Search results for "Weather"

Regionalizing rainfall at very high resolution over la Réunion island using a regional climate model.

2014

Abstract Regional climate models (RCMs) should be evaluated with respect to their ability to downscale large-scale climate information to the local scales, which are sometimes strongly modulated by surface conditions. This is the case for La Réunion (southwest Indian Ocean) because of its island context and its complex topography. Large-scale atmospheric configurations such as tropical cyclones (TCs) may have an amplifying effect on local rainfall patterns that only a very high-resolution RCM, forced by the large scales and resolving finescale processes, may simulate properly. This paper documents the capability of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) RCM to regionalize rainfall…

A Crisis Management Serious Game for Responding Extreme Weather Event

2017

Managing crisis with limited resources through a serious game is deemed as one of the ways of training and can be regarded as an alternative to the table-top exercise. This paper presents the so-called “Operasjon Tyrsdal” serious game, inspired by a real case of extreme weather that hit the west coast of Norway. This reference case is used to add realism to the game. The game is designed for a single player, while the mechanics are framed in such way that the player should deal with limited resources, and elevated event pressure over time to manage. Beside applying an iterative Scrum method with seven Sprint cycles, we combined the development work with desk research and involvement of test…

Visualizing Confidence in Cluster-based Ensemble Weather Forecast Analyses

2020

In meteorology, cluster analysis is frequently used to determine representative trends in ensemble weather predictions in a selected spatio-temporal region, e.g., to reduce a set of ensemble members to simplify and improve their analysis. Identified clusters (i.e., groups of similar members), however, can be very sensitive to small changes of the selected region, so that clustering results can be misleading and bias subsequent analyses. In this article, we — a team of visualization scientists and meteorologists-deliver visual analytics solutions to analyze the sensitivity of clustering results with respect to changes of a selected region. We propose an interactive visual interface that enab…

Design and development of a Java-based graphical user interface to monitor/control a meteorological real-time forecasting system

2010

A regional forecasting system based on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) is being run at the CEAM Foundation. The operational model involves several processes running in the background at specified times and executing a set of systematic steps. This system is being used as a support for a heat-wave warning system, a wind forecasting system for fire warning and prevention, and for general forecasting tasks. However, it is relatively difficult to use by researchers and forecasters without sophisticated information technology (IT) skill. In this paper, we report an effort to develop a tool to facilitate the monitoring of the system. This tool is based on the client-server archite…

An erratic dropstone of granodiorite with a water-escape structure from a Weichselian terrace along the River Gauja (NE Latvia)

2016

Abstract A river terrace of the River Gauja (Latvia), built of Weichselian glaciolacustrine deposits, contains a large number of erratic boulders from the Fennoscandian Shield. These erratic boulders include several types of granites and granodiorites. Some of the granodiorites are so strongly weathered that they fall apart into mm-sized grains of individual minerals when it is attempted to take them out of the host sediment. This strongly weathered nature makes them physically comparable to unconsolidated sand. A consequence is that they may be subjected to soft-sediment deformation. The erratic granodiorite boulder under study here is the first described to show such a soft-sediment defor…

Climate change impact on SWAT simulated streamflow in western Kenya

2008

Weather and climate extremes such as droughts and floods have far reaching impacts in Kenya. They have had implications in a variety of sectors including agriculture, water resources, health, energy, and disaster management among others. Lake Victoria and its catchment support millions of people and any impact on its ability to support the livelihoods of the communities in this region is of major concern. Thus, the main objective of this study was to assess the potential future climatic changes on the Nzoia catchment in the Lake Victoria basin, and how they might affect streamflow. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to investigate the impact of climatic change on streamflow of the …

MODELLING OF WATER-ROCK INTERACTIONS IN CARBONATE AQUIFERS: INSIGHTS FROM A CASE STUDY IN THE MADONIE AREA (SICILY)

2009

Weather circulation patterns as precursor of heavy rainfall events: an application to Sicily, Italy

2020

Since the impacts of climate change on the environment have been constantly rising over the last decades, scientists have paid much attention to understanding the effects of this phenomenon. Climate change leads to different kinds of extremes, such as heavy rainfall events, characterized by short duration and high intensity, and drought, which can cause the problem of water scarcity over a certain area. These types of extreme events cause several damages for the affected areas since they can result in loss of human lives and economic damages. In particular, heavy rainfall events, which are often associated with convective precipitation because of their characteristics, may result in flash f…

Comparing the use of ERA5 reanalysis dataset and ground-based agrometeorological data under different climates and topography in Italy

2022

Study region: The study region is represented by seven irrigation districts distributed under different climate and topography conditions in Italy. Study focus: This study explores the reliability and consistency of the global ERA5 single levels and ERA5-Land reanalysis datasets in predicting the main agrometeorological estimates commonly used for crop water requirements calculation. In particular, the reanalysis data was compared, variable-by-variable (e.g., solar radiation, R; air temperature, T; relative humidity, RH; wind speed, u; reference evapotranspiration, ET), with in situ agrometeorological observations obtained from 66 automatic weather stations (2008–2020). In addition, the pre…

The relationship between precipitation depth and weather circulation patterns over Sicily

2019

Some weather circulation patterns (WPs) derived by the UK Met Office and defining a certain type of atmospheric circulation over Europe have been recently used to analyze the relationship of the regional UK precipitation and drought with respect to the atmospheric circulation over Europe (Richardson et al. 2018). In this study, we attempt to find out one or more relationships between precipitation depth and weather patterns over a non UK-centred domain, such as Sicily (Italy), which is characterized by a totally different climate as compared to the climate of UK. Since the island has been affected by many floods in the last years, occurred as a consequence of extreme rainfall events, it wou…