SOARS Manuscripts

Tropospheric ozone is important because of its deleterious effects as urban smog at ground level, its role as a greenhouse gas in the upper troposphere (UT), and its control of the oxidizing capacity of the troposphere through its photochemical derivative hydroxide (OH). Thunderstorms can affect ozo…

One of the most noteworthy tropical systems from the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was Hurricane Wilma. Wilma's deepening rate, minimum central pressure, and small eye motivate further research into its life cycle. Unfortunately, barotropic models have difficulty reproducing Wilma's…

Stratocumulus clouds frequently form over the cold water of the southeastern Pacific Ocean (SEP). Large in area, they affect the Earth's energy budget by blocking and reflecting solar radiation. In this region of atmospheric stability, the height of the boundary layer is at about the same elevation …

There are growing concerns among the nation's leading science organizations about the American public's lack of scientific literacy, participation in science, and understanding of the value of scientific research. Coupled with these concerns is the need to improve the communication of science and re…

On August 7, 2009 typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan producing 1504 mm of rain in a 24- hour period, making it the second largest rainfall event recorded. The flooding and landslides associated with Morakot claimed more than 700 lives and caused major damage in Taiwan. In-situ observations of precipitabl…

Coronal mass ejections, which are explosions of solar material and energy into space, pose a potential threat to satellite and electrical grid infrastructures, yet little is known about the solar corona. Various questions exist, relating to the origins of these mass ejections as well as the mechanis…

There are growing concerns among leading national and local organizations about American scientific literacy, fundamental understanding of science, and the value of scientific research. These organizations, including the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, have been at the forefront to …

Many studies attempt to gain insight into atmospheric and oceanic phenomena in the tropics using the Gill (1980) model because it simplifies the equatorial wave spectrum by making the "longwave approximation." How can the equatorial wave spectrum be simplified to reproduce the waves important for th…

Drought or dry periods can have devastating societal and environmental impacts. For the northeastern United States, increases in dry periods could negatively impact the 54 million people who live in the region and depend upon the regional water resources. Because of climate change and the fluctuatin…

Climate change is an increasing concern worldwide. In the Northern Hemisphere, sub-alpine ecosystems serve as a major carbon sink. Recent research has shown that these ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to changes in climate. Small drops in water availability and increases in temperature, for ex…

Mitigating potential disasters from land-falling tropical cyclones requires accurate forecasts of trajectory and intensity. In the last 20 years, trajectory forecasting has improved 50%, while intensity forecasts have improved little or not at all. This lack of any major advances can be partly expla…

The North American Monsoon (NAM) is an annual phenomenon that influences the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico during the summer months. Atmospheric general circulation models have had difficulty forecasting precipitation events during the NAM season. The cause of this predicament has …

Simulations from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCAPP) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) AM2.1 timeslice experiment, for current climate (1971-2000) and future climate (2041-2070), were compared and contrasted to assess how May through October accumulated…

Of all the Tropical Cyclones (TC) that occur worldwide, 42% (27%) of the North Atlantic (western North Pacific) storms undergo Extratropical Transition (ET) into Extratropical Cyclones (EC). EC are asymmetric cold core systems as opposed to their warm core predecessors, and their radii of gale force…

The occurrence of precipitation in the Sahelian belt is highly variable and unpredictable. Incessant droughts and spasmodic flash floods cause residents to experience crop failures due to drought and subsequent famine. These unfortunate occurrences served as the motivation for this study. This resea…

Tropical cyclone (TC) intensity forecasts continue to be one of the most challenging aspects of hurricane prediction. However, through an innovative new tracking and analysis tool, a high resolution, real-time analysis and greater understanding of the complex dynamics of TCs is possible, both leadin…

The effect of solar variability upon the atmosphere remains poorly understood. This study explored the impact of 27-day rotation of sunspots on the equatorial upper and middle equatorial atmospheric photochemistry from Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model 3 (WACCM3) output. WACCM3 was driven wit…

The new atmospheric prediction model, the Weather Research and Forecasting Model version 3.1 (WRF) coupled with the empirical fire spread model was used to model wildfire behavior and analyze emissions. Modeling wildfires includes calculating the spread rate and where a fire will propagate based on …

The passage of a tropical cyclone (TC) over a mesoscale mountainous island, such as Puerto Rico, often brings heavy rainfall which produces flooding and landslides. Factors that affect the amount and distribution of this type of orographic rainfall in this region are not well understood. This study …

Through perturbation interactions with the zonal mean flow, the migrating diurnal tide and the diurnal eastward 3 (DE3) tide are fundamental to a holistic understanding of the atmospheric dynamics at mesosphere lower thermosphere (MLT) and low ionospheric altitudes. Previous tidal studies have noted…

Different ways of understanding climate change are pertinent to the study thereof. Observations and perspectives from indigenous and local peoples, in combination with scientific climate data, are important to include in discussions and considerations of regional climate change to better understand …

Tropical cyclones (TCs) can cause extensive damage due to strong winds, storm surge, and rainfall. These systems are capable of torrential downpours, producing flooding and forceful winds that damage buildings. Past studies and forecasts have focused on the immediate impacts surrounding the area of …

Weather and climate models require both efficient and accurate numerical methods to simulate tracer (e.g., moisture, salinity) advection. The distribution of the tracer used in transport equations is approximated by a Taylor expansion. A scheme is developed that builds upon a simpler, second-order c…

In the planetary boundary layer (PBL) (loosely defined as the layer < 1 km above the surface), pollutants travel shorter distances and have shorter residence times relative to those in the upper troposphere. Without clouds, the pollutants released near the surface are likely to stay within the PBL (…

Floods are the leading cause of weather-related fatalities in the United States and the second most common cause of weather-related deaths worldwide. Of all floods, flash floods are found to be the most deadly with an average global mortality rate of 3.62%. This study performed a spatial and tempora…