If a raindrop falls in the middle of Haywood County, does it make a splash - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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If a raindrop falls in the middle of Haywood County, does it make a splash

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Title: If a raindrop falls in the middle of Haywood County, does it make a splash


1
If a raindrop falls in the middle of Haywood
County, does it make a splash?
  • Douglas K. MillerUNCA Atmospheric Sciences
    Department

2
If a raindrop falls in the middle of Haywood
County, does it make a splash?
in collaboration with
  • Ana Barros, professorDuke University
  • Pratt School of Engineering

3
If a raindrop falls in the middle of Haywood
County, does it make a splash?
with the capable assistance of
  • John Allard, Chris LaValley, Robbie Munroe, Greg
    Cutrell, Anna Wilson

UNCA student researchers
4
Basic research problem
  • How much rain falls at mountain tops?

5
Basic research problem
  • All our operational gauges in mountainous areas
    tend to be located in easy access locations
  • Roads follow rivers
  • Rivers are in valleys (low elevations)
  • Note

6
Basic research problem
our radar and satellite precipitation estimation
algorithms are generally tuned using observations
located in low elevation regions
Does this cause a bias in our estimates?
7
Previous work
  • Barros
  • Himalayas and the Sierra Madre (Mexico)
  • Characterization of the space-time properties of
    precipitation variations in tropical mountainous
    regions
  • Characterize the influence of orography on
    precipitation processes in tropical mountainous
    regions
  • Elucidate the differences and similarities
    between maritime and continental monsoon regions

8
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Study region Pigeon River Basin

funded by NASA
9
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Pigeon River Basin - climatology

Courtesy Greg Dobson
10
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Deployment phase I (Jun Sep 2007)
  • Seven gauges

11
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Deployment phase I (Jun Sep 2007)
  • Challenges
  • Calibration
  • Access
  • Stabilizing the gauge
  • Vandalism
  • Rattlesnakes (and bears?)
  • Permission

12
6
4
2
5
1
3
13
7
6
4
2
14
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Deployment phase I (Jun Sep 2007)

Gauge site 4
15
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Tipping bucket gauge issues
  • Under-reporting of rainfall when the rain rate is
    too light (evaporation) or too heavy (splashing)
  • Adding a heater causes under-reporting

http//www.usatoday.com/weather/wtipgage.htm
16
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Data collection phase (Oct 2007 - ?)
  • Summer precipitation data collected at first
    three gauge site deployments

17
6
4
3800 ft
2
0.8 mi
5
4.5 mi
1
5300 ft
3
4.25 mi
6300 ft
18
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Preliminary results
  • 14 September 2007

FXUS62 KGSP 140539 AFDGSP AREA FORECAST
DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 139 AM EDT FRI SEP 14
2007 .SYNOPSIS... THE REMNANTS OF HUMBERTO WILL
MOVE NORTHEASTWARD AND AFFECT THE FORECAST AREA
TODAY. A COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE AREA FROM THE
NORTHWEST ON SATURDAY...WITH COOL AND DRY HIGH
PRESSURE SETTLING IN BEHIND IT THROUGH THE EARLY
PART OF NEXT WEEK .
19
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Preliminary results
  • 14 September 2007
  • Three precipitation main events
  • Record rainfall at AVL

000 SXUS72 KGSP 150649 RERAVL RECORD EVENT
REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 241 AM EDT SAT SEP 15
2007 ...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM RAINFALL SET AT
ASHEVILLE... AT THE ASHEVILLE REGIONAL
AIRPORT...ON FRIDAY 3.4 INCHES OF RAIN FELL. THIS
BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 2.03 INCHES SET IN
1978. MOORE
20
800 pm 13 Sep 2007
21
1100 pm 13 Sep 2007
22
200 am 14 Sep 2007
23
500 am 14 Sep 2007
24
800 am 14 Sep 2007
25
1100 am 14 Sep 2007
26
200 pm 14 Sep 2007
27
500 pm 14 Sep 2007
28
-28.6oC 0.01
-24.6oC 0.48

200 am 14 Sep 2007
29
-27.1oC 0.51
-36.1oC 0.23

800 am 14 Sep 2007
30
-20.1oC T
-29.1oC 0.02


200 pm 14 Sep 2007
31
-40.1oC 0.29
-54.1oC 0.26

400 pm 14 Sep 2007
32
The Duke-UNCA study
800 am
200 am
200 pm
33
The Duke-UNCA study
  • 14 September 2007

34
-28.6oC 0.01
-24.6oC 0.48
200 am 14 Sep 2007
35
-27.1oC 0.51
-36.1oC 0.23
800 am 14 Sep 2007
36
-20.1oC T
-29.1oC 0.02
200 pm 14 Sep 2007
37
-40.1oC 0.29
-54.1oC 0.26
400 pm 14 Sep 2007
38
The Duke-UNCA study
  • 14 Sep 2007 event observations
  • For a disorganized convective system
  • High elevation rain gauges indicate that higher
    elevation doesnt necessarily mean more
    accumulated precipitation
  • What about for a larger scale organized system?

39
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Future Phases (Pigeon River Basin)
  • Install new rain gauges in Great Smoky Mntn
    National Park
  • Install meteorological towers (2 and 10 m)
  • Flux tower
  • Microphysical imaging facility
  • Cooperative observation periods
  • Tethersonde, radar profiler, lidar

40
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Acknowledgements
  • Boy Scouts - Camp Daniel Boone
  • Dan Rogers and Eddie Hollifield
  • USDA-National Forest Service
  • Linda Randolph
  • Waynesville Watershed Management
  • Hugh Parrot and Kyle Cook
  • National Parks Service
  • Dr. Paul Super and Keith Langdon

41
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Thank you!

42
The Duke-UNCA study
  • Preliminary results
  • 14 September 2007
  • 800 am (1200 UTC) feature moves 19.263 miles per
    hour
  • 14 minutes to travel between gauge3 and
    gauge1,2
  • 25 miles between gauge3 and AVL, 78 minutes to
    travel between gauge3 and AVL
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