Articles | Volume 14, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4403-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4403-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
15 Jun 2021
Research article |
| 15 Jun 2021
| 15 Jun 2021
On the estimation of boundary layer heights: a machine learning approach
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, ASGC Division, Richland, 99354, USA
Rob K. Newsom
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, ASGC Division, Richland, 99354, USA
Larry K. Berg
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, ASGC Division, Richland, 99354, USA
Heng Xiao
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, ASGC Division, Richland, 99354, USA
Po-Lun Ma
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, ASGC Division, Richland, 99354, USA
David D. Turner
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Global Systems
Laboratory, Boulder, 80305, USA
Related authors
Adam S. Wise, Robert S. Arthur, Aliza Abraham, Sonia Wharton, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob Newsom, Brian Hirth, John Schroeder, Patrick Moriarty, and Fotini K. Chow
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-84, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-84, 2024
Preprint under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
Wind farms can be subject to rapidly changing weather events. In the United States Great Plains, some of these weather events can result in waves in the atmosphere that ultimately affect how much power a wind farm can produce. We modeled a specific event of waves observed in Oklahoma. We determined how to accurately model the event and analyzed how it affected a wind farm’s power production finding that the waves both decreased power and made it more variable.
Ye Liu, Timothy W. Juliano, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Brian J. Gaudet, and Jungmin Lee
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-76, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-76, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
Our study reveals how different weather patterns influence wind conditions off the U.S. West Coast. We identified key weather patterns affecting wind speeds at potential wind farm sites using advanced machine learning. This research helps improve weather prediction models, making wind energy production more reliable and efficient.
Nicola Bodini, Mike Optis, Stephanie Redfern, David Rosencrans, Alex Rybchuk, Julie K. Lundquist, Vincent Pronk, Simon Castagneri, Avi Purkayastha, Caroline Draxl, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Ethan Young, Billy Roberts, Evan Rosenlieb, and Walter Musial
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1965–2006, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1965-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1965-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This article presents the 2023 National Offshore Wind data set (NOW-23), an updated resource for offshore wind information in the US. It replaces the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit, offering improved accuracy through advanced weather prediction models. The data underwent regional tuning and validation and can be accessed at no cost.
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob Newsom, Colleen Kaul, Stefano Letizia, Mikhail Pekour, Nicholas Hamilton, Duli Chand, Donna M. Flynn, Nicola Bodini, and Patrick Moriarty
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-29, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-29, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
The growth of wind farms in the central United States in the last decade has been staggering. This study looked at how wind farms affect the recovery of wind wakes – the disturbed air behind wind turbines. In places like the US Great Plains, phenomena such as low-level jets can form, changing how wind farms work. We studied how wind wakes recover under different weather conditions using real-world data, which is important for making wind energy more efficient and reliable.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, William I. Gustafson Jr., Ye Liu, Brian J. Gaudet, Nicola Bodini, Rob K. Newsom, and Mikhail Pekour
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 741–758, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-741-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-741-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In 2020, lidar-mounted buoys owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE) were deployed off the California coast in two wind energy lease areas and provided valuable year-long analyses of offshore low-level jet (LLJ) characteristics at heights relevant to wind turbines. In addition to the LLJ climatology, this work provides validation of LLJ representation in atmospheric models that are essential for assessing the potential energy yield of offshore wind farms.
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Gabriel García Medina, Brian Gaudet, William I. Gustafson Jr., Evgueni I. Kassianov, Jinliang Liu, Rob K. Newsom, Lindsay M. Sheridan, and Alicia M. Mahon
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5667–5699, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5667-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5667-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Our understanding and ability to observe and model air–sea processes has been identified as a principal limitation to our ability to predict future weather. Few observations exist offshore along the coast of California. To improve our understanding of the air–sea transition zone and support the wind energy industry, two buoys with state-of-the-art equipment were deployed for 1 year. In this article, we present details of the post-processing, algorithms, and analyses.
Sheng-Lun Tai, Larry K. Berg, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob Newsom, and Anthony Kirincich
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 433–448, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-433-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-433-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Turbulence intensity is critical for wind turbine design and operation as it affects wind power generation efficiency. Turbulence measurements in the marine environment are limited. We use a model to derive turbulence intensity and test how sea surface temperature data may impact the simulated turbulence intensity and atmospheric stability. The model slightly underestimates turbulence, and improved sea surface temperature data reduce the bias. Error with unrealistic mesoscale flow is identified.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Raghu Krishnamurthy, Gabriel García Medina, Brian J. Gaudet, William I. Gustafson Jr., Alicia M. Mahon, William J. Shaw, Rob K. Newsom, Mikhail Pekour, and Zhaoqing Yang
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2059–2084, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2059-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2059-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using observations from lidar buoys, five reanalysis and analysis models that support the wind energy community are validated offshore and at rotor-level heights along the California Pacific coast. The models are found to underestimate the observed wind resource. Occasions of large model error occur in conjunction with stable atmospheric conditions, wind speeds associated with peak turbine power production, and mischaracterization of the diurnal wind speed cycle in summer months.
Daniel Vassallo, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, and Harindra J. S. Fernando
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 295–309, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-295-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-295-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Machine learning is quickly becoming a commonly used technique for wind speed and power forecasting and is especially useful when combined with other forecasting techniques. This study utilizes a popular machine learning algorithm, random forest, in an attempt to predict the forecasting error of a statistical forecasting model. Various atmospheric characteristics are used as random forest inputs in an effort to discern the most useful atmospheric information for this purpose.
Daniel Vassallo, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, and Harindra J. S. Fernando
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 959–975, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-959-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-959-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Model error and uncertainty is a challenge in the wind energy industry, potentially leading to mischaracterization of millions of dollars' worth of wind resource. This paper combines meteorological knowledge with machine learning techniques, specifically artificial neural networks (ANNs), to better extrapolate wind speeds. It is found that ANNs can reduce power-law extrapolation error by up to 52 % while simultaneously reducing uncertainty. A test case is shown to help decipher the ANN results.
Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, James M. Wilczak, Joseph B. Olson, Jaymes S. Kenyon, Aditya Choukulkar, Larry K. Berg, Harindra J. S. Fernando, Eric P. Grimit, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Julie K. Lundquist, Paytsar Muradyan, Mikhail Pekour, Yelena Pichugina, Mark T. Stoelinga, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4803–4821, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
During the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project, improvements to the parameterizations were applied to the High Resolution Rapid Refresh model and its nested version. The impacts of the new parameterizations on the forecast of 80 m wind speeds and power are assessed, using sodars and profiling lidars observations for comparison. Improvements are evaluated as a function of the model’s initialization time, forecast horizon, time of the day, season, site elevation, and meteorological phenomena.
Nicola Bodini, Julie K. Lundquist, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Mikhail Pekour, Larry K. Berg, and Aditya Choukulkar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4367–4382, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4367-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4367-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
To improve the parameterization of the turbulence dissipation rate (ε) in numerical weather prediction models, we have assessed its temporal and spatial variability at various scales in the Columbia River Gorge during the WFIP2 field experiment. The turbulence dissipation rate shows large spatial variability, even at the microscale, with larger values in sites located downwind of complex orographic structures or in wind farm wakes. Distinct diurnal and seasonal cycles in ε have also been found.
Tessa E. Rosenberger, Thijs Heus, Girish N. Raghunathan, David D. Turner, Timothy J. Wagner, and Julia M. Simonson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2894, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2894, 2024
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
Entrainment is key in understanding temperature and moisture changes within the boundary layer, but it is difficult to observe using ground-based observations. This work used simulations to verify an assumption that simplifies entrainment estimations from ground-based observational data, recognizing that entrainment is the combination of the transfer of heat and moisture from above the boundary layer into it and the change in concentration of heat and moisture as boundary layer depth changes.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Jiali Wang, Caroline Draxl, Nicola Bodini, Caleb Phillips, Dmitry Duplyakin, Heidi Tinnesand, Raj K. Rai, Julia E. Flaherty, Larry K. Berg, Chunyong Jung, and Ethan Young
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-115, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-115, 2024
Preprint under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
Three recent wind resource datasets are assessed for their skills in representing annual average wind speeds and seasonal, diurnal, and inter-annual trends in the wind resource to support customers interested in small and midsize wind energy.
Brandon M. Duran, Casey J. Wall, Nicholas J. Lutsko, Takuro Michibata, Po-Lun Ma, Yi Qin, Margaret L. Duffy, Brian Medeiros, and Matvey Debolskiy
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3063, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3063, 2024
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
We use satellite simulator data generated by global climate models to investigate how aerosol particles impact the radiative properties of liquid clouds. Specifically, we quantify the radiative perturbations arising from aerosol-driven changes in the number density of cloud droplets, the vertically integrated cloud water mass, and the cloud amount. Our results show that in models, aerosol effects on the number density of cloud droplets contributes the most to anthropogenic climate forcing.
Adam S. Wise, Robert S. Arthur, Aliza Abraham, Sonia Wharton, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob Newsom, Brian Hirth, John Schroeder, Patrick Moriarty, and Fotini K. Chow
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-84, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-84, 2024
Preprint under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
Wind farms can be subject to rapidly changing weather events. In the United States Great Plains, some of these weather events can result in waves in the atmosphere that ultimately affect how much power a wind farm can produce. We modeled a specific event of waves observed in Oklahoma. We determined how to accurately model the event and analyzed how it affected a wind farm’s power production finding that the waves both decreased power and made it more variable.
Katherine Smith, Alice M. Barthel, LeAnn M. Conlon, Luke P. Van Roekel, Anthony Bartoletti, Jean-Christophe Golez, Chengzhu Zhang, Carolyn Branecky Begeman, James J. Benedict, Gautum Bisht, Yan Feng, Walter Hannah, Bryce E. Harrop, Nicole Jeffery, Wuyin Lin, Po-Lun Ma, Mathew E. Maltrud, Mark R. Petersen, Balwinder Singh, Qi Tang, Teklu Tesfa, Jonathan D. Wolfe, Shaocheng Xie, Xue Zheng, Karthik Balaguru, Oluwayemi Garuba, Peter Gleckler, Aixue Hu, Jiwoo Lee, Ben Moore-Maley, and Ana C. Ordonez
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-149, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-149, 2024
Preprint under review for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
Version 2.1 of the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) adds the Fox-Kemper et al. (2011) mixed layer eddy parameterization, which restratifies the ocean surface layer through an overturning streamfunction. Results include surface layer biases reduction in temperature, salinity, and sea-ice extent in the North Atlantic, a small strengthening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, and improvements in many atmospheric climatological variables.
Ye Liu, Yun Qian, Larry K. Berg, Zhe Feng, Jianfeng Li, Jingyi Chen, and Zhao Yang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8165–8181, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8165-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8165-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Deep convection under various large-scale meteorological patterns (LSMPs) shows distinct precipitation features. In southeastern Texas, mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) contribute significantly to precipitation year-round, while isolated deep convection (IDC) is prominent in summer and fall. Self-organizing maps (SOMs) reveal convection can occur without large-scale lifting or moisture convergence. MCSs and IDC events have distinct life cycles influenced by specific LSMPs.
Ye Liu, Timothy W. Juliano, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Brian J. Gaudet, and Jungmin Lee
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-76, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-76, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
Our study reveals how different weather patterns influence wind conditions off the U.S. West Coast. We identified key weather patterns affecting wind speeds at potential wind farm sites using advanced machine learning. This research helps improve weather prediction models, making wind energy production more reliable and efficient.
Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Ludovic Bariteau, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, Sergio Pezoa, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3933–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation physical retrieval is used to retrieve temperature and humidity profiles from various combinations of passive and active remote sensing instruments, surface platforms, and numerical weather prediction models. The retrieved profiles are assessed against collocated radiosonde in non-cloudy conditions to assess the sensitivity of the retrievals to different input combinations. Case studies with cloudy conditions are also inspected.
Johannes Mülmenstädt, Edward Gryspeerdt, Sudhakar Dipu, Johannes Quaas, Andrew S. Ackerman, Ann M. Fridlind, Florian Tornow, Susanne E. Bauer, Andrew Gettelman, Yi Ming, Youtong Zheng, Po-Lun Ma, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, Matthew W. Christensen, Adam C. Varble, L. Ruby Leung, Xiaohong Liu, David Neubauer, Daniel G. Partridge, Philip Stier, and Toshihiko Takemura
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7331–7345, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7331-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7331-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Human activities release copious amounts of small particles called aerosols into the atmosphere. These particles change how much sunlight clouds reflect to space, an important human perturbation of the climate, whose magnitude is highly uncertain. We found that the latest climate models show a negative correlation but a positive causal relationship between aerosols and cloud water. This means we need to be very careful when we interpret observational studies that can only see correlation.
Matthew W. Christensen, Peng Wu, Adam C. Varble, Heng Xiao, and Jerome D. Fast
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6455–6476, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6455-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6455-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds are essential to keep Earth cooler by reflecting sunlight back to space. We show that an increase in aerosol concentration suppresses precipitation in clouds, causing them to accumulate water and expand in a polluted environment with stronger turbulence and radiative cooling. This process enhances their reflectance by 51 %. It is therefore prudent to account for cloud fraction changes in assessments of aerosol–cloud interactions to improve predictions of climate change.
Charlotte M. Beall, Po-Lun Ma, Matthew W. Christensen, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Adam Varble, Kentaroh Suzuki, and Takuro Michibata
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5287–5302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5287-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5287-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Single-layer warm liquid clouds cover nearly one-third of the Earth's surface, and uncertainties regarding the impact of aerosols on their radiative properties pose a significant challenge to climate prediction. Here, we demonstrate how satellite observations can be used to constrain Earth system model estimates of the radiative forcing from the interactions of aerosols with clouds due to warm rain processes.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Dmitry Duplyakin, Caleb Phillips, Heidi Tinnesand, Raj K. Rai, Julia E. Flaherty, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-37, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-37, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
Twelve months of onsite wind measurement is standard for correcting model-based long-term wind speed estimates for utility-scale wind farms, however, the time and capital investment involved in gathering onsite measurements must be reconciled with the energy needs and funding opportunities for distributed wind projects. This study aims to answer the question of how low can you go in terms of the observational time period needed to make impactful improvements to long-term wind speed estimates.
