave genesis region made it difficult to define the genesis processes from observations alone. The first part of this paper, 3D Numerical Modeling Studies of Terrain-Induced Mass/Momentum Perturbations, employs a mesoscale numerical model to help diagnose the intricate early wave generation mechanisms during the first observed gravity wave episode. The meso-beta scale numerical model is used to study various simulations of the role of multiple geostrophic adjustment processes in focusing a region for gravity wave genesis. The second part of this paper, Linear Theory and Theoretical Modeling, investigates the response of non-resting rotating homogeneous and continuously stratified Boussinesq models of the terrestrial atmosphere to temporally impulsive and uniformly propagating three-dimensional localized zonal momentum sources representative of midlatitude jet streaks. The methods of linear perturbation theory applied to the potential vorticity (PV) and wave field equations are used to study the geostrophic adjustment dynamics. The total zonal and meridional wind perturbations are separated into geostrophic and ageostrophic components in order to define and follow the evolution of both the primary and secondary mesocirculations accompanying midlatitude jetogenesis forced by geostrophic adjustment processes. This problem is addressed to help fill the gap in understanding the dynamics and structure of mesoscale inertia-gravity waves forced by geostrophic adjustment processes in simple two-dimensional quiescent current systems and those produced by mesoscale numerical models simulating the orographic and diabatic perturbation of three-dimensional quasi-geostrophically balanced synoptic scale jet streaks associated with complex baroclinic severe storm producing environments.

Multiscale Aspects of Modeling Gas-Phase Nanoparticle Synthesis

PubMed Central

Buesser, B.; Gröhn, A.J.

2013-01-01

Aerosol reactors are utilized to manufacture nanoparticles in industrially relevant quantities. The development, understanding and scale-up of aerosol reactors can be facilitated with models and computer simulations. This review aims to provide an overview of recent developments of models and simulations and discuss their interconnection in a multiscale approach. A short introduction of the various aerosol reactor types and gas-phase particle dynamics is presented as a background for the later discussion of the models and simulations. Models are presented with decreasing time and length scales in sections on continuum, mesoscale, molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics models. PMID:23729992

Review of pore network modelling of porous media: Experimental characterisations, network constructions and applications to reactive transport.

PubMed

Xiong, Qingrong; Baychev, Todor G; Jivkov, Andrey P

2016-09-01

Pore network models have been applied widely for simulating a variety of different physical and chemical processes, including phase exchange, non-Newtonian displacement, non-Darcy flow, reactive transport and thermodynamically consistent oil layers. The realism of such modelling, i.e. the credibility of their predictions, depends to a large extent on the quality of the correspondence between the pore space of a given medium and the pore network constructed as its representation. The main experimental techniques for pore space characterisation, including direct imaging, mercury intrusion porosimetry and gas adsorption, are firstly summarised. A review of the main pore network construction techniques is then presented. Particular focus is given on how such constructions are adapted to the data from experimentally characterised pore systems. Current applications of pore network models are considered, with special emphasis on the effects of adsorption, dissolution and precipitation, as well as biomass growth, on transport coefficients. Pore network models are found to be a valuable tool for understanding and predicting meso-scale phenomena, linking single pore processes, where other techniques are more accurate, and the homogenised continuum porous media, used by engineering community. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A survey of nested grid techniques and their potential for use within the MASS weather prediction model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koch, Steven E.; Mcqueen, Jeffery T.

1987-01-01

A survey of various one- and two-way interactive nested grid techniques used in hydrostatic numerical weather prediction models is presented and the advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed. The techniques for specifying the lateral boundary conditions for each nested grid scheme are described in detail. Averaging and interpolation techniques used when applying the coarse mesh grid (CMG) and fine mesh grid (FMG) interface conditions during two-way nesting are discussed separately. The survey shows that errors are commonly generated at the boundary between the CMG and FMG due to boundary formulation or specification discrepancies. Methods used to control this noise include application of smoothers, enhanced diffusion, or damping-type time integration schemes to model variables. The results from this survey provide the information needed to decide which one-way and two-way nested grid schemes merit future testing with the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS) model. An analytically specified baroclinic wave will be used to conduct systematic tests of the chosen schemes since this will allow for objective determination of the interfacial noise in the kind of meteorological setting for which MASS is designed. Sample diagnostic plots from initial tests using the analytic wave are presented to illustrate how the model-generated noise is ascertained. These plots will be used to compare the accuracy of the various nesting schemes when incorporated into the MASS model.

Towards improved parameterization of a macroscale hydrologic model in a discontinuous permafrost boreal forest ecosystem

DOE PAGES

Endalamaw, Abraham; Bolton, W. Robert; Young-Robertson, Jessica M.; ...

2017-09-14

Modeling hydrological processes in the Alaskan sub-arctic is challenging because of the extreme spatial heterogeneity in soil properties and vegetation communities. Nevertheless, modeling and predicting hydrological processes is critical in this region due to its vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Coarse-spatial-resolution datasets used in land surface modeling pose a new challenge in simulating the spatially distributed and basin-integrated processes since these datasets do not adequately represent the small-scale hydrological, thermal, and ecological heterogeneity. The goal of this study is to improve the prediction capacity of mesoscale to large-scale hydrological models by introducing a small-scale parameterization scheme, which bettermore » represents the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties and vegetation cover in the Alaskan sub-arctic. The small-scale parameterization schemes are derived from observations and a sub-grid parameterization method in the two contrasting sub-basins of the Caribou Poker Creek Research Watershed (CPCRW) in Interior Alaska: one nearly permafrost-free (LowP) sub-basin and one permafrost-dominated (HighP) sub-basin. The sub-grid parameterization method used in the small-scale parameterization scheme is derived from the watershed topography. We found that observed soil thermal and hydraulic properties – including the distribution of permafrost and vegetation cover heterogeneity – are better represented in the sub-grid parameterization method than the coarse-resolution datasets. Parameters derived from the coarse-resolution datasets and from the sub-grid parameterization method are implemented into the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) mesoscale hydrological model to simulate runoff, evapotranspiration (ET), and soil moisture in the two sub-basins of the CPCRW. Simulated hydrographs based on the small-scale parameterization capture most of the peak and low flows, with similar accuracy in both sub-basins, compared to simulated hydrographs based on the coarse-resolution datasets. On average, the small-scale parameterization scheme improves the total runoff simulation by up to 50 % in the LowP sub-basin and by up to 10 % in the HighP sub-basin from the large-scale parameterization. This study shows that the proposed sub-grid parameterization method can be used to improve the performance of mesoscale hydrological models in the Alaskan sub-arctic watersheds.« less

Towards improved parameterization of a macroscale hydrologic model in a discontinuous permafrost boreal forest ecosystem

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Endalamaw, Abraham; Bolton, W. Robert; Young-Robertson, Jessica M.

Modeling hydrological processes in the Alaskan sub-arctic is challenging because of the extreme spatial heterogeneity in soil properties and vegetation communities. Nevertheless, modeling and predicting hydrological processes is critical in this region due to its vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Coarse-spatial-resolution datasets used in land surface modeling pose a new challenge in simulating the spatially distributed and basin-integrated processes since these datasets do not adequately represent the small-scale hydrological, thermal, and ecological heterogeneity. The goal of this study is to improve the prediction capacity of mesoscale to large-scale hydrological models by introducing a small-scale parameterization scheme, which bettermore » represents the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties and vegetation cover in the Alaskan sub-arctic. The small-scale parameterization schemes are derived from observations and a sub-grid parameterization method in the two contrasting sub-basins of the Caribou Poker Creek Research Watershed (CPCRW) in Interior Alaska: one nearly permafrost-free (LowP) sub-basin and one permafrost-dominated (HighP) sub-basin. The sub-grid parameterization method used in the small-scale parameterization scheme is derived from the watershed topography. We found that observed soil thermal and hydraulic properties – including the distribution of permafrost and vegetation cover heterogeneity – are better represented in the sub-grid parameterization method than the coarse-resolution datasets. Parameters derived from the coarse-resolution datasets and from the sub-grid parameterization method are implemented into the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) mesoscale hydrological model to simulate runoff, evapotranspiration (ET), and soil moisture in the two sub-basins of the CPCRW. Simulated hydrographs based on the small-scale parameterization capture most of the peak and low flows, with similar accuracy in both sub-basins, compared to simulated hydrographs based on the coarse-resolution datasets. On average, the small-scale parameterization scheme improves the total runoff simulation by up to 50 % in the LowP sub-basin and by up to 10 % in the HighP sub-basin from the large-scale parameterization. This study shows that the proposed sub-grid parameterization method can be used to improve the performance of mesoscale hydrological models in the Alaskan sub-arctic watersheds.« less

Impact of Preferred Eddy Tracks on Transport and Mixing in the Eastern South Pacific

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belmadani, A.; Donoso, D.; Auger, P. A.; Chaigneau, A.

2017-12-01

Mesoscale eddies, which play a fundamental role in the transport of mass, heat, nutrients, and biota across the oceans, have been suggested to propagate preferently along specific tracks. These preferred pathways, also called eddy trains, are near-zonal due to westward drift of individual vortices, and tend to be polarized (ie alternatively dominated by anticyclonic/cyclonic eddies), coinciding with the recently discovered latent striations (quasi-zonal mesoscale jet-like features). While significant effort has been made to understand the dynamics of striations and their interplay with mesoscale eddies, the impact of repeated eddy tracks on physical (temperature, salinity), biogeochemical (oxygen, carbon, nutrients) and other tracers (e.g. chlorophyll, marine debris) has received little attention. Here we report on the results of numerical modeling experiments that simulate the impact of preferred eddy tracks on the transport and mixing of water particles in the Eastern South Pacific off Chile. A 30-year interannual simulation of the oceanic circulation in this region has been performed over 1984-2013 with the ROMS (Regional Oceanic Modeling System) at an eddy-resolving resolution (10 km). Objective tracking of mesoscale coherent vortices is obtained using automated methods, allowing to compute the contribution of eddies to the ocean circulation. Preferred eddy tracks are further isolated from the more random eddies, by comparing the distances between individual tracks and the striated pattern in long-term mean eddy polarity with a least-squares approach. The remaining non-eddying flow may also be decomposed into time-mean and anomalous circulation, and/or small- and large-scale circulation. Neutrally-buoyant Lagrangian floats are then released uniformly into the various flow components as well as the total flow, and tracked forward in time with the ARIANE software. The dispersion patterns of water particles are used to estimate the respective contributions of organized and random eddies, mean flow, large-scale perturbations etc. to mixing properties and transport pathways. Float release into the full flow inside selected vortices is also used to document the impact of eddy trains on the transformation of water masses inferred from changes in temperature/salinity along float trajectories.

