The Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM) Division is one of nine programs or divisions within the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The mission of MMM is one of basic research to advance fundamental understanding of mesoscale and microscale processes and to demonstrate the ability to model, observe, and predict these processes. The division's research ranges from basic to applied; however, for the direct transfer of knowledge to benefit society, we rely on collaborative efforts with other NCAR divisions and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) programs whose missions are more directly aligned to technology transfer.
The division is organized into seven groups whose missions relate to their approach to their science (e.g., modeling versus analysis of observations), or scales considered (e.g., mesoscale versus microscale). It consists of about 70 staff with 27 scientists, including 15 senior scientists. Collocated with the division is a group of three scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) that specializes in airborne dual-Doppler observations of mesoscale systems. This group augments the MMM program in mesoscale observations.
Research in the division has two broad emphases: (1) a body of research that is related to climate problems, and (2) a body of research that is related to weather and weather forecasting. Obviously, fundamental research in either of these theme areas can relate to both the weather problem and the climate problem, but they are grouped by their current primary overall objectives.
In addition to the fundamental research, there are programs associated with each of the broad areas that are designed to make direct contributions to the prediction of weather and climate. On the weather side, there is the mesoscale numerical prediction program, which centers around the NCAR/Pennsylvania State University (PSU) Mesoscale Model (MM5) and a new NCAR-wide program, to be led by MMM, which is currently described as the data assimilation, adjoint techniques, and targeted observations program. On the climate side, our main direct contributions will be through the NCAR-wide Clouds in Climate Program (CCP), and we are a contributor to the Global Tropospheric Chemistry Program (GTCP).
The division maintains a broad program of support to the mesoscale and microscale research community. This includes the maintenance of a suite of models that can be applied to a wide range of problems in the meso- and microscale, and the development of data analysis software for research that uses radar, surface network, and aircraft data. We contribute to and are leaders in the planning and conducting of a variety of field programs in which university researchers also play a major role. We develop airborne instruments (balloon and aircraft) for measurements of microphysical properties of the atmosphere and make these instruments available to outside users. The division provides a number of model workshops and tutorials to instruct new users on how to apply our models to their research needs, and to bring veteran users up-to-date on new features. Finally, a large and very popular visitor program is maintained by the division. Many of our visitors are directly supported by division funds.
Besides the National Science Foundation (NSF) core funding, the division receives additional funding from NSF for the Role of Clouds, Energy, and Water (ROCEW) program, of which MMM is the lead division. About half of the ROCEW funding is allocated to the new CCP. Additional funding comes from GTCP, which is led by the Atmospheric Chemistry Division (ACD), Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA), which is led by the Climate and Global Dynamics Division (CGD), and the High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) program, which is led by the Scientific Computing Division (SCD). A large portion of the division's core funding was identified as the U.S. Weather Research Program (USWRP) a year ago. This funding supports the research that contributes to advances in weather forecasting. Some Special-NSF and NOAA funding supports the activities of the office of the lead scientist of the USWRP, located in MMM.
Six agencies (NASA, DOE, DoD, ONR, FAA, and NOAA) supported 20 projects within MMM in FY 95 which contribute to program goals set by the NSF. NASA supported the FIRE/TOGA, ASHOE, BOREAS, TRMM, and Convective Parameterization projects. DOE supported the ARM/Cloud-Radiation, ARM/Microphysical, and ARM/IDASS projects. DoD supported the ARPA-NASA project. ONR supported the ASTEX, LES, and Numerical Studies projects. FAA supported the Adjoint Techniques, Data Assimilation, GPS/MET, Modeling, and Data Retrieval projects. NOAA supported the Microphysical Modeling, GPS/MET, and Forecasting projects.
MMM received funding from nine educational/research institutions in support of nine projects: University of Washington (Coastally-Trapped Phenomena project), University of Arizona (3D Simulation of Clouds project), University of California/Scripps (Ice Cloud Research project), Hong Kong University Institute of Science and Technology (with Royal Observatory of Hong Kong, Terrain-Induced Turbulence project), South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (Numerical Simulation of Boundary Layer project), Los Alamos National Laboratory (Eulerian Differencing project), Utah State Water Resources (3D Simulation of Clouds project), Argonne National Laboratory (Test-Bed Prototype project), and Pacific Northwest Laboratory (Cloud Parameterization project). In addition, NSF-Special Funding supported four projects: TAMEX, TOGA COARE/Fluxes, TOGA COARE/Clouds, and GPS/MET.