NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory

Synoptic and regional-scale meteorological controls of stratus altitude in the Namib Desert

Abstract. In the Namib Desert, fog is an essential water source and occurs when and where advected marine stratus clouds intersect with the land surface. However, the meteorological controls of the cloud base height are still insufficiently understood. This study aims to develop...

Observational Validation of Boundary‐Layer Cloud Regimes in Arctic Cold Air Outbreaks

Abstract Arctic cold air outbreaks (CAOs) produce low‐level cloud patterns influencing the surface radiative balance. The stability parameter (boundary‐layer height over Monin‐Obukhov length) is theorized to distinguish shear‐driven roll convection from buoyancy‐driven cellular c...

Multi-season evaluation of temperature and wind in the marine boundary layer along the United States northeast coast in the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model

The High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model is run operationally by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide high-resolution short-range forecasts for the continental United States. The evaluation of the HRRR model off of the United States coasts has been...

Reconstruction of fallout deposition from U.S. atmospheric nuclear tests conducted in New Mexico and Nevada

Abstract Between 1945 and 1962, the United States conducted 101 atmospheric nuclear weapon tests in New Mexico and Nevada, dispersing radioactive fallout across the contiguous United States. We reconstruct the first 10 days of fission-product deposition from the 94 non-zero-yield...

Layer‐Dependent Diurnal Moist Static Energy Biases in the Unified Forecast System During the MJO Preconditioning Stage: A DYNAMO Case Study

Abstract Accurate simulation of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) requires realistic diurnal evolution and vertical distribution of moist static energy (MSE). While prior studies documented MSE bias in simulations, vertically dependent physical processes responsible for these b...