Assessment and intercomparison of numerical simulations in the Western Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Juza, Mélanie; Mourre, Baptiste; Renault, Lionel; Tintoré, Joaquin

2014-05-01

The Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB, www.socib.es) is developing high resolution numerical simulations (hindcasts and forecasts) in the Western Mediterranean Sea (WMOP). WMOP uses a regional configuration of the Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS, Shchepetkin and McWilliams, 2005) with a high spatial resolution of 1/50º (1.5-2km). Thus, theses simulations are able to reproduce mesoscale and in some cases sub-mesoscale features that are key in the Mediterranean Sea since they interact and modify the basin and sub-basin circulation. These simulations are initialized from and nested in either the Mediterranean Forecasting System (MFS, 1/16º) or Mercator-Océan simulations (MERCATOR, 1/12º). A repeated glider section in the Ibiza Channel, operated by SOCIB, has revealed significant differences between two WMOP simulations using either MFS or MERCATOR (hereafter WMOP-MFS and WMOP-MERC). In this study, MFS, MERCATOR, WMOP-MFS and WMOP-MERC are compared and evaluated using available multi-platform observations such as satellite products (Sea Level Anomaly, Sea Surface Temperature) and in situ measurements (temperature and salinity profiles from Argo floats, CTD, XBT, fixed moorings and gliders; velocity fields from HF radar and currentmeters). A quantitative comparison is necessary to evaluate the capacity of the simulations to reproduce observed ocean features, and to quantify the possible simulations biases. This will in turn allow to improve the simulations, so as to produce better ocean forecast systems, to study and better understand ocean processes and to address climate studies. Therefore, various statistical diagnostics have been developed to assess and intercompare the simulations at various spatial and temporal scales, in different sub-regions (Alboran Sea, Western and Eastern Algerian sub-basins, Balearic Sea, Gulf of Lion), in different dynamical zones (coastal areas, shelves and "open" sea), along key sections (Ibiza and Mallorca Channels, Corsica Channel, ...) and during specific events.

Emergence of scale-free close-knit friendship structure in online social networks.

PubMed

Cui, Ai-Xiang; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Tang, Ming; Hui, Pak Ming; Fu, Yan

2012-01-01

Although the structural properties of online social networks have attracted much attention, the properties of the close-knit friendship structures remain an important question. Here, we mainly focus on how these mesoscale structures are affected by the local and global structural properties. Analyzing the data of four large-scale online social networks reveals several common structural properties. It is found that not only the local structures given by the indegree, outdegree, and reciprocal degree distributions follow a similar scaling behavior, the mesoscale structures represented by the distributions of close-knit friendship structures also exhibit a similar scaling law. The degree correlation is very weak over a wide range of the degrees. We propose a simple directed network model that captures the observed properties. The model incorporates two mechanisms: reciprocation and preferential attachment. Through rate equation analysis of our model, the local-scale and mesoscale structural properties are derived. In the local-scale, the same scaling behavior of indegree and outdegree distributions stems from indegree and outdegree of nodes both growing as the same function of the introduction time, and the reciprocal degree distribution also shows the same power-law due to the linear relationship between the reciprocal degree and in/outdegree of nodes. In the mesoscale, the distributions of four closed triples representing close-knit friendship structures are found to exhibit identical power-laws, a behavior attributed to the negligible degree correlations. Intriguingly, all the power-law exponents of the distributions in the local-scale and mesoscale depend only on one global parameter, the mean in/outdegree, while both the mean in/outdegree and the reciprocity together determine the ratio of the reciprocal degree of a node to its in/outdegree. Structural properties of numerical simulated networks are analyzed and compared with each of the four real networks. This work helps understand the interplay between structures on different scales in online social networks.

Tropospheric energy cascades in a global circulation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brune, Sebastian; Becker, Erich

2010-05-01

The global horizontal kinetic energy (KE) spectrum and its budget are analyzed using results from a mechanistic GCM. The model has a standard spectral dynamical core with very high vertikal resolution up to the middle stratosphere (T330/L100). As a turbulence model we combine the Smagorinsky scheme with an energy conserving hyperdiffusion that is applied for the very smallest resolved scales. The simulation confirms a slope of the KE spectrum close to -3 in the synoptic regime where the KE is dominated by vortical modes. Towards the mesoscales the spectrum flattens and assumes a slope close to -5/3. Here divergent modes become increasingly important and even dominate the KE. Our complete analysis of the sinks and sources in the spectral KE budget reveals the overall energy fluxes through the spectrum. For the upper troposphere, the change of KE due to horizontal advection is negative for large synoptic scales. It is positive for the planetary scale, as expected, and for the mesoscales as well. This implies that the mesoscales, which include the dynamical sources of tropospheric gravity waves, are in fact sustained by the energy injection at the baroclinic scale (forward energy cascade). We find an enstrophy cascade in accordance with 2D turbulence, but zero downscaling of energy due to the vortical modes alone. In other words, the forward energy cascade in the synoptic and mesoscale regime is solely due to the divergent modes and their nonlinear interaction with the vortical modes. This picture, derived form a mechanistic model, not only lends further evidence for a generally forward energy cascade in the upper tropospheric away from the baroclinic scale. It also extends the picture proposed earlier by Tung and Orlando: The transition from a -3 to a -5/3 slope in the tropospheric macroturbulence spectrum reflects the fact, that the energy cascade due to the horizontally divergent (3D) modes is hidden behind the (2D) enstrophy cascade in the synoptic regime but dominates in the mesoscales.

Emergence of Scale-Free Close-Knit Friendship Structure in Online Social Networks

PubMed Central

Cui, Ai-Xiang; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Tang, Ming; Hui, Pak Ming; Fu, Yan

2012-01-01

Although the structural properties of online social networks have attracted much attention, the properties of the close-knit friendship structures remain an important question. Here, we mainly focus on how these mesoscale structures are affected by the local and global structural properties. Analyzing the data of four large-scale online social networks reveals several common structural properties. It is found that not only the local structures given by the indegree, outdegree, and reciprocal degree distributions follow a similar scaling behavior, the mesoscale structures represented by the distributions of close-knit friendship structures also exhibit a similar scaling law. The degree correlation is very weak over a wide range of the degrees. We propose a simple directed network model that captures the observed properties. The model incorporates two mechanisms: reciprocation and preferential attachment. Through rate equation analysis of our model, the local-scale and mesoscale structural properties are derived. In the local-scale, the same scaling behavior of indegree and outdegree distributions stems from indegree and outdegree of nodes both growing as the same function of the introduction time, and the reciprocal degree distribution also shows the same power-law due to the linear relationship between the reciprocal degree and in/outdegree of nodes. In the mesoscale, the distributions of four closed triples representing close-knit friendship structures are found to exhibit identical power-laws, a behavior attributed to the negligible degree correlations. Intriguingly, all the power-law exponents of the distributions in the local-scale and mesoscale depend only on one global parameter, the mean in/outdegree, while both the mean in/outdegree and the reciprocity together determine the ratio of the reciprocal degree of a node to its in/outdegree. Structural properties of numerical simulated networks are analyzed and compared with each of the four real networks. This work helps understand the interplay between structures on different scales in online social networks. PMID:23272067

How biophysical interactions associated with sub- and mesoscale structures and migration behavior affect planktonic larvae of the spiny lobster in the Juan Fernández Ridge: A modeling approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medel, Carolina; Parada, Carolina; Morales, Carmen E.; Pizarro, Oscar; Ernst, Billy; Conejero, Carlos

2018-03-01

The Juan Fernández Ridge (JFR) is a chain of topographical elevations in the eastern South Pacific (∼33-35°S, 76-81.5°W). Rich in endemic marine species, this ridge is frequently affected by the arrival of mesoscale eddies originating in the coastal upwelling zone off central-southern Chile. The impacts of these interactions on the structure and dynamics of the JFR pelagic system have, however, not been addressed yet. The present model-based study is focused on the coupled influence of mesoscale-submesoscale processes and biological behavior (i.e., diel vertical migration) on the horizontal distribution of planktonic larvae of the spiny lobster (Jasus frontalis) around the JFR waters. Two case studies were selected from a hydrodynamic Regional Ocean Modeling System to characterize mesoscale and submesoscale structures and an Individual-based model (IBM) to simulate diel vertical migration (DVM) and its impact on the horizontal distribution and the patchiness level. DVM behavior of these larvae has not been clearly characterized, therefore, three types of vertical mechanisms were assessed on the IBM: (1) no migration (LG), (2) a short migration (0-50 m depth, DVM1), and (3) a long migration (10-200 m depth, DVM2). The influence of physical properties (eddy kinetic energy, stretching deformation and divergence) on larval aggregation within meso and submesoscale features was quantified. The patchiness index assessed for mesoscale and submesoscale structures showed higher values in the mesoscale than in the submesoscale. However, submesoscale structures revealed a higher accumulation of particles by unit of area. Both vertical migration mechanisms produced larger patchiness indices compared to the no migration experiment. DVM2 was the one that showed by far the largest aggregation of almost all the aggregation zones. Larval concentrations were highest in the submesoscale structures; these zones were characterized by low eddy kinetic energy, negative stretching deformation, and slight convergence. Stretching deformation flow appeared to be triggered by the eddy-eddy interactions and the Robinson Island barrier effect, and it likely promotes the aggregation of the spiny lobster larvae in the Juan Fernández system. These results highlighted the importance of the coupled effect of physical (mesoscale and submesoscale oceanographic features) and biological processes (DVM) in the generation of larval patchiness and concentration of spiny lobster larvae around the JFR, which could be key for their survival and retention in those waters.

