Articles | Volume 12, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4185-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4185-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Model description paper
| 
07 Oct 2019
Model description paper |
| 07 Oct 2019
| 07 Oct 2019
Pysteps: an open-source Python library for probabilistic precipitation nowcasting (v1.0)
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Daniele Nerini
Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Locarno-Monti, Switzerland
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Andrés A. Pérez Hortal
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Carlos Velasco-Forero
Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia
Alan Seed
Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia
Urs Germann
Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Locarno-Monti, Switzerland
Loris Foresti
Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Locarno-Monti, Switzerland
Related authors
Miguel Aldana, Seppo Pulkkinen, Annakaisa von Lerber, Matthew R. Kumjian, and Dmitri Moisseev
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-155, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-155, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate KDP estimates are crucial in radar-based applications. We quantify the uncertainties of several publicly available KDP estimation methods for multiple rainfall intensities. We use C-band weather radar observations and employed a self-consistency KDP, estimated from reflectivity and differential reflectivity, as framework for the examination. Our study provides guidance in the performance, uncertainties and optimisation of the methods, focusing mainly on accuracy and robustness.
Jenna Ritvanen, Seppo Pulkkinen, Dmitri Moisseev, and Daniele Nerini
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-99, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-99, 2024
Preprint under review for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
Nowcasting models struggle with the rapid evolution of heavy rain, and common verification methods are unable to describe how accurately the models predict the growth and decay of heavy rainfall. We propose a framework to assess model performance. In the framework, convective cells are identified and tracked in the forecasts and observations, and then the model skill is evaluated by comparing differences between forecast and observed cells. We demonstrate the framework with 4 open-source models.
Bent Harnist, Seppo Pulkkinen, and Terhi Mäkinen
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3839–3866, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3839-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3839-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Probabilistic precipitation nowcasting (local forecasting for 0–6 h) is crucial for reducing damage from events like flash floods. For this goal, we propose the DEUCE neural-network-based model which uses data and model uncertainties to generate an ensemble of potential precipitation development scenarios for the next hour. Trained and evaluated with Finnish precipitation composites, DEUCE was found to produce more skillful and reliable nowcasts than established models.
Marc Schleiss, Jonas Olsson, Peter Berg, Tero Niemi, Teemu Kokkonen, Søren Thorndahl, Rasmus Nielsen, Jesper Ellerbæk Nielsen, Denica Bozhinova, and Seppo Pulkkinen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3157–3188, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3157-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3157-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A multinational assessment of radar's ability to capture heavy rain events is conducted. In total, six different radar products in Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden were considered. Results show a fair agreement, with radar underestimating by 17 %-44 % on average compared with gauges. Despite being adjusted for bias, five of six radar products still exhibited strong conditional biases with intensities of 1–2% per mm/h. Median peak intensity bias was significantly higher, reaching 44 %–67%.
Miguel Aldana, Seppo Pulkkinen, Annakaisa von Lerber, Matthew R. Kumjian, and Dmitri Moisseev
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-155, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-155, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate KDP estimates are crucial in radar-based applications. We quantify the uncertainties of several publicly available KDP estimation methods for multiple rainfall intensities. We use C-band weather radar observations and employed a self-consistency KDP, estimated from reflectivity and differential reflectivity, as framework for the examination. Our study provides guidance in the performance, uncertainties and optimisation of the methods, focusing mainly on accuracy and robustness.
Jenna Ritvanen, Seppo Pulkkinen, Dmitri Moisseev, and Daniele Nerini
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-99, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-99, 2024
Preprint under review for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
Nowcasting models struggle with the rapid evolution of heavy rain, and common verification methods are unable to describe how accurately the models predict the growth and decay of heavy rainfall. We propose a framework to assess model performance. In the framework, convective cells are identified and tracked in the forecasts and observations, and then the model skill is evaluated by comparing differences between forecast and observed cells. We demonstrate the framework with 4 open-source models.
Frédéric P. A. Vogt, Loris Foresti, Daniel Regenass, Sophie Réthoré, Néstor Tarin Burriel, Mervyn Bibby, Przemysław Juda, Simone Balmelli, Tobias Hanselmann, Pieter du Preez, and Dirk Furrer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4891–4914, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4891-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4891-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
ampycloud is a new algorithm developed at MeteoSwiss to characterize the height and sky coverage fraction of cloud layers above aerodromes via ceilometer data. This algorithm was devised as part of a larger effort to fully automate the creation of meteorological aerodrome reports (METARs) at Swiss civil airports. The ampycloud algorithm is implemented as a Python package that is made publicly available to the community under the 3-Clause BSD license.
Jérôme Kopp, Alessandro Hering, Urs Germann, and Olivia Martius
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4529–4552, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4529-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4529-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a verification of two products based on weather radars to detect the presence of hail and estimate its size. Radar products are remote detection of hail, so they must be verified against ground-based observations. We use reports from users of the Swiss Weather Services phone app to do the verification. We found that the product estimating the presence of hail provides fair results but that it should be recalibrated and that estimating the hail size with radar is more challenging.
Loris Foresti, Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras, Daniele Nerini, Aitor Atencia, Marco Gabella, Ioannis V. Sideris, Urs Germann, and Isztar Zawadzki
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 31, 259–286, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-259-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-259-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We compared two ways of defining the phase space of low-dimensional attractors describing the evolution of radar precipitation fields. The first defines the phase space by the domain-scale statistics of precipitation fields, such as their mean, spatial and temporal correlations. The second uses principal component analysis to account for the spatial distribution of precipitation. To represent different climates, radar archives over the United States and the Swiss Alpine region were used.
Bent Harnist, Seppo Pulkkinen, and Terhi Mäkinen
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3839–3866, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3839-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3839-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Probabilistic precipitation nowcasting (local forecasting for 0–6 h) is crucial for reducing damage from events like flash floods. For this goal, we propose the DEUCE neural-network-based model which uses data and model uncertainties to generate an ensemble of potential precipitation development scenarios for the next hour. Trained and evaluated with Finnish precipitation composites, DEUCE was found to produce more skillful and reliable nowcasts than established models.
Martin Lainer, Killian P. Brennan, Alessandro Hering, Jérôme Kopp, Samuel Monhart, Daniel Wolfensberger, and Urs Germann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2539–2557, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses deep learning (the Mask R-CNN model) on drone-based photogrammetric data of hail on the ground to estimate hail size distributions (HSDs). Traditional hail sensors' limited areas complicate the full HSD retrieval. The HSD of a supercell event on 20 June 2021 is retrieved and contains > 18 000 hailstones. The HSD is compared to automatic hail sensor measurements and those of weather-radar-based MESHS. Investigations into ground hail melting are performed by five drone flights.
Alfonso Ferrone, Jérôme Kopp, Martin Lainer, Marco Gabella, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-2, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-2, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
Estimates of hail size have been collected by a network of hail sensors, installed in three regions of Switzerland, since September 2018. In this study, we use a technique called “double moment normalization” to model the distribution of diameter sizes. The parameters of the method have been defined over 70 % of the dataset, and testes over the remaining 30 %. An independent distribution of hail sizes, collected by a drone, has also been used to evaluate the method.