Taufiq Hassan, Kai Zhang, Jianfeng Li, Balwinder Singh, Shixuan Zhang, Hailong Wang, and Po-Lun Ma
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3507–3532, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3507-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3507-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Anthropogenic aerosol emissions are an essential part of global aerosol models. Significant errors can exist from the loss of emission heterogeneity. We introduced an emission treatment that significantly improved aerosol emission heterogeneity in high-resolution model simulations, with improvements in simulated aerosol surface concentrations. The emission treatment will provide a more accurate representation of aerosol emissions and their effects on climate.
Nicola Bodini, Mike Optis, Stephanie Redfern, David Rosencrans, Alex Rybchuk, Julie K. Lundquist, Vincent Pronk, Simon Castagneri, Avi Purkayastha, Caroline Draxl, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Ethan Young, Billy Roberts, Evan Rosenlieb, and Walter Musial
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1965–2006, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1965-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1965-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This article presents the 2023 National Offshore Wind data set (NOW-23), an updated resource for offshore wind information in the US. It replaces the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit, offering improved accuracy through advanced weather prediction models. The data underwent regional tuning and validation and can be accessed at no cost.
Bianca Adler, David D. Turner, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, and James M. Wilczak
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-714, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-714, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Profiles of temperature and humidity in the atmospheric boundary layer can be retrieved from passive ground-based remote sensors such as microwave radiometers and infrared spectrometers. In this work, we present improvements to the optimal estimation physical retrieval framework TROPoe, which increase the availability of retrieved profiles and temporal consistency and enhance the value of TROPoe for the study of atmospheric processes.
Tessa Rosenberger, David D. Turner, Thijs Heus, Girish N. Raghunathan, Timothy J. Wagner, and Julia Simonson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-868, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-868, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work used model output to show that considering the changes in boundary layer depth over time in the calculations of variables such as fluxes and variance yields more accurate results than cases where calculations were done at a constant height. This work was done to improve future observations of these variables at the top of the boundary layer.
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob Newsom, Colleen Kaul, Stefano Letizia, Mikhail Pekour, Nicholas Hamilton, Duli Chand, Donna M. Flynn, Nicola Bodini, and Patrick Moriarty
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-29, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-29, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
The growth of wind farms in the central United States in the last decade has been staggering. This study looked at how wind farms affect the recovery of wind wakes – the disturbed air behind wind turbines. In places like the US Great Plains, phenomena such as low-level jets can form, changing how wind farms work. We studied how wind wakes recover under different weather conditions using real-world data, which is important for making wind energy more efficient and reliable.
Andrew Geiss and Po-Lun Ma
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-30, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-30, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
Particles in the Earth’s atmosphere strongly impact the planet’s energy budget and atmosphere simulations require accurately representing their interaction with light. This work introduces two approaches to representing light scattering by small particles. The first is a scattering simulation based on Mie theory implemented in Python. The second is a neural network emulator that is more accurate than existing methods and is fast enough to be used in climate and weather simulations.
Johannes Mülmenstädt, Andrew S. Ackerman, Ann M. Fridlind, Meng Huang, Po-Lun Ma, Naser Mahfouz, Susanne E. Bauer, Susannah M. Burrows, Matthew W. Christensen, Sudhakar Dipu, Andrew Gettelman, L. Ruby Leung, Florian Tornow, Johannes Quaas, Adam C. Varble, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, and Youtong Zheng
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-778, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-778, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Stratocumulus clouds play a large role in Earth's climate by reflecting incoming solar energy back to space. Turbulence at stratocumulus cloud top mixes in drier, warmer air, which can lead to a reduction in cloud. This process is challenging for coarse-resolution global models to represent. We show that global models nevertheless agree well with our process understanding. Global models also think the process is less important for the climate than other lines of evidence had led us to conclude.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, William I. Gustafson Jr., Ye Liu, Brian J. Gaudet, Nicola Bodini, Rob K. Newsom, and Mikhail Pekour
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 741–758, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-741-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-741-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In 2020, lidar-mounted buoys owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE) were deployed off the California coast in two wind energy lease areas and provided valuable year-long analyses of offshore low-level jet (LLJ) characteristics at heights relevant to wind turbines. In addition to the LLJ climatology, this work provides validation of LLJ representation in atmospheric models that are essential for assessing the potential energy yield of offshore wind farms.
Yu Yao, Po-Lun Ma, Yi Qin, Matthew W. Christensen, Hui Wan, Kai Zhang, Balwinder Singh, Meng Huang, and Mikhail Ovchinnikov
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-523, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-523, 2024
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
Giant aerosols have substantial effects on warm rain formation. However, it remains challenging to quantify the impact of giant particles at global scale. In this work, we applied earth system model to investigate its impacts by implementing new giant aerosol treatments to consider its physical process. We found this approach substantially affect liquid cloud and improved model's precipitation response to aerosols. Our findings demonstrate the significant impact of giant aerosols on climate.
Kirsten L. Findell, Zun Yin, Eunkyo Seo, Paul A. Dirmeyer, Nathan P. Arnold, Nathaniel Chaney, Megan D. Fowler, Meng Huang, David M. Lawrence, Po-Lun Ma, and Joseph A. Santanello Jr.
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1869–1883, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1869-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1869-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We outline a request for sub-daily data to accurately capture the process-level connections between land states, surface fluxes, and the boundary layer response. This high-frequency model output will allow for more direct comparison with observational field campaigns on process-relevant timescales, enable demonstration of inter-model spread in land–atmosphere coupling processes, and aid in targeted identification of sources of deficiencies and opportunities for improvement of the models.
Volker Wulfmeyer, Christoph Senff, Florian Späth, Andreas Behrendt, Diego Lange, Robert M. Banta, W. Alan Brewer, Andreas Wieser, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1175–1196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A simultaneous deployment of Doppler, temperature, and water-vapor lidar systems is used to provide profiles of molecular destruction rates and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation in the convective boundary layer (CBL). The results can be used for the parameterization of turbulent variables, TKE budget analyses, and the verification of weather forecast and climate models.
Jianfeng Li, Kai Zhang, Taufiq Hassan, Shixuan Zhang, Po-Lun Ma, Balwinder Singh, Qiyang Yan, and Huilin Huang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1327–1347, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1327-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1327-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
By comparing E3SM simulations with and without regional refinement, we find that model horizontal grid spacing considerably affects the simulated aerosol mass budget, aerosol–cloud interactions, and the effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols. The study identifies the critical physical processes strongly influenced by model resolution. It also highlights the benefit of applying regional refinement in future modeling studies at higher or even convection-permitting resolutions.
Yuying Zhang, Shaocheng Xie, Yi Qin, Wuyin Lin, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Xue Zheng, Po-Lun Ma, Yun Qian, Qi Tang, Christopher R. Terai, and Meng Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 169–189, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-169-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-169-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We performed systematic evaluation of clouds simulated in the Energy
Exascale Earth System Model (E3SMv2) to document model performance and understand what updates in E3SMv2 have caused changes in clouds from E3SMv1 to E3SMv2. We find that stratocumulus clouds along the subtropical west coast of continents are dramatically improved, primarily due to the retuning done in CLUBB. This study offers additional insights into clouds simulated in E3SMv2 and will benefit future E3SM developments.
Exascale Earth System Model (E3SMv2) to document model performance and understand what updates in E3SMv2 have caused changes in clouds from E3SMv1 to E3SMv2. We find that stratocumulus clouds along the subtropical west coast of continents are dramatically improved, primarily due to the retuning done in CLUBB. This study offers additional insights into clouds simulated in E3SMv2 and will benefit future E3SM developments.
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Gabriel García Medina, Brian Gaudet, William I. Gustafson Jr., Evgueni I. Kassianov, Jinliang Liu, Rob K. Newsom, Lindsay M. Sheridan, and Alicia M. Mahon
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5667–5699, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5667-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5667-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Our understanding and ability to observe and model air–sea processes has been identified as a principal limitation to our ability to predict future weather. Few observations exist offshore along the coast of California. To improve our understanding of the air–sea transition zone and support the wind energy industry, two buoys with state-of-the-art equipment were deployed for 1 year. In this article, we present details of the post-processing, algorithms, and analyses.
Shuaiqi Tang, Adam C. Varble, Jerome D. Fast, Kai Zhang, Peng Wu, Xiquan Dong, Fan Mei, Mikhail Pekour, Joseph C. Hardin, and Po-Lun Ma
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6355–6376, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6355-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6355-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To assess the ability of Earth system model (ESM) predictions, we developed a tool called ESMAC Diags to understand how aerosols, clouds, and aerosol–cloud interactions are represented in ESMs. This paper describes its version 2 functionality. We compared the model predictions with measurements taken by planes, ships, satellites, and ground instruments over four regions across the world. Results show that this new tool can help identify model problems and guide future development of ESMs.
Adam C. Varble, Po-Lun Ma, Matthew W. Christensen, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Shuaiqi Tang, and Jerome Fast
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13523–13553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13523-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13523-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate how clouds change in response to changing atmospheric particle (aerosol) concentrations in a climate model and find that the model-predicted cloud brightness increases too much as aerosols increase because the cloud drop number increases too much. Excessive drizzle in the model mutes this difference. Many differences between observational and model estimates are explained by varying assumptions of how much liquid has been lost in clouds, which impacts the estimated cloud drop number.
Sue Ellen Haupt, Branko Kosović, Larry K. Berg, Colleen M. Kaul, Matthew Churchfield, Jeffrey Mirocha, Dries Allaerts, Thomas Brummet, Shannon Davis, Amy DeCastro, Susan Dettling, Caroline Draxl, David John Gagne, Patrick Hawbecker, Pankaj Jha, Timothy Juliano, William Lassman, Eliot Quon, Raj K. Rai, Michael Robinson, William Shaw, and Regis Thedin
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1251–1275, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1251-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Mesoscale to Microscale Coupling team, part of the U.S. Department of Energy Atmosphere to Electrons (A2e) initiative, has studied various important challenges related to coupling mesoscale models to microscale models. Lessons learned and discerned best practices are described in the context of the cases studied for the purpose of enabling further deployment of wind energy. It also points to code, assessment tools, and data for testing the methods.
Sunil Baidar, Timothy J. Wagner, David D. Turner, and W. Alan Brewer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3715–3726, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3715-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3715-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides a new method to retrieve wind profiles from coherent Doppler lidar (CDL) measurements. It takes advantage of layer-to-layer correlation in wind profiles to provide continuous profiles of up to 3 km by filling in the gaps where the CDL signal is too small to retrieve reliable results by itself. Comparison with the current method and collocated radiosonde wind measurements showed excellent agreement with no degradation in results where the current method gives valid results.
Aishwarya Raman, Thomas Hill, Paul J. DeMott, Balwinder Singh, Kai Zhang, Po-Lun Ma, Mingxuan Wu, Hailong Wang, Simon P. Alexander, and Susannah M. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5735–5762, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5735-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5735-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) play an important role in cloud processes and associated precipitation. Yet, INPs are not accurately represented in climate models. This study attempts to uncover these gaps by comparing model-simulated INP concentrations against field campaign measurements in the SO for an entire year, 2017–2018. Differences in INP concentrations and variability between the model and observations have major implications for modeling cloud properties in high latitudes.
Andrew Geiss, Po-Lun Ma, Balwinder Singh, and Joseph C. Hardin
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 2355–2370, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2355-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2355-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric aerosols play a critical role in Earth's climate, but it is too computationally expensive to directly model their interaction with radiation in climate simulations. This work develops a new neural-network-based parameterization of aerosol optical properties for use in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model that is much more accurate than the current one; it also introduces a unique model optimization method that involves randomly generating neural network architectures.
Sheng-Lun Tai, Larry K. Berg, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob Newsom, and Anthony Kirincich
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 433–448, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-433-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-433-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Turbulence intensity is critical for wind turbine design and operation as it affects wind power generation efficiency. Turbulence measurements in the marine environment are limited. We use a model to derive turbulence intensity and test how sea surface temperature data may impact the simulated turbulence intensity and atmospheric stability. The model slightly underestimates turbulence, and improved sea surface temperature data reduce the bias. Error with unrealistic mesoscale flow is identified.
Maria P. Cadeddu, Virendra P. Ghate, David D. Turner, and Thomas E. Surleta
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3453–3470, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3453-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3453-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze the variability in marine boundary layer moisture at the Eastern North Atlantic site on a monthly and daily temporal scale and examine its fundamental role in the control of boundary layer cloudiness and precipitation. The study also highlights the complex interaction between large-scale and local processes controlling the boundary layer moisture and the importance of the mesoscale spatial distribution of vapor to support convection and precipitation.
Matthew W. Christensen, Po-Lun Ma, Peng Wu, Adam C. Varble, Johannes Mülmenstädt, and Jerome D. Fast
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2789–2812, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2789-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2789-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
An increase in aerosol concentration (tiny airborne particles) is shown to suppress rainfall and increase the abundance of droplets in clouds passing over Graciosa Island in the Azores. Cloud drops remain affected by aerosol for several days across thousands of kilometers in satellite data. Simulations from an Earth system model show good agreement, but differences in the amount of cloud water and its extent remain despite modifications to model parameters that control the warm-rain process.
Marine Bonazzola, Hélène Chepfer, Po-Lun Ma, Johannes Quaas, David M. Winker, Artem Feofilov, and Nick Schutgens
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1359–1377, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1359-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1359-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol has a large impact on climate. Using a lidar aerosol simulator ensures consistent comparisons between modeled and observed aerosol. We present a lidar aerosol simulator that applies a cloud masking and an aerosol detection threshold. We estimate the lidar signals that would be observed at 532 nm by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization overflying the atmosphere predicted by a climate model. Our comparison at the seasonal timescale shows a discrepancy in the Southern Ocean.
Bianca Adler, James M. Wilczak, Jaymes Kenyon, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Joseph B. Olson, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 597–619, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-597-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-597-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Rapid changes in wind speed make the integration of wind energy produced during persistent orographic cold-air pools difficult to integrate into the electrical grid. By evaluating three versions of NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model, we demonstrate how model developments targeted during the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project improve the forecast of a persistent cold-air pool event.