DEVELOPMENT OF MESOSCALE AIR QUALITY SIMULATION MODELS. VOLUME 1. COMPARATIVE SENSITIVITY STUDIES OF PUFF, PLUME, AND GRID MODELS FOR LONG DISTANCE DISPERSION

EPA Science Inventory

This report provides detailed comparisons and sensitivity analyses of three candidate models, MESOPLUME, MESOPUFF, and MESOGRID. This was not a validation study; there was no suitable regional air quality data base for the Four Corners area. Rather, the models have been evaluated...

MaRIE: A facility for time-dependent materials science at the mesoscale

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnes, Cris William; Kippen, Karen Elizabeth

To meet new and emerging national security issues the Laboratory is stepping up to meet another grand challenge—transitioning from observing to controlling a material’s performance. This challenge requires the best of experiment, modeling, simulation, and computational tools. MaRIE is the Laboratory’s proposed flagship experimental facility intended to meet the challenge.

Results from Assimilating AMSR-E Soil Moisture Estimates into a Land Surface Model Using an Ensemble Kalman Filter in the Land Information System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blankenship, Clay B.; Crosson, William L.; Case, Jonathan L.; Hale, Robert

2010-01-01

Improve simulations of soil moisture/temperature, and consequently boundary layer states and processes, by assimilating AMSR-E soil moisture estimates into a coupled land surface-mesoscale model Provide a new land surface model as an option in the Land Information System (LIS)

The impact of mesoscale convective systems on global precipitation: A modeling study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, Wei-Kuo

2017-04-01

The importance of precipitating mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) has been quantified from TRMM precipitation radar and microwave imager retrievals. MCSs generate more than 50% of the rainfall in most tropical regions. Typical MCSs have horizontal scales of a few hundred kilometers (km); therefore, a large domain and high resolution are required for realistic simulations of MCSs in cloud-resolving models (CRMs). Almost all traditional global and climate models do not have adequate parameterizations to represent MCSs. Typical multi-scale modeling frameworks (MMFs) with 32 CRM grid points and 4 km grid spacing also might not have sufficient resolution and domain size for realistically simulating MCSs. In this study, the impact of MCSs on precipitation processes is examined by conducting numerical model simulations using the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble model (GCE) and Goddard MMF (GMMF). The results indicate that both models can realistically simulate MCSs with more grid points (i.e., 128 and 256) and higher resolutions (1 or 2 km) compared to those simulations with less grid points (i.e., 32 and 64) and low resolution (4 km). The modeling results also show that the strengths of the Hadley circulations, mean zonal and regional vertical velocities, surface evaporation, and amount of surface rainfall are either weaker or reduced in the GMMF when using more CRM grid points and higher CRM resolution. In addition, the results indicate that large-scale surface evaporation and wind feed back are key processes for determining the surface rainfall amount in the GMMF. A sensitivity test with reduced sea surface temperatures (SSTs) is conducted and results in both reduced surface rainfall and evaporation.

Performance of WRF for Simulation of Mesoscale Meteorological Characteristics for Air Quality Assessment over Tropical Coastal City, Chennai

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madala, Srikanth; Srinivas, C. V.; Satyanarayana, A. N. V.

2018-01-01

The land-sea breezes (LSBs) play an important role in transporting air pollution from urban areas on the coast. In this study, the Advanced Research WRF (ARW) mesoscale model is used for predicting boundary layer features to understand the transport of pollution in different seasons over the coastal region of Chennai in Southern India. Sensitivity experiments are conducted with two non-local [Yonsei University (YSU) and Asymmetric Convective Model version 2 (ACM2)] and three turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) closure [Mellor-Yamada-Nakanishi and Niino Level 2.5 (MYNN2) and Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) and quasi-normal scale elimination (QNSE)], planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes for simulating the thermodynamic structure, and low-level atmospheric flow in different seasons. Comparison of simulations with observations from a global positioning system (GPS) radiosonde, meteorological tower, automated weather stations, and Doppler weather radar (DWR)-derived wind data reveals that the characteristics of LSBs vary widely in different seasons and are more prominent during the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons (March-September) with large horizontal and vertical extents compared to the post-monsoon and winter seasons. The qualitative and quantitative results indicate that simulations with ACM2 followed by MYNN2 and YSU produced various features of the LSBs, boundary layer parameters and the thermo-dynamical structure in better agreement with observations than other tested physical parameterization schemes. Simulations revealed seasonal variation of onset time, vertical extent of LSBs, and mixed layer depth, which would influence the air pollution dispersion in different seasons over the study region.

Limitations of one-dimensional mesoscale PBL parameterizations in reproducing mountain-wave flows

DOE PAGES

Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; Sauer, Jeremy A.; Linn, Rodman R.; ...

2015-12-08

In this study, mesoscale models are considered to be the state of the art in modeling mountain-wave flows. Herein, we investigate the role and accuracy of planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterizations in handling the interaction between large-scale mountain waves and the atmospheric boundary layer. To that end, we use recent large-eddy simulation (LES) results of mountain waves over a symmetric two-dimensional bell-shaped hill [Sauer et al., J. Atmos. Sci. (2015)], and compare them to four commonly used PBL schemes. We find that one-dimensional PBL parameterizations produce reasonable agreement with the LES results in terms of vertical wavelength, amplitude of velocitymore » and turbulent kinetic energy distribution in the downhill shooting flow region. However, the assumption of horizontal homogeneity in PBL parameterizations does not hold in the context of these complex flow configurations. This inappropriate modeling assumption results in a vertical wavelength shift producing errors of ≈ 10 m s–1 at downstream locations due to the presence of a coherent trapped lee wave that does not mix with the atmospheric boundary layer. In contrast, horizontally-integrated momentum flux derived from these PBL schemes displays a realistic pattern. Therefore results from mesoscale models using ensembles of one-dimensional PBL schemes can still potentially be used to parameterize drag effects in general circulation models. Nonetheless, three-dimensional PBL schemes must be developed in order for mesoscale models to accurately represent complex-terrain and other types of flows where one-dimensional PBL assumptions are violated.« less

Genesis of Typhoon Nari (2001) from a mesoscale convective system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Da-Lin; Tian, Liqing; Yang, Ming-Jen

2011-12-01

In this study, the origin and genesis of Typhoon Nari (2001) as well as its erratic looping track, are examined using large-scale analysis, satellite observations, and a 4 day nested, cloud-resolving simulation with the finest grid size of 1.33 km. Observational analysis reveals that Nari could be traced 5 days back to a diurnally varying mesoscale convective system with growing cyclonic vorticity and relative humidity in the lower troposphere and that it evolved from a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) as moving over a warm ocean under the influence of a subtropical high, a weak westerly baroclinic disturbance, an approaching-and-departing Typhoon Danas to the east, and the Kuroshio Current. Results show that the model reproduces the genesis, final intensity, looping track, and the general convective activity of Nari during the 4 day period. It also captures two deep subvortices at the eye-eyewall interface that are similar to those previously observed, a few spiral rainbands, and a midget storm size associated with Nari's relatively dry and stable environment. We find that (1) continuous convective overturning within the MCV stretches the low-level vorticity and moistens a deep mesoscale column that are both favorable for genesis; (2) Nari's genesis does not occur until after the passage of the baroclinic disturbance; (3) convective asymmetry induces a smaller-sized vortex circulation from the preexisting MCV; (4) the vortex-vortex interaction with Danas leads to Nari's looping track and temporal weakening; and (5) midlevel convergence associated with the subtropical high and Danas accounts for the generation of a nearly upright eyewall.

Hybrid discrete-continuum modeling for transport, biofilm development and solid restructuring including electrostatic effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prechtel, Alexander; Ray, Nadja; Rupp, Andreas

2017-04-01

We want to present an approach for the mathematical, mechanistic modeling and numerical treatment of processes leading to the formation, stability, and turnover of soil micro-aggregates. This aims at deterministic aggregation models including detailed mechanistic pore-scale descriptions to account for the interplay of geochemistry and microbiology, and the link to soil functions as, e.g., the porosity. We therefore consider processes at the pore scale and the mesoscale (laboratory scale). At the pore scale transport by diffusion, advection, and drift emerging from electric forces can be taken into account, in addition to homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions of species. In the context of soil micro-aggregates the growth of biofilms or other glueing substances as EPS (extracellular polymeric substances) is important and affects the structure of the pore space in space and time. This model is upscaled mathematically in the framework of (periodic) homogenization to transfer it to the mesoscale resulting in effective coefficients/parameters there. This micro-macro model thus couples macroscopic equations that describe the transport and fluid flow at the scale of the porous medium (mesoscale) with averaged time- and space-dependent coefficient functions. These functions may be explicitly computed by means of auxiliary cell problems (microscale). Finally, the pore space in which the cell problems are defined is time and space dependent and its geometry inherits information from the transport equation's solutions. The microscale problems rely on versatile combinations of cellular automata and discontiuous Galerkin methods while on the mesoscale mixed finite elements are used. The numerical simulations allow to study the interplay between these processes.

Advanced Atmospheric Modeling for Emergency Response.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fast, Jerome D.; O'Steen, B. Lance; Addis, Robert P.

1995-03-01

Atmospheric transport and diffusion models are an important part of emergency response systems for industrial facilities that have the potential to release significant quantities of toxic or radioactive material into the atmosphere. An advanced atmospheric transport and diffusion modeling system for emergency response and environmental applications, based upon a three-dimensional mesoscale model, has been developed for the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site so that complex, time-dependent flow fields not explicitly measured can be routinely simulated. To overcome some of the current computational demands of mesoscale models, two operational procedures for the advanced atmospheric transport and diffusion modeling system are described including 1) a semiprognostic calculation to produce high-resolution wind fields for local pollutant transport in the vicinity of the Savannah River Site and 2) a fully prognostic calculation to produce a regional wind field encompassing the southeastern United States for larger-scale pollutant problems. Local and regional observations and large-scale model output are used by the mesoscale model for the initial conditions, lateral boundary conditions, and four-dimensional data assimilation procedure. This paper describes the current status of the modeling system and presents two case studies demonstrating the capabilities of both modes of operation. While the results from the case studies shown in this paper are preliminary and certainly not definitive, they do suggest that the mesoscale model has the potential for improving the prognostic capabilities of atmospheric modeling for emergency response at the Savannah River Site. Long-term model evaluation will be required to determine under what conditions significant forecast errors exist.

