Title: Prescott, Arizona Campus
1 Prescott, Arizona Campus
Department overview
2Some pictures
New faculty complex under construction future
home of Weather Center by Fall 2004
Present Department of Meteorology Building with
Honeywell radar on roof
3More pictures
Radar
Meteorological screen for instruments
Display from Departments rooftop Honeywell
Primus 400 airborne radar
4More pictures
Classroom instruction
5Courses taught
- Four full-time faculty, expanding
- A total of 13 sections of WX courses taught
- Two core aviation meteorology courses
- Other courses in climatology, aircrew weather,
thunderstorms, radar/satellite, advanced
meteorology - Average class size is 24 students
- 300 students take courses in the Department of
Meteorology - 200 in core WX courses for aviation
- Over 100 in weather minor classes each semester
- Applied Meteorology Degree starting Fall 2004
6Meteorology Minor at Prescott
- Statistics reflect growing demand for WX courses
- Fall 97 24
- Fall 98 49
- Fall 99 53
- Fall 00 74
- Spr 02 105
- Fall 03 120
7Faculty profiles
Dr Curtis James ERAU since 1999
Dr Mark Sinclair Dept Chair ERAU since 1998
Randy Tomkins ERAU since 2001
Dr Ken Parsons ERAU since 2001
8Curtis James
- Research interests in mountain meteorology,
radar, thunderstorm dynamics - Author of several articles
- Has worked for National Weather Service
- Field experience in the European Alps
- Several teaching awards
- Manages Department equipment and computing
facilities
9Kenneth Parsons
- Ph.D. in atmospheric science in 2001 from Purdue
University in West Lafayette, IN. - Areas of expertise in synoptic meteorology,
extratropical cyclones, dynamic meteorology, and
air pollution meteorology. - Industry experience
- 20 years as a forecaster in the U.S. Air Force
with duty stations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and
the Middle East - Five years with a leading environmental
engineering firm as an air quality meteorologist
performing dispersion modeling and air emission
inventories.
10Mark Sinclair
- Ph.D. meteorology, Naval Postgraduate School,
1985 - Department Chair
- Research interests in midlatitude storms,
mountain precipitation, Southern Hemisphere
meteorology - Author of over 50 research papers technical
reports - Weather forecaster researcher in New Zealand
- Field experience - Antarctica New Zealand Alps
- Teaching awards
- Research grants in extratropical cyclone research
(completed) and in storm track climatology
(pending)
11Randy Tomkins
- MS in Meteorology and Oceanography Naval
Postgraduate School in Monterey, Ca. - Research emphasis on weather systems affecting
the southern portions of Africa - Twenty years in the Navy as a meteorologist and
oceanographer. - Forecasting weather on location in Antarctica,
the Northwest pacific Ocean and hurricane
forecasting for the Gulf of Mexico - Forecasting for navy fleet operations and for
aircraft carrier flight operations
12Scholarly activity
- A total of 13 full-length peer-reviewed journal
articles by our three research-capable faculty - Nine conference presentations and seminars
- One grant submitted
- Next slides
13Journal articles published by Dept. of
Meteorology faculty last 5 years
- Chong, M., J.-F. Georgis, O. Bousquet, S. R.
Brodzik, C. Burghart, S. Cosma, U. Germann, V.
Gouget, R. A. Houze, Jr., C. N. James, S. Prieur,
R. Rotunno, F. Roux, J. Vivekanandan, and Z.-X.
Zeng, 2000 Real-time wind synthesis from Doppler
radar observations during the Mesoscale Alpine
Programme. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 81,
2953-2962. - James, C. N., S. R. Brodzik, H. Edmon, R. A.
Houze, Jr., and S. E. Yuter, 2000 Radar data
processing and visualization over complex
terrain. Wea. Forecasting, 15, 327-338. - Houze, R. A., Jr., C. N. James, and S. Medina,
2001 Radar observations of precipitation and
airflow on the Mediterranean side of the Alps
Autumn 1998 and 1999. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor.
Soc., 127, 2537-2558. - James, C. N., and R. A. Houze, Jr., 2001 A
real-time four-dimensional Doppler dealiasing
scheme. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 18,
1674-1683. - James, C. N., and R. A. Houze, Jr., 2004 Radar
Observations of Precipitation Enhancement by the
Coastal Terrain of Northern California October
1995 March 1998. Mon. Wea. Rev. (in
preparation)
14Journal articles (cont.)
- Jones, S, Harr, P, Abraham, Bosart, L.F., Bowyer,
Evans, J.L., Hanley, D.E., Hanstrum, B.N., Hart,
R.E., Lalaurette, F., Sinclair, M.R., Smith, R.
and Thorncroft, C., 2003 The extratropical
transition of tropical cyclones forecast
challenges, current understanding and future
directions. Weather and Forecasting. 18, 16-56 - Parsons, K.E., 2003 Book review of The winds
of flight. Bulletin of the American
Meteorological Society, 84, 1837-1840. - Parsons, K.E., and P.J. Smith, 2004 An
investigation of extratropical cyclone
development using a scale-separation technique.