Gianluca Di Natale, David D. Turner, Giovanni Bianchini, Massimo Del Guasta, Luca Palchetti, Alessandro Bracci, Luca Baldini, Tiziano Maestri, William Cossich, Michele Martinazzo, and Luca Facheris
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7235–7258, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7235-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7235-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we describe a new approach to test the consistency of the precipitating ice cloud optical and microphysical properties in Antarctica, Dome C, retrieved from hyperspectral measurements in the far-infrared, with the reflectivity detected by a co-located micro rain radar operating at 24 GHz. The retrieved ice crystal sizes were found in accordance with the direct measurements of an optical imager, also installed at Dome C, which can collect the falling ice particles.
William J. Shaw, Larry K. Berg, Mithu Debnath, Georgios Deskos, Caroline Draxl, Virendra P. Ghate, Charlotte B. Hasager, Rao Kotamarthi, Jeffrey D. Mirocha, Paytsar Muradyan, William J. Pringle, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2307–2334, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2307-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2307-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides a review of prominent scientific challenges to characterizing the offshore wind resource using as examples phenomena that occur in the rapidly developing wind energy areas off the United States. The paper also describes the current state of modeling and observations in the marine atmospheric boundary layer and provides specific recommendations for filling key current knowledge gaps.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Raghu Krishnamurthy, Gabriel García Medina, Brian J. Gaudet, William I. Gustafson Jr., Alicia M. Mahon, William J. Shaw, Rob K. Newsom, Mikhail Pekour, and Zhaoqing Yang
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2059–2084, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2059-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2059-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using observations from lidar buoys, five reanalysis and analysis models that support the wind energy community are validated offshore and at rotor-level heights along the California Pacific coast. The models are found to underestimate the observed wind resource. Occasions of large model error occur in conjunction with stable atmospheric conditions, wind speeds associated with peak turbine power production, and mischaracterization of the diurnal wind speed cycle in summer months.
Heather Guy, David D. Turner, Von P. Walden, Ian M. Brooks, and Ryan R. Neely
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5095–5115, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5095-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5095-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Fog formation is highly sensitive to near-surface temperatures and humidity profiles. Passive remote sensing instruments can provide continuous measurements of the vertical temperature and humidity profiles and liquid water content, which can improve fog forecasts. Here we compare the performance of collocated infrared and microwave remote sensing instruments and demonstrate that the infrared instrument is especially sensitive to the onset of thin radiation fog.
Meng Huang, Po-Lun Ma, Nathaniel W. Chaney, Dalei Hao, Gautam Bisht, Megan D. Fowler, Vincent E. Larson, and L. Ruby Leung
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6371–6384, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6371-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6371-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The land surface in one grid cell may be diverse in character. This study uses an explicit way to account for that subgrid diversity in a state-of-the-art Earth system model (ESM) and explores its implications for the overlying atmosphere. We find that the shallow clouds are increased significantly with the land surface diversity. Our work highlights the importance of accurately representing the land surface and its interaction with the atmosphere in next-generation ESMs.
Fan Mei, Mikhail S. Pekour, Darielle Dexheimer, Gijs de Boer, RaeAnn Cook, Jason Tomlinson, Beat Schmid, Lexie A. Goldberger, Rob Newsom, and Jerome D. Fast
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 3423–3438, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3423-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3423-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work focuses on an expanding number of data sets observed using ARM TBS (133 flights) and UAS (seven flights) platforms by the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility. These data streams provide new perspectives on spatial variability of atmospheric and surface parameters, helping to address critical science questions in Earth system science research, such as the aerosol–cloud interaction in the boundary layer.
Kai Zhang, Wentao Zhang, Hui Wan, Philip J. Rasch, Steven J. Ghan, Richard C. Easter, Xiangjun Shi, Yong Wang, Hailong Wang, Po-Lun Ma, Shixuan Zhang, Jian Sun, Susannah M. Burrows, Manish Shrivastava, Balwinder Singh, Yun Qian, Xiaohong Liu, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Qi Tang, Xue Zheng, Shaocheng Xie, Wuyin Lin, Yan Feng, Minghuai Wang, Jin-Ho Yoon, and L. Ruby Leung
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9129–9160, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9129-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9129-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Here we analyze the effective aerosol forcing simulated by E3SM version 1 using both century-long free-running and short nudged simulations. The aerosol forcing in E3SMv1 is relatively large compared to other models, mainly due to the large indirect aerosol effect. Aerosol-induced changes in liquid and ice cloud properties in E3SMv1 have a strong correlation. The aerosol forcing estimates in E3SMv1 are sensitive to the parameterization changes in both liquid and ice cloud processes.
Shuaiqi Tang, Jerome D. Fast, Kai Zhang, Joseph C. Hardin, Adam C. Varble, John E. Shilling, Fan Mei, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Po-Lun Ma
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4055–4076, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4055-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4055-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We developed an Earth system model (ESM) diagnostics package to compare various types of aerosol properties simulated in ESMs with aircraft, ship, and surface measurements from six field campaigns across spatial scales. The diagnostics package is coded and organized to be flexible and modular for future extension to other field campaign datasets and adapted to higher-resolution model simulations. Future releases will include comprehensive cloud and aerosol–cloud interaction diagnostics.
James B. Duncan Jr., Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Tyler Bell, Irina V. Djalalova, Laura Riihimaki, Joseph Sedlar, Elizabeth N. Smith, David D. Turner, Timothy J. Wagner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2479–2502, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2479-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2479-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, several ground-based remote sensing instruments are used to estimate the height of the convective planetary boundary layer, and their performance is compared against independent boundary layer depth estimates obtained from radiosondes launched as part of the CHEESEHEAD19 field campaign. The impact of clouds (particularly boundary layer clouds) on the estimation of the boundary layer depth is also investigated.
Susannah M. Burrows, Richard C. Easter, Xiaohong Liu, Po-Lun Ma, Hailong Wang, Scott M. Elliott, Balwinder Singh, Kai Zhang, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5223–5251, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5223-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5223-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Sea spray particles are composed of a mixture of salts and organic substances from oceanic microorganisms. In prior work, our team developed an approach connecting sea spray chemistry to ocean biology, called OCEANFILMS. Here we describe its implementation within an Earth system model, E3SM. We show that simulated sea spray chemistry is consistent with observed seasonal cycles and that sunlight reflected by simulated Southern Ocean clouds increases, consistent with analysis of satellite data.
Po-Lun Ma, Bryce E. Harrop, Vincent E. Larson, Richard B. Neale, Andrew Gettelman, Hugh Morrison, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, Stephen A. Klein, Mark D. Zelinka, Yuying Zhang, Yun Qian, Jin-Ho Yoon, Christopher R. Jones, Meng Huang, Sheng-Lun Tai, Balwinder Singh, Peter A. Bogenschutz, Xue Zheng, Wuyin Lin, Johannes Quaas, Hélène Chepfer, Michael A. Brunke, Xubin Zeng, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Samson Hagos, Zhibo Zhang, Hua Song, Xiaohong Liu, Michael S. Pritchard, Hui Wan, Jingyu Wang, Qi Tang, Peter M. Caldwell, Jiwen Fan, Larry K. Berg, Jerome D. Fast, Mark A. Taylor, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Shaocheng Xie, Philip J. Rasch, and L. Ruby Leung
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2881–2916, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2881-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2881-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
An alternative set of parameters for E3SM Atmospheric Model version 1 has been developed based on a tuning strategy that focuses on clouds. When clouds in every regime are improved, other aspects of the model are also improved, even though they are not the direct targets for calibration. The recalibrated model shows a lower sensitivity to anthropogenic aerosols and surface warming, suggesting potential improvements to the simulated climate in the past and future.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Caleb Phillips, Alice C. Orrell, Larry K. Berg, Heidi Tinnesand, Raj K. Rai, Sagi Zisman, Dmitry Duplyakin, and Julia E. Flaherty
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 659–676, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-659-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-659-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The small wind community relies on simplified wind models and energy production simulation tools to obtain energy generation expectations. We gathered actual wind speed and turbine production data across the US to test the accuracy of models and tools for small wind turbines. This study provides small wind installers and owners with the error metrics and sources of error associated with using models and tools to make performance estimates, empowering them to adjust expectations accordingly.
Artem G. Feofilov, Hélène Chepfer, Vincent Noël, Rodrigo Guzman, Cyprien Gindre, Po-Lun Ma, and Marjolaine Chiriaco
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1055–1074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1055-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1055-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Space-borne lidars have been providing invaluable information of atmospheric optical properties since 2006, and new lidar missions are on the way to ensure continuous observations. In this work, we compare the clouds estimated from space-borne ALADIN and CALIOP lidar observations. The analysis of collocated data shows that the agreement between the retrieved clouds is good up to 3 km height. Above that, ALADIN detects 40 % less clouds than CALIOP, except for polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs).
Irina V. Djalalova, David D. Turner, Laura Bianco, James M. Wilczak, James Duncan, Bianca Adler, and Daniel Gottas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 521–537, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-521-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-521-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper we investigate the synergy obtained by combining active (radio acoustic sounding system – RASS) and passive (microwave radiometer) remote sensing observations to obtain temperature vertical profiles through a radiative transfer model. Inclusion of the RASS observations leads to more accurate temperature profiles from the surface to 5 km above ground, well above the maximum height of the RASS observations themselves (2000 m), when compared to the microwave radiometer used alone.
Ye Liu, Yun Qian, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 37–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-37-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-37-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Uncertainties in initial conditions (ICs) decrease the accuracy of wind speed forecasts. We find that IC uncertainties can alter wind speed by modulating the weather system. IC uncertainties in local thermal gradient and large-scale circulation jointly contribute to wind speed forecast uncertainties. Wind forecast accuracy in the Columbia River Basin is confined by initial uncertainties in a few specific regions, providing useful information for more intense measurement and modeling studies.
Matthew W. Christensen, Andrew Gettelman, Jan Cermak, Guy Dagan, Michael Diamond, Alyson Douglas, Graham Feingold, Franziska Glassmeier, Tom Goren, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Edward Gryspeerdt, Ralph Kahn, Zhanqing Li, Po-Lun Ma, Florent Malavelle, Isabel L. McCoy, Daniel T. McCoy, Greg McFarquhar, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Sandip Pal, Anna Possner, Adam Povey, Johannes Quaas, Daniel Rosenfeld, Anja Schmidt, Roland Schrödner, Armin Sorooshian, Philip Stier, Velle Toll, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Mingxi Yang, and Tianle Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 641–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Trace gases and aerosols (tiny airborne particles) are released from a variety of point sources around the globe. Examples include volcanoes, industrial chimneys, forest fires, and ship stacks. These sources provide opportunistic experiments with which to quantify the role of aerosols in modifying cloud properties. We review the current state of understanding on the influence of aerosol on climate built from the wide range of natural and anthropogenic laboratories investigated in recent decades.
Zhonghua Zheng, Matthew West, Lei Zhao, Po-Lun Ma, Xiaohong Liu, and Nicole Riemer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17727–17741, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17727-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17727-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol mixing state is an important emergent property that affects aerosol radiative forcing and aerosol–cloud interactions, but it has not been easy to constrain this property globally. We present a framework for evaluating the error in aerosol mixing state induced by aerosol representation assumptions, which is one of the important contributors to structural uncertainty in aerosol models. Our study provides insights into potential improvements to model process representation for aerosols.
Heather Guy, Ian M. Brooks, Ken S. Carslaw, Benjamin J. Murray, Von P. Walden, Matthew D. Shupe, Claire Pettersen, David D. Turner, Christopher J. Cox, William D. Neff, Ralf Bennartz, and Ryan R. Neely III
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15351–15374, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15351-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15351-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first full year of surface aerosol number concentration measurements from the central Greenland Ice Sheet. Aerosol concentrations here have a distinct seasonal cycle from those at lower-altitude Arctic sites, which is driven by large-scale atmospheric circulation. Our results can be used to help understand the role aerosols might play in Greenland surface melt through the modification of cloud properties. This is crucial in a rapidly changing region where observations are sparse.
Sam J. Silva, Po-Lun Ma, Joseph C. Hardin, and Daniel Rothenberg
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 3067–3077, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3067-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The activation of aerosol into cloud droplets is an important but uncertain process in the Earth system. The physical and chemical interactions that govern this process are too computationally expensive to explicitly resolve in modern Earth system models. Here, we demonstrate how hybrid machine learning approaches can provide a potential path forward, enabling the representation of the more detailed physics and chemistry at a reduced computational cost while still retaining physical information.
David D. Turner and Ulrich Löhnert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3033–3048, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3033-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3033-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Temperature and humidity profiles in the lowest couple of kilometers near the surface are very important for many applications. Passive spectral radiometers are commercially available, and observations from these instruments have been used to get these profiles. However, new active lidar systems are able to measure partial profiles of water vapor. This paper investigates how the derived profiles of water vapor and temperature are improved when the active and passive observations are combined.
Daniel Vassallo, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, and Harindra J. S. Fernando
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 295–309, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-295-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-295-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Machine learning is quickly becoming a commonly used technique for wind speed and power forecasting and is especially useful when combined with other forecasting techniques. This study utilizes a popular machine learning algorithm, random forest, in an attempt to predict the forecasting error of a statistical forecasting model. Various atmospheric characteristics are used as random forest inputs in an effort to discern the most useful atmospheric information for this purpose.
Jingyu Wang, Jiwen Fan, Robert A. Houze Jr., Stella R. Brodzik, Kai Zhang, Guang J. Zhang, and Po-Lun Ma
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 719–734, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-719-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-719-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents an evaluation of the E3SM model against NEXRAD radar observations for the warm seasons during 2014–2016. The COSP forward simulator package is implemented in the model to generate radar reflectivity, and the NEXRAD observations are coarsened to the model resolution for comparison. The model severely underestimates the reflectivity above 4 km. Sensitivity tests on the parameters from cumulus parameterization and cloud microphysics do not improve this model bias.
Caroline Draxl, Rochelle P. Worsnop, Geng Xia, Yelena Pichugina, Duli Chand, Julie K. Lundquist, Justin Sharp, Garrett Wedam, James M. Wilczak, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 45–60, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-45-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-45-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Mountain waves can create oscillations in low-level wind speeds and subsequently in the power output of wind plants. We document such oscillations by analyzing sodar and lidar observations, nacelle wind speeds, power observations, and Weather Research and Forecasting model simulations. This research describes how mountain waves form in the Columbia River basin and affect wind energy production and their impact on operational forecasting, wind plant layout, and integration of power into the grid.
