SOARS Manuscripts

It has recently been proposed, but not proven, that bacteria associated with plant roots may produce the volatile hydrocarbon, isoprene, as a protective mechanism. Isoprene might act to repel organisms that feed on these bacteria or the host roots. The work presented here is an initial test of this …

Preliminary results from observations of a severe thunderstorm near Bird City, Kansas on 29 June 2000 during the Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS) are presented. Storm characteristics included large hail, frequent positive cloud-to-ground lightning, and an F1 tornad…

Simultaneous and precursory signals in sea surface temperature (SST) associated with anomalous precipitation over North, Central and South America are examined with seasonal mean data. The relationships are documented for SST variations in three regions: the equatorial Pacific (NIÑO3), the tropical …

Numerical weather prediction – currently the most widely-used tool for weather forecasting – relies on observations and computer models to produce forecasts. To produce accurate forecasts, computer models require an accurate initial state. The initial state is comprised of the previous model run's o…

The vertical distribution of ozone over the Amazon rainforest, especially within the mixed layer of the planetary boundary layer, is not well understood. During the month of June 2001, ozone profiles were collected as a part of the Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment (LBA) in Amazonia from a…

Identifying any island-induced effect on winds over Nauru is necessary for better interpreting wind measurements taken by a wind profiling radar. The objectives of this research were to identify any sea breeze (island-induced phenomenon) over the wind profiler site at Nauru as well as to determine i…

Submicron atmospheric aerosols have been studied to get a better handle on their contribution to the earth's radiative forcing. Samples were collected on filters using a concentrator and analyzed for organic content. This study has been done in two field projects, the Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol …

Supergranulation is characterized by large-scale horizontal flows of gas in the photosphere and is outlined by network which is composed of magnetic flux tubes. We made preliminary measurements, using data from the Precision Solar Photometric Telescope (PSPT) at Mauna Loa Solar Observatory in Hawaii…

The purpose of this research is to learn how city governments, human services departments, and community organizations can reduce the impact to human health from summer heat waves in U.S. cities. The city of Chicago developed its Extreme Weather Operations Plan to reduce the impact of heat waves aft…

Thunderstorm models can assimilate data to include the evolution and structure and more recently, the cloud chemistry of storms. To further understand the effect of thunderstorm processing on the chemical composition of the middle and upper troposphere, nonmethane hydrocarbon (NMHC) chemistry was ad…

In recent years, academic bridge programs have received favorable attention as they support and guide targeted populations toward specified educational goals. However, critical, in-depth studies of such programs are lacking. This paper describes the techniques used to better understand one such brid…

This study uses the random perturbation method to forecast 500-mb heights during a height anomaly regime shift during late December 1985 and early January 1986. The random perturbation method randomly generates perturbations from an analysis within a range of analysis error. The resulting perturbati…

Relatively little is known about the mesosphere (50-90 km) as compared with other regions in the atmosphere. The mesosphere is difficult to measure with airborne, ground-based and in situ satellite measurements due to its height and location between the thermosphere and the stratosphere. One element…

Using radar data to estimate snowfall rates is of great interest in regions of rough terrain. Snowfall rates can provide information on potential flood hazards, water resource problems, and aide in agricultural planning. Several attempts have been made estimating snowfall rates using radar data, but…

We analyzed CO measurements in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere via infrared spectroscopy using a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer that was flown aboard two aircraft, a NASA DC8 and NCAR Sabreliner. Measurements were made between 1978-1992. Measurements of stratospheric CO …

Cirrus clouds play an important role in the radiation budget of the atmosphere by reflecting shortwave solar radiation and absorbing longwave terrestrial radiation. There is large variability in the microphysical properties (size, shape, and density) of ice particles within cirrus clouds, which may …

The primary goal of this research is to examine the efficacy of using a fuzzy logic/adaptive weighting (FLAW) technique to predict hurricane intensity change in the eastern North Pacific (ENP) basin. The intensity change forecasts, for 12-hour intervals ranging from 12 to 72 hours, produced by a mod…

Daniel Rosenfeld recently illustrated that satellite data could be used to study the effects of industrial pollution on rainfall in southern Australia. An examination of Rosenfeld's technique was done to find if it is reasonable to study these effects in other parts of the world. Tropical Rainfall M…

The study of scientific parallel computing frameworks are important to the research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research since many of the problems revolve around fluid dynamics. By implementing Laplace's equation on the Kernel Lattice Parallelism and Portable Extensible Toolkit for Scien…

The atmospheric boundary layer governs the formation of the Low Level Jet (LLJ), a critical driver of moisture transport and convective activity across the central United States. The dominant theory, established by Blackadar (1957), attributes LLJ initiation to nocturnal decoupling of the boundary l…

The relationship between chemical heating and tides in the upper atmosphere has not been previously examined. In this study, a chemical heating subroutine was added to a three-dimensional model of the atmosphere, which contained tides. It was found that chemical heating and tides do affect one anoth…

Tornadoes threaten our communities every year. They can occur throughout the U.S. in any season, and at any time of day. Currently an area of concern is the type of storms from which tornadoes form. "Supercell" thunderstorms are thought to be the most common tornado producers. Yet, recent studies ha…

I studied the relationship between streambed mobility and invertebrate abundance in mountain streams. I collected invertebrates and I measured different variables on the streambed. I calculated the difference between critical shear stress and ambient shear stress. This difference is termed sub-criti…

We applied wavelet transforms to a remarkable chromospheric time-series dataset, obtained on 25 April 1997 by the SUMER spectrograph on board the SOHO spacecraft, which shows a strong oscillatory signal. This signal is attributed by many as belonging to upward propagating waves generated in the phot…

Previous studies have attempted to use computer models to differentiate stratospheric and tropospheric sources of ozone in order to quantify the contribution of ozone flux from the stratosphere to the mixing ratios of ozone in the troposphere. However, these studies usually do not include all of the…