OLYMPEX An

1
OLYMPEXAn integrated GV experiment
Physical validationPrecipitation
MeasurementHydrology
November 2014-January 2015
PMM Science Team, Seattle, 2 November 2010
2
Contributors

• W. Peterson
• R. Cifelli
• T. Schneider
• D. Lettenmaier
• N. Voison
• N. Schraner
• J. Lundquist
• S. Medina
• S. Brodzik

3
The Olympic Peninsula is anatural
laboratoryfor precipitation studies

• Huge precipitation amounts

Annual average precipitation (PRISM)
4
Detailed Climatology
5-yr MM5 Nov-Jan precipitation climatology (mm)
Verified by gauges Minder et al. 2008
5

• Low 0ºC level

RAIN at low elevations, SNOW at higher levels
Distribution of Nov-Jan 0C level for flow that
is onshore and moist at low levels (KUIL
sounding)Mean 0C level during storms 1.5
kmSee this full range in individual storms!
Plot provided by Justin Minder
6

• Persistent southwesterly flow during the winter

Atmospheric River
NCEP long-term mean sea level pressure (mb) for
winter (December to January) and topography
7

• Persistent southwesterly flow during the winter

Monday morning
8

• Persistent southwesterly flow during the winter

Monday morning
9
NWS WSR-88D radar to be in place 2012
10

• NOAA Mobile Atmospheric River Monitoring System

Westport, WA since 2009
Data from vertically-pointing S-band radar
Signal-to- noise ratio
Height
Radial velocity
Height
?Time
11

• UW fine-scale observing network across a
  southwestern Olympics ridge

Minder et al. 2008
12
Real-time Regional Environmental Modeling (ESRL,
UW)

• Atmospheric forecast
• UW/WRF
• Ensemble mode
• 1.33 km resolution
• Data assimilation

13
Real-time Regional Environmental Modeling (ESRL,
UW)

• Hydrologic prediction
• UW
• ESRL

14
Proposed OLYMPEX layout
15
(Global Hawk?)
NSF Facilities!!??
16
(No Transcript)
17
(i.e. are physical assumptions in GPM
algorithms robust under different conditions)
Physical validation of rain and snow retrievals

1. Rain-snow transition on sloping terrain
2. Melting layer effect on algorithm performance
3. Different storm sectorsprefrontal, frontal,
   postfrontal
4. Different surface conditionsocean, land, coast,
   hills, mountains

18
Rain and snow measurement (i.e. validation of
its accuracy from satellite instruments mounted
on aircraft)

• Do precipitation measurements transition
  accurately from
• ocean to land
• land to mountains?
• Do they handle the orographic enhancementof
  precipitation?
• Can satellite rain measurements be downscaled
  accurately relative to the topography?

19
Hydrologic applications(i.e. testing whether
GPM data can improve streamflow forecasting in
complex terrain)

1. Can satellite rain estimates over hills and
   mountains provide useful input to real-time
   hydrologic forecasting?
2. Does downscaling relative to topography improve
   hydrologic forecasting?
3. Can assimilation of satellite rain estimates into
   regional forecasting models improve hydrological
   forecasts?

20
OLYMPEX is a fully integrated GV experiment
Summary

• Physical validation
• Rain and snow measurement
• Assimilation of GPM measurements into hydrologic
  forecasts

?The climatology, terrain, and existing
infrastructure have all the ingredients for
hosting an integrated campaign
21
End This research was supported by NSF grant
ATM-0820586 and NASA grant NNX10AH70G