Johannes Quaas, Antti Arola, Brian Cairns, Matthew Christensen, Hartwig Deneke, Annica M. L. Ekman, Graham Feingold, Ann Fridlind, Edward Gryspeerdt, Otto Hasekamp, Zhanqing Li, Antti Lipponen, Po-Lun Ma, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Athanasios Nenes, Joyce E. Penner, Daniel Rosenfeld, Roland Schrödner, Kenneth Sinclair, Odran Sourdeval, Philip Stier, Matthias Tesche, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15079–15099, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Anthropogenic pollution particles – aerosols – serve as cloud condensation nuclei and thus increase cloud droplet concentration and the clouds' reflection of sunlight (a cooling effect on climate). This Twomey effect is poorly constrained by models and requires satellite data for better quantification. The review summarizes the challenges in properly doing so and outlines avenues for progress towards a better use of aerosol retrievals and better retrievals of droplet concentrations.
Daniel Vassallo, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, and Harindra J. S. Fernando
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 959–975, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-959-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-959-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Model error and uncertainty is a challenge in the wind energy industry, potentially leading to mischaracterization of millions of dollars' worth of wind resource. This paper combines meteorological knowledge with machine learning techniques, specifically artificial neural networks (ANNs), to better extrapolate wind speeds. It is found that ANNs can reduce power-law extrapolation error by up to 52 % while simultaneously reducing uncertainty. A test case is shown to help decipher the ANN results.
Erin A. Riley, Jessica M. Kleiss, Laura D. Riihimaki, Charles N. Long, Larry K. Berg, and Evgueni Kassianov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2099–2117, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2099-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2099-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Discrepancies in hourly shallow cumuli cover estimates can be substantial. Instrument detection differences contribute to long-term bias in shallow cumuli cover estimates, whereas narrow field-of-view configurations impact measurement uncertainty as averaging time decreases. A new tool is introduced to visually assess both impacts on sub-hourly cloud cover estimates. Accurate shallow cumuli cover estimation is needed for model–observation comparisons and studying cloud-surface interactions.
Johannes Mülmenstädt, Edward Gryspeerdt, Marc Salzmann, Po-Lun Ma, Sudhakar Dipu, and Johannes Quaas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 15415–15429, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15415-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15415-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The effect of aerosol–cloud interactions (ACIs) on Earth's energy budget continues to be highly uncertain. We decompose the effective radiative forcing by ACIs (ERFaci) into the instantaneous forcing due to anthropogenic increases in the number of cloud droplets and fast responses of cloud properties to the droplet number perturbation in the ECHAM–HAMMOZ aerosol–climate model. This decomposition maps onto the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report analysis of ERFaci more directly than previous work.
Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, James M. Wilczak, Joseph B. Olson, Jaymes S. Kenyon, Aditya Choukulkar, Larry K. Berg, Harindra J. S. Fernando, Eric P. Grimit, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Julie K. Lundquist, Paytsar Muradyan, Mikhail Pekour, Yelena Pichugina, Mark T. Stoelinga, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4803–4821, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
During the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project, improvements to the parameterizations were applied to the High Resolution Rapid Refresh model and its nested version. The impacts of the new parameterizations on the forecast of 80 m wind speeds and power are assessed, using sodars and profiling lidars observations for comparison. Improvements are evaluated as a function of the model’s initialization time, forecast horizon, time of the day, season, site elevation, and meteorological phenomena.
Nicola Bodini, Julie K. Lundquist, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Mikhail Pekour, Larry K. Berg, and Aditya Choukulkar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4367–4382, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4367-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4367-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
To improve the parameterization of the turbulence dissipation rate (ε) in numerical weather prediction models, we have assessed its temporal and spatial variability at various scales in the Columbia River Gorge during the WFIP2 field experiment. The turbulence dissipation rate shows large spatial variability, even at the microscale, with larger values in sites located downwind of complex orographic structures or in wind farm wakes. Distinct diurnal and seasonal cycles in ε have also been found.
Zhibo Zhang, Hua Song, Po-Lun Ma, Vincent E. Larson, Minghuai Wang, Xiquan Dong, and Jianwu Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 1077–1096, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1077-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1077-2019, 2019
Jeffrey D. Mirocha, Matthew J. Churchfield, Domingo Muñoz-Esparza, Raj K. Rai, Yan Feng, Branko Kosović, Sue Ellen Haupt, Barbara Brown, Brandon L. Ennis, Caroline Draxl, Javier Sanz Rodrigo, William J. Shaw, Larry K. Berg, Patrick J. Moriarty, Rodman R. Linn, Veerabhadra R. Kotamarthi, Ramesh Balakrishnan, Joel W. Cline, Michael C. Robinson, and Shreyas Ananthan
Wind Energ. Sci., 3, 589–613, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-589-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-589-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper validates the use of idealized large-eddy simulations with periodic lateral boundary conditions to provide boundary-layer flow quantities of interest for wind energy applications. Sensitivities to model formulation, forcing parameter values, and grid configurations were also examined, both to ascertain the robustness of the technique and to characterize inherent uncertainties, as required for the evaluation of more general wind plant flow simulation approaches under development.
Hua Song, Zhibo Zhang, Po-Lun Ma, Steven Ghan, and Minghuai Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 3147–3158, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3147-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3147-2018, 2018
Nicola Bodini, Julie K. Lundquist, and Rob K. Newsom
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4291–4308, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4291-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4291-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Turbulence within the atmospheric boundary layer is critically important to transfer heat, momentum, and moisture. Currently, improved turbulence parametrizations are crucially needed to refine the accuracy of model results at fine horizontal scales. In this study, we calculate turbulence dissipation rate from sonic anemometers and discuss a novel approach to derive turbulence dissipation from profiling lidar measurements.
Kai Zhang, Philip J. Rasch, Mark A. Taylor, Hui Wan, Ruby Leung, Po-Lun Ma, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Jon Wolfe, Wuyin Lin, Balwinder Singh, Susannah Burrows, Jin-Ho Yoon, Hailong Wang, Yun Qian, Qi Tang, Peter Caldwell, and Shaocheng Xie
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1971–1988, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1971-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1971-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The conservation of total water is an important numerical feature for global Earth system models. Even small conservation problems in the water budget can lead to systematic errors in century-long simulations for sea level rise projection. This study quantifies and reduces various sources of water conservation error in the atmosphere component of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model.
Claire Pettersen, Ralf Bennartz, Aronne J. Merrelli, Matthew D. Shupe, David D. Turner, and Von P. Walden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4715–4735, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4715-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4715-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A novel method for classifying Arctic precipitation using ground based remote sensors is presented. The classification reveals two distinct, primary regimes of precipitation over the central Greenland Ice Sheet: snowfall coupled to deep, fully glaciated ice clouds or to shallow, mixed-phase clouds. The ice clouds are associated with low-pressure storm systems from the southeast, while the mixed-phase clouds slowly propagate from the southwest along a quiescent flow.
Robert A. Stillwell, Ryan R. Neely III, Jeffrey P. Thayer, Matthew D. Shupe, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 835–859, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-835-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-835-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This work focuses on making unambiguous measurements of Arctic cloud phase and assessing those measurements within the context of cloud radiative effects. It is found that effects related to lidar data recording systems can cause retrieval ambiguities that alter the interpretation of cloud phase in as much as 30 % of the available data. This misinterpretation of cloud-phase data can cause a misinterpretation of the effect of cloud phase on the surface radiation budget by as much as 10 to 30 %.
Tianyi Fan, Xiaohong Liu, Po-Lun Ma, Qiang Zhang, Zhanqing Li, Yiquan Jiang, Fang Zhang, Chuanfeng Zhao, Xin Yang, Fang Wu, and Yuying Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 1395–1417, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1395-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-1395-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We found that 22–28 % of the low AOD bias in eastern China simulated by the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 can be improved by using a new emission inventory. The concentrations of primary aerosols are closely related to the emission, while the seasonal variations of secondary aerosols depend more on atmospheric processes. This study highlights the importance of improving both the emission and atmospheric processes in modeling the atmospheric aerosols and their radiative effects.
Louis Marelle, Jean-Christophe Raut, Kathy S. Law, Larry K. Berg, Jerome D. Fast, Richard C. Easter, Manish Shrivastava, and Jennie L. Thomas
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3661–3677, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3661-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3661-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We develop the WRF-Chem 3.5.1 model to improve simulations of aerosols and ozone in the Arctic. Both species are important air pollutants and climate forcers, but models often struggle to reproduce observations in the Arctic. Our developments concern pollutant emissions, mixing, chemistry, and removal, including processes related to snow and sea ice. The effect of these changes are quantitatively validated against observations, showing significant improvements compared to the original model.
Jean-Christophe Raut, Louis Marelle, Jerome D. Fast, Jennie L. Thomas, Bernadett Weinzierl, Katharine S. Law, Larry K. Berg, Anke Roiger, Richard C. Easter, Katharina Heimerl, Tatsuo Onishi, Julien Delanoë, and Hans Schlager
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 10969–10995, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10969-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10969-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We study the cross-polar transport of plumes from Siberian fires to the Arctic in summer, both in terms of transport pathways and efficiency of deposition processes. Those plumes containing soot may originate from anthropogenic and biomass burning sources in mid-latitude regions and may impact the Arctic climate by depositing on snow and ice surfaces. We evaluate the role of the respective source contributions, investigate the transport of plumes and treat pathway-dependent removal of particles.
Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Steven J. Smith, Richard Easter, Po-Lun Ma, Yun Qian, Hongbin Yu, Can Li, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8903–8922, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8903-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8903-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Sulfate has significant impacts on air quality and climate. Local sulfate pollution could result from remote influences, making domestic mitigation efforts inefficient. Using CESM with a sulfur source-tagging technique, we found that, over regions with relatively low emissions, sulfate concentrations are primarily attributed to non-local sources and sulfate indirect radiative forcing over the Southern Hemisphere is more sensitive to emission perturbation than the polluted Northern Hemisphere.
Yann Blanchard, Alain Royer, Norman T. O'Neill, David D. Turner, and Edwin W. Eloranta
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2129–2147, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2129-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2129-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Multiband thermal measurements of zenith sky radiance were used in a retrieval algorithm, to estimate cloud optical depth and effective particle diameter of thin ice clouds in the Canadian High Arctic. The retrieval technique was validated using a synergy lidar and radar data. Inversions were performed across three polar winters and results showed a significant correlation (R2 = 0.95) for cloud optical depth retrievals and an overall accuracy of 83 % for the classification of thin ice clouds.
Rob K. Newsom, W. Alan Brewer, James M. Wilczak, Daniel E. Wolfe, Steven P. Oncley, and Julie K. Lundquist
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1229–1240, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1229-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1229-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Doppler lidars are remote sensing instruments that use infrared light to measure wind velocity in the lowest 2 to 3 km of the atmosphere. Quantifying the uncertainty in these measurements is crucial for applications ranging from wind resource assessment to model data assimilation. In this study, we evaluate three methods for estimating the random uncertainty by comparing the lidar wind measurements with nearly collocated in situ wind measurements at multiple levels on a tall tower.
Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Steven J. Smith, Po-Lun Ma, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4319–4336, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4319-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4319-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The source attributions of black carbon (BC) in China are quantified using the Community Earth System Model by source tagging. BC impacts neighboring regions greatly. Transport is important in increasing BC during regional polluted days. Emissions outside China contribute 35 % of BC direct radiative forcing in China. Efficiency analysis shows that reduction in BC emissions over eastern China could have a greater benefit for regional air quality in China, especially in the winter haze season.
Ivan Ortega, Sean Coburn, Larry K. Berg, Kathy Lantz, Joseph Michalsky, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Chris A. Hostetler, and Rainer Volkamer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3893–3910, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3893-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3893-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We present an inherently calibrated retrieval to measure aerosol optical depth (AOD) and the aerosol phase function parameter, g, based on measurements of azimuth distributions of the Raman scattering probability (RSP), the near-absolute rotational Raman scattering (RRS) intensity by the University of Colorado two-dimensional (2-D) MAX-DOAS. The retrievals are maximally sensitive at low AOD and do not require absolute radiance calibration. We compare results with data from independent sensors.
K. K. Shukla, K. Niranjan Kumar, D. V. Phanikumar, R. K. Newsom, V. R. Kotamarthi, T. B. M. J. Ouarda, and M. V. Ratnam
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-162, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-162, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Estimation of Cloud base height was carried out by using various ground based instruments (Doppler Lidar and Ceilometer) and satellite datasets (MODIS) over central Himalayan region for the first time. The present study demonstrates the potential of Doppler Lidar in precise estimation of cloud base height and updraft velocities. More such deployments will be invaluable inputs for regional weather prediction models over complex Himalayan terrains.
Chun Zhao, Maoyi Huang, Jerome D. Fast, Larry K. Berg, Yun Qian, Alex Guenther, Dasa Gu, Manish Shrivastava, Ying Liu, Stacy Walters, Gabriele Pfister, Jiming Jin, John E. Shilling, and Carsten Warneke
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1959–1976, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1959-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1959-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, the latest version of MEGAN is coupled within CLM4 in WRF-Chem. In this implementation, MEGAN shares a consistent vegetation map with CLM4. This improved modeling framework is used to investigate the impact of two land surface schemes on BVOCs and examine the sensitivity of BVOCs to vegetation distributions in California. This study indicates that more effort is needed to obtain the most appropriate and accurate land cover data sets for climate and air quality models.
Claire Pettersen, Ralf Bennartz, Mark S. Kulie, Aronne J. Merrelli, Matthew D. Shupe, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4743–4756, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4743-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4743-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We examined four summers of data from a ground-based atmospheric science instrument suite at Summit Station, Greenland, to isolate the signature of the ice precipitation. By using a combination of instruments with different specialities, we identified a passive microwave signature of the ice precipitation. This ice signature compares well to models using synthetic data characteristic of the site.
Andrew M. Dzambo, David D. Turner, and Eli J. Mlawer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1613–1626, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1613-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1613-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Radiosondes are used to characterize the humidity in the middle and upper troposphere, but suffer from a solar radiation induced dry bias. This work investigates the accuracy of two published correction algorithms using comparisons with other instruments.