Monthly Weather Review, 132, 956-974. - Sinclair, M.R., 2004 Extratropical transition of
southwest Pacific tropical cyclones. Part II
Midlatitude circulation characteristics. Monthly
Weather Review, in press - Sinclair, M.R., 2002 Extratropical transition of
southwest Pacific tropical cyclones. Part I
Climatology and mean structure changes. Monthly
Weather Review, 130, 590-609.
15Journal articles (cont.)
- Sinclair, M.R., and M.J. Revell, 2000
Classification and Composite Diagnosis of
Extratropical Cyclogenesis in the Southwest
Pacific. Monthly Weather Review, 128, 1089-1105. - Sinclair, M.R., and I.G. Watterson, 1999
Objective assessment of extratropical weather
systems in simulated climates. Journal of
Climate, 12, 3467-3485. - Wratt, D.S., M.J. Revell, M.R. Sinclair, W. Gray,
R. Henderson, and A.M. Chater, 2000
Relationships between airmass properties and
mesoscale rainfall in New Zealands Southern
Alps. Atmospheric Research, 52, 261-282.
16Conference proceedings and seminars
- James, C., S. Brodzik, H. Edmon, R. A. Houze,
Jr., and S. E. Yuter, 1999 MountainZebra
Real-time archival and 4-D visualization of radar
volumes over complex terrain. Preprints, COST-75
Final International Seminar on "Advanced Weather
Radar Systems," Locarno, Switzerland, 297-306. - Parsons, K.E., and P.J. Smith, 2002 The role of
subsynoptic processes in synoptic-scale
extratropical cyclone development. Paper
presented at the 19th Conference on Weather
Analysis and Forecasting, San Antonio, TX, 12-16
August 2002. - Sinclair, M.R., 2003 Influence of midlatitude
circulation characteristics on extratropical
transition in the southwest Pacific Ocean. .
Proc. 7th Int. Conf. on Southern Hemisphere
Meteorology and Oceanography, Wellington, New
Zealand. American Meteorological Society, Boston,
116-117. Session Chair. - Sinclair, M.R., 2002 Secular trends in storm
track activity from explicit tracking. Abstract
Volume, American Geophysical Union (AGU) Spring
meeting, Washington DC, 28-31 May, 2002. EOS,
Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 83(19),
Spring Meet. Suppl, Abstract. A52E-03 p. S83.
Session Chair.
17Conferences (cont.)
- Sinclair, M.R., 2003 Meteorological influences
on Arizona Precipitation. Title of a workshop
presentation at the Tri-City Water Forum at
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, November
15, 2003. - Sinclair, M.R., 2003 Storm Track Activity and
its Recent Trend as Deduced from Explicit
Tracking. Title of a Research Seminar presented
at University of Quebec at Montreal, 19 August,
2003. - Sinclair, M.R., 2001. Extratropical Transition of
Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclones. Title of a
Research Seminar presented at Department of
Geography, Arizona State University, Phoenix,
Arizona in February 2001. - Sinclair, M.R., 2000 Extratropical transition in
the southwest Pacific. Title of a workshop
presentation for New Zealand weather forecasters,
Wellington, NZ, July 2000. - Sinclair, M.R., 2000 Extratropical transition
and transformation of tropical cyclones in the
southwest Pacific an overview. Paper presented
at the 11th Extratropical Cyclone Workshop,
Monterey, CA, August 2000.
18Grants
- Collaborative project Storm track variations and
cyclogenesis Relationships between cyclone track
statistics, eddy statistics, and wave packets.
NSF Proposal Number 0405749 under ATM Large
Scale Dynamic Meteorology. (Jointly, Mark
Sinclair with Professor Edmund Chang from the
State University of New York at Stony Brook).
385,000 (pending)
19New instrumentation
- Digicora III Sounding system
- GPS and UHF antennas (tracking the position and
data signal from the radiosonde) - Honeywell Primus 880 weather radar
- Upgrade current Primus 400
- Digital readout
- MAWS 301 Automatic Weather Station
- Measures pressure, wind, humidity, temperature,
precipitation and solar radiation
20Computer classrooms
- Graphical weather analysis overlays and
calculations - Real-time data streams from radar, satellite,
surface weather observations, upper-air
observations, computer models, etc. - Local weather data from rooftop observations
21Research directions
22The Arizona Drought
- Sinclair/James
- Preliminary statistical analysis of AZ rainfall
patterns completed - Incorporate radar and synoptic data
23 Cyclone dynamics
- Parsons
- Dynamics of midlatitude cyclones
24 Midlatitude storm tracks
- Sinclair
- Collaborative project Storm track variations and
cyclogenesis Relationships between cyclone track
statistics, eddy statistics, and wave packets
(submitted). NSF Proposal Number 0405749
25Cyclones by month
Rome