Extended Abstract (108K)JP1.10
Mesoscale numerical modeling: comparative analysis of convective initiation between dissimilar mesoscale numerical models
Patrick T. Welsh, NOAA/NWS, Jacksonville, FL; and W. Shulz and A. J. Reiss
In the Jacksonville, Florida area, the National Weather Service Forecast Office (NWSO JAX), located near the international airport in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Naval Atlantic Meteorology and Oceanography Facility Jacksonville located at the Naval Air Station Jacksonville collaborated in running daily mesoscale numerical modeling experiments with similarly configured models (the hydrostatic NWS ETA and the non-hydrostatic COAMPS) at high resolution to compare their convective initiation. This study follows a history of mesoscale numerical experiments in North Florida that reaches back to modeling of the Jacksonville Area Sea Breeze Experiment (JASBEX) in 1995. That study concluded that numerical models were capable of significant improvement over synoptic numerical models in this region due to the predominance of local scale forcing on convective initiation. The doubly nested domains for the two local models were initialized as closely as possible with the inner domain resolution set at 10 km using the Kain-Fritsch convective parameterization scheme. The parent models used to initialize the NWS ETA and Navy COAMPS models were a lower resolution ETA and NOGAPS respectively. The models were run at 00 UTC each day and allowed to integrate as a one-way nested model using the larger grid model as a lateral boundary condition for a 36 hour forecast. This study reports the results of comparative runs of the 10 km ETA and COAMPS mesoscale numerical model runs, attempts to more clearly define the strengths of each model and its preferred environments, and recommends additional steps to improve the models in the future
Joint Poster Session 1, Poster Session - Mesoscale Models—with Coffee Break
Monday, 30 July 2001, 2:30 PM-4:00 PM
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