Simulated influences of Lake Agassiz on the climate of central North America 11,000 years ago

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hostetler, S.W.; Bartlein, P.J.; Clark, P.U.; Small, E.E.; Solomon, A.M.

2000-01-01

Eleven thousand years ago, large lakes existed in central and eastern North America along the margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The large-scale North American climate at this time has been simulated with atmospheric general circulation models, but these relatively coarse global models do not resolve potentially important features of the mesoscale circulation that arise from interactions among the atmosphere, ice sheet, and proglacial lakes. Here we present simulations of the climate of central and eastern North America 11,000 years ago with a high-resolution, regional climate model nested within a general circulation model. The simulated climate is in general agreement with that inferred from palaeoecological evidence. Our experiments indicate that through mesoscale atmospheric feedbacks, the annual delivery of moisture to the Laurentide Ice Sheet was diminished at times of a large, cold Lake Agassiz relative to periods of lower lake stands. The resulting changes in the mass balance of the ice sheet may have contributed to fluctuations of the ice margin, thus affecting the routing of fresh water to the North Atlantic Ocean. A retreating ice margin during periods of high lake level may have opened an outlet for discharge of Lake Agassiz into the North Atlantic. A subsequent advance of the ice margin due to greater moisture delivery associated with a low lake level could have dammed the outlet, thereby reducing discharge to the North Atlantic. These variations may have been decisive in causing the Younger Dryas cold even.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnes, Hannah C.; Houze, Robert A.

To equitably compare the spatial pattern of ice microphysical processes produced by three microphysical parameterizations with each other, observations, and theory, simulations of tropical oceanic mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were forced to develop the same mesoscale circulations as observations by assimilating radial velocity data from a Doppler radar. The same general layering of microphysical processes was found in observations and simulations with deposition anywhere above the 0°C level, aggregation at and above the 0°C level, melting at and below the 0°C level, and riming near the 0°C level. Thus, this study ismore » consistent with the layered ice microphysical pattern portrayed in previous conceptual models and indicated by dual-polarization radar data. Spatial variability of riming in the simulations suggests that riming in the midlevel inflow is related to convective-scale vertical velocity perturbations. Finally, this study sheds light on limitations of current generally available bulk microphysical parameterizations. In each parameterization, the layers in which aggregation and riming took place were generally too thick and the frequency of riming was generally too high compared to the observations and theory. Additionally, none of the parameterizations produced similar details in every microphysical spatial pattern. Discrepancies in the patterns of microphysical processes between parameterizations likely factor into creating substantial differences in model reflectivity patterns. It is concluded that improved parameterizations of ice-phase microphysics will be essential to obtain reliable, consistent model simulations of tropical oceanic MCSs.« less

Predicting Tropical Cyclogenesis with a Global Mesoscale Model: Preliminary Results with Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis (2008)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, B.; Tao, W.; Atlas, R.

2008-12-01

Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis, the deadliest named tropical cyclone (TC) in the North Indian Ocean Basin, devastated Burma (Myanmar) in May 2008, causing tremendous damage and numerous fatalities. An increased lead time in the prediction of TC Nargis would have increased the warning time and may therefore have saved lives and reduced economic damage. Recent advances in high-resolution global models and supercomputers have shown the potential for improving TC track and intensity forecasts, presumably by improving multi-scale simulations. The key but challenging questions to be answered include: (1) if and how realistic, in terms of timing, location and TC general structure, the global mesoscale model (GMM) can simulate TC genesis and (2) under what conditions can the model extend the lead time of TC genesis forecasts. In this study, we focus on genesis prediction for TCs in the Indian Ocean with the GMM. Preliminary real-data simulations show that the initial formation and intensity variations of TC Nargis can be realistically predicted at a lead time of up to 5 days. These simulations also suggest that the accurate representations of a westerly wind burst (WWB) and an equatorial trough, associated with monsoon circulations and/or a Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), are important for predicting the formation of this kind of TC. In addition to the WWB and equatorial trough, other favorable environmental conditions will be examined, which include enhanced monsoonal circulation, upper-level outflow, low- and middle-level moistening, and surface fluxes.

Extended-range high-resolution dynamical downscaling over a continental-scale spatial domain with atmospheric and surface nudging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Husain, S. Z.; Separovic, L.; Yu, W.; Fernig, D.

2014-12-01

Extended-range high-resolution mesoscale simulations with limited-area atmospheric models when applied to downscale regional analysis fields over large spatial domains can provide valuable information for many applications including the weather-dependent renewable energy industry. Long-term simulations over a continental-scale spatial domain, however, require mechanisms to control the large-scale deviations in the high-resolution simulated fields from the coarse-resolution driving fields. As enforcement of the lateral boundary conditions is insufficient to restrict such deviations, large scales in the simulated high-resolution meteorological fields are therefore spectrally nudged toward the driving fields. Different spectral nudging approaches, including the appropriate nudging length scales as well as the vertical profiles and temporal relaxations for nudging, have been investigated to propose an optimal nudging strategy. Impacts of time-varying nudging and generation of hourly analysis estimates are explored to circumvent problems arising from the coarse temporal resolution of the regional analysis fields. Although controlling the evolution of the atmospheric large scales generally improves the outputs of high-resolution mesoscale simulations within the surface layer, the prognostically evolving surface fields can nevertheless deviate from their expected values leading to significant inaccuracies in the predicted surface layer meteorology. A forcing strategy based on grid nudging of the different surface fields, including surface temperature, soil moisture, and snow conditions, toward their expected values obtained from a high-resolution offline surface scheme is therefore proposed to limit any considerable deviation. Finally, wind speed and temperature at wind turbine hub height predicted by different spectrally nudged extended-range simulations are compared against observations to demonstrate possible improvements achievable using higher spatiotemporal resolution.

Sensitivity of Numerical Simulations of a Mesoscale Convective System to Ice Hydrometeors in Bulk Microphysical Parameterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pu, Zhaoxia; Lin, Chao; Dong, Xiquan; Krueger, Steven K.

2018-01-01

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) and their associated cloud properties are the important factors that influence the aviation activities, yet they present a forecasting challenge in numerical weather prediction. In this study, the sensitivity of numerical simulations of an MCS over the US Southern Great Plains to ice hydrometeors in bulk microphysics (MP) schemes has been investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. It is found that the simulated structure, life cycle, cloud coverage, and precipitation of the convective system as well as its associated cold pools are sensitive to three selected MP schemes, namely, the WRF single-moment 6-class (WSM6), WRF double-moment 6-class (WDM6, with the double-moment treatment of warm-rain only), and Morrison double-moment (MORR, with the double-moment representation of both warm-rain and ice) schemes. Compared with observations, the WRF simulation with WSM6 only produces a less organized convection structure with a short lifetime, while WDM6 can produce the structure and length of the MCS very well. Both simulations heavily underestimate the precipitation amount, the height of the radar echo top, and stratiform cloud fractions. With MORR, the model performs well in predicting the lifetime, cloud coverage, echo top, and precipitation amount of the convection. Overall results demonstrate the importance of including double-moment representation of ice hydrometeors along with warm-rain. Additional experiments are performed to further examine the role of ice hydrometeors in numerical simulations of the MCS. Results indicate that replacing graupel with hail in the MORR scheme improves the prediction of the convective structure, especially in the convective core region.

Role of Oxygen Functionalities in Graphene Oxide Architectural Laminate Subnanometer Spacing and Water Transport.

PubMed

Amadei, Carlo Alberto; Montessori, Andrea; Kadow, Julian P; Succi, Sauro; Vecitis, Chad D

2017-04-18

Active research in nanotechnology contemplates the use of nanomaterials for environmental engineering applications. However, a primary challenge is understanding the effects of nanomaterial properties on industrial device performance and translating unique nanoscale properties to the macroscale. One emerging example consists of graphene oxide (GO) membranes for separation processes. Thus, here we investigate how individual GO properties can impact GO membrane characteristics and water permeability. GO chemistry and morphology were controlled with easy-to-implement photoreduction and sonication techniques and were quantitatively correlated, offering a valuable tool for accelerating characterization. Chemical GO modification allows for fine control of GO oxidation state, allowing control of GO architectural laminate (GOAL) spacing and permeability. Water permeability was measured for eight GOALs characterized by different GOAL chemistry and morphology and indicates that GOAL nanochannel height dictates water transport. The experimental outputs were corroborated with mesoscale water transport simulations of relatively large domains (thousands of square nanometers) and indicate a no-slip Darcy-like behavior inside the GOAL nanochannels. The experimental and simulation evidence presented in this study helps create a clearer picture of water transport in GOAL and can be used to rationally design more effective and efficient GO membranes.