Jérôme Kopp, Agostino Manzato, Alessandro Hering, Urs Germann, and Olivia Martius
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3487–3503, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3487-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3487-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first study of extended field observations made by a network of 80 automatic hail sensors from Switzerland. The sensors record the exact timing of hailstone impacts, providing valuable information about the local duration of hailfall. We found that the majority of hailfalls lasts just a few minutes and that most hailstones, including the largest, fall during a first phase of high hailstone density, while a few remaining and smaller hailstones fall in a second low-density phase.
Jussi Leinonen, Ulrich Hamann, Urs Germann, and John R. Mecikalski
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 577–597, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-577-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-577-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate the usefulness of different data sources and variables to the short-term prediction (
nowcasting) of severe thunderstorms using machine learning. Machine-learning models are trained with data from weather radars, satellite images, lightning detection and weather forecasts and with terrain elevation data. We analyze the benefits provided by each of the data sources to predicting hazards (heavy precipitation, lightning and hail) caused by the thunderstorms.
Monika Feldmann, Urs Germann, Marco Gabella, and Alexis Berne
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1225–1244, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1225-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1225-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Mesocyclones are the rotating updraught of supercell thunderstorms that present a particularly hazardous subset of thunderstorms. A first-time characterisation of the spatiotemporal occurrence of mesocyclones in the Alpine region is presented, using 5 years of Swiss operational radar data. We investigate parallels to hailstorms, particularly the influence of large-scale flow, daily cycles and terrain. Improving understanding of mesocyclones is valuable for risk assessment and warning purposes.
Hélène Barras, Olivia Martius, Luca Nisi, Katharina Schroeer, Alessandro Hering, and Urs Germann
Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1167–1185, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1167-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1167-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In Switzerland hail may occur several days in a row. Such multi-day hail events may cause significant damage, and understanding and forecasting these events is important. Using reanalysis data we show that weather systems over Europe move slower before and during multi-day hail events compared to single hail days. Surface temperatures are typically warmer and the air more humid over Switzerland and winds are slower on multi-day hail clusters. These results may be used for hail forecasting.
Daniel Wolfensberger, Marco Gabella, Marco Boscacci, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3169–3193, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3169-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3169-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we present a novel quantitative precipitation estimation method for Switzerland that uses random forests, an ensemble-based machine learning technique. The estimator has been trained with a database of 4 years of ground and radar observations. The results of an in-depth evaluation indicate that, compared with the more classical method in use at MeteoSwiss, this novel estimator is able to reduce both the average error and bias of the predictions.
Maxi Boettcher, Andreas Schäfler, Michael Sprenger, Harald Sodemann, Stefan Kaufmann, Christiane Voigt, Hans Schlager, Donato Summa, Paolo Di Girolamo, Daniele Nerini, Urs Germann, and Heini Wernli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5477–5498, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5477-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5477-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Warm conveyor belts (WCBs) are important airstreams in extratropical cyclones, often leading to the formation of intense precipitation. We present a case study that involves aircraft, lidar and radar observations of water and clouds in a WCB ascending from western Europe across the Alps towards the Baltic Sea during the field campaigns HyMeX and T-NAWDEX-Falcon in October 2012. A probabilistic trajectory measure and an airborne tracer experiment were used to confirm the long pathway of the WCB.
Marc Schleiss, Jonas Olsson, Peter Berg, Tero Niemi, Teemu Kokkonen, Søren Thorndahl, Rasmus Nielsen, Jesper Ellerbæk Nielsen, Denica Bozhinova, and Seppo Pulkkinen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3157–3188, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3157-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3157-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A multinational assessment of radar's ability to capture heavy rain events is conducted. In total, six different radar products in Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden were considered. Results show a fair agreement, with radar underestimating by 17 %-44 % on average compared with gauges. Despite being adjusted for bias, five of six radar products still exhibited strong conditional biases with intensities of 1–2% per mm/h. Median peak intensity bias was significantly higher, reaching 44 %–67%.
Floor van den Heuvel, Loris Foresti, Marco Gabella, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2481–2500, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2481-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2481-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In areas with reduced visibility at the ground level, radar precipitation measurements higher up in the atmosphere need to be extrapolated to the ground and be corrected for the vertical change (i.e. growth and transformation) of precipitation. This study proposes a method based on hydrometeor proportions and machine learning (ML) to apply these corrections at smaller spatiotemporal scales. In comparison with existing techniques, the ML methods can make predictions from higher altitudes.
Adrien Guyot, Jayaram Pudashine, Alain Protat, Remko Uijlenhoet, Valentijn R. N. Pauwels, Alan Seed, and Jeffrey P. Walker
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 4737–4761, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4737-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4737-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We characterised for the first time the rainfall microphysics for Southern Hemisphere temperate latitudes. Co-located instruments were deployed to provide information on the sampling effect and spatio-temporal variabilities at micro scales. Substantial differences were found across the instruments, increasing with increasing values of the rain rate. Specific relations for reflectivity–rainfall are presented together with related uncertainties for drizzle and stratiform and convective rainfall.
Jordi Figueras i Ventura, Nicolau Pineda, Nikola Besic, Jacopo Grazioli, Alessandro Hering, Oscar A. van der Velde, David Romero, Antonio Sunjerga, Amirhossein Mostajabi, Mohammad Azadifar, Marcos Rubinstein, Joan Montanyà, Urs Germann, and Farhad Rachidi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5573–5591, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5573-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5573-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents an analysis of the lightning production of convective cells. Polarimetric weather radar data were used to identify and characterize the convective cells while lightning was detected using the EUCLID network and a lightning mapping array deployed during the summer of 2017 in the northeastern part of Switzerland. In it we show that there is a good correlation between the height of the rimed-particle column and the intensity of the lightning activity in the convective cell.
Jordi Figueras i Ventura, Nicolau Pineda, Nikola Besic, Jacopo Grazioli, Alessandro Hering, Oscar A. van der Velde, David Romero, Antonio Sunjerga, Amirhossein Mostajabi, Mohammad Azadifar, Marcos Rubinstein, Joan Montanyà, Urs Germann, and Farhad Rachidi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2881–2911, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2881-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2881-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents an analysis of a large dataset of lightning and polarimetric weather radar data collected over the course of a lightning measurement campaign that took place in the summer of 2017 in the area surrounding Säntis in northeastern Switzerland. We show that polarimetric weather radar data can be helpful in determining regions where lightning is more likely to occur, which is a first step towards a lightning nowcasting system.
Franziska Gerber, Nikola Besic, Varun Sharma, Rebecca Mott, Megan Daniels, Marco Gabella, Alexis Berne, Urs Germann, and Michael Lehning
The Cryosphere, 12, 3137–3160, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3137-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3137-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A comparison of winter precipitation variability in operational radar measurements and high-resolution simulations reveals that large-scale variability is well captured by the model, depending on the event. Precipitation variability is driven by topography and wind. A good portion of small-scale variability is captured at the highest resolution. This is essential to address small-scale precipitation processes forming the alpine snow seasonal snow cover – an important source of water.