N. I. Kristiansen, A. Stohl, D. J. L. Olivié, B. Croft, O. A. Søvde, H. Klein, T. Christoudias, D. Kunkel, S. J. Leadbetter, Y. H. Lee, K. Zhang, K. Tsigaridis, T. Bergman, N. Evangeliou, H. Wang, P.-L. Ma, R. C. Easter, P. J. Rasch, X. Liu, G. Pitari, G. Di Genova, S. Y. Zhao, Y. Balkanski, S. E. Bauer, G. S. Faluvegi, H. Kokkola, R. V. Martin, J. R. Pierce, M. Schulz, D. Shindell, H. Tost, and H. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3525–3561, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3525-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3525-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Processes affecting aerosol removal from the atmosphere are not fully understood. In this study we investigate to what extent atmospheric transport models can reproduce observed loss of aerosols. We compare measurements of radioactive isotopes, that attached to ambient sulfate aerosols during the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, to 19 models using identical emissions. Results indicate aerosol removal that is too fast in most models, and apply to aerosols that have undergone long-range transport.
X. Liu, P.-L. Ma, H. Wang, S. Tilmes, B. Singh, R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, and P. J. Rasch
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 505–522, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-505-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-505-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we describe and evaluate a new four-mode version of the Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4) in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). Compared to the current three-mode version of MAM in CAM5, MAM4 significantly improves the simulation of seasonal variation of BC concentrations in the polar regions, by increasing the BC concentrations in all seasons and particularly in cold seasons.
R. Zhang, H. Wang, D. A. Hegg, Y. Qian, S. J. Doherty, C. Dang, P.-L. Ma, P. J. Rasch, and Q. Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 12805–12822, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12805-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12805-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We use a global climate model with an explicit source tagging technique to quantify contributions of emissions from various geographical regions and sectors to BC in North America. Model results are evaluated against measurements of near-surface and in-snow BC. We found strong spatial variations of BC and its radiative forcing that can be quantitatively attributed to the various source origins, and also identified a significant source of BC in snow that is likely missing in most climate models.
R. Zhang, H. Wang, Y. Qian, P. J. Rasch, R. C. Easter, P.-L. Ma, B. Singh, J. Huang, and Q. Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6205–6223, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6205-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6205-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We use the CAM5 model with a novel source-tagging technique to characterize the fate of BC particles emitted from various geographical regions and sectors and their transport pathways to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau (HTP). We show a comprehensive picture of the seasonal and regional dependence of BC source attributions, and find strong seasonal and spatial variations in BC-in-snow radiative forcing in the HTP that can be quantitatively attributed to the various regional/sectoral sources.
S. Tilmes, J.-F. Lamarque, L. K. Emmons, D. E. Kinnison, P.-L. Ma, X. Liu, S. Ghan, C. Bardeen, S. Arnold, M. Deeter, F. Vitt, T. Ryerson, J. W. Elkins, F. Moore, J. R. Spackman, and M. Val Martin
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 1395–1426, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-1395-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-1395-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), version 5, is now coupled to extensive tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry, called CAM5-chem, and is available in addition to CAM4-chem in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) version 1.2. Both configurations are well suited as tools for atmospheric chemistry modeling studies in the troposphere and lower stratosphere.
L. K. Berg, M. Shrivastava, R. C. Easter, J. D. Fast, E. G. Chapman, Y. Liu, and R. A. Ferrare
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 409–429, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-409-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-409-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
This work presents a new methodology for representing regional-scale impacts of cloud processing on both aerosol and trace gases in sub-grid-scale convective clouds. Using the new methodology, we can better simulate the aerosol lifecycle over large areas. The results presented in this work highlight the potential change in column-integrated amounts of black carbon, organic aerosol, and sulfate aerosol, which were found to range from -50% for black carbon to +40% for sulfate.
D. Müller, C. A. Hostetler, R. A. Ferrare, S. P. Burton, E. Chemyakin, A. Kolgotin, J. W. Hair, A. L. Cook, D. B. Harper, R. R. Rogers, R. W. Hare, C. S. Cleckner, M. D. Obland, J. Tomlinson, L. K. Berg, and B. Schmid
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3487–3496, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3487-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3487-2014, 2014
E. Kassianov, J. Barnard, M. Pekour, L. K. Berg, J. Shilling, C. Flynn, F. Mei, and A. Jefferson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3247–3261, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3247-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3247-2014, 2014
K. Zhang, H. Wan, X. Liu, S. J. Ghan, G. J. Kooperman, P.-L. Ma, P. J. Rasch, D. Neubauer, and U. Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8631–8645, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8631-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8631-2014, 2014
A. J. Scarino, M. D. Obland, J. D. Fast, S. P. Burton, R. A. Ferrare, C. A. Hostetler, L. K. Berg, B. Lefer, C. Haman, J. W. Hair, R. R. Rogers, C. Butler, A. L. Cook, and D. B. Harper
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 5547–5560, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5547-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5547-2014, 2014
P.-L. Ma, P. J. Rasch, J. D. Fast, R. C. Easter, W. I. Gustafson Jr., X. Liu, S. J. Ghan, and B. Singh
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 755–778, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-755-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-755-2014, 2014
K. Van Tricht, I. V. Gorodetskaya, S. Lhermitte, D. D. Turner, J. H. Schween, and N. P. M. Van Lipzig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 1153–1167, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1153-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1153-2014, 2014
C. Zhao, X. Liu, Y. Qian, J. Yoon, Z. Hou, G. Lin, S. McFarlane, H. Wang, B. Yang, P.-L. Ma, H. Yan, and J. Bao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 10969–10987, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10969-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10969-2013, 2013
G. Maschwitz, U. Löhnert, S. Crewell, T. Rose, and D. D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2641–2658, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2641-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2641-2013, 2013
M. P. Cadeddu, J. C. Liljegren, and D. D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2359–2372, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2359-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2359-2013, 2013
H. Wang, R. C. Easter, P. J. Rasch, M. Wang, X. Liu, S. J. Ghan, Y. Qian, J.-H. Yoon, P.-L. Ma, and V. Vinoj
Geosci. Model Dev., 6, 765–782, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-765-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-765-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Others (Wind, Precipitation, Temperature, etc.) | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
An improved geolocation methodology for spaceborne radar and lidar systems
Combining low- and high-frequency microwave radiometer measurements from the MOSAiC expedition for enhanced water vapour products
HAMSTER: Hyperspectral Albedo Maps dataset with high Spatial and TEmporal Resolution
Global-scale gravity wave analysis methodology for the ESA Earth Explorer 11 candidate CAIRT
Retrieval of pseudo-BRDF-adjusted surface reflectance at 440 nm from the Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)
Drop size distribution retrieval using dual-polarization radar at C-band and S-band
Thermal tides in the middle atmosphere at mid-latitudes measured with a ground-based microwave radiometer
Global sensitivity analysis of simulated remote sensing polarimetric observations over snow
Improving the Gaussianity of radar reflectivity departures between observations and simulations using symmetric rain rates
On the temperature stability requirements of free-running Nd:YAG lasers for atmospheric temperature profiling through the rotational Raman technique
Limitations in wavelet analysis of non-stationary atmospheric gravity wave signatures in temperature profiles
A new non-linearity correction method for the spectrum from the Geostationary Inferometric Infrared Sounder on board Fengyun-4 satellites and its preliminary assessments
Determination of high-precision tropospheric delays using crowdsourced smartphone GNSS data
Unfiltering of the EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR) observations: the BM-RAD product
Variance estimations in the presence of intermittent interference and their applications to incoherent scatter radar signal processing
A clustering-based method for identifying and tracking squall lines
A multi-instrument fuzzy logic boundary-layer-top detection algorithm
Aeolus Lidar Surface Returns (LSR) at 355 nm as a new Aeolus L2A Phase-F product
Sensitivity of thermodynamic profiles retrieved from ground-based microwave and infrared observations to additional input data from active remote sensing instruments and numerical weather prediction models
Scale separation for gravity wave analysis from 3D temperature observations in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region
Estimating the refractivity bias of FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation in the deep troposphere
High Spectral Resolution Lidar – generation 2 (HSRL-2) retrievals of ocean surface wind speed: methodology and evaluation
Retrieval of top-of-atmosphere fluxes from combined EarthCARE LiDAR, imager and broadband radiometer observations: the BMA-FLX product
Dual adaptive differential threshold method for automated detection of faint and strong echo features in radar observations of winter storms
Noise filtering options for conically scanning Doppler lidar measurements with low pulse accumulation
Measuring rainfall using microwave links: the influence of temporal sampling
Drone-based photogrammetry combined with deep learning to estimate hail size distributions and melting of hail on the ground
Improving solution availability and temporal consistency of an optimal estimation physical retrieval for ground-based thermodynamic boundary layer profiling
Determination of low-level temperature profiles from microwave radiometer observations during rain
The High lAtitude sNowfall Detection and Estimation aLgorithm for ATMS (HANDEL-ATMS): a new algorithm for snowfall retrieval at high latitudes
Next-generation radiance unfiltering process for the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System instrument
Improved rain event detection in commercial microwave link time series via combination with MSG SEVIRI data
A directional surface reflectance climatology determined from TROPOMI observations
Investigation of gravity waves using measurements from a sodium temperature/wind lidar operated in multi-direction mode
Sampling the diurnal and annual cycles of the Earth’s energy imbalance with constellations of satellite-borne radiometers
An improved BRDF hotspot model and its use in VLIDORT for studying the impact of atmospheric scattering on hotspot directional signatures in the atmosphere
A multi-decadal time series of upper stratospheric temperature profiles from Odin-OSIRIS limb-scattered spectra
Observations of Tall-Building Wakes Using a Scanning Doppler Lidar
CALOTRITON: a convective boundary layer height estimation algorithm from ultra-high-frequency (UHF) wind profiler data
Enhancing consistency of microphysical properties of precipitation across the melting layer in dual-frequency precipitation radar data
Analysis of the measurement uncertainty for a 3D wind-LiDAR
Profiling the molecular destruction rates of temperature and humidity as well as the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation in the convective boundary layer
Forward operator for polarimetric radio occultation measurements
Assessing atmospheric gravity wave spectra in the presence of observational gaps
Joint 1DVar retrievals of tropospheric temperature and water vapor from Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation (GNSS-RO) and microwave radiometer observations
Mispointing characterization and Doppler velocity correction for the conically scanning WIVERN Doppler radar
Radar and environment-based hail damage estimates using machine learning
A new power-law model for μ–Λ relationships in convective and stratiform rainfall
Suppression of precipitation bias in wind velocities from continuous-wave Doppler lidars
Difference spectrum fitting of the ion–neutral collision frequency from dual-frequency EISCAT measurements
Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras and Pavlos Kollias
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6301–6314, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6301-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6301-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents a comprehensive approach to improve the geolocation accuracy of spaceborne radar and lidar systems, crucial for the successful interpretation of data from the upcoming EarthCARE mission. The paper details the technical background of the presented methods and various examples of geolocation analyses, including a short period of CloudSat observations when the star tracker was not operating properly and lifetime statistics from the CloudSat and CALIPSO missions.
Andreas Walbröl, Hannes J. Griesche, Mario Mech, Susanne Crewell, and Kerstin Ebell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6223–6245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6223-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6223-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We developed retrievals of integrated water vapour (IWV), temperature profiles, and humidity profiles from ground-based passive microwave remote sensing measurements gathered during the MOSAiC expedition. We demonstrate and quantify the benefit of combining low- and high-frequency microwave radiometers to improve humidity profiling and IWV estimates by comparing the retrieved quantities to single-instrument retrievals and reference datasets (radiosondes).
Giulia Roccetti, Luca Bugliaro, Felix Gödde, Claudia Emde, Ulrich Hamann, Mihail Manev, Michael Fritz Sterzik, and Cedric Wehrum
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6025–6046, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6025-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6025-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The amount of sunlight reflected by the Earth’s surface (albedo) is vital for the Earth's radiative system. While satellite instruments offer detailed spatial and temporal albedo maps, they only cover seven wavelength bands. We generate albedo maps that fully span the visible and near-infrared range using a machine learning algorithm. These maps reveal how the reflectivity of different land surfaces varies throughout the year. Our dataset enhances the understanding of the Earth's energy balance.
Sebastian Rhode, Peter Preusse, Jörn Ungermann, Inna Polichtchouk, Kaoru Sato, Shingo Watanabe, Manfred Ern, Karlheinz Nogai, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, and Martin Riese
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5785–5819, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5785-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5785-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the capabilities of a proposed satellite mission, CAIRT, for observing gravity waves throughout the middle atmosphere and present the necessary methodology for in-depth wave analysis. Our findings suggest that such a satellite mission is highly capable of resolving individual wave parameters and could give new insights into the role of gravity waves in general atmospheric circulation and atmospheric processes.
Suyoung Sim, Sungwon Choi, Daeseong Jung, Jongho Woo, Nayeon Kim, Sungwoo Park, Honghee Kim, Ukkyo Jeong, Hyunkee Hong, and Kyung-Soo Han
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5601–5618, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5601-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5601-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates the use of background surface reflectance (BSR) derived from a semi-empirical bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model based on GEMS satellite images. Analysis shows that BSR provides improved accuracy and stability compared to Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (LER). These results indicate that BSR can significantly enhance climate analysis and air quality monitoring, making it a promising tool for accurate environmental satellite applications.
Daniel Durbin, Yadong Wang, and Pao-Liang Chang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5397–5411, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5397-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5397-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A method for determining drop size distributions (DSDs) for rain using radar measurements from two frequencies at two polarizations is presented. Following some preprocessing and quality control, radar measurements are incorporated into a model that uses swarm intelligence to seek the most suitable DSD to produce the input measurements.
Witali Krochin, Axel Murk, and Gunter Stober
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5015–5028, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5015-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5015-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric tides are global-scale oscillations with periods of a fraction of a day. Their observation in the middle atmosphere is challenging and rare, as it requires continuous measurements with a high temporal resolution. In this paper, temperature time series of a ground-based microwave radiometer were analyzed with a spectral filter to derive thermal tide amplitudes and phases in an altitude range of 25–50 km at the geographical locations of Payerne and Bern (Switzerland).
Matteo Ottaviani, Gabriel Harris Myers, and Nan Chen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4737–4756, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4737-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4737-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze simulated polarization observations over snow to investigate the capabilities of remote sensing to determine surface and atmospheric properties in snow-covered regions. Polarization measurements are demonstrated to aid in the determination of snow grain shape, ice crystal roughness, and the vertical distribution of impurities in the snow–atmosphere system, data that are critical for estimating snow albedo for use in climate models.
