88th Annual Meeting (20-24 January 2008)

Thursday, 24 January 2008: 11:45 AM
The influence of lidar based water vapor assimilation on a regional forecast over the Mid-Atlantic
204 (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center)
Segayle Walford, Howard University, Washington, DC; and E. Joseph
Forecasting subtle, small-scale convective cases in both winter and summer time is an ongoing challenge within our field. Recent studies have shown that better structure of moisture within the boundary layer is crucial for improved forecasting skills. Lidars, which take high temporal observations, are able to capture moisture structures very well in the boundary layer. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of assimilating water vapor mixing ratio from the Howard University Beltsville Lidar and Goddard's Scanning Raman Lidar for one case during the Water Vapor Validation Experiment- Satellite and Sondes (WAVES) field campaign located in Beltsville, Md. Specifically, we use lidar based water vapor observations to drive the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional model over a 5 km grid resolution. The timing, location, strength and spatial coverage of convection are studied and analyzed.

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