Floor van den Heuvel, Marco Gabella, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5181–5198, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5181-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5181-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The paper aims at characterising and quantifying the spatio-temporal variability of the melting layer (ML; transition zone from solid to liquid precipitation). A method based on the Fourier transform is found to accurately describe different ML signatures. Hence, it is applied to characterise the ML variability in a relatively flat area and in an inner Alpine valley in Switzerland, where the variability at smaller spatial scales is found to be relatively more important.
Nikola Besic, Josué Gehring, Christophe Praz, Jordi Figueras i Ventura, Jacopo Grazioli, Marco Gabella, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4847–4866, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4847-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4847-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper we propose an innovative approach for hydrometeor de-mixing, i.e., to identify and quantify the presence of mixtures of different hydrometeor types in a radar sampling volume. It is a bin-based approach, inspired by conventional decomposition methods and evaluated using C- and X-band radar measurements compared with synchronous ground observations. The paper also investigates the potential influence of incoherency in the backscattering from hydrometeor mixtures in a radar volume.
Daniele Nerini, Nikola Besic, Ioannis Sideris, Urs Germann, and Loris Foresti
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2777–2797, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2777-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2777-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Stochastic generators are effective tools for the quantification of uncertainty in a number of applications with weather radar data, including quantitative precipitation estimation and very short-term forecasting. However, most of the current stochastic rainfall field generators cannot handle spatial non-stationarity. We propose an approach based on the short-space Fourier transform, which aims to reproduce the local spatial structure of the observed rainfall fields.
Nikola Besic, Jordi Figueras i Ventura, Jacopo Grazioli, Marco Gabella, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4425–4445, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4425-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4425-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper we propose a novel semi-supervised method for hydrometeor classification, which takes into account both the specificities of acquired polarimetric radar measurements and the presumed electromagnetic behavior of different hydrometeor types. The method has been applied on three datasets, each acquired by different C-band radar from the Swiss network, and on two X-band research radar datasets. The obtained classification is found to be of high quality.
Luca Panziera, Marco Gabella, Stefano Zanini, Alessandro Hering, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2317–2332, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2317-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2317-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a novel system to issue heavy rainfall alerts for predefined geographical regions by evaluating the sum of precipitation fallen in the immediate past and expected in the near future. In order to objectively define the thresholds for the alerts, an extreme rainfall analysis for the 159 regions used for official warnings in Switzerland was developed. It is shown that the system has additional lead time with respect to thunderstorm tracking tools targeted for convective storms.
K. Liechti, L. Panziera, U. Germann, and M. Zappa
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3853–3869, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3853-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3853-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Atmospheric sciences
Valid time shifting ensemble Kalman filter (VTS-EnKF) for dust storm forecasting
An updated parameterization of the unstable atmospheric surface layer in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) modeling system
The impact of cloud microphysics and ice nucleation on Southern Ocean clouds assessed with single-column modeling and instrument simulators
An updated aerosol simulation in the Community Earth System Model (v2.1.3): dust and marine aerosol emissions and secondary organic aerosol formation
Exploring ship track spreading rates with a physics-informed Langevin particle parameterization
Do data-driven models beat numerical models in forecasting weather extremes? A comparison of IFS HRES, Pangu-Weather, and GraphCast
Development of the MPAS-CMAQ coupled system (V1.0) for multiscale global air quality modeling
Assessment of object-based indices to identify convective organization
The Global Forest Fire Emissions Prediction System version 1.0
NEIVAv1.0: Next-generation Emissions InVentory expansion of Akagi et al. (2011) version 1.0
FLEXPART version 11: improved accuracy, efficiency, and flexibility
Challenges of high-fidelity air quality modeling in urban environments – PALM sensitivity study during stable conditions
Air quality modeling intercomparison and multiscale ensemble chain for Latin America
Recommended coupling to global meteorological fields for long-term tracer simulations with WRF-GHG
Selecting CMIP6 global climate models (GCMs) for Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) dynamical downscaling over Southeast Asia using a standardised benchmarking framework
Improved definition of prior uncertainties in CO2 and CO fossil fuel fluxes and its impact on multi-species inversion with GEOS-Chem (v12.5)
RASCAL v1.0: an open-source tool for climatological time series reconstruction and extension
Introducing graupel density prediction in Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) double-moment 6-class (WDM6) microphysics and evaluation of the modified scheme during the ICE-POP field campaign
Enabling high-performance cloud computing for the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) version 5.3.3: performance evaluation and benefits for the user community
Atmospheric-river-induced precipitation in California as simulated by the regionally refined Simple Convective Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM) Version 0
Recent improvements and maximum covariance analysis of aerosol and cloud properties in the EC-Earth3-AerChem model
GPU-HADVPPM4HIP V1.0: using the heterogeneous-compute interface for portability (HIP) to speed up the piecewise parabolic method in the CAMx (v6.10) air quality model on China's domestic GPU-like accelerator
Preliminary evaluation of the effect of electro-coalescence with conducting sphere approximation on the formation of warm cumulus clouds using SCALE-SDM version 0.2.5–2.3.0
Exploring the footprint representation of microwave radiance observations in an Arctic limited-area data assimilation system
Orbital-Radar v1.0.0: A tool to transform suborbital radar observations to synthetic EarthCARE cloud radar data
Analysis of model error in forecast errors of extended atmospheric Lorenz 05 systems and the ECMWF system
Description and validation of Vehicular Emissions from Road Traffic (VERT) 1.0, an R-based framework for estimating road transport emissions from traffic flows
AeroMix v1.0.1: a Python package for modeling aerosol optical properties and mixing states
Impact of ITCZ width on global climate: ITCZ-MIP
Deep-learning-driven simulations of boundary layer clouds over the Southern Great Plains
Mixed-precision computing in the GRIST dynamical core for weather and climate modelling
A conservative immersed boundary method for the multi-physics urban large-eddy simulation model uDALES v2.0
RCEMIP-II: mock-Walker simulations as phase II of the radiative–convective equilibrium model intercomparison project
Objective identification of meteorological fronts and climatologies from ERA-Interim and ERA5
TAMS: a tracking, classifying, and variable-assigning algorithm for mesoscale convective systems in simulated and satellite-derived datasets
Development of the adjoint of the unified tropospheric–stratospheric chemistry extension (UCX) in GEOS-Chem adjoint v36
New explicit formulae for the settling speed of prolate spheroids in the atmosphere: theoretical background and implementation in AerSett v2.0.2
ZJU-AERO V0.5: an Accurate and Efficient Radar Operator designed for CMA-GFS/MESO with the capability to simulate non-spherical hydrometeors
The Year of Polar Prediction site Model Intercomparison Project (YOPPsiteMIP) phase 1: project overview and Arctic winter forecast evaluation
Evaluating CHASER V4.0 global formaldehyde (HCHO) simulations using satellite, aircraft, and ground-based remote-sensing observations
Global variable-resolution simulations of extreme precipitation over Henan, China, in 2021 with MPAS-Atmosphere v7.3
The CHIMERE chemistry-transport model v2023r1
tobac v1.5: introducing fast 3D tracking, splits and mergers, and other enhancements for identifying and analysing meteorological phenomena
Merged Observatory Data Files (MODFs): an integrated observational data product supporting process-oriented investigations and diagnostics
Simulation of marine stratocumulus using the super-droplet method: numerical convergence and comparison to a double-moment bulk scheme using SCALE-SDM 5.2.6-2.3.1
Modeling of PAHs From Global to Regional Scales: Model Development and Investigation of Health Risks from 2013 to 2018 in China
WRF-Comfort: simulating microscale variability in outdoor heat stress at the city scale with a mesoscale model
Representing effects of surface heterogeneity in a multi-plume eddy diffusivity mass flux boundary layer parameterization
Can TROPOMI NO2 satellite data be used to track the drop in and resurgence of NOx emissions in Germany between 2019–2021 using the multi-source plume method (MSPM)?
