Research Highlight

VORTEX2 - Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2

Severe convective weather, including tornadoes, other severe winds, hail, and lightning, impacts life and property throughout the world. In the United States, severe convective weather results in over a hundred deaths every year. NESL scientists study the processes by which thunderstorms produce severe weather with the goal of understanding and better predicting their occurrence.

NESL scientists have been collaborating with other scientists at NCAR, NOAA, universities, and private companies in the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (VORTEX2). This field experiment in the US Great Plains is investigating tornadogenesis, near-ground winds in tornadoes, relationships between tornadic storms and their environments, and numerical weather prediction of supercells and tornadoes. NESL scientists have played key roles in the planning of VORTEX2, and they went to the field 10 May - 13 June 2009 for the first year of the field experiment. More...

In the News

The 2010 NCAR Annual Report has just been published and is available online here. The NESL (ESSL) laboratory's annual report may be found here. More...

Highlighted Publication

Skamarock, W. C., 2004: Evaluating mesoscale NWP models using kinetic energy spectra. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 3019-3032, doi: 10.1175/MWR2830.1.

Abstract: Kinetic energy spectra derived from observations in the free atmosphere possess a wavenumber dependence of k⁻³ for large scales, characteristic of 2D turbulence, and transition to a k^−5/3 dependence in the mesoscale. Kinetic energy spectra computed using mesoscale and experimental near-cloud-scale NWP forecasts from the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model are examined, and it is found that the model-derived spectra match the observational spectra well, including the transition. The model spectra decay at the highest resolved wavenumbers compared with observations, indicating energy removal by the model's dissipation mechanisms. This departure from the observed spectra is used to define the model's effective resolution. Various dissipation mechanisms used in NWP models are tested in WRF model simulations to examine the mechanisms' impact on a model's effective resolution. The spinup of the spectra in forecasts is also explored, along with spectra variability in the free atmosphere and in forecasts under different synoptic regimes.

MMM Keywords: Skamarock

Events: Next 4 Weeks

When: Tuesday, 9 February 2010, at 3:30 pm
Location: FL2 Auditorium (1022)
GSI Development Plans at the NCEP and the JCSDA
John Derber, (Environmental Modeling Center)

When: Tuesday, 16 February 2010, at 3:30 pm
Location: FL2 Auditorium (1022)
Towards Improving and Unifying Vapor Diffusional Growth of Ice in Cloud Models
Jerry Harrington, (Penn State University)

When: Thursday, 18 February 2010, at 3:30 pm
Location: FL2 Auditorium (1022)
The 8 May 2009 "Super Derecho": A Land Huricane?
Morris Weisman, (NCAR/MMM)

When: Monday, 22 February 2010, at 8:30 am
Location: FL2 Auditorium (1022)
The EMC/MMM/DTC Joint Hurricane Workshop and WRF Tutorial for Hurricanes

...see all upcoming events...