AN OBJECTIVE METHOD OF ANALYZING TROPICAL WEATHER.
Abstract
This report describes the preliminary form of a computer program which provides a grid-point analysis of geopotential height, wind, stream function, temperature, and relative humidity, using standard upper-air data. Divergence, vorticity, and vertical motion can be obtained for any desired isobaric layer or level from the objective grid-point analysis of the wind. The analysis technique is applied to the area of the Caribbean for a seven-day period in July 1966. Typical results are presented. Available cloud observations from Nimbus 2 are used to test the reliability of the objective analyses. The objective analyses appear quite satisfactory in terms of fitting the observed data and giving patterns that have good resolution and smoothness compared to hand analyses. However, the computed divergence and vertical motion are not uniquely related to the cloudiness. There are apparently two reasons for this: One is the sparsity of upper-air data compared to the mesoscale features shown in satellite cloud pictures; the second reason is that clouds over Central America appear to be largely orographic and convective in nature, and these factors are not apparent in the synoptic-scale analyses. Techniques for meshing satellite data into objective analyses appear very desirable and will be considered in further work. Also, further experimentation is planned with the analysis method, alterations will be made to kinematic quantities, and initial tests will be made of numerical forecasting models. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0819137
Entities
People
- Robert L. Mancuso
- Roy M. Endlich
- William Viezee
Organizations
- SRI International