A spatiotemporally separated framework for reconstructing the sources of atmospheric radionuclide releases
Mijie Pang, Jianbing Jin, Arjo Segers, Huiya Jiang, Wei Han, Batjargal Buyantogtokh, Ji Xia, Li Fang, Jiandong Li, Hai Xiang Lin, and Hong Liao
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8223–8242, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8223-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8223-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) improves dust storm forecasts but faces challenges with position errors. The valid time shifting EnKF (VTS-EnKF) addresses this by adjusting for position errors, enhancing accuracy in forecasting dust storms, as proven in tests on 2021 events, even with smaller ensembles and time intervals.
Prabhakar Namdev, Maithili Sharan, Piyush Srivastava, and Saroj Kanta Mishra
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8093–8114, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8093-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8093-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Inadequate representation of surface–atmosphere interaction processes is a major source of uncertainty in numerical weather prediction models. Here, an effort has been made to improve the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model version 4.2.2 by introducing a unique theoretical framework under convective conditions. In addition, to enhance the potential applicability of the WRF modeling system, various commonly used similarity functions under convective conditions have also been installed.
Andrew Gettelman, Richard Forbes, Roger Marchand, Chih-Chieh Chen, and Mark Fielding
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8069–8092, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8069-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8069-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Supercooled liquid clouds (liquid clouds colder than 0°C) are common at higher latitudes (especially over the Southern Ocean) and are critical for constraining climate projections. We compare a single-column version of a weather model to observations with two different cloud schemes and find that both the dynamical environment and atmospheric aerosols are important for reproducing observations.
Yujuan Wang, Peng Zhang, Jie Li, Yaman Liu, Yanxu Zhang, Jiawei Li, and Zhiwei Han
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7995–8021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7995-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7995-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study updates the CESM's aerosol schemes, focusing on dust, marine aerosol emissions, and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) . Dust emission modifications make deflation areas more continuous, improving results in North America and the sub-Arctic. Humidity correction to sea-salt emissions has a minor effect. Introducing marine organic aerosol emissions, coupled with ocean biogeochemical processes, and adding aqueous reactions for SOA formation advance the CESM's aerosol modelling results.
Lucas A. McMichael, Michael J. Schmidt, Robert Wood, Peter N. Blossey, and Lekha Patel
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7867–7888, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7867-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7867-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Marine cloud brightening (MCB) is a climate intervention technique to potentially cool the climate. Climate models used to gauge regional climate impacts associated with MCB often assume large areas of the ocean are uniformly perturbed. However, a more realistic representation of MCB application would require information about how an injected particle plume spreads. This work aims to develop such a plume-spreading model.
Leonardo Olivetti and Gabriele Messori
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7915–7962, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7915-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7915-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Data-driven models are becoming a viable alternative to physics-based models for weather forecasting up to 15 d into the future. However, it is unclear whether they are as reliable as physics-based models when forecasting weather extremes. We evaluate their performance in forecasting near-surface cold, hot, and windy extremes globally. We find that data-driven models can compete with physics-based models and that the choice of the best model mainly depends on the region and type of extreme.
David C. Wong, Jeff Willison, Jonathan E. Pleim, Golam Sarwar, James Beidler, Russ Bullock, Jerold A. Herwehe, Rob Gilliam, Daiwen Kang, Christian Hogrefe, George Pouliot, and Hosein Foroutan
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7855–7866, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7855-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7855-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work describe how we linked the meteorological Model for Prediction Across Scales – Atmosphere (MPAS-A) with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) air quality model to form a coupled modelling system. This could be used to study air quality or climate and air quality interaction at a global scale. This new model scales well in high-performance computing environments and performs well with respect to ground surface networks in terms of ozone and PM2.5.
Giulio Mandorli and Claudia J. Stubenrauch
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7795–7813, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7795-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7795-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In recent years, several studies focused their attention on the disposition of convection. Lots of methods, called indices, have been developed to quantify the amount of convection clustering. These indices are evaluated in this study by defining criteria that must be satisfied and then evaluating the indices against these standards. None of the indices meet all criteria, with some only partially meeting them.
Kerry Anderson, Jack Chen, Peter Englefield, Debora Griffin, Paul A. Makar, and Dan Thompson
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7713–7749, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7713-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7713-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Global Forest Fire Emissions Prediction System (GFFEPS) is a model that predicts smoke and carbon emissions from wildland fires. The model calculates emissions from the ground up based on satellite-detected fires, modelled weather and fire characteristics. Unlike other global models, GFFEPS uses daily weather conditions to capture changing burning conditions on a day-to-day basis. GFFEPS produced lower carbon emissions due to the changing weather not captured by the other models.
Samiha Binte Shahid, Forrest G. Lacey, Christine Wiedinmyer, Robert J. Yokelson, and Kelley C. Barsanti
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7679–7711, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7679-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7679-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Next-generation Emissions InVentory expansion of Akagi (NEIVA) v.1.0 is a comprehensive biomass burning emissions database that allows integration of new data and flexible querying. Data are stored in connected datasets, including recommended averages of ~1500 constituents for 14 globally relevant fire types. Individual compounds were mapped to common model species to allow better attribution of emissions in modeling studies that predict the effects of fires on air quality and climate.
Lucie Bakels, Daria Tatsii, Anne Tipka, Rona Thompson, Marina Dütsch, Michael Blaschek, Petra Seibert, Katharina Baier, Silvia Bucci, Massimo Cassiani, Sabine Eckhardt, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Stephan Henne, Pirmin Kaufmann, Vincent Lechner, Christian Maurer, Marie D. Mulder, Ignacio Pisso, Andreas Plach, Rakesh Subramanian, Martin Vojta, and Andreas Stohl
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7595–7627, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7595-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7595-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Computer models are essential for improving our understanding of how gases and particles move in the atmosphere. We present an update of the atmospheric transport model FLEXPART. FLEXPART 11 is more accurate due to a reduced number of interpolations and a new scheme for wet deposition. It can simulate non-spherical aerosols and includes linear chemical reactions. It is parallelised using OpenMP and includes new user options. A new user manual details how to use FLEXPART 11.