Lower Length Scale Model Development for Embrittlement of Reactor Presure Vessel Steel

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Yongfeng; Schwen, Daniel; Chakraborty, Pritam

2016-09-01

This report summarizes the lower-length-scale effort during FY 2016 in developing mesoscale capabilities for microstructure evolution, plasticity and fracture in reactor pressure vessel steels. During operation, reactor pressure vessels are subject to hardening and embrittlement caused by irradiation induced defect accumulation and irradiation enhanced solute precipitation. Both defect production and solute precipitation start from the atomic scale, and manifest their eventual effects as degradation in engineering scale properties. To predict the property degradation, multiscale modeling and simulation are needed to deal with the microstructure evolution, and to link the microstructure feature to material properties. In this report, the development ofmore » mesoscale capabilities for defect accumulation and solute precipitation are summarized. A crystal plasticity model to capture defect-dislocation interaction and a damage model for cleavage micro-crack propagation is also provided.« less

An efficient algorithm for generating diverse microstructure sets and delineating properties closures

DOE PAGES

Johnson, Oliver K.; Kurniawan, Christian

2018-02-03

Properties closures delineate the theoretical objective space for materials design problems, allowing designers to make informed trade-offs between competing constraints and target properties. In this paper, we present a new algorithm called hierarchical simplex sampling (HSS) that approximates properties closures more efficiently and faithfully than traditional optimization based approaches. By construction, HSS generates samples of microstructure statistics that span the corresponding microstructure hull. As a result, we also find that HSS can be coupled with synthetic polycrystal generation software to generate diverse sets of microstructures for subsequent mesoscale simulations. Finally, by more broadly sampling the space of possible microstructures, itmore » is anticipated that such diverse microstructure sets will expand our understanding of the influence of microstructure on macroscale effective properties and inform the construction of higher-fidelity mesoscale structure-property models.« less

An efficient algorithm for generating diverse microstructure sets and delineating properties closures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, Oliver K.; Kurniawan, Christian

Properties closures delineate the theoretical objective space for materials design problems, allowing designers to make informed trade-offs between competing constraints and target properties. In this paper, we present a new algorithm called hierarchical simplex sampling (HSS) that approximates properties closures more efficiently and faithfully than traditional optimization based approaches. By construction, HSS generates samples of microstructure statistics that span the corresponding microstructure hull. As a result, we also find that HSS can be coupled with synthetic polycrystal generation software to generate diverse sets of microstructures for subsequent mesoscale simulations. Finally, by more broadly sampling the space of possible microstructures, itmore » is anticipated that such diverse microstructure sets will expand our understanding of the influence of microstructure on macroscale effective properties and inform the construction of higher-fidelity mesoscale structure-property models.« less

Sensitivity of mesoscale-model forecast skill to some initial-data characteristics, data density, data position, analysis procedure and measurement error

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warner, Thomas T.; Key, Lawrence E.; Lario, Annette M.

1989-01-01

The effects of horizontal and vertical data resolution, data density, data location, different objective analysis algorithms, and measurement error on mesoscale-forecast accuracy are studied with observing-system simulation experiments. Domain-averaged errors are shown to generally decrease with time. It is found that the vertical distribution of error growth depends on the initial vertical distribution of the error itself. Larger gravity-inertia wave noise is produced in forecasts with coarser vertical data resolution. The use of a low vertical resolution observing system with three data levels leads to more forecast errors than moderate and high vertical resolution observing systems with 8 and 14 data levels. Also, with poor vertical resolution in soundings, the initial and forecast errors are not affected by the horizontal data resolution.

Mesoscale Numerical Simulations of the IAS Circulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mooers, C. N.; Ko, D.

2008-05-01

Real-time nowcasts and forecasts of the IAS circulation have been made for several years with mesoscale resolution using the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) implemented for the IAS. It is commonly called IASNFS and is driven by the lower resolution Global NCOM on the open boundaries, synoptic atmospheric forcing obtained from the Navy Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS), and assimilated satellite-derived sea surface height anomalies and sea surface temperature. Here, examples of the model output are demonstrated; e.g., Gulf of Mexico Loop Current eddy shedding events and the meandering Caribbean Current jet and associated eddies. Overall, IASNFS is ready for further analysis, application to a variety of studies, and downscaling to even higher resolution shelf models. Its output fields are available online through NOAA's National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC), located at the Stennis Space Center.

How Eddies Gain, Retain, and Release Water: A Case Study of a Hokkaido Anticyclone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prants, S. V.; Budyansky, M. V.; Uleysky, M. Yu.

2018-03-01

A Lagrangian methodology is elaborated to identify the origin of water masses in the Kuroshio-Oyashio frontal zone where waters of the Kuroshio Extension and Oyashio Current and of the Japan and Okhotsk Seas converge. It allows one to track the evolution of mesoscale eddies during the satellite-altimetry era and to document how they gain, retain, and release water masses of different origin. The methodology is applied to study warm-core mesoscale anticyclones propagating along the Japan and Kuril Trenches near the eastern coast of Hokkaido Island that have been observed from 1 January 1993 to 10 December 2016 in an altimetry-based velocity field. The Hokkaido eddy, sampled by profiling floats and a few cruises in 2003 and 2004, is analyzed in detail in order to compare Lagrangian simulation results to observations.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Du, Jincheng; Rimsza, Jessica

Computational simulations at the atomistic level play an increasing important role in understanding the structures, behaviors, and the structure-property relationships of glass and amorphous materials. In this paper, we reviewed atomistic simulation methods ranging from first principles calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD), to classical molecular dynamics (MD) and meso-scale kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations and their applications to glass-water interactions and glass dissolutions. Particularly, the use of these simulation methods in understanding the reaction mechanisms of water with oxide glasses, water-glass interfaces, hydrated porous silica gels formation, the structure and properties of multicomponent glasses, and microstructure evolution aremore » reviewed. Here, the advantages and disadvantageous of these methods are discussed and the current challenges and future direction of atomistic simulations in glass dissolution are presented.« less

Cirrus Cloud Optical and Morphological Variations within a Mesoscale Volume

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, Walter W.

1996-01-01

Cirrus cloud optical and structural properties were measured above southern Wisconsin in two time segments between 18:07 and 21:20 GMT on December 1, 1989 by the volume imaging lidar (VIL) and the High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) and the visible infrared spin scan radiometer (VISSR) atmospheric sounder (VAS) on GOES. A new technique was used to calculate the cirrus cloud visible aerosol backscatter cross sections for a single channel elastic backscatter lidar. Cirrus clouds were viewed simultaneously by the VIL and the HSRL. This allowed the HSRL aerosol backscatter cross sections to be directly compared to the VIL single channel backscattered signal. This first attempt resulted in an adequate calibration. The calibration was extended to all the cirrus clouds in the mesoscale volume imaged by the VIL.

Benchmarking the mesoscale variability in global ocean eddy-permitting numerical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cipollone, Andrea; Masina, Simona; Storto, Andrea; Iovino, Doroteaciro

2017-10-01

The role of data assimilation procedures on representing ocean mesoscale variability is assessed by applying eddy statistics to a state-of-the-art global ocean reanalysis (C-GLORS), a free global ocean simulation (performed with the NEMO system) and an observation-based dataset (ARMOR3D) used as an independent benchmark. Numerical results are computed on a 1/4 ∘ horizontal grid (ORCA025) and share the same resolution with ARMOR3D dataset. This "eddy-permitting" resolution is sufficient to allow ocean eddies to form. Further to assessing the eddy statistics from three different datasets, a global three-dimensional eddy detection system is implemented in order to bypass the need of regional-dependent definition of thresholds, typical of commonly adopted eddy detection algorithms. It thus provides full three-dimensional eddy statistics segmenting vertical profiles from local rotational velocities. This criterion is crucial for discerning real eddies from transient surface noise that inevitably affects any two-dimensional algorithm. Data assimilation enhances and corrects mesoscale variability on a wide range of features that cannot be well reproduced otherwise. The free simulation fairly reproduces eddies emerging from western boundary currents and deep baroclinic instabilities, while underestimates shallower vortexes that populate the full basin. The ocean reanalysis recovers most of the missing turbulence, shown by satellite products , that is not generated by the model itself and consistently projects surface variability deep into the water column. The comparison with the statistically reconstructed vertical profiles from ARMOR3D show that ocean data assimilation is able to embed variability into the model dynamics, constraining eddies with in situ and altimetry observation and generating them consistently with local environment.

Modeling the Large-scale Environments of Long-lived Mesoscale Convective Systems Conducive to Heavy Precipitation in the Central United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leung, L. R.; Houze, R.; Feng, Z.; Yang, Q.

2017-12-01

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are important precipitation producers that account for 30-70% of warm season rainfall between the Rocky Mountains and Mississippi River and some 50-60% of tropical rainfall. Besides the tendency to produce floods, MCSs also carry with them a variety of attendant severe weather phenomena. Our recent analysis found that observed increases in springtime total and extreme rainfall in the central United States in the past 35 years are dominated by increased frequency and intensity of long-lasting MCSs. Understanding the environmental conditions producing long-lived MCSs is therefore a priority in determining how heavy precipitation events might change in character and location in a changing climate. Continental-scale convection-permitting simulations of the warm seasons using the WRF model reproduce realistic structure and frequency distribution of lifetime and event mean precipitation of MCSs over the central United States. The simulations show that MCSs systematically form over the central Great Plains ahead of a trough in the westerlies in combination with an enhanced low-level moist jet from the Gulf of Mexico. These environmental properties at the time of storm initiation are most prominent for the MCSs that persist for the longest times. MCSs reaching lifetimes of 9 h or more occur closer to the approaching trough than shorter-lived MCSs. These long-lived MCSs exhibit the strongest feedback to the environment through diabatic heating in the trailing regions of the MCSs that helps to maintain them over a long period of time. The identified large-scale and mesoscale ingredients provide a framework for understanding and modeling the potential changes in MCSs and associated hydrometeorological extremes in the future.

Performance of MODIS satellite and mesoscale model based land surface temperature for soil moisture deficit estimation using Neural Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srivastava, Prashant K.; Petropoulos, George P.; Gupta, Manika; Islam, Tanvir

2015-04-01

Soil Moisture Deficit (SMD) is a key variable in the water and energy exchanges that occur at the land-surface/atmosphere interface. Monitoring SMD is an alternate method of irrigation scheduling and represents the use of the suitable quantity of water at the proper time by combining measurements of soil moisture deficit. In past it is found that LST has a strong relation to SMD, which can be estimated by MODIS or numerical weather prediction model such as WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting model). By looking into the importance of SMD, this work focused on the application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for evaluating its capabilities towards SMD estimation using the LST data estimated from MODIS and WRF mesoscale model. The benchmark SMD estimated from Probability Distribution Model (PDM) over the Brue catchment, Southwest of England, U.K. is used for all the calibration and validation experiments. The performances between observed and simulated SMD are assessed in terms of the Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE), the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the percentage of bias (%Bias). The application of the ANN confirmed a high capability WRF and MODIS LST for prediction of SMD. Performance during the ANN calibration and validation showed a good agreement between benchmark and estimated SMD with MODIS LST information with significantly higher performance than WRF simulated LST. The work presented showed the first comprehensive application of LST from MODIS and WRF mesoscale model for hydrological SMD estimation, particularly for the maritime climate. More studies in this direction are recommended to hydro-meteorological community, so that useful information will be accumulated in the technical literature domain for different geographical locations and climatic conditions. Keyword: WRF, Land Surface Temperature, MODIS satellite, Soil Moisture Deficit, Neural Network

The role of the sea-surface temperature distribution on numerically simulated cyclogenesis during ERICA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lapenta, William M.; Perkey, Donald J.; Kreitzberg, Carl W.; Robertson, Franklin R.