Yudong Gao, Lidou Huyan, Zheng Wu, and Bojun Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4675–4686, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4675-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4675-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A symmetric error model built by symmetric rain rates handles the non-Gaussian error structure of the reflectivity error. The accuracy and linearization of rain rates can further improve the Gaussianity.
José Alex Zenteno-Hernández, Adolfo Comerón, Federico Dios, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Michaël Sicard, Noemi Franco, Andreas Behrendt, and Paolo Di Girolamo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4687–4694, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4687-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4687-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We study how the spectral characteristics of a solid-state laser in an atmospheric temperature profiling lidar using the Raman technique impact the temperature retrieval accuracy. We find that the spectral widening, with respect to a seeded laser, has virtually no impact, while crystal-rod temperature variations in the laser must be kept within a range of 1 K for the uncertainty in the atmospheric temperature below 1 K. The study is carried out through spectroscopy simulations.
Robert Reichert, Natalie Kaifler, and Bernd Kaifler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4659–4673, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4659-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4659-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Imagine you want to determine how quickly the pitch of a passing ambulance’s siren changes. If the vehicle is traveling slowly, the pitch changes only slightly, but if it is traveling fast, the pitch also changes rapidly. In a similar way, the wind in the middle atmosphere modulates the wavelength of atmospheric gravity waves. We have investigated the question of how strong the maximum wind may be so that the change in wavelength can still be determined with the help of wavelet transformation.
Qiang Guo, Yuning Liu, Xin Wang, and Wen Hui
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4613–4627, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4613-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4613-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Non-linearity (NL) correction is a critical procedure to guarantee that the calibration accuracy of a spaceborne sensor approaches a reasonable level. Different from the classical method, a new NL correction method for a spaceborne Fourier transform spectrometer is proposed. To overcome the inaccurate linear coefficient from two-point calibration influencing NL correction, an iteration algorithm is established that is suitable for NL correction of both infrared and microwave sensors.
Yuanxin Pan, Grzegorz Kłopotek, Laura Crocetti, Rudi Weinacker, Tobias Sturn, Linda See, Galina Dick, Gregor Möller, Markus Rothacher, Ian McCallum, Vicente Navarro, and Benedikt Soja
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4303–4316, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4303-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4303-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Crowdsourced smartphone GNSS data were processed with a dedicated data processing pipeline and could produce millimeter-level accurate estimates of zenith total delay (ZTD) – a critical atmospheric variable. This breakthrough not only demonstrates the feasibility of using ubiquitous devices for high-precision atmospheric monitoring but also underscores the potential for a global, cost-effective tropospheric monitoring network.
Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, Edward Baudrez, Nicolas Clerbaux, and Carlos Domenech
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4245–4256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4245-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4245-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Broadband Radiometer measures shortwave and total-wave radiances filtered by the spectral response of the instrument. To obtain unfiltered solar and thermal radiances, the effect of the spectral response needs to be corrected for, done within the BM-RAD processor. Errors in the unfiltering are propagated into fluxes; thus, accurate unfiltering is required for their proper estimation (within BMA-FLX). Unfiltering errors are estimated to be <0.5 % for the shortwave and <0.1 % for the longwave.
Qihou Zhou, Yanlin Li, and Yun Gong
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4197–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4197-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We discuss several robust estimators to compute the variance of a normally distributed random variable to deal with interference. Compared to rank-based estimators, the methods based on the geometric mean are more accurate and are computationally more efficient. We apply three robust estimators to incoherent scatter power and velocity processing, along with the traditional sample mean estimator. The best estimator is a hybrid estimator that combines the sample mean and a robust estimator.
Zhao Shi, Yuxiang Wen, and Jianxin He
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4121–4135, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4121-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4121-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The squall line is a type of convective system. Squall lines are often associated with damaging weather, so identifying and tracking squall lines plays an important role in early meteorological disaster warnings. A clustering-based method is proposed in this article. It can identify the squall lines within the radar scanning range with an accuracy rate of 95.93 %. It can also provide the three-dimensional structure and movement tracking results for each squall line.
Elizabeth N. Smith and Jacob T. Carlin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4087–4107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4087-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4087-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Boundary-layer height observations remain sparse in time and space. In this study we create a new fuzzy logic method for synergistically combining boundary-layer height estimates from a suite of instruments. These estimates generally compare well to those from radiosondes; plus, the approach offers near-continuous estimates through the entire diurnal cycle. Suspected reasons for discrepancies are discussed. The code for the newly presented fuzzy logic method is provided for the community to use.
Lev D. Labzovskii, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, David P. Donovan, Jos de Kloe, L. Gijsbert Tilstra, Ad Stoffelen, Damien Josset, and Piet Stammes
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1926, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1926, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) on the Aeolus satellite was the first of its kind to measure high-resolution vertical profiles of aerosols and cloud properties from space. We present an algorithm, producing Aeolus lidar surface returns (LSR) containing useful information for measuring UV reflectivity. Aeolus LSR matched well with existing UV reflectivity data from other satellites like GOME-2 and TROPOMI and demonstrated excellent sensitivity to modelled snow cover.
Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Ludovic Bariteau, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, Sergio Pezoa, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3933–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation physical retrieval is used to retrieve temperature and humidity profiles from various combinations of passive and active remote sensing instruments, surface platforms, and numerical weather prediction models. The retrieved profiles are assessed against collocated radiosonde in non-cloudy conditions to assess the sensitivity of the retrievals to different input combinations. Case studies with cloudy conditions are also inspected.
Björn Linder, Peter Preusse, Qiuyu Chen, Ole Martin Christensen, Lukas Krasauskas, Linda Megner, Manfred Ern, and Jörg Gumbel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3829–3841, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3829-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3829-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Swedish research satellite MATS (Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy) is designed to study atmospheric waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. These waves perturb the temperature field, and thus, by observing three-dimensional temperature fluctuations, their properties can be quantified. This pre-study uses synthetic MATS data generated from a general circulation model to investigate how well wave properties can be retrieved.
Gia Huan Pham, Shu-Chih Yang, Chih-Chien Chang, Shu-Ya Chen, and Cheng Yung Huang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3605–3623, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3605-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3605-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This research examines the characteristics of low-level GNSS radio occultation (RO) refractivity bias over ocean and land and its dependency on the RO retrieval uncertainty, atmospheric temperature, and moisture. We propose methods for estimating the region-dependent refractivity bias. Our methods can be applied to calibrate the refractivity bias under different atmospheric conditions and thus improve the applications of the GNSS RO data in the deep troposphere.
Sanja Dmitrovic, Johnathan W. Hair, Brian L. Collister, Ewan Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David B. Harper, Chris A. Hostetler, Yongxiang Hu, John A. Reagan, Claire E. Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, Taylor J. Shingler, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Holger Vömel, Xubin Zeng, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3515–3532, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study introduces and evaluates a new ocean surface wind speed product from the NASA Langley Research Center (LARC) airborne High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar – Generation 2 (HSRL-2) during the NASA ACTIVATE mission. We show that HSRL-2 surface wind speed data are accurate when compared to ground-truth dropsonde measurements. Therefore, the HSRL-2 instrument is able obtain accurate, high-resolution surface wind speed data in airborne field campaigns.
Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, Carlos Domenech, Edward Baudrez, Nicolas Clerbaux, Carla Salas Molar, and Nils Madenach
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1539, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1539, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper focuses on the BMA-FLX processor, in which thermal and solar top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes are obtained from longwave and shortwave radiances measured along-track by the EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR). The BBR measurements, at three fixed viewing angles (fore, nadir, aft) are co-registered either at the surface or at a reference level. A combined flux from the three BRR views is obtained. The algorithm has been successfully validated against test scenes.
Laura M. Tomkins, Sandra E. Yuter, and Matthew A. Miller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3377–3399, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3377-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3377-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We have created a new method to better identify enhanced features in radar data from winter storms. Unlike the clear-cut features seen in warm-season storms, features in winter storms are often fuzzier with softer edges. Our technique is unique because it uses two adaptive thresholds that change based on the background radar values. It can identify both strong and subtle features in the radar data and takes into account uncertainties in the detection process.
Eileen Päschke and Carola Detring
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3187–3217, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3187-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3187-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Little noise in radial velocity Doppler lidar measurements can contribute to large errors in retrieved turbulence variables. In order to distinguish between plausible and erroneous measurements we developed new filter techniques that work independently of the choice of a specific threshold for the signal-to-noise ratio. The performance of these techniques is discussed both by means of assessing the filter results and by comparing retrieved turbulence variables versus independent measurements.
Luuk D. van der Valk, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Rolf W. Hut, Aart Overeem, Bas Walraven, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2811–2832, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Microwave links, often part of mobile phone networks, can be used to measure rainfall along the link path by determining the signal loss caused by rainfall. We use high-frequency data of multiple microwave links to recreate commonly used sampling strategies. For time intervals up to 1 min, the influence of sampling strategies on estimated rainfall intensities is relatively little, while for intervals longer than 5–15 min, the sampling strategy can have significant influences on the estimates.
Martin Lainer, Killian P. Brennan, Alessandro Hering, Jérôme Kopp, Samuel Monhart, Daniel Wolfensberger, and Urs Germann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2539–2557, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses deep learning (the Mask R-CNN model) on drone-based photogrammetric data of hail on the ground to estimate hail size distributions (HSDs). Traditional hail sensors' limited areas complicate the full HSD retrieval. The HSD of a supercell event on 20 June 2021 is retrieved and contains > 18 000 hailstones. The HSD is compared to automatic hail sensor measurements and those of weather-radar-based MESHS. Investigations into ground hail melting are performed by five drone flights.
Bianca Adler, David D. Turner, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, and James M. Wilczak
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-714, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-714, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Profiles of temperature and humidity in the atmospheric boundary layer can be retrieved from passive ground-based remote sensors such as microwave radiometers and infrared spectrometers. In this work, we present improvements to the optimal estimation physical retrieval framework TROPoe, which increase the availability of retrieved profiles and temporal consistency and enhance the value of TROPoe for the study of atmospheric processes.
Andreas Foth, Moritz Lochmann, Pablo Saavedra Garfias, and Heike Kalesse-Los
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-919, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-919, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Microwave radiometers are usually not able to provide atmospheric quantities such as temperature profiles during rain. Here, we present a method based on a selection of specific frequencies and elevation angles from the microwave radiometer observation. A comparison with a numerical weather prediction model shows that the presented method allows to resolve temperature profiles during rain with rain rates up to 2 mm h−1 which was not possible before with state-of-the-art retrievals.
Andrea Camplani, Daniele Casella, Paolo Sanò, and Giulia Panegrossi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2195–2217, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2195-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2195-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The paper describes a new machine-learning-based snowfall retrieval algorithm for Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder observations developed to retrieve high-latitude snowfall events. The main novelty of the approach is the radiometric characterization of the background surface at the time of the overpass, which is ancillary to the retrieval process. The algorithm shows a unique capability to retrieve snowfall in the environmental conditions typical of high latitudes.
Lusheng Liang, Wenying Su, Sergio Sejas, Zachary Eitzen, and Norman G. Loeb
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2147–2163, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2147-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2147-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes an updated process to obtain unfiltered radiation from CERES satellite instruments by incorporating the most recent developments in radiative transfer modeling and ancillary input datasets (e.g., realistic representation of land surface radiation and climatology of surface temperatures and aerosols) during the past 20 years. The resulting global mean of instantaneous SW and LW fluxes is changed by less than 0.5 W m−2 with regional differences as large as 2.0 W m−2.
Maximilian Graf, Andreas Wagner, Julius Polz, Llorenç Lliso, José Alberto Lahuerta, Harald Kunstmann, and Christian Chwala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2165–2182, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2165-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2165-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Commercial microwave links (CMLs) can be used for rainfall retrieval. The detection of rainy periods in their attenuation time series is a crucial processing step. We investigate the usage of rainfall data from MSG SEVIRI for this task, compare this approach with existing methods, and introduce a novel combined approach. The results show certain advantages for SEVIRI-based methods, particularly for CMLs where existing methods perform poorly. Our novel combination yields the best performance.
Lieuwe G. Tilstra, Martin de Graaf, Victor J. H. Trees, Pavel Litvinov, Oleg Dubovik, and Piet Stammes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2235–2256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2235-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper introduces a new surface albedo climatology of directionally dependent Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (DLER) observed by TROPOMI on the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. The database contains monthly fields of DLER for 21 wavelength bands at a relatively high spatial resolution of 0.125 by 0.125 degrees. The anisotropy of the surface reflection is handled by parameterisation of the viewing angle dependence.
Bing Cao and Alan Z. Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2123–2146, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2123-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A narrow-band sodium lidar measures atmospheric waves but is limited to vertical variations. We propose to utilize phase shifts among observations from different laser beams to derive horizontal wave information. Two gravity wave packets were identified by this method. Both waves were found to interact with thin evanescent layers, partially reflected, but transmitted energy to higher altitudes. The method can detect more medium-frequency gravity waves for similar lidar systems worldwide.
Thomas Hocking, Thorsten Mauritsen, and Linda Megner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-356, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-356, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The imbalance between the energy the Earth absorbs from the Sun and the energy the Earth emits back to space gives rise to climate change, but measuring the small imbalance is challenging. We simulate satellites in various orbits to investigate how well they sample the imbalance, and find that the best option is to combine at least two satellites that see complementary parts of the Earth and cover the daily and annual cycles. This information is useful when planning future satellite missions.
Xiaozhen Xiong, Xu Liu, Robert Spurr, Ming Zhao, Qiguang Yang, Wan Wu, and Liqiao Lei
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1965–1978, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1965-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1965-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The term “hotspot” refers to the sharp increase in reflectance occurring when incident (solar) and reflected (viewing) directions coincide in the backscatter direction. The accurate simulation of hotspot directional signatures is important for many remote sensing applications, but current models typically require large values of computations to represent the hotspot accurately. This paper provides a numerically improved hotspot BRDF model that converges much faster and is used in VLIDORT.
Daniel Zawada, Kimberlee Dubé, Taran Warnock, Adam Bourassa, Susann Tegtmeier, and Douglas Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1995–2010, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1995-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1995-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
There remain large uncertainties in long-term changes of stratospheric–atmospheric temperatures. We have produced a time series of more than 20 years of satellite-based temperature measurements from the OSIRIS instrument in the upper–middle stratosphere. The dataset is publicly available and intended to be used for a better understanding of changes in stratospheric temperatures.