Jaroslav Resler, Petra Bauerová, Michal Belda, Martin Bureš, Kryštof Eben, Vladimír Fuka, Jan Geletič, Radek Jareš, Jan Karel, Josef Keder, Pavel Krč, William Patiño, Jelena Radović, Hynek Řezníček, Matthias Sühring, Adriana Šindelářová, and Ondřej Vlček
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7513–7537, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7513-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7513-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Detailed modeling of urban air quality in stable conditions is a challenge. We show the unprecedented sensitivity of a large eddy simulation (LES) model to meteorological boundary conditions and model parameters in an urban environment under stable conditions. We demonstrate the crucial role of boundary conditions for the comparability of results with observations. The study reveals a strong sensitivity of the results to model parameters and model numerical instabilities during such conditions.
Jorge E. Pachón, Mariel A. Opazo, Pablo Lichtig, Nicolas Huneeus, Idir Bouarar, Guy Brasseur, Cathy W. Y. Li, Johannes Flemming, Laurent Menut, Camilo Menares, Laura Gallardo, Michael Gauss, Mikhail Sofiev, Rostislav Kouznetsov, Julia Palamarchuk, Andreas Uppstu, Laura Dawidowski, Nestor Y. Rojas, María de Fátima Andrade, Mario E. Gavidia-Calderón, Alejandro H. Delgado Peralta, and Daniel Schuch
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7467–7512, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7467-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7467-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Latin America (LAC) has some of the most populated urban areas in the world, with high levels of air pollution. Air quality management in LAC has been traditionally focused on surveillance and building emission inventories. This study performed the first intercomparison and model evaluation in LAC, with interesting and insightful findings for the region. A multiscale modeling ensemble chain was assembled as a first step towards an air quality forecasting system.
David Ho, Michał Gałkowski, Friedemann Reum, Santiago Botía, Julia Marshall, Kai Uwe Totsche, and Christoph Gerbig
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7401–7422, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7401-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7401-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric model users often overlook the impact of the land–atmosphere interaction. This study accessed various setups of WRF-GHG simulations that ensure consistency between the model and driving reanalysis fields. We found that a combination of nudging and frequent re-initialization allows certain improvement by constraining the soil moisture fields and, through its impact on atmospheric mixing, improves atmospheric transport.
Phuong Loan Nguyen, Lisa V. Alexander, Marcus J. Thatcher, Son C. H. Truong, Rachael N. Isphording, and John L. McGregor
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7285–7315, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7285-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7285-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a comprehensive approach to select a subset of CMIP6 models for dynamical downscaling over Southeast Asia, taking into account model performance, model independence, data availability and the range of future climate projections. The standardised benchmarking framework is applied to assess model performance through both statistical and process-based metrics. Ultimately, we identify two independent model groups that are suitable for dynamical downscaling in the Southeast Asian region.
Ingrid Super, Tia Scarpelli, Arjan Droste, and Paul I. Palmer
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7263–7284, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7263-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7263-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring greenhouse gas emission reductions requires a combination of models and observations, as well as an initial emission estimate. Each component provides information with a certain level of certainty and is weighted to yield the most reliable estimate of actual emissions. We describe efforts for estimating the uncertainty in the initial emission estimate, which significantly impacts the outcome. Hence, a good uncertainty estimate is key for obtaining reliable information on emissions.
Álvaro González-Cervera and Luis Durán
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7245–7261, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7245-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7245-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
RASCAL is an open-source Python tool designed for reconstructing daily climate observations, especially in regions with complex local phenomena. It merges large-scale weather patterns with local weather using the analog method. Evaluations in central Spain show that RASCAL outperforms ERA20C reanalysis in reconstructing precipitation and temperature. RASCAL offers opportunities for broad scientific applications, from short-term forecasts to local-scale climate change scenarios.
Sun-Young Park, Kyo-Sun Sunny Lim, Kwonil Kim, Gyuwon Lee, and Jason A. Milbrandt
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7199–7218, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7199-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7199-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We enhance the WDM6 scheme by incorporating predicted graupel density. The modification affects graupel characteristics, including fall velocity–diameter and mass–diameter relationships. Simulations highlight changes in graupel distribution and precipitation patterns, potentially influencing surface snow amounts. The study underscores the significance of integrating predicted graupel density for a more realistic portrayal of microphysical properties in weather models.
Christos I. Efstathiou, Elizabeth Adams, Carlie J. Coats, Robert Zelt, Mark Reed, John McGee, Kristen M. Foley, Fahim I. Sidi, David C. Wong, Steven Fine, and Saravanan Arunachalam
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7001–7027, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7001-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7001-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a summary of enabling high-performance computing of the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) – a state-of-the-science community multiscale air quality model – on two cloud computing platforms through documenting the technologies, model performance, scaling and relative merits. This may be a new paradigm for computationally intense future model applications. We initiated this work due to a need to leverage cloud computing advances and to ease the learning curve for new users.
Peter A. Bogenschutz, Jishi Zhang, Qi Tang, and Philip Cameron-Smith
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7029–7050, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7029-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7029-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Using high-resolution and state-of-the-art modeling techniques we simulate five atmospheric river events for California to test the capability to represent precipitation for these events. We find that our model is able to capture the distribution of precipitation very well but suffers from overestimating the precipitation amounts over high elevation. Increasing the resolution further has no impact on reducing this bias, while increasing the domain size does have modest impacts.
Manu Anna Thomas, Klaus Wyser, Shiyu Wang, Marios Chatziparaschos, Paraskevi Georgakaki, Montserrat Costa-Surós, Maria Gonçalves Ageitos, Maria Kanakidou, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Athanasios Nenes, Twan van Noije, Philippe Le Sager, and Abhay Devasthale
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6903–6927, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6903-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6903-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol–cloud interactions occur at a range of spatio-temporal scales. While evaluating recent developments in EC-Earth3-AerChem, this study aims to understand the extent to which the Twomey effect manifests itself at larger scales. We find a reduction in the warm bias over the Southern Ocean due to model improvements. While we see footprints of the Twomey effect at larger scales, the negative relationship between cloud droplet number and liquid water drives the shortwave radiative effect.
Kai Cao, Qizhong Wu, Lingling Wang, Hengliang Guo, Nan Wang, Huaqiong Cheng, Xiao Tang, Dongxing Li, Lina Liu, Dongqing Li, Hao Wu, and Lanning Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6887–6901, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6887-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6887-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
AMD’s heterogeneous-compute interface for portability was implemented to port the piecewise parabolic method solver from NVIDIA GPUs to China's GPU-like accelerators. The results show that the larger the model scale, the more acceleration effect on the GPU-like accelerator, up to 28.9 times. The multi-level parallelism achieves a speedup of 32.7 times on the heterogeneous cluster. By comparing the results, the GPU-like accelerators have more accuracy for the geoscience numerical models.
Ruyi Zhang, Limin Zhou, Shin-ichiro Shima, and Huawei Yang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6761–6774, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6761-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6761-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Solar activity weakly ionises Earth's atmosphere, charging cloud droplets. Electro-coalescence is when oppositely charged droplets stick together. We introduce an analytical expression of electro-coalescence probability and use it in a warm-cumulus-cloud simulation. Results show that charge cases increase rain and droplet size, with the new method outperforming older ones. The new method requires longer computation time, but its impact on rain justifies inclusion in meteorology models.
