Engineering topics

Turner, Dave

Publications and source records attributed to Turner, Dave.

4 records

DOE OSTI2026

Improving Process Level Understanding of Boundary Layer Winds over the Northeast U.S. Shelf: The Third Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP3)

The third Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP3), a U.S. Department of Energy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sponsored investigation, sought to improve understanding of the physical phenomena in the atmosphere and ocean that dictate the structure and variability of wind and thermodynamic fields within the marine atmospheric boundary layer. WFIP3 focused on mesoscale and submesoscale flows -- including sea breezes, low-level jets, low-level clouds, and coastal storms -- and the ability of advanced numerical model parameterizations to represent them within fully coupled oceanic and atmospheric modeling systems and foundational weather forecast models. WFIP3 conducted a comprehensive 18-month observational study over the Northeast U.S. outer continental shelf, a high-use coastal zone, using a 3D multiscale sensor array to highly resolve the temporal, vertical, and horizontal structure of the coupled atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers. Multiple land-based study sites adjacent to the coastal ocean observed surface meteorology and vertical profiles of atmospheric properties via passive infrared and microwave radiometers, active lidars and radars, and radiosondes. At sea, an array of surface flux buoys and two vertical profiling lidar buoys observed both atmospheric and oceanic properties, augmented by land-based oceanographic radar systems and routine ship-based surveys. Intensive observations of the marine atmospheric boundary layer over the ocean was done from an air-sea interaction flux tower and extended deployments of a large autonomous barge platform. Numerous critical forecasting phenomena were observed that are being evaluated within regional coupled and uncoupled modeling systems, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's foundational High-Resolution Rapid Refresh forecast model.

Kirincich, Anthony↗

DOE OSTI2024

Data/code for Mlawer et al. 2024 (A more transparent infrared window)

The infrared window region (780–1,250 cm –1 , 12.8 to 8.0 μm) is of great importance to Earth's climate due to its high transparency and thermal energy. We present here a new investigation of the transparency of this spectral region based on observations by interferometers of downwelling surface radiance at two DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program sites. We focus on the dominant source of absorption in this region, the water vapor continuum, and derive updated values of spectral absorption coefficients for both the self and foreign continua. Our results show that the self continuum is too strong in the previous version of Mlawer-Tobin_Clough-Kneizys-Davies (MT_CKD) water vapor continuum model, a result that is consistent with other recent analyses, while the foreign continuum is too weak in MT_CKD. In general, the weaker self continuum derived in this study results in an overall increase in atmospheric transparency in the window, although in atmospheres with low amounts of water vapor the transparency may slightly decrease due to the increase in foreign continuum absorption. These continuum changes lead to a significant decrease in downwelling longwave flux at the surface for moist atmospheres and a modest increase in outgoing longwave radiation. The increased fraction of surface-leaving radiation that escapes to space leads to a notable increase (~5–10%) in climate feedback, implying that climate simulations that use the new infrared window continuum will show somewhat less warming than before. This study also points out the possibly important role that aerosol absorption may play in the longwave radiative budget.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2008

Progress on the Use of Combined Analog and Photon Counting Detection for Raman Lidar

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program Raman Lidar (CARL) was upgraded in 2004 with a new data system that provides simultaneous measurements of both the photomultiplier analog output voltage and photon counts. The so-called merge value added procedure (VAP) was developed to combine the analog and count-rate signals into a single signal with improved dynamic range. Earlier versions of this VAP tended to cause unacceptably large biases in the water vapor mixing ratio during the daytime as a result of improper matching between the analog and count-rate signals in the presence of elevated solar background levels. We recently identified several problems and tested a modified version of the merge VAP by comparing profiles of water vapor mixing ratio derived from CARL with simultaneous sonde data over a six month period. We show that the modified merge VAP significantly reduces the daytime bias, and results in mean differences that are within approximately 1% for both nighttime and daytime measurements.

Newsom, Rob↗

NASA NTRS1998

Upper tropospheric water vapor: A field campaign of two Raman lidars, Airborne hygrometers, and Radiosondes

Water vapor in the atmosphere plays an important role in radiative transfer and the process of radiative balance so critical for understanding global change. It is the principal ingredient in cloud formation, one of the most difficult atmospheric processes to model, and the most variable component of the Earth-atmosphere albedo. And as a free molecule, it is the most active infrared absorber and emitter, thus, the most important greenhouse gas. The radiative impact of water vapor is important at all levels of the atmosphere. Even though moisture decreases by several orders-of-magnitude from the Earth's surface to the tropopause, recent research has shown that, from a radiative standpoint, a small percentage change in water vapor at any level is nearly equivalent. Therefore accurate and precise measurements of this important atmospheric constituent are needed at all levels to evaluate the full radiative impact. The need for improved measurements in the upper troposphere is particularly important because of the generally hostile (very dry and cold) conditions encountered. Because of the importance of water vapor to the understanding of radiative transfer, the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) program initiated a series of measurement campaigns at the Cloud And Radiation Testbed (CART) site in Oklahoma, especially focused on atmospheric water vapor. Three water vapor intensive observation period (water vapor IOP) campaigns were planned. Two of the water vapor IOP campaigns have been completed: the first IOP was held during the fall of 1996 with a focus on boundary layer water vapor measurements, and the second was conducted during the fall of 1997 with a focus on both boundary layer moisture e and moisture in the upper troposphere. This paper presents a review of the intercomparisons of water vapor measurements in the upper troposphere aquired during the second water vapor IOP. Data to be presented include water vapor measurements ements from: two Raman Lidars, the NASA Goddard Scanning Raman Lidar (SRL) and the CART Raman Lidar (CARL), a number of Vaisala radiosondes launched during the IOP campaign, and a dew point hygrometer flown on the University of North Dakota Cessna Citation Aircraft.

Melfi, S. Harvey↗