Coastal Meteorology A Review of the State of the Science (1992) / Chapter Skim
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8. Capabilities and Opportunities
8. Capabilities and Opportunities
Pages 71-80
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From page 71... ...
This chapter describes the state of present observations for operational coastal meteorology, techniques used in coastal research work, and future possibilities to improve both measurements and understanding. In Situ Methods The present operational coastal meteorological observations are obtained from a variety of systems operated primarily by the National Weather Service (NWS)
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From page 72... ...
The VOSs report data (pressure, temperatures, humidity, wind, and sea-state and cloud visual observations) at bridge height (about 20 m for modern ships)
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From page 73... ...
For particular application to the coastal zone, we note that the standard synoptic observing times do not necessarily coincide with maxima or minima in the diurnal sea breeze cycle, and the effects of this bias may be more pronounced in the coastal zone than elsewhere; the lower levels of the balloon soundings do not often resolve the boundary layer and may reflect more of the local urban boundary layer than that over the nearby coast; there are no sounding data over the ocean; usual errors in reported ship positions are more critical than over the open ocean; and coastal ship data are naturally concentrated around ports. For the future, NOAA's observational equipment modernization will offer some improvements and some degradation of data for the coastal zone.
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From page 74... ...
; deploying coastal weather stations to resolve mesoscale processes; using small upper-air balloon systems for soundings in particular locations; using special research aircraft equipped for meteorological measurements; taking meteorological measurements and soundings from ships; and using special satellite products. Coastal experiments usually cover the spatial range from less than 1 km to several hundred kilometers in order to resolve all of the meteorological processes; the experiments generally have an intensive phase of a month or two, sometimes imbedded in longer-term monitoring phases covering a season or more.
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From page 75... ...
wind profilers; Doppler lidars, which are multichannel microwave radiometers for moisture and temperature profiles; and scanning and millimeter-wavelength radars. These can be based at the coast and pointed over land, over sea, or vertically to map mesoscale features in the coastal zone.
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From page 76... ...
A 1-hour composite of horizontal wind vectors in the lower atmospheric boundary layer shows the strong circulation (from Kropfli, 1986~. point at the sea surface and infer surface ocean current and perhaps wave information over mesoscale areas.
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From page 77... ...
'-_~',-_'~'d ~ I ~ .~, ~ 1 ~ it, 1, 1 .d ,,, ,, I" ~ ~, _ ,, ~ -,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,,,,,1 -,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,,,,,1 -1 0.0 -5.0 0.0 X(km) 5 m/s 6.0 1 0.0 FIGURE 8.4 Doppler lidar wind vector measurements in a plane perpendicular to the coast near Monterey, California, depicting a 4-hour period in the transition from a land breeze to a sea breeze (sunrise is about 1400 UTC)
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From page 78... ...
For example, a numerical simulation of a sea breeze can be used to provide the scaled winds and turbulence for input to a detailed wind tunnel simulation of flow around buildings in the coastal environment. Numerical modeling and analytical modeling have been applied more generally to coastal meteorological studies.
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From page 79... ...
has revealed that sea breeze simulations using nested grid nonhydrostatic models employing very fine inner nests (1000 m or less) produce much sharper frontal discontinuities and consequently stronger vertical motions than do previous coarsermesh runs (see Figure 3.1~.
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From page 80... ...
Any new observational system installed in coastal zones, if it is to be useful for potential 4DDA applications, must be carefully designed. If operational coastal models are to become a reality, frequently updated regional soil moisture and vegetation information (from observations not now readily available)
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