Máté Mile, Stephanie Guedj, and Roger Randriamampianina
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6571–6587, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6571-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6571-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite observations provide crucial information about atmospheric constituents in a global distribution that helps to better predict the weather over sparsely observed regions like the Arctic. However, the use of satellite data is usually conservative and imperfect. In this study, a better spatial representation of satellite observations is discussed and explored by a so-called footprint function or operator, highlighting its added value through a case study and diagnostics.
Lukas Pfitzenmaier, Pavlos Kollias, Nils Risse, Imke Schirmacher, Bernat Puigdomenech Treserras, and Katia Lamer
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-129, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-129, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
Orbital-radar is a Python tool transferring sub-orbital radar data (ground-based, airborne, and forward-simulated NWP) into synthetical space-borne cloud profiling radar data mimicking the platform characteristics, e.g. EarthCARE or CloudSat CPR. The novelty of orbital-radar is the simulation platform characteristic noise floors and errors. By this long time data sets can be transformed into synthetic observations for Cal/Valor sensitivity studies for new or future satellite missions.
Hynek Bednář and Holger Kantz
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6489–6511, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6489-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6489-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The forecast error growth of atmospheric phenomena is caused by initial and model errors. When studying the initial error growth, it may turn out that small-scale phenomena, which contribute little to the forecast product, significantly affect the ability to predict this product. With a negative result, we investigate in the extended Lorenz (2005) system whether omitting these phenomena will improve predictability. A theory explaining and describing this behavior is developed.
Giorgio Veratti, Alessandro Bigi, Sergio Teggi, and Grazia Ghermandi
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6465–6487, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6465-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6465-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we present VERT (Vehicular Emissions from Road Traffic), an R package designed to estimate transport emissions using traffic estimates and vehicle fleet composition data. Compared to other tools available in the literature, VERT stands out for its user-friendly configuration and flexibility of user input. Case studies demonstrate its accuracy in both urban and regional contexts, making it a valuable tool for air quality management and transport scenario planning.
Sam P. Raj, Puna Ram Sinha, Rohit Srivastava, Srinivas Bikkina, and Damu Bala Subrahamanyam
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6379–6399, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6379-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6379-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A Python successor to the aerosol module of the OPAC model, named AeroMix, has been developed, with enhanced capabilities to better represent real atmospheric aerosol mixing scenarios. AeroMix’s performance in modeling aerosol mixing states has been evaluated against field measurements, substantiating its potential as a versatile aerosol optical model framework for next-generation algorithms to infer aerosol mixing states and chemical composition.
Angeline G. Pendergrass, Michael P. Byrne, Oliver Watt-Meyer, Penelope Maher, and Mark J. Webb
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6365–6378, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6365-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6365-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The width of the tropical rain belt affects many aspects of our climate, yet we do not understand what controls it. To better understand it, we present a method to change it in numerical model experiments. We show that the method works well in four different models. The behavior of the width is unexpectedly simple in some ways, such as how strong the winds are as it changes, but in other ways, it is more complicated, especially how temperature increases with carbon dioxide.
Tianning Su and Yunyan Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6319–6336, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6319-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6319-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Using 2 decades of field observations over the Southern Great Plains, this study developed a deep-learning model to simulate the complex dynamics of boundary layer clouds. The deep-learning model can serve as the cloud parameterization within reanalysis frameworks, offering insights into improving the simulation of low clouds. By quantifying biases due to various meteorological factors and parameterizations, this deep-learning-driven approach helps bridge the observation–modeling divide.
Siyuan Chen, Yi Zhang, Yiming Wang, Zhuang Liu, Xiaohan Li, and Wei Xue
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6301–6318, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6301-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6301-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores strategies and techniques for implementing mixed-precision code optimization within an atmosphere model dynamical core. The coded equation terms in the governing equations that are sensitive (or insensitive) to the precision level have been identified. The performance of mixed-precision computing in weather and climate simulations was analyzed.
Sam O. Owens, Dipanjan Majumdar, Chris E. Wilson, Paul Bartholomew, and Maarten van Reeuwijk
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6277–6300, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6277-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Designing cities that are resilient, sustainable, and beneficial to health requires an understanding of urban climate and air quality. This article presents an upgrade to the multi-physics numerical model uDALES, which can simulate microscale airflow, heat transfer, and pollutant dispersion in urban environments. This upgrade enables it to resolve realistic urban geometries more accurately and to take advantage of the resources available on current and future high-performance computing systems.
Allison A. Wing, Levi G. Silvers, and Kevin A. Reed
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6195–6225, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6195-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6195-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents the experimental design for a model intercomparison project to study tropical clouds and climate. It is a follow-up from a prior project that used a simplified framework for tropical climate. The new project adds one new component – a specified pattern of sea surface temperatures as the lower boundary condition. We provide example results from one cloud-resolving model and one global climate model and test the sensitivity to the experimental parameters.
Philip G. Sansom and Jennifer L. Catto
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6137–6151, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6137-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6137-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Weather fronts bring a lot of rain and strong winds to many regions of the mid-latitudes. We have developed an updated method of identifying these fronts in gridded data that can be used on new datasets with small grid spacing. The method can be easily applied to different datasets due to the use of open-source software for its development and shows improvements over similar previous methods. We present an updated estimate of the average frequency of fronts over the past 40 years.
Kelly M. Núñez Ocasio and Zachary L. Moon
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6035–6049, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6035-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6035-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
TAMS is an open-source Python-based package for tracking and classifying mesoscale convective systems that can be used to study observed and simulated systems. Each step of the algorithm is described in this paper with examples showing how to make use of visualization and post-processing tools within the package. A unique and valuable feature of this tracker is its support for unstructured grids in the identification stage and grid-independent tracking.
Irene C. Dedoussi, Daven K. Henze, Sebastian D. Eastham, Raymond L. Speth, and Steven R. H. Barrett
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5689–5703, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5689-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5689-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric model gradients provide a meaningful tool for better understanding the underlying atmospheric processes. Adjoint modeling enables computationally efficient gradient calculations. We present the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem unified chemistry extension (UCX). With this development, the GEOS-Chem adjoint model can capture stratospheric ozone and other processes jointly with tropospheric processes. We apply it to characterize the Antarctic ozone depletion potential of active halogen species.
Sylvain Mailler, Sotirios Mallios, Arineh Cholakian, Vassilis Amiridis, Laurent Menut, and Romain Pennel
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5641–5655, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5641-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5641-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We propose two explicit expressions to calculate the settling speed of solid atmospheric particles with prolate spheroidal shapes. The first formulation is based on theoretical arguments only, while the second one is based on computational fluid dynamics calculations. We show that the first method is suitable for virtually all atmospheric aerosols, provided their shape can be adequately described as a prolate spheroid, and we provide an implementation of the first method in AerSett v2.0.2.
