Preliminary Analysis of Gulf Coast Moisture and Aerosols

A preliminary analysis for the identification of moisture and aerosol distributions, sources and sinks, and their variations, is in progress for the Gulf of Mexico region. These will serve as the basis for understanding the character and distribution of atmospheric moisture and tropospheric aerosols according to seasonal and daily variations and as a function of prevailing synoptic weather conditions. This information will be compared to expected distributions and be considered with regard to operational applications, including operational forecasting. The nature of land/sea/atmosphere interactions, and the role of aerosol and moisture distributions, will also be considered through application of these results and ultimately by examination of MM5 output for specific atmospheric and weather conditions.