Mesoscale Simulations of Coastal Circulations Evaluated Using Measurements from a Dense MESO Network
Abstract
This research focuses on the evaluation of a mesoscale model in simulating coastal sea-breeze circulations. Measurements for this purpose were made from a mesonetwork consisting of 36 towers and five Doppler Wind Profilers as part of the Weather Information Network Display System at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The tower measurements provides observations of wind, temperature, and humidity from at least one level on each tower, while 17 of the towers have two common levels that allow calculations of surface momentum flux and sensible and latent heat fluxes. For this research, two five-day periods are chosen for analyses and model verification of temporal and spatial variability of sea breeze circulations against high-resolution simulations from the U.S. Navy s Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPSTM). In addition to traditional statistical method of model evaluation, this research also evaluated how the error statistics vary spatially relative to distance from the coastline, an unprecedented approach to studies in this region. Results from this study suggests general adequacy of COAMPSTM in simulating the diurnal variation of the sea breeze circulation. However, significant errors result in some of the variables, such as surface fluxes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA580672
Entities
People
- Daniel B. Muggelberg
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School