Development of a Cloud Forecast Scheme for the GL Baseline Global Spectral Model

Abstract

Using forecast relative humidity (RH) from a global model, several pre-existing diagnostic RH-to-cloud schemes were tested to forecast global fractional cloud cover in a postprocessor format. Since none of the schemes tested provided a superior cloud forecast when compared to Air Force Global Weather Central's (AFGWC) operational 5LAYER cloud forecasts, a new RH-to-cloud scheme was developed by relating cumulative frequencies of forecast RH to cumulative frequencies of analyzed cloud cover from the AFGWC RTNEPH cloud analysis. This scheme creates a series of forecast time dependent RH-to-cloud curves that can be temporally updated to account for changes in season, cloud analysis, or forecast model, The global model used was a spectral-type developed by the Geophysics Laboratory (GL) using parameterized diabatic physics presently incorporated in the operational GSM (global spectral model) at AFGWC.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 20, 1989
Accession Number
ADA231595

Entities

People

  • Douglas C. Hahn
  • Kenneth E. Mitchell

Organizations

  • Air Force Systems Command

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Engineered Resilient Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Cloud Cover
  • Clouds
  • Computers
  • Databases
  • Delphi Method
  • Grids
  • Heat Energy
  • Humidity
  • Latent Heat
  • Meteorology
  • Standards
  • Stratified Fluids
  • Three Dimensional
  • Weather Forecasting

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation