Description:

Atmospheric processes occurring over complex terrain pose many challenges for hydrological and meteorological prediction.  These processes are 3-D, multi-scale, and affected by terrain slope, heterogeneous surface roughness, and other land-cover characteristics.  Understanding the physics associated with these processes is critical to predicting a large number of geophysical phenomena (e.g., the timing of snow melt and runoff, glacier-mass balance and retreat, fire weather, etc.).