Natalie E. Theeuwes, Janet F. Barlow, Antti Mannisenaho, Denise Hertwig, Ewan O'Connor, and Alan Robins
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-937, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-937, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A doppler lidar was placed in highly built-up area in London to measure wakes from tall buildings during a period of one year. We were able to detect wakes and assess their dependence on wind speed, wind direction, and atmospheric stability.
Alban Philibert, Marie Lothon, Julien Amestoy, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Solène Derrien, Yannick Bezombes, Bernard Campistron, Fabienne Lohou, Antoine Vial, Guylaine Canut-Rocafort, Joachim Reuder, and Jennifer K. Brooke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1679–1701, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1679-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1679-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new algorithm, CALOTRITON, for the retrieval of the convective boundary layer depth with ultra-high-frequency radar measurements. CALOTRITON is partly based on the principle that the top of the convective boundary layer is associated with an inversion and a decrease in turbulence. It is evaluated using ceilometer and radiosonde data. It is able to qualify the complexity of the vertical structure of the low troposphere and detect internal or residual layers.
Kamil Mroz, Alessandro Battaglia, and Ann M. Fridlind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1577–1597, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1577-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1577-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we examine the extent to which radar measurements from space can inform us about the properties of clouds and precipitation. Surprisingly, our analysis showed that the amount of ice turning into rain was lower than expected in the current product. To improve on this, we came up with a new way to extract information about the size and concentration of particles from radar data. As long as we use this method in the right conditions, we can even estimate how dense the ice is.
Wolf Knöller, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Philipp von Olshausen, and Michael Wilczek
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-184, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-184, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
Three-dimensional (3D) wind velocity measurements are of major importance for the characterization of atmospheric turbulence. This paper presents a detailed study of the measurement uncertainty of a three-beam wind-LiDAR designed for mounting on airborne platforms. Considering the geometrical constraints, the analysis provides quantitative estimates for the measurement uncertainty of all components of the 3D wind vector. As a result, we propose an optimized post-processing for error reduction.
Volker Wulfmeyer, Christoph Senff, Florian Späth, Andreas Behrendt, Diego Lange, Robert M. Banta, W. Alan Brewer, Andreas Wieser, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1175–1196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A simultaneous deployment of Doppler, temperature, and water-vapor lidar systems is used to provide profiles of molecular destruction rates and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation in the convective boundary layer (CBL). The results can be used for the parameterization of turbulent variables, TKE budget analyses, and the verification of weather forecast and climate models.
Daisuke Hotta, Katrin Lonitz, and Sean Healy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1075–1089, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1075-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1075-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) is a new type of GNSS observations that can detect heavy precipitation along the ray path between the emitter and receiver satellites. As a first step towards using these observations in numerical weather prediction (NWP), we developed a computer code that simulates GNSS-PRO observations from forecast fields produced by an NWP model. The quality of the developed simulator is evaluated with a number of case studies.
Mohamed Mossad, Irina Strelnikova, Robin Wing, and Gerd Baumgarten
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 783–799, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-783-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-783-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This numerical study addresses observational gaps' impact on atmospheric gravity wave spectra. Three methods, fast Fourier transform (FFT), generalized Lomb–Scargle periodogram (GLS), and Haar structure function (HSF), were tested on synthetic data. HSF is best for spectra with negative slopes. GLS excels for flat and positive slopes and identifying dominant frequencies. Accurately estimating these aspects is crucial for understanding gravity wave dynamics and energy transfer in the atmosphere.
Kuo-Nung Wang, Chi O. Ao, Mary G. Morris, George A. Hajj, Marcin J. Kurowski, Francis J. Turk, and Angelyn W. Moore
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 583–599, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-583-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-583-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this article, we described a joint retrieval approach combining two techniques, RO and MWR, to obtain high vertical resolution and solve for temperature and moisture independently. The results show that the complicated structure in the lower troposphere can be better resolved with much smaller biases, and the RO+MWR combination is the most stable scenario in our sensitivity analysis. This approach is also applied to real data (COSMIC-2/Suomi-NPP) to show the promise of joint RO+MWR retrieval.
Filippo Emilio Scarsi, Alessandro Battaglia, Frederic Tridon, Paolo Martire, Ranvir Dhillon, and Anthony Illingworth
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 499–514, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-499-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-499-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The WIVERN mission, one of the two candidates to be the ESA's Earth Explorer 11 mission, aims at providing measurements of horizontal winds in cloud and precipitation systems through a conically scanning W-band Doppler radar. This work discusses four methods that can be used to characterize and correct the Doppler velocity error induced by the antenna mispointing. The proposed methodologies can be extended to other Doppler concepts featuring conically scanning or slant viewing Doppler systems.
Luis Ackermann, Joshua Soderholm, Alain Protat, Rhys Whitley, Lisa Ye, and Nina Ridder
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 407–422, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-407-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-407-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The paper addresses the crucial topic of hail damage quantification using radar observations. We propose a new radar-derived hail product that utilizes a large dataset of insurance hail damage claims and radar observations. A deep neural network was employed, trained with local meteorological variables and the radar observations, to better quantify hail damage. Key meteorological variables were identified to have the most predictive capability in this regard.
Christos Gatidis, Marc Schleiss, and Christine Unal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 235–245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A common method to retrieve important information about the microphysical structure of rain (DSD retrievals) requires a constrained relationship between the drop size distribution parameters. The most widely accepted empirical relationship is between μ and Λ. The relationship shows variability across the different types of rainfall (convective or stratiform). The new proposed power-law model to represent the μ–Λ relation provides a better physical interpretation of the relationship coefficients.
Liqin Jin, Jakob Mann, Nikolas Angelou, and Mikael Sjöholm
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6007–6023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6007-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6007-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
By sampling the spectra from continuous-wave Doppler lidars very fast, the rain-induced Doppler signal can be suppressed and the bias in the wind velocity estimation can be reduced. The method normalizes 3 kHz spectra by their peak values before averaging them down to 50 Hz. Over 3 h, we observe a significant reduction in the bias of the lidar data relative to the reference sonic data when the largest lidar focus distance is used. The more it rains, the more the bias is reduced.
Florian Günzkofer, Gunter Stober, Dimitry Pokhotelov, Yasunobu Miyoshi, and Claudia Borries
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5897–5907, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5897-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5897-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Electric currents in the ionosphere can impact both satellite and ground-based infrastructure. These currents depend strongly on the collisions of ions and neutral particles. Measuring ion–neutral collisions is often only possible via certain assumptions. The direct measurement of ion–neutral collision frequencies is possible with multifrequency incoherent scatter radar measurements. This paper presents one analysis method of such measurements and discusses its advantages and disadvantages.
Cited articles
Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility: Balloon-Borne Sounding System (SONDEWNPN). Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1), updated hourly, compiled by: Keeler, E., Ritsche, M., Coulter, R., Kyrouac, J., and Holdridge, D., ARM Data Center, https://doi.org/10.5439/1021460, 2001.
Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility: Constrained Variational Analysis (60VARANARUC). Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1), compiled by: Tao, C. and Xie, S., ARM Data Center, https://doi.org/10.5439/1647300, 2004.
Banakh, V. A., Smalikho, I. N., and Falits, A. V.: Estimation of the height of the turbulent mixing layer from data of Doppler lidar measurements using conical scanning by a probe beam, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1511–1524, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1511-2021, 2021.
Berg, L. K., Newsom, R. K., and Turner, D. D.: Year-long vertical velocity
statistics derived from Doppler lidar data for the continental convective
boundary layer, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 56,
2441–2454, 2017.
Biraud, S., Billesbach, D., and Chan, S.: ECOR: 30-minute averaged surface vertical fluxes of momentum, sensible heat, and latent heat at Southern Great Plains central facility, DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States) [data set], available at: https://adc.arm.gov/discovery/#/results/datastream::sgpco2flx25mC1.b1 (last access: 7 March 2020), 2015.
Bodini, N. and Optis, M.: The importance of round-robin validation when assessing machine-learning-based vertical extrapolation of wind speeds, Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 489–501, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-489-2020, 2020.
Bogenschutz, P. A. and Krueger, S. K.: A simplified PDF parameterization of subgrid‐scale clouds and turbulence for cloud‐resolving models, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 5, 195–211, 2013.
Bonin, T. A., Carroll, B. J., Hardesty, R. M., Brewer, W. A., Hajny, K.,
Salmon, O. E., and Shepson, P. B.: Doppler lidar observations of the mixing
height in Indianapolis using an automated composite fuzzy logic approach,
J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 35, 473–490, 2018.
Boquet, M., Royer, P., Cariou, J. P., Machta, M., and Valla, M.: Simulation
of Doppler lidar measurement range and data availability, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 33, 977–987, 2016.
Breiman, L.: Random Forests, Mach. Learn., 45, 5–32, 2001.
Brooks, I. M.: Finding boundary layer top: Application of a wavelet
covariance transform to lidar backscatter profiles, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 20, 1092–1105, 2003.
Brost, R. A. and Wyngaard, J. C.: A model study of the stably stratified
planetary boundary layer, J. Atmos. Sci., 35,
1427–1440, 1978.
Cadeddu, M. P., Turner, D. D., and Liljegren, J. C.: A neural network for
real-time retrievals of PWV and LWP from Arctic millimeter-wave ground-based
observations, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 47,
1887–1900, 2009.
Campbell, J. R., Hlavka, D. L., Welton, E. J., Flynn, C. J., Turner, D. D.,
Spinhirne, J. D., Scott III, V. S., and Hwang, I. H.: Full-time, eye-safe
cloud and aerosol lidar observation at atmospheric radiation measurement
program sites: Instruments and data processing, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 19, 431–442, 2002.
Champagne, F. H., Friehe, C. A., LaRue, J. C., and Wynagaard, J. C.: Flux
measurements, flux estimation techniques, and fine-scale turbulence
measurements in the unstable surface layer over land,
J. Atmos. Sci., 34, 515–530, 1977.
Clough, S. A., Shephard, M. W., Mlawer, E., Delamere, J. S., Iacono, M.,
Cady-Pereira, K., Boukabara, S., and Brown, P. D.: Atmospheric radiative
transfer modeling: A summary of the AER codes,
J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 91, 233–244, 2005.
Cohn, S. A. and Angevine, W. M.: Boundary layer height and entrainment zone
thickness measured by lidars and wind-profiling radars,
J. Appl. Meteorol., 39, 1233–1247, 2000.
Cook, D., Kyrouac, J., Keeler, E., Sullivan, R., and Ermold, B.: Soil Temperature and Moisture Profiles at Southern Great Plains central facility, DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5439/1256098, 2016.
Cook, D. R.: Eddy correlation flux measurement system (ECOR) instrument
handbook (No. DOE/SC-ARM-TR-052), DOE Office of Science Atmospheric
Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States), Lemont, Illinois, USA, 2018a.
Cook, D. R.: Soil Temperature and Moisture Profile (STAMP) System Instrument
Handbook (No. DOE/SC-ARM-TR-186), DOE Office of Science Atmospheric
Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States), Lemont, Illinois, USA, 2018b.
Cook, D. R. and Sullivan, R. C.: Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS)
Instrument Handbook (No. DOE/SC-ARM-TR-092), DOE Office of Science
Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States), Lemont, Illinois, USA, 2019.
Deardorff, J. W.: Stratocumulus-capped mixed layers derived from a
3-dimensional model, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 18, 495–527, 1980.
Delle Monache, L., Perry, K. D., Cederwall, R. T., and Ogren, J. A.: In situ aerosol profiles over the Southern Great Plains cloud and radiation test bed site: 2. Effects of mixing height on aerosol properties, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 109, D06209, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JD004024, 2004.
Emeis, S., Schäfer, K., and Münkel, C.: Surface-based remote sensing
of the mixing-layer height – a review, Meteorol. Z., 17,
621–630, 2008.
Fast, J. D., Berg, L. K., Alexander, L., Bell, D., D'Ambro, E., Hubbe, J.,
Kuang, C., Liu, J., Long, C., Matthews, A., and Mei, F.: Overview of the
HI-SCALE field campaign: A new perspective on shallow convective
clouds, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 100, 821–840,
2019.
Fernando, H. J. S. and Weil, J. C.: Whither the stable boundary layer? A
shift in the research agenda, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 91, 1475–1484, 2010.
Gagne II, D. J., Haupt, S. E., Nychka, D. W., and Thompson, G.:
Interpretable deep learning for spatial analysis of severe
hailstorms, Mon. Weather Rev., 147, 2827–2845, 2019.
Golaz, J. C., Larson, V. E., and Cotton, W. R.: A PDF-based model for
boundary layer clouds. Part I: Method and model description, J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 3540–3551, 2002.
Golaz, J. C., Caldwell, P. M., Van Roekel, L. P., Petersen, M. R., Tang, Q., Wolfe, J. D., and Zhu, Q.: The DOE E3SM coupled model version 1: Overview and evaluation at standard resolution, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 11, 2089–2129, 2019.
Grant, A. L. M.: An observational study of the evening transition
boundary-layer,
Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 123, 657–677, 1997.
Gustafson, W. I., Vogelmann, A. M., Cheng, X., Endo, S., Krishna, B., Li,
Z., Toto, T., and Xiao, H.: Recommendations for Implementation of the LASSO
Workflow, DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility, Richland, Washington, USA, DOE/SC-ARM-17-031, 2017.
Gustafson Jr., W. I., Vogelmann, A. M., Li, Z., Cheng, X., Dumas, K. K.,
Endo, S., Johnson, K. L., Krishna, B., Fairless, T., and Xiao, H.: The
Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)
Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) Activity for Continental
Shallow Convection, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 101, E462–E479, 2020.
Hastie, T., Tibshirani, R., and Friedman, J. (Eds.): The elements of
statistical learning: data mining, inference, and prediction, Springer
Science & Business Media, Stanford, California, USA, 2009.
Heffter, J. L.: Transport layer depth calculations, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 61, 97–97, 1980.
Hennemuth, B. and Lammert, A.: Determination of the atmospheric boundary
layer height from radiosonde and lidar backscatter, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 120, 181–200, 2006.
Iacono, M. J., Delamere, J. S., Mlawer, E. J., Shephard, M. W., Clough, S.