1991-01-01

The goal was to quantify the extent to which a sea surface temperature (SST) front can influence cyclogenesis. The approach was to use the Drexel Limited-Area Mesoscale Prediction System (LAMPS) dynamical model to simulate cyclogenesis over various SST fields. Research during the past year focused on the development and testing of a four dimensional data assimilation (FDDA) technique within LAMPS. The technique is a continuous dynamical assimilation where forcing terms are added to the governing model equations to gradually nudge the model solution toward a gridded analysis. Here, the nudging is used as a dynamic initialization tool during a 12 hour preforecast to generate model balanced initial conditions for a subsequent 24 hour numerical prediction. Tests were performed to determine which variables to nudge and how to specify the four dimensional weighting function used to scale the nudging terms. To date, optimal results were obtained by nudging the u and v components of the wind along with the potential temperature. The weighting function ranged from 0 to 1 and varies in time as a quadratic polynomial. It was initialized at 0, reached its maximum at 9 hours into the preforecast, and fell back at 0 to 12 hours. The nudging terms are included in the model equations for all grid points except those within the model predicted oceanic boundary layer. This design attempts to confine changes imposed by the specified SST field to the oceanic boundary layer during the preforecast period.

GoAmazon2014/5 campaign points to deep-inflow approach to deep convection across scales

DOE PAGES

Schiro, Kathleen A.; Ahmed, Fiaz; Giangrande, Scott E.; ...

2018-04-17

Representations of strongly precipitating deep-convective systems in climate models are among the most important factors in their simulation. Parameterizations of these motions face the dual challenge of unclear pathways to including mesoscale organization and high sensitivity of convection to approximations of turbulent entrainment of environmental air. Ill-constrained entrainment processes can even affect global average climate sensitivity under global warming. Multiinstrument observations from the Department of Energy GoAmazon2014/5 field campaign suggest that an alternative formulation from radar-derived dominant updraft structure yields a strong relationship of precipitation to buoyancy in both mesoscale and smaller-scale convective systems. This simultaneously provides a key stepmore » toward representing the influence of mesoscale convection in climate models and sidesteps a problematic dependence on traditional entrainment rates. A substantial fraction of precipitation is associated with mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), which are currently poorly represented in climate models. Convective parameterizations are highly sensitive to the assumptions of an entraining plume model, in which high equivalent potential temperature air from the boundary layer is modified via turbulent entrainment. Here we show, using multiinstrument evidence from the Green Ocean Amazon field campaign (2014–2015; GoAmazon2014/5), that an empirically constrained weighting for inflow of environmental air based on radar wind profiler estimates of vertical velocity and mass flux yields a strong relationship between resulting buoyancy measures and precipitation statistics. This deep-inflow weighting has no free parameter for entrainment in the conventional sense, but to a leading approximation is simply a statement of the geometry of the inflow. The structure further suggests the weighting could consistently apply even for coherent inflow structures noted in field campaign studies for MCSs over tropical oceans. For radar precipitation retrievals averaged over climate model grid scales at the GoAmazon2014/5 site, the use of deep-inflow mixing yields a sharp increase in the probability and magnitude of precipitation with increasing buoyancy. Furthermore, this applies for both mesoscale and smaller-scale convection. Results from reanalysis and satellite data show that this holds more generally: Deep-inflow mixing yields a strong precipitation–buoyancy relation across the tropics. Lastly, deep-inflow mixing may thus circumvent inadequacies of current parameterizations while helping to bridge the gap toward representing mesoscale convection in climate models.« less

GoAmazon2014/5 campaign points to deep-inflow approach to deep convection across scales

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schiro, Kathleen A.; Ahmed, Fiaz; Giangrande, Scott E.

Representations of strongly precipitating deep-convective systems in climate models are among the most important factors in their simulation. Parameterizations of these motions face the dual challenge of unclear pathways to including mesoscale organization and high sensitivity of convection to approximations of turbulent entrainment of environmental air. Ill-constrained entrainment processes can even affect global average climate sensitivity under global warming. Multiinstrument observations from the Department of Energy GoAmazon2014/5 field campaign suggest that an alternative formulation from radar-derived dominant updraft structure yields a strong relationship of precipitation to buoyancy in both mesoscale and smaller-scale convective systems. This simultaneously provides a key stepmore » toward representing the influence of mesoscale convection in climate models and sidesteps a problematic dependence on traditional entrainment rates. A substantial fraction of precipitation is associated with mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), which are currently poorly represented in climate models. Convective parameterizations are highly sensitive to the assumptions of an entraining plume model, in which high equivalent potential temperature air from the boundary layer is modified via turbulent entrainment. Here we show, using multiinstrument evidence from the Green Ocean Amazon field campaign (2014–2015; GoAmazon2014/5), that an empirically constrained weighting for inflow of environmental air based on radar wind profiler estimates of vertical velocity and mass flux yields a strong relationship between resulting buoyancy measures and precipitation statistics. This deep-inflow weighting has no free parameter for entrainment in the conventional sense, but to a leading approximation is simply a statement of the geometry of the inflow. The structure further suggests the weighting could consistently apply even for coherent inflow structures noted in field campaign studies for MCSs over tropical oceans. For radar precipitation retrievals averaged over climate model grid scales at the GoAmazon2014/5 site, the use of deep-inflow mixing yields a sharp increase in the probability and magnitude of precipitation with increasing buoyancy. Furthermore, this applies for both mesoscale and smaller-scale convection. Results from reanalysis and satellite data show that this holds more generally: Deep-inflow mixing yields a strong precipitation–buoyancy relation across the tropics. Lastly, deep-inflow mixing may thus circumvent inadequacies of current parameterizations while helping to bridge the gap toward representing mesoscale convection in climate models.« less

Coupling of Large Eddy Simulations with Meteorological Models to simulate Methane Leaks from Natural Gas Storage Facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasad, K.

2017-12-01

Atmospheric transport is usually performed with weather models, e.g., the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model that employs a parameterized turbulence model and does not resolve the fine scale dynamics generated by the flow around buildings and features comprising a large city. The NIST Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is a computational fluid dynamics model that utilizes large eddy simulation methods to model flow around buildings at length scales much smaller than is practical with models like WRF. FDS has the potential to evaluate the impact of complex topography on near-field dispersion and mixing that is difficult to simulate with a mesoscale atmospheric model. A methodology has been developed to couple the FDS model with WRF mesoscale transport models. The coupling is based on nudging the FDS flow field towards that computed by WRF, and is currently limited to one way coupling performed in an off-line mode. This approach allows the FDS model to operate as a sub-grid scale model with in a WRF simulation. To test and validate the coupled FDS - WRF model, the methane leak from the Aliso Canyon underground storage facility was simulated. Large eddy simulations were performed over the complex topography of various natural gas storage facilities including Aliso Canyon, Honor Rancho and MacDonald Island at 10 m horizontal and vertical resolution. The goal of these simulations included improving and validating transport models as well as testing leak hypotheses. Forward simulation results were compared with aircraft and tower based in-situ measurements as well as methane plumes observed using the NASA Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and the next generation instrument AVIRIS-NG. Comparison of simulation results with measurement data demonstrate the capability of the coupled FDS-WRF models to accurately simulate the transport and dispersion of methane plumes over urban domains. Simulated integrated methane enhancements will be presented and compared with results obtained from spectrometer data to estimate the temporally evolving methane flux during the Aliso Canyon blowout.

Transport of contaminants in the planetary boundary layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, I. Y.; Swan, P. R.

1978-01-01

A planetary boundary layer model is described and used to simulate PBL phenomena including cloud formation and pollution transport in the San Francisco Bay Area. The effect of events in the PBL on air pollution is considered, and governing equations for the average momentum, potential temperature, water vapor mixing ratio, and air contaminants are presented. These equations are derived by integrating the basic equations vertically through the mixed layer. Characteristics of the day selected for simulation are reported, and the results suggest that the diurnally cyclic features of the mesoscale motion, including clouds and air pollution, can be simulated in a readily interpretable way with the model.

Modeling deflagration waves out of hot spots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Partom, Yehuda

2017-01-01

It is widely accepted that shock initiation and detonation of heterogeneous explosives comes about by a two-step process known as ignition and growth. In the first step a shock sweeping through an explosive cell (control volume) creates hot spots that become ignition sites. In the second step, deflagration waves (or burn waves) propagate out of those hot spots and transform the reactant in the cell into reaction products. The macroscopic (or average) reaction rate of the reactant in the cell depends on the speed of those deflagration waves and on the average distance between neighboring hot spots. Here we simulate the propagation of deflagration waves out of hot spots on the mesoscale in axial symmetry using a 2D hydrocode, to which we add heat conduction and bulk reaction. The propagation speed of the deflagration waves may depend on both pressure and temperature. It depends on pressure for quasistatic loading near ambient temperature, and on temperature at high temperatures resulting from shock loading. From the simulation we obtain deflagration fronts emanating out of the hot spots. For 8 to 13 GPa shocks, the emanating fronts propagate as deflagration waves to consume the explosive between hot spots. For higher shock levels deflagration waves may interact with the sweeping shock to become detonation waves on the mesoscale. From the simulation results we extract average deflagration wave speeds.