Hejun Xie, Lei Bi, and Wei Han
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5657–5688, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5657-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5657-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A radar operator plays a crucial role in utilizing radar observations to enhance numerical weather forecasts. However, developing an advanced radar operator is challenging due to various complexities associated with the wave scattering by non-spherical hydrometeors, radar beam propagation, and multiple platforms. In this study, we introduce a novel radar operator named the Accurate and Efficient Radar Operator developed by ZheJiang University (ZJU-AERO) which boasts several unique features.
Jonathan J. Day, Gunilla Svensson, Barbara Casati, Taneil Uttal, Siri-Jodha Khalsa, Eric Bazile, Elena Akish, Niramson Azouz, Lara Ferrighi, Helmut Frank, Michael Gallagher, Øystein Godøy, Leslie M. Hartten, Laura X. Huang, Jareth Holt, Massimo Di Stefano, Irene Suomi, Zen Mariani, Sara Morris, Ewan O'Connor, Roberta Pirazzini, Teresa Remes, Rostislav Fadeev, Amy Solomon, Johanna Tjernström, and Mikhail Tolstykh
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5511–5543, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5511-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5511-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The YOPP site Model Intercomparison Project (YOPPsiteMIP), which was designed to facilitate enhanced weather forecast evaluation in polar regions, is discussed here, focussing on describing the archive of forecast data and presenting a multi-model evaluation at Arctic supersites during February and March 2018. The study highlights an underestimation in boundary layer temperature variance that is common across models and a related inability to forecast cold extremes at several of the sites.
Hossain Mohammed Syedul Hoque, Kengo Sudo, Hitoshi Irie, Yanfeng He, and Md Firoz Khan
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5545–5571, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5545-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5545-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Using multi-platform observations, we validated global formaldehyde (HCHO) simulations from a chemistry transport model. HCHO is a crucial intermediate in the chemical catalytic cycle that governs the ozone formation in the troposphere. The model was capable of replicating the observed spatiotemporal variability in HCHO. In a few cases, the model's capability was limited. This is attributed to the uncertainties in the observations and the model parameters.
Zijun Liu, Li Dong, Zongxu Qiu, Xingrong Li, Huiling Yuan, Dongmei Meng, Xiaobin Qiu, Dingyuan Liang, and Yafei Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5477–5496, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5477-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5477-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we completed a series of simulations with MPAS-Atmosphere (version 7.3) to study the extreme precipitation event of Henan, China, during 20–22 July 2021. We found the different performance of two built-in parameterization scheme suites (mesoscale and convection-permitting suites) with global quasi-uniform and variable-resolution meshes. This study holds significant implications for advancing the understanding of the scale-aware capability of MPAS-Atmosphere.
Laurent Menut, Arineh Cholakian, Romain Pennel, Guillaume Siour, Sylvain Mailler, Myrto Valari, Lya Lugon, and Yann Meurdesoif
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5431–5457, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5431-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5431-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A new version of the CHIMERE model is presented. This version contains both computational and physico-chemical changes. The computational changes make it easy to choose the variables to be extracted as a result, including values of maximum sub-hourly concentrations. Performance tests show that the model is 1.5 to 2 times faster than the previous version for the same setup. Processes such as turbulence, transport schemes and dry deposition have been modified and updated.
G. Alexander Sokolowsky, Sean W. Freeman, William K. Jones, Julia Kukulies, Fabian Senf, Peter J. Marinescu, Max Heikenfeld, Kelcy N. Brunner, Eric C. Bruning, Scott M. Collis, Robert C. Jackson, Gabrielle R. Leung, Nils Pfeifer, Bhupendra A. Raut, Stephen M. Saleeby, Philip Stier, and Susan C. van den Heever
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5309–5330, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5309-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5309-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Building on previous analysis tools developed for atmospheric science, the original release of the Tracking and Object-Based Analysis (tobac) Python package, v1.2, was open-source, modular, and insensitive to the type of gridded input data. Here, we present the latest version of tobac, v1.5, which substantially improves scientific capabilities and computational efficiency from the previous version. These enhancements permit new uses for tobac in atmospheric science and potentially other fields.
Taneil Uttal, Leslie M. Hartten, Siri Jodha Khalsa, Barbara Casati, Gunilla Svensson, Jonathan Day, Jareth Holt, Elena Akish, Sara Morris, Ewan O'Connor, Roberta Pirazzini, Laura X. Huang, Robert Crawford, Zen Mariani, Øystein Godøy, Johanna A. K. Tjernström, Giri Prakash, Nicki Hickmon, Marion Maturilli, and Christopher J. Cox
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5225–5247, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5225-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5225-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A Merged Observatory Data File (MODF) format to systematically collate complex atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial data sets collected by multiple instruments during field campaigns is presented. The MODF format is also designed to be applied to model output data, yielding format-matching Merged Model Data Files (MMDFs). MODFs plus MMDFs will augment and accelerate the synergistic use of model results with observational data to increase understanding and predictive skill.
Chongzhi Yin, Shin-ichiro Shima, Lulin Xue, and Chunsong Lu
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5167–5189, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5167-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5167-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate numerical convergence properties of a particle-based numerical cloud microphysics model (SDM) and a double-moment bulk scheme for simulating a marine stratocumulus case, compare their results with model intercomparison project results, and present possible explanations for the different results of the SDM and the bulk scheme. Aerosol processes can be accurately simulated using SDM, and this may be an important factor affecting the behavior and morphology of marine stratocumulus.
Zichen Wu, Xueshun Chen, Zifa Wang, Huansheng Chen, Zhe Wang, Qing Mu, Lin Wu, Wending Wang, Xiao Tang, Jie Li, Ying Li, Qizhong Wu, Yang Wang, Zhiyin Zou, and Zijian Jiang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1437, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1437, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We developed a model to simulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from global to regional scales. The model can well reproduce the distribution of PAHs. The concentration of BaP (indicator species for PAHs) could exceed the target values of 1 ng m-3 over some areas (e.g., in central Europe, India, and eastern China). The change of BaP is less than PM2.5 from 2013 to 2018. China still faces significant potential health risks posed by BaP although "the Action Plan" has been implemented.
Alberto Martilli, Negin Nazarian, E. Scott Krayenhoff, Jacob Lachapelle, Jiachen Lu, Esther Rivas, Alejandro Rodriguez-Sanchez, Beatriz Sanchez, and José Luis Santiago
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5023–5039, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5023-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5023-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we present a model that quantifies the thermal stress and its microscale variability at a city scale with a mesoscale model. This tool can have multiple applications, from early warnings of extreme heat to the vulnerable population to the evaluation of the effectiveness of heat mitigation strategies. It is the first model that includes information on microscale variability in a mesoscale model, something that is essential for fully evaluating heat stress.
Nathan P. Arnold
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5041–5056, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5041-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5041-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Earth system models often represent the land surface at smaller scales than the atmosphere, but surface–atmosphere coupling uses only aggregated surface properties. This study presents a method to allow heterogeneous surface properties to modify boundary layer updrafts. The method is tested in single column experiments. Updraft properties are found to reasonably covary with surface conditions, and simulated boundary layer variability is enhanced over more heterogeneous land surfaces.
