Version 2 of the MM5 model was released to the user community in the summer of 1996. Dudhia, Wei Wang, Daniel Hansen, and Sue Chen were the main contributors to the development of MM5 version 2. Several new options for physical parameterization were added to the MM5 model including the Betts-Miller, Kain-Fritsch, Fritsch-Chappell cumulus parameterization schemes, the Burk-Thompson second order, the level 3 PBL scheme, and the Goddard 3-ice cloud microphysics scheme. The new code uses Unix and C utilities to allow selective compilation of physics options, is portable to most workstation platforms, and is now maintained under a standard version control system (CVS). It now includes more supported options for cumulus parameterization, the boundary layer, radiation, and microphysics.
The MM5 Web pages have been on-line since August 1995 (the URL is http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/mm5/mm5-home.html). The Release Notes for MM5 version 2, and the newly updated Tutorial Notes for Modeling-System Users, are also available on the Web. Two MM5 tutorial classes were offered to new users in 1996. Twenty-two people from 16 institutions (including three from foreign countries) attended the January 1996 tutorial class; 28 people from 23 institutions attended the July 1996 tutorial class (including eight from foreign countries). The four-day classes, comprised of lectures on each component of the modeling system and hands-on practice sessions, were given by Wang, Dudhia, David Gill, Manning, Yong-Run Guo, and Hansen. The tutorial class participants learned how, through exercises based on prepared lectures, to run the MM5 modeling system on the NCAR Cray YMP as well as on workstations.
The Sixth Annual Users' Workshop was hosted by the Mesoscale Prediction Group (MPG) in July 1996. A total of 60 users from 28 institutions participated in this three-day event. The 44 presentations given by the users covered topics of model development, regional climate, data assimilation, PBL and surface processes, coastal and lake meteorology, topographic effects, tropical systems, mid-latitude systems, air quality and chemical transport modeling, and real-time modeling. The MPG also hosted a two-day workshop on real-time mesoscale forecasting, organized by Clifford Mass (University of Washington); 59 participants from the university community and forecast centers attended.
Jordan Powers (ASP postdoctoral fellow) continued the development of a coupled environmental modeling system comprised of the MM5, the Princeton Ocean Model, and the GLERL-Donelan Wave Model. The coupled model is being tested to investigate the effects of (i) using high-resolution atmospheric data from a mesoscale model (the MM5) to drive marine wave and circulation models, and (ii) incorporating detailed sea state and heat flux data from the marine models into the MM5's atmospheric forecast. System developments have included the preparation of a more portable, non-distributed version of the coupled model. Test results from simulations using the coupled modeling system have indicated the potential for profound impacts from atmosphere-ocean coupling. In a case involving cold frontal passage across Lake Erie, the results show that coupling yields significantly enhanced surface roughness and increased sensible and latent heat fluxes in the MM5 simulation. The coupled MM5 shows promise as a tool for future investigations of processes and phenomena involving strong air-sea interaction, such as marine cyclogenesis and Central American cold surges.
Hansen continued the development of MM5 visualization software, originally created for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)/COOP-3D project. The "MM5 Explorer Viewer" uses the Explorer graphics package to plot raw MM5 output, and represents a new, interactive visualization tool for the MM5 modeling system. The software is being developed to fill the gap in the MM5 modeling system's interactive analysis capabilities, and will become available to the broad user community.
A new generation of the Clark-Hall model was created that includes the most recent developments of parallel processing and large-scale data initialization. Considerable success was achieved applying the new model to the Arizona Program winter storms, the Colorado windstorm, and tropical convection case studies. The code has used up to 16 processors efficiently, and is currently running on Cray and SGI shared-memory systems. Current plans are to streamline the message-passing algorithm so that the model can easily be converted to distributed memory systems and still retain a high efficiency similar to the shared memory code.
Members of the Cloud Scale Modeling Group (CSMG) continued their interaction with, and service to, the atmospheric science community by making the Clark-Hall model available for community use. An annual workshop was conducted in June 1996 in which 10 participants learned a wide range of model applications including flow over complex terrain, weather modification, convective storms, atmospheric chemistry, frontal systems, boundary layer studies, and the linking of hydrologic and mesoscale atmospheric models.
Richard Carbone served as Lead Scientist of the U.S. Weather Research Program (USWRP) during FY96. In this capacity he organized and conducted seven meetings involving more than 100 scientists to define the scientific program and publish reports which chart the emerging research issues and opportunities related to weather prediction. It was decided that the initial scientific foci of the USWRP would be: studies related to the importance and mix of observations in numerical weather prediction; studies related to quantitative precipitation forecasting; and studies related to the landfall of hurricanes.
Carbone worked with U.S. agencies, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (IAMAP), and representatives of more than 10 countries to establish the USWRP as a funded program and to establish the World Weather Research Program internationally. Under the USWRP a joint university grants program, an NCAR research proposal competition, and a NOAA laboratory proposal competition were instituted in FY96 involving roughly $4M in total research funds. Late in FY96, both the U.S. Navy and NASA agreed in principle to join in cosponsorship of the USWRP. In FY97, it is expected that all four participating agencies (NSF, NOAA, U.S. Navy, and NASA) will fund the Office of the Lead Scientist.
William Anderson and L. Jay Miller continued support of software, installed at NCAR and at several universities and government research agencies, used for analysis and display of radar, mesonetwork, and aircraft data. Anderson developed prototype Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for both radar and aircraft software to improve their interactive use. Anderson and Miller improved the connection between the radar software and those packages developed elsewhere, as well as those available commercially, by adding the network Common Data Format (netCDF). The radar software normally uses its own self-describing, highly efficient, portable but specialized format for gridded data.
Throughout FY96 the MMM Division hosted 252 visitors, of which 35 were long-term (6 months or longer) and 217 were short-term (less than 6 months). The Visitor Program continues as an ever-growing and vital part of the division's mission and operation. Three Affiliate Scientists have appointments with MMM, one of which is joint with ATD. Decisions on visitor appointments are coordinated through the division's Visitor Advisory Committee and the seven science group heads. Forty-one (41) universities within the U.S. and eighteen (18) foreign countries were represented by visitors during the year. For a complete listing of the division's visitors, please refer to the Visitors and Collaborators list.
During FY96 the division hosted or facilitated a number of workshops, meetings, and colloquia including
The MMM Division also hosts a weekly seminar series. During FY96 there were a total of 38 seminars presented, of which 12 were given by MMM scientists and 7 were given by long-term visitors. In FY96 the series was coordinated by Andrew Crook, who will also coordinate the series in FY97. Upcoming presentations can be viewed on MMM's Home Page (the URL is http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/sem/seminars.html).
To view other community service activities (editorships, committees/advisory boards, honors, and awards) provided by MMM and NCAR staff, click here.