The sliding-helix voltage sensor

PubMed Central

Peyser, Alexander; Nonner, Wolfgang

2012-01-01

The voltage sensor (VS) domain of voltage-gated ion channels underlies electrical excitability of living cells. We simulate a mesoscale model of the VS domain to determine the functional consequences of some of its physical elements. Our mesoscale model is based on VS charges, linear dielectrics and whole-body motion, applied to an S4 ‘sliding helix’. The electrostatics under voltage-clamped boundary conditions are solved consistently using a boundary element method. Based on electrostatic configurational energy, statistical-mechanical expectations of the experimentally observable relation between displaced charge and membrane voltage are predicted. Consequences of the model are investigated for variations of: S4 configuration (α- and 310-helical), countercharge alignment with S4 charges, protein polarizability, geometry of the gating canal, screening of S4 charges by the baths, and fixed charges located at the bath interfaces. The sliding helix VS domain has an inherent electrostatic stability in the explored parameter space: countercharges present in the region of weak dielectric always retain an equivalent S4 charge in that region but allow sliding movements displacing 3 to 4 e0. That movement is sensitive to small energy variations (< 2kT) along the path dependent on a number of electrostatic parameters tested in our simulations. These simulations show how the slope of the relation between displaced charge and voltage could be tuned in a channel. PMID:22907204

Multiscale contact mechanics model for RF-MEMS switches with quantified uncertainties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Hojin; Huda Shaik, Nurul; Xu, Xin; Raman, Arvind; Strachan, Alejandro

2013-12-01

We introduce a multiscale model for contact mechanics between rough surfaces and apply it to characterize the force-displacement relationship for a metal-dielectric contact relevant for radio frequency micro-electromechanicl system (MEMS) switches. We propose a mesoscale model to describe the history-dependent force-displacement relationships in terms of the surface roughness, the long-range attractive interaction between the two surfaces, and the repulsive interaction between contacting asperities (including elastic and plastic deformation). The inputs to this model are the experimentally determined surface topography and the Hamaker constant as well as the mechanical response of individual asperities obtained from density functional theory calculations and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. The model captures non-trivial processes including the hysteresis during loading and unloading due to plastic deformation, yet it is computationally efficient enough to enable extensive uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis. We quantify how uncertainties and variability in the input parameters, both experimental and theoretical, affect the force-displacement curves during approach and retraction. In addition, a sensitivity analysis quantifies the relative importance of the various input quantities for the prediction of force-displacement during contact closing and opening. The resulting force-displacement curves with quantified uncertainties can be directly used in device-level simulations of micro-switches and enable the incorporation of atomic and mesoscale phenomena in predictive device-scale simulations.

Self-assembly of micelles in organic solutions of lecithin and bile salt: Mesoscale computer simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markina, A.; Ivanov, V.; Komarov, P.; Khokhlov, A.; Tung, S.-H.

2016-11-01

We propose a coarse-grained model for studying the effects of adding bile salt to lecithin organosols by means of computer simulation. This model allows us to reveal the mechanisms of experimentally observed increasing of viscosity upon increasing the bile salt concentration. We show that increasing the bile salt to lecithin molar ratio induces the growth of elongated micelles of ellipsoidal and cylindrical shape due to incorporation of disklike bile salt molecules. These wormlike micelles can entangle into transient network displaying perceptible viscoelastic properties.

Experimental Investigation of the Influence of Small Scale Geological Heterogeneity on Capillary Trapping of CO2 Using Engineered Beadpacks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganesan Krishnamurthy, P.; Trevisan, L.; Meckel, T. A.

2017-12-01

During geologic CO2 sequestration, most of the storage domain far from the injection sites is likely to be dominated by buoyancy and capillary forces. Under such flow regimes, small scale geological heterogeneities have been shown to dampen plume migration rates and cause trapping beneath capillary barriers. To understand the impact of such heterogeneities on CO2 trapping processes experimentally, many core-scale and lab scale flow studies have been conducted. Reservoir cores are limited by the scale of investigation possible and most lab experiments are conducted in macroheterogeneous media constructed by arranging homogeneous units to represent heterogeneity. However, most natural sedimentary facies display heterogeneity at a hierarchy of scales, and heterogeneity at the mesoscale (mm to decimeters) goes unrepresented in laboratory experiments due to the difficulty in reproducibility. This work presents results from buoyancy driven migration experiments conducted at the meter scale using glass beads packed in a quasi 2D glass cell and complementary reduced physics simulations. We demonstrate a novel automated technique to build beadpacks with 2D heterogeneous sedimentary features in a reproducible manner. A fluid pair that mimics the phase density and viscosity contrasts, and interfacial tension of CO2-Brine at reservoir pressures and temperatures is employed for the flow experiments. Light transmission technique is used for visualization, and to calibrate and quantify saturation of the trapped non-wetting fluid during the experiments. Invasion Percolation is used to simulate the buoyancy driven flow. With the ability to generate different types of heterogeneous structures in a reproducible manner, and by comparing experiments and simulations, a systematic investigation of the effect of heterogeneity on capillary trapping becomes possible.

NEIGHBORHOOD SCALE AIR QUALITY MODELING IN HOUSTON USING URBAN CANOPY PARAMETERS IN MM5 AND CMAQ WITH IMPROVED CHARACTERIZATION OF MESOSCALE LAKE-LAND BREEZE CIRCULATION

EPA Science Inventory

Advanced capability of air quality simulation models towards accurate performance at finer scales will be needed for such models to serve as tools for performing exposure and risk assessments in urban areas. It is recognized that the impact of urban features such as street and t...

Sensitivity of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model v4.7 Results for the Eastern United States to MM5 and WRF Meteorological Drivers

EPA Science Inventory

This paper presents a comparison of the operational performance of two Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model v4.7 simulations that utilize input data from the 5th generation Mesoscale Model MM5 and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) meteorological models.

Refined BCF-type boundary conditions for mesoscale surface step dynamics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, Renjie; Ackerman, David M.; Evans, James W.

Deposition on a vicinal surface with alternating rough and smooth steps is described by a solid-on-solid model with anisotropic interactions. Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations of the model reveal step pairing in the absence of any additional step attachment barriers. We explore the description of this behavior within an analytic Burton-Cabrera-Frank (BCF)-type step dynamics treatment. Without attachment barriers, conventional kinetic coefficients for the rough and smooth steps are identical, as are the predicted step velocities for a vicinal surface with equal terrace widths. However, we determine refined kinetic coefficients from a two-dimensional discrete deposition-diffusion equation formalism which accounts for stepmore » structure. These coefficients are generally higher for rough steps than for smooth steps, reflecting a higher propensity for capture of diffusing terrace adatoms due to a higher kink density. Such refined coefficients also depend on the local environment of the step and can even become negative (corresponding to net detachment despite an excess adatom density) for a smooth step in close proximity to a rough step. Incorporation of these refined kinetic coefficients into a BCF-type step dynamics treatment recovers quantitatively the mesoscale step-pairing behavior observed in the KMC simulations.« less

Mesoscale Evaluation of Titanium Silicide Monolayer as a Cathode Host Material in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhixiao; Balbuena, Perla B.; Mukherjee, Partha P.

2017-09-01

Two-dimensional materials are competitive candidates as cathode materials in lithium-sulfur batteries for immobilizing soluble polysulfides and mitigating the shuttle effect. In this study, a mesoscale modeling approach, which combines first-principles simulation and kinetic Monte Carlo simulation, is employed to evaluate titanium silicide (Ti2Si and TiSi2) monolayers as potential host materials in lithium-sulfur batteries. It is found that the Ti2Si monolayer has much stronger affinities to Li2S x ( x = 1, 2, 4) molecules than does the TiSi2 monolayer. Also, Ti2Si can facilitate the dissociation of long-chain Li2S4 to LiS2. On the other hand, TiSi2 can only provide a weak chemical interaction for trapping soluble Li2S4. Therefore, the Ti2Si monolayer can be considered to be the next-generation cathode material for lithium-sulfur batteries. Nevertheless, the strong interaction between Ti2Si and Li2S also causes fast surface passivation. How to control the Li2S precipitation on Ti2Si should be answered by future studies.

Meso-Scale Finite Element Analysis of Mechanical Behavior of 3D Braided Composites Subjected to Biaxial Tension Loadings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chao; Curiel-Sosa, Jose L.; Bui, Tinh Quoc

2018-04-01

In many engineering applications, 3D braided composites are designed for primary loading-bearing structures, and they are frequently subjected to multi-axial loading conditions during service. In this paper, a unit-cell based finite element model is developed for assessment of mechanical behavior of 3D braided composites under different biaxial tension loadings. To predict the damage initiation and evolution of braiding yarns and matrix in the unit-cell, we thus propose an anisotropic damage model based on Murakami damage theory in conjunction with Hashin failure criteria and maximum stress criteria. To attain exact stress ratio, force loading mode of periodic boundary conditions which never been attempted before is first executed to the unit-cell model to apply the biaxial tension loadings. The biaxial mechanical behaviors, such as the stress distribution, tensile modulus and tensile strength are analyzed and discussed. The damage development of 3D braided composites under typical biaxial tension loadings is simulated and the damage mechanisms are revealed in the simulation process. The present study generally provides a new reference to the meso-scale finite element analysis (FEA) of multi-axial mechanical behavior of other textile composites.

Refined BCF-type boundary conditions for mesoscale surface step dynamics

DOE PAGES

Zhao, Renjie; Ackerman, David M.; Evans, James W.

2015-06-24

Deposition on a vicinal surface with alternating rough and smooth steps is described by a solid-on-solid model with anisotropic interactions. Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations of the model reveal step pairing in the absence of any additional step attachment barriers. We explore the description of this behavior within an analytic Burton-Cabrera-Frank (BCF)-type step dynamics treatment. Without attachment barriers, conventional kinetic coefficients for the rough and smooth steps are identical, as are the predicted step velocities for a vicinal surface with equal terrace widths. However, we determine refined kinetic coefficients from a two-dimensional discrete deposition-diffusion equation formalism which accounts for stepmore » structure. These coefficients are generally higher for rough steps than for smooth steps, reflecting a higher propensity for capture of diffusing terrace adatoms due to a higher kink density. Such refined coefficients also depend on the local environment of the step and can even become negative (corresponding to net detachment despite an excess adatom density) for a smooth step in close proximity to a rough step. Incorporation of these refined kinetic coefficients into a BCF-type step dynamics treatment recovers quantitatively the mesoscale step-pairing behavior observed in the KMC simulations.« less

Mesosacle eddies in a high resolution OGCM and coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Y.; Liu, H.; Lin, P.