A., and Collins, W. D.: Radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases:
Calculations with the AER radiative transfer models, J. Geophys.
Res., 113, D13103, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD009944, 2008.
Karlsson, J., Svensson, G., Cardoso, S., Teixeira, J., and Paradise, S.:
Subtropical cloud-regime transitions: Boundary layer depth and cloud-top
height evolution in models and observations,
J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 49, 1845–1858, 2010.
Knuteson, R. O., Revercomb, H. E., Best, F. A., Ciganovich, N. C., Dedecker,
R. G., Dirkx, T. P., Ellington, S. C., Feltz, W. F., Garcia, R. K., Howell,
H. B., and Smith, W. L.: Atmospheric emitted radiance interferometer. Part
II: Instrument performance, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech.,
21, 1777–1789, 2004.
Krishnamurthy, R., Choukulkar, A., Calhoun, R., Fine, J., Oliver, A., and
Barr, K. S.: Coherent Doppler lidar for wind farm characterization, Wind
Energy, 16, 189–206, 2013.
Kyrouac, J., Ritsche, M., Hickmon, N., and Holdridge, D.: Surface Meteorological Instrumentation at Southern Great Plains central facility, DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5439/1025220, 1993.
Lareau, N. P.: Subcloud and Cloud-Base Latent Heat Fluxes during Shallow
Cumulus Convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 77, 1081–1100,
2020.
Lareau, N. P., Zhang, Y., and Klein, S. A.: Observed boundary layer controls
on shallow cumulus at the ARM Southern Great Plains site, J. Atmos. Sci., 75, 2235–2255, 2018.
Larson, V. E.: CLUBB-SILHS: A parameterization of subgrid variability in the atmosphere, arXiv [preprint], arXiv:1711.03675v3, 10 November 2017.
Larson, V. E. and Golaz, J. C.: Using probability density functions to derive consistent closure relationships among higher-order moments, Mon. Weather Rev., 133, 1023–1042, 2005.
LeMone, M. A., Angevine, W. M., Bretherton, C. S., Chen, F., Dudhia, J.,
Fedorovich, E., Katsaros, K. B., Lenschow, D. H., Mahrt, L., Patton, E. G.,
and Sun, J.: 100 years of progress in boundary layer
meteorology, Meteor. Mon., 59, 9.1–9.85, 2018.
Lenschow, D. H., Wyngaard, J. C., and Pennell, W.T.: Mean-field and
second-moment budgets in a baroclinic, convective boundary layer, J. Atmos. Sci., 37, 1313–1326, 1980.
Lenschow, D. H., Wulfmeyer, V., and Senff, C.: Measuring second-through
fourth-order moments in noisy data, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 17, 1330–1347, 2000.
Lenschow, D. H., Lothon, M., Mayor, S. D., Sullivan, P. P., and Canut, G.: A
comparison of higher-order vertical velocity moments in the convective
boundary layer from lidar with in situ measurements and large-eddy
simulation, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 143, 107–123, 2012.
Liu, S. and Liang, X. Z.: Observed diurnal cycle climatology of planetary
boundary layer height, J. Climate, 23, 5790–5809, 2010.
Markowski, P. and Richardson, Y.: Organization of isolated
convection, Mesoscale meteorology in midlatitudes, Wiley-Blackwell, Pennsylvania, USA, 201–244, 2010.
Marsik, F. J., Fischer, K. W., McDonald, T. D., and Samson, P. J.: Comparison of methods for estimating mixing height used during the 1992 Atlanta Field Intensive, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 34, 1802–1814, 1995.
Mather, J., Goss, H., and Jundt, R.: 2017 Annual Report, edited by:
Jundt, R., ARM Climate Research Facility, Richland, Washington, USA, DOE/SC-ARM-17-038, 2018.
Mather, J. H. and Voyles, J. W.: The ARM Climate Research Facility: A review
of structure and capabilities, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 94, 377–392, 2013.
McCord, R. and Voyles, J. W.: The ARM data system and archive. The
Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program: The First 20 Years, Meteor.
Monograph. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 57, 11.1–11.15, 2016.
McGovern, A., Elmore, K. L., Gagne, D. J., Haupt, S. E., Karstens, C. D.,
Lagerquist, R., Smith, T., and Williams, J. K.: Using artificial
intelligence to improve real-time decision-making for high-impact
weather, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 98,
2073–2090, 2017.
McNicholas, C. and Turner, D. D.: Characterizing the convective boundary
layer turbulence with a High Spectral Resolution Lidar, J.
Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 12910–12927, 2014.
Mlawer, E. J., Taubman, S. J., Brown, P. D., Iacono, M. J., and Clough, S.
A.: Radiative transfer for inhomogeneous atmospheres: RRTM, a validated
correlated-k model for the longwave, J. Geophys. Res., 102,
16663–16682, 1997.
Newsom, R. K. and Krishnamurthy, R.: Doppler lidar observations of radial velocity, backscatter and signal-to-noise ratio at Southern Great Plains central facility, handbook, No. DOE/SC-ARM/TR-101, DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5439/1025185, 2020.
Newsom, R. K., Sivaraman, C., Shippert, T. R., and Riihimaki, L. D.: Doppler
Lidar WIND Value-Added Product (No. DOE/SC-ARM/TR-148), DOE Office of
Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States), Richland, Washington, USA, 2019a.
Newsom, R. K., Sivaraman, C., Shippert, T. R., and Riihimaki, L. D.: Doppler
Lidar Vertical Velocity Statistics Value-Added Product (No.
DOE/SC-ARM/TR-149), DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement
(ARM) Program (United States), Richland, Washington, USA, 2019b.
Pearson, G., Davies, F., and Collier, C.: An analysis of the performance of
the UFAM pulsed Doppler lidar for observing the boundary layer, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 26, 240–250, 2009.
Quan, J., Gao, Y., Zhang, Q., Tie, X., Cao, J., Han, S., Meng, J., Chen, P.,
and Zhao, D.: Evolution of planetary boundary layer under different weather
conditions, and its impact on aerosol concentrations, Particuology, 11,
34–40, 2013.
Rasch, P. J., Xie, S., Ma, P.L., Lin, W., Wang, H., Tang, Q., Burrows, S.
M., Caldwell, P., Zhang, K., Easter, R. C., and Cameron-Smith, P.: An
overview of the atmospheric component of the Energy Exascale Earth System
Model, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 11, 2377–2411,
2019.
Reif, D. W. and Bluestein, H. B.: A 20-year climatology of nocturnal
convection initiation over the central and southern Great Plains during the
warm season, Mon. Weather Rev., 145, 1615–1639, 2017.
Riihimaki, L., Sivaraman, C., and Zhang, D.: Planetary Boundary Layer Height observations from Radiosondes at Southern Great Plains central facility, DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5439/1150253, 2001.
Ritsche, M. T. and Prell, J.: ARM Surface Meteorology Systems (MET)
Handbook, DOE/SC-ARM/TR-086, DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation
Measurement (ARM) Program (United States), Lemont, Illinois, USA, 2011.
Santanello Jr., J. A., Friedl, M. A., and Kustas, W. P.: An empirical
investigation of convective planetary boundary layer evolution and its
relationship with the land surface, J. Appl. Meteorol., 44,
917–932, 2005.
Santanello Jr., J. A., Friedl, M. A., and Ek, M. B.: Convective planetary
boundary layer interactions with the land surface at diurnal time scales:
Diagnostics and feedbacks, J. Hydrometeorol., 8, 1082–1097,
2007.
Sawyer, V. and Li, Z.: Detection, variations and intercomparison of the
planetary boundary layer depth from radiosonde, lidar and infrared
spectrometer, Atmos. Environ., 79, 518–528, 2013.
Schween, J. H., Hirsikko, A., Löhnert, U., and Crewell, S.: Mixing-layer height retrieval with ceilometer and Doppler lidar: from case studies to long-term assessment, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3685–3704, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3685-2014, 2014.
Seibert, P., Beyrich, F., Gryning, S. E., Joffre, S., Rasmussen, A., and
Tercier, P.: Review and intercomparison of operational methods for the
determination of the mixing height, Atmos. Environ., 34,
1001–1027, 2000.
Sisterson, D. L., Peppler, R. A., Cress, T. S., Lamb, P. J., and Turner, D.
D.: The ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. The Atmospheric Radiation
Measurement Program: The First 20 Years, Meteor. Monograph. Amer. Meteor.
Soc., 57, 6.1–6.14, 2016.
Shukla, K. K., Phanikumar, D. V., Newsom, R. K., Kumar, K. N., Ratnam, M.
V., Naja, M., and Singh, N.: Estimation of the mixing layer height over a
high altitude site in Central Himalayan region by using Doppler lidar,
J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phy., 109, 48–53, 2014.
Sivaraman, C., McFarlane, S., Chapman, E., Jensen, M., Toto, T., Liu, S.,
and Fischer, M.: Planetary Boundary Layer Height Value Added Product (VAP):
Radiosonde Retrievals, Department of Energy Office of Science Atmospheric
Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States), Richland, Washington, USA, 2013.
Skamarock, W. C., Klemp, J. B., Dudhia, J., Gill, D. O., Barker, D. M.,
Duda, M. G., Wang, W., and Powers, J. G.: A description of the advanced
research WRF version 3. NCAR Technical Note, NCAR/TN-475+STR, National
Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 113 pp., 2008.
Solheim, F., Godwin, J. R., Westwater, E. R., Han, Y., Keihm, S. J., Marsh,
K., and Ware, R.: Radiometric profiling of temperature, water vapor, and
cloud liquid water using various inversion methods, Radio Sci., 33,
393–404, 1998.
Sullivan, R., Cook, D., and Keeler, E.: Surface Energy Balance System at Southern Great Plains central facility, DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program (United States) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5439/1025274, 2010.
Summa, D., Di Girolamo, P., Stelitano, D., and Cacciani, M.: Characterization of the planetary boundary layer height and structure by Raman lidar: comparison of different approaches, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 3515–3525, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-3515-2013, 2013.
Tang, Q., Xie, S., Zhang, Y., Phillips, T. J., Santanello, J. A., Cook, D.
R., Riihimaki, L. D., and Gaustad, K. L.: Heterogeneity in warm-season
land-atmosphere coupling over the US Southern Great Plains, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 123, 7867–7882, 2018.
Tang, S., Xie, S., Zhang, Y., and Cook, D. R.: The QCECOR Value-Added
Product: Quality-Controlled Eddy Correlation Flux Measurements (No.
DOE/SC-ARM-TR-223), DOE Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement
(ARM) Program (United States), Livermore, California, USA, 2019.
Thompson, G., Rasmussen, R. M., and Manning, K.: Explicit forecasts of
winter precipitation using an improved bulk microphysics scheme. Part I:
Description and sensitivity analysis, Mon. Weather Rev., 132, 519–542,
2004.
Thompson, G., Field, P. R., Rasmussen, R. M., and Hall, W. D.: Explicit
forecasts of winter precipitation using an improved bulk microphysics
scheme. Part II: Implementation of a new snow parameterization, Mon. Weather Rev., 136, 5095–5115, 2008.
Tibshirani, R.: Regression shrinkage and selection via the lasso, J. Roy. Stat. Soc. B, 58, 267–288, 1996.
Träumner, K., Kottmeier, C., Corsmeier, U., and Wieser, A.: Convective
boundary-layer entrainment: Short review and progress using Doppler lidar,
Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 141, 369–391, 2011.
Tucker, S. C., Senff, C. J., Weickmann, A. M., Brewer, W. A., Banta, R. M.,
Sandberg, S. P., Law, D. C., and Hardesty, R. M.: Doppler lidar estimation
of mixing height using turbulence, shear, and aerosol profiles, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 26, 673–688, 2009.
Turner, D. D., Wulfmeyer, V., Berg, L. K., and Schween, J. H.: Water vapor
turbulence profiles in stationary continental convective mixed
layers, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 11–151,
2014.
Vakkari, V., O'Connor, E. J., Nisantzi, A., Mamouri, R. E., and Hadjimitsis, D. G.: Low-level mixing height detection in coastal locations with a scanning Doppler lidar, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1875–1885, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1875-2015, 2015.
Vassallo, D., Krishnamurthy, R., and Fernando, H. J. S.: Decreasing wind speed extrapolation error via domain-specific feature extraction and selection, Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 959–975, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-959-2020, 2020.
Vassallo, D., Krishnamurthy, R., and Fernando, H. J. S.: Utilizing physics-based input features within a machine learning model to predict wind speed forecasting error, Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 295–309, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-295-2021, 2021.
Weckworth, T. M., Spuler, S., and Turner, D. D.: Micropulse Differential
Absorption Lidar (MPD) Network Demonstration Field Campaign Report (No.
DOE/SC-ARM-20-002), ARM Data Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL),
Oak Ridge, TN, USA, 2020.
Wharton, S. and Lundquist, J. K.: Assessing atmospheric stability and its
impacts on rotor-disk wind characteristics at an onshore wind farm, Wind
Energy, 15, 525–546, 2012.
Wood, R. and Bretherton, C. S.: Boundary layer depth, entrainment, and
decoupling in the cloud-capped subtropical and tropical marine boundary
layer, J. Climate, 17, 3576–3588, 2004.
Yoo, W., Mayberry, R., Bae, S., Singh, K., He, Q. P., and Lillard Jr., J.
W.: A study of effects of multicollinearity in the multivariable analysis,
International journal of applied science and technology, 4, 9–19, 2014.
Zhang, Y., Seidel, D. J., and Zhang, S.: Trends in planetary boundary layer
height over Europe, J. Climate, 26, 10071–10076, 2013.
Zilitinkevich, S. and Baklanov, A.: Calculation of the height of the stable
boundary layer in practical applications, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 105, 389–409, 2002.
Zilitinkevich, S. S.: On the determination of the height of the Ekman
boundary layer, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 3, 141–145, 1972.
Short summary
Planetary boundary layer (PBL) height is a critical parameter in atmospheric models. Continuous PBL height measurements from remote sensing measurements are important to understand various boundary layer mechanisms, especially during daytime and evening transition periods. Due to several limitations in existing methodologies to detect PBL height from a Doppler lidar, in this study, a machine learning (ML) approach is tested. The ML model is observed to improve the accuracy by over 50 %.
Planetary boundary layer (PBL) height is a critical parameter in atmospheric models. Continuous...
