RAMS Simulated and SAR Observed Flow Interactions in the Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska

The strong surface winds in the Gulf of Alaska often cause difficulties for the local marine and aviation traffic. The interactions among various flows make the surface wind regime more complicated in this region. High resolution numerical modeling helps understand and forecast these surface winds. However, limited conventional observations prevented meaningful validation to the modeling. Have a higher spatial resolution and extended coverage, the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) derived wind products present a great source for validating the model predictions. Three cases of the down-Inlet wind and the cross channel easterly wind in the lower Cook Inlet were forecast in February 2005 using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). The available corresponding SAR-derived wind image also showed similar strong surface wind patterns. The convergence zone of these two air flows were clear in both RAMS-wind and SAR-wind despite the difference of spatial resolution. The similarity between results of these two independent sources confirmed the confidences of these two methods in predicting/diagnosing highly structured wind fields