2017-12-01

The present study described high-resolution climate modeling efforts including oceanic, atmospheric and coupled general circulation model (GCM) at the state key laboratory of numerical modeling for atmospheric sciences and geophysical fluid dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP). The high-resolution OGCM is established based on the latest version of the LASG/IAP Climate system Ocean Model (LICOM2.1), but its horizontal resolution and vertical resolution are increased to 1/10° and 55 layers, respectively. Forced by the surface fluxes from the reanalysis and observed data, the model has been integrated for approximately more than 80 model years. Compared with the simulation of the coarse-resolution OGCM, the eddy-resolving OGCM not only better simulates the spatial-temporal features of mesoscale eddies and the paths and positions of western boundary currents but also reproduces the large meander of the Kuroshio Current and its interannual variability. Another aspect, namely, the complex structures of equatorial Pacific currents and currents in the coastal ocean of China, are better captured due to the increased horizontal and vertical resolution. Then we coupled the high resolution OGCM to NCAR CAM4 with 25km resolution, in which the mesoscale air-sea interaction processes are better captured.

Towards a more consistent picture of isopycnal mixing in climate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gnanadesikan, A.; Pradal, M. A. S.; Koszalka, I.; Abernathey, R. P.

2014-12-01

The stirring of tracers by mesoscale eddies along isopycnal surfaces is often represented in coarse-resolution models by the Redi diffusion parameter ARedi. Theoretical treatments of ARedi often assume it should scale as the eddy energy or the growth rate of mesoscale eddies,. producing a picture where it is high in boundary currents and low )of order a few hundred m2/s) in the gyre interiors. However, observational estimates suggest that ARedi should be very large (of order thousands of m2/s) in the gyre interior. We present results of recent simulations comparing a range of spatially constant values ARedi (with values of 400, 800, 1200 and 2400 m2/s) to a spatially resolved estimate based on altimetry and a zonally averaged version of the same estimate. In general, increasing the ARedi coefficient destratifies and warms the high latitudes. Relative to our control simulation, the spatially dependent coefficient is lower in the Southern Ocean, but high in the North Pacific, and so the temperature changes mirror this. We also examine the response of ocean hypoxia to these changes. In general, the zonally averaged version of the altimetry-based estimate of ARedi does not capture the full 2d representation.

In silico modelling of drug–polymer interactions for pharmaceutical formulations

PubMed Central

Ahmad, Samina; Johnston, Blair F.; Mackay, Simon P.; Schatzlein, Andreas G.; Gellert, Paul; Sengupta, Durba; Uchegbu, Ijeoma F.

2010-01-01

Selecting polymers for drug encapsulation in pharmaceutical formulations is usually made after extensive trial and error experiments. To speed up excipient choice procedures, we have explored coarse-grained computer simulations (dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) and coarse-grained molecular dynamics using the MARTINI force field) of polymer–drug interactions to study the encapsulation of prednisolone (log p = 1.6), paracetamol (log p = 0.3) and isoniazid (log p = −1.1) in poly(l-lactic acid) (PLA) controlled release microspheres, as well as the encapsulation of propofol (log p = 4.1) in bioavailability enhancing quaternary ammonium palmitoyl glycol chitosan (GCPQ) micelles. Simulations have been compared with experimental data. DPD simulations, in good correlation with experimental data, correctly revealed that hydrophobic drugs (prednisolone and paracetamol) could be encapsulated within PLA microspheres and predicted the experimentally observed paracetamol encapsulation levels (5–8% of the initial drug level) in 50 mg ml−1 PLA microspheres, but only when initial paracetamol levels exceeded 5 mg ml−1. However, the mesoscale technique was unable to model the hydrophilic drug (isoniazid) encapsulation (4–9% of the initial drug level) which was observed in experiments. Molecular dynamics simulations using the MARTINI force field indicated that the self-assembly of GCPQ is rapid, with propofol residing at the interface between micellar hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups, and that there is a heterogeneous distribution of propofol within the GCPQ micelle population. GCPQ–propofol experiments also revealed a population of relatively empty and drug-filled GCPQ particles. PMID:20519214

Numerical simulation of severe convective phenomena over Croatian and Hungarian territory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahović, Nataša Strelec; Horvath, Akos; Csirmaz, Kalman

2007-02-01

Squall lines and supercells cause severe weather and huge damages in the territory of Croatia and Hungary. These long living events can be recognised by radar very well, but the problem of early warning, especially successful numerical forecast of these phenomena, has not yet been solved in this region. Two case studies are presented here in which dynamical modelling approach gives promising results: a squall line preceding a cold front and a single supercell generated because of a prefrontal instability. The numerical simulation is performed using the PSU/NCAR meso-scale model MM5, with horizontal resolution of 3 km. Lateral boundary conditions are taken from the ECMWF model. The moist processes are resolved by Reisner mixed-phase explicit moisture scheme and for the radiation scheme a rapid radiative transfer model is applied. The analysis nudging technique is applied for the first two hours of the model run. The results of the simulation are very promising. The MM5 model reconstructed the appearance of the convective phenomena and showed the development of thunderstorm into the supercell phase. The model results give very detailed insight into wind changes showing the rotation of supercells, clearly distinguish warm core of the cell and give rather good precipitation estimate. The successful simulation of convective phenomena by a high-resolution MM5 model showed that even smaller scale conditions are contained in synoptic scale patterns, represented in this case by the ECMWF model.

Validation of mesoscale models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuo, Bill; Warner, Tom; Benjamin, Stan; Koch, Steve; Staniforth, Andrew

1993-01-01

The topics discussed include the following: verification of cloud prediction from the PSU/NCAR mesoscale model; results form MAPS/NGM verification comparisons and MAPS observation sensitivity tests to ACARS and profiler data; systematic errors and mesoscale verification for a mesoscale model; and the COMPARE Project and the CME.

An analysis of MM5 sensitivity to different parameterizations for high-resolution climate simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Argüeso, D.; Hidalgo-Muñoz, J. M.; Gámiz-Fortis, S. R.; Esteban-Parra, M. J.; Castro-Díez, Y.

2009-04-01

An evaluation of MM5 mesoscale model sensitivity to different parameterizations schemes is presented in terms of temperature and precipitation for high-resolution integrations over Andalusia (South of Spain). As initial and boundary conditions ERA-40 Reanalysis data are used. Two domains were used, a coarse one with dimensions of 55 by 60 grid points with spacing of 30 km and a nested domain of 48 by 72 grid points grid spaced 10 km. Coarse domain fully covers Iberian Peninsula and Andalusia fits loosely in the finer one. In addition to parameterization tests, two dynamical downscaling techniques have been applied in order to examine the influence of initial conditions on RCM long-term studies. Regional climate studies usually employ continuous integration for the period under survey, initializing atmospheric fields only at the starting point and feeding boundary conditions regularly. An alternative approach is based on frequent re-initialization of atmospheric fields; hence the simulation is divided in several independent integrations. Altogether, 20 simulations have been performed using varying physics options, of which 4 were fulfilled applying the re-initialization technique. Surface temperature and accumulated precipitation (daily and monthly scale) were analyzed for a 5-year period covering from 1990 to 1994. Results have been compared with daily observational data series from 110 stations for temperature and 95 for precipitation Both daily and monthly average temperatures are generally well represented by the model. Conversely, daily precipitation results present larger deviations from observational data. However, noticeable accuracy is gained when comparing with monthly precipitation observations. There are some especially conflictive subregions where precipitation is scarcely captured, such as the Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly due to its extremely convective nature. Regarding parameterization schemes performance, every set provides very similar results either for temperature or precipitation and no configuration seems to outperform the others both for the whole region and for every season. Nevertheless, some marked differences between areas within the domain appear when analyzing certain physics options, particularly for precipitation. Some of the physics options, such as radiation, have little impact on model performance with respect to precipitation and results do not vary when the scheme is modified. On the other hand, cumulus and boundary layer parameterizations are responsible for most of the differences obtained between configurations. Acknowledgements: The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, with additional support from the European Community Funds (FEDER), project CGL2007-61151/CLI, and the Regional Government of Andalusia project P06-RNM-01622, have financed this study. The "Centro de Servicios de Informática y Redes de Comunicaciones" (CSIRC), Universidad de Granada, has provided the computing time. Key words: MM5 mesoscale model, parameterizations schemes, temperature and precipitation, South of Spain.

A Mesoscale Model-Based Climatography of Nocturnal Boundary-Layer Characteristics over the Complex Terrain of North-Western Utah.

PubMed

Serafin, Stefano; De Wekker, Stephan F J; Knievel, Jason C

Nocturnal boundary-layer phenomena in regions of complex topography are extremely diverse and respond to a multiplicity of forcing factors, acting primarily at the mesoscale and microscale. The interaction between different physical processes, e.g., drainage promoted by near-surface cooling and ambient flow over topography in a statically stable environment, may give rise to special flow patterns, uncommon over flat terrain. Here we present a climatography of boundary-layer flows, based on a 2-year archive of simulations from a high-resolution operational mesoscale weather modelling system, 4DWX. The geographical context is Dugway Proving Ground, in north-western Utah, USA, target area of the field campaigns of the MATERHORN (Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations Program) project. The comparison between model fields and available observations in 2012-2014 shows that the 4DWX model system provides a realistic representation of wind speed and direction in the area, at least in an average sense. Regions displaying strong spatial gradients in the field variables, thought to be responsible for enhanced nocturnal mixing, are typically located in transition areas from mountain sidewalls to adjacent plains. A key dynamical process in this respect is the separation of dynamically accelerated downslope flows from the surface.