Simulation details for: Radar signatures and surface observations of elevated convection associated with damaging surface winds
Data files
Jan 01, 2024 version files 2.16 GB
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namelist.input
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rap.d02.all.TS
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README.md
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sd1.d02.all.TS
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sd2.d02.all.TS
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sd3.d02.all.TS
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sd4.d02.all.TS
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sd5.d02.all.TS
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sd6.d02.all.TS
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tslist
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wrfbdy_d01
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wrfinput_d01
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wrfinput_d02
Abstract
Identifying radar signatures indicative of damaging surface winds produced by convection remains a challenge for operational meteorologists, especially within environments characterized by strong low-level static stability and convection for which inflow is presumably entirely above the planetary boundary layer. Numerical model simulations suggest the most prevalent method through which elevated convection generates damaging surface winds is via “up-down” trajectories, where a near-surface stable layer is dynamically lifted and then dropped with little to no connection to momentum associated with the elevated convection itself. Recently, a number of unique convective episodes during which damaging surface winds were produced by apparently elevated convection coincident with mesoscale gravity waves were identified and cataloged for study. A novel radar signature indicative of damaging surface winds produced by elevated convection is introduced through six representative cases. One case is then explored further via a high-resolution model simulation and related to the conceptual model of “up-down” trajectories. Understanding the processes responsible for, and radar signature indicative of, damaging surface winds produced by gravity-wave coincident convection will help operational forecasters identify and ultimately warn for a previously underappreciated phenomenon that poses a threat to lives and property.
README: Simulation details for "Radar Signatures and Surface Observations of Elevated Convection Associated with Damaging Surface Winds"
Included here are the files required to configure and reproduce the numerical simulation presented in this manuscript. (Full model output is not included owing to its large size.) The manuscript includes analysis of a simulation from the Weather Research and Forecasting model, version 4.3. The WRF model is available from the National Center for Atmospheric Research at: https://www.mmm.ucar.edu/models/wrf
Description of the data and file structure
For the WRF model, the following files are included that would be needed to initialize and run the model. This includes:
- namelist.input configuration file
- wrfinput_d01, wrfinput_d02, and wrfbdy_d01 files that contain the initial and lateral boundary conditions for the model in the standard WRF netCDF format.
Also included are the time series output (plain text) for the locations shown in the manuscript, with suffix ".TS". The format of these files is described at https://github.com/wrf-model/WRF/blob/master/run/README.tslist. Time series at six locations within South Dakota (abbreviated sd1-sd6) and the Rapid City airport (abbreviated rap) are included. The specific latitude/longitude location of each of these time series is given in the first line of each file. The "tslist" configuration file that describes the latitude/longitude of each location (also described at the WRF model link above) is also included.
Methods
This dataset includes the information required to reproduce the model simulation presented in the manuscript. This includes the namelist and initial and lateral boundary conditions for the WRF model simulation.