Enrico Dammers, Janot Tokaya, Christian Mielke, Kevin Hausmann, Debora Griffin, Chris McLinden, Henk Eskes, and Renske Timmermans
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4983–5007, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4983-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4983-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Nitrogen dioxide (NOx) is produced by sources such as industry and traffic and is directly linked to negative impacts on health and the environment. The current construction of emission inventories to keep track of NOx emissions is slow and time-consuming. Satellite measurements provide a way to quickly and independently estimate emissions. In this study, we apply a consistent methodology to derive NOx emissions over Germany and illustrate the value of having such a method for fast projections.
Yuhan Xu, Sheng Fang, Xinwen Dong, and Shuhan Zhuang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4961–4982, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4961-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4961-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Recent atmospheric radionuclide leakages from unknown sources have posed a new challenge in nuclear emergency assessment. Reconstruction via environmental observations is the only feasible way to identify sources, but simultaneous reconstruction of the source location and release rate yields high uncertainties. We propose a spatiotemporally separated reconstruction strategy that avoids these uncertainties and outperforms state-of-the-art methods with respect to accuracy and uncertainty ranges.
Cited articles
Alfieri, L., Salamon, P., Pappenberger, F., Wetterhall, F., and Thielen, J.:
Operational early warning systems for water-related hazards in Europe,
Environ. Sci. Policy, 21, 35–49, 2012. a
Atencia, A. and Zawadzki, I.: A comparison of two techniques for generating
nowcasting ensembles. Part I: Lagrangian ensemble technique, Mon. Weather
Rev., 142, 4036–4052, 2014. a
Atencia, A., Zawadzki, I., and Berenguer, M.: Scale characterization and
correction of diurnal cycle errors in MAPLE, J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol.,
56, 2561–2575, 2017. a
Ayzel, G., Heistermann, M., and Winterrath, T.: Optical flow models as an open benchmark for radar-based precipitation nowcasting (rainymotion v0.1), Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1387–1402, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1387-2019, 2019. a
Benoit, L., Allard, D., and Mariethoz, G.: Stochastic Rainfall Modeling at
Sub-kilometer Scale, Water Resour. Res., 54, 4108–4130, 2018. a
Berenguer, M., Surcel, M., Zawadzki, I., Xue, M., and Kong, F.: The Diurnal
Cycle of Precipitation from Continental Radar Mosaics and Numerical Weather
Prediction Models. Part II: Intercomparison among Numerical Models and with
Nowcasting, Mon. Weather Rev., 140, 2689–2705, 2012. a
Berne, A., Delrieu, G., Creutin, J.-D., and Obled, C.: Temporal and spatial
resolution of rainfall measurements required for urban hydrology, J. Hydrol., 299, 166–179, 2004. a
Beusch, L., Gudmundsson, L., and Seneviratne, S. I.: Emulating Earth System Model temperatures: from global mean temperature trajectories to grid-point level realizations on land, Earth Syst. Dynam. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-2019-34, in review, 2019. a
Bouguet, J.-Y.: Pyramidal implementation of the affine Lucas Kanade feature
tracker description of the algorithm, Intel Corp., 5, 4,
https://doi.org/10.1109/HPDC.2004.1323531, 2001. a
Box, G. E. P., Jenkins, G. M., Reinsel, G. C., and Ljung, G. M.: Time series
analysis: forecasting and control, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, USA, fifth Edn., 2013. a
Bradski, G.: The OpenCV Library, Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools, 2000. a
Bröcker, J. and Smith, L. A.: Increasing the Reliability of Reliability
Diagrams, Weather Forecast., 22, 651–661, 2007. a
Chatfield, C.: The Analysis of Time Series: An Introduction, Chapman and
Hall/CRC, sixth Edn., 2003. a
Crane, R.: Space-time structure of rain rate fields, J. Geophys. Res., 95,
2011–2020, 1990. a
Dask Development Team: Dask: Library for dynamic task scheduling,
available at: https://dask.org (last access: 30 July 2019), 2016. a
Erdin, R., Frei, C., and Künsch, H. R.: Data Transformation and
Uncertainty in Geostatistical Combination of Radar and Rain Gauges, J.
Hydrometeorol., 13, 1332–1346, 2012. a
Flowerdew, J.: IMPROVER: Integrated Model post-PROcessing and VERification,
available at: https://tinyurl.com/y8m33y7l (last access: 23 September 2019), BoM Ensembles Workshop, 2018. a
Foresti, L. and Seed, A.: The effect of flow and orography on the spatial distribution of the very short-term predictability of rainfall from composite radar images, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 4671–4686, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4671-2014, 2014. a
Foresti, L., Reyniers, M., Seed, A., and Delobbe, L.: Development and verification of a real-time stochastic precipitation nowcasting system for urban hydrology in Belgium, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 505–527, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-505-2016, 2016. a, b
Foresti, L., Sideris, I., Panziera, L., Nerini, D., and Germann, U.: A 10-year
radar-based analysis of orographic precipitation growth and decay patterns
over the Swiss Alpine region, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 144, 2277–2301, 2018. a
Foresti, L., Sideris, I., Nerini, D., Beusch, L., and Germann, U.: Using a
10-year radar archive for nowcasting precipitation growth and decay – a
probabilistic machine learning approach, Weather Forecast., https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-18-0206.1, in press, 2019. a, b
Frigo, M. and Johnson, S. G.: The Design and Implementation of FFTW3,
Proc. IEEE, 93, 216–231, 2005. a
Germann, U. and Zawadzki, I.: Scale Dependence of the Predictability of
Precipitation from Continental Radar Images, Part II: Probability Forecasts, J. Appl. Meteorol., 43, 74–89, 2004. a
Germann, U., Galli, G., Boscacci, M., and Bolliger, M.: Radar precipitation
measurement in a mountainous region, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 132,
1669–1692, 2006a. a
Germann, U., Berenguer, M., Sempere-Torres, D., and Zappa, M.: REAL-Ensemble
radar precipitation estimation for hydrology in a mountainous region, Q. J.
Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 135, 445–456, 2009. a
Germann, U., Boscacci, M., Gabella, M., and Sartori, M.: Peak performance –
Radar design for prediction in the Swiss Alps, Meteorol. Technol. Int., 42–45, 2015. a
Gires, A., Tchiguirinskaia, I., Schertzer, D., Schellart, A., Berne, A., and
Lovejoy, S.: Influence of small scale rainfall variability on standard
comparison tools between radar and rain gauge data, Atmos. Res., 138,
125–138, 2014. a
Haiden, T., Kann, A., Wittmann, C., Pistotnik, G., Bica, B., and Gruber, C.:
The Integrated Nowcasting through Comprehensive Analysis (INCA) System and
Its Validation over the Eastern Alpine Region, Weather Forecast., 26, 166–183, 2011. a
Hamill, T. M.: Interpretation of Rank Histograms for Verifying Ensemble
Forecasts, Mon. Weather Rev., 129, 550–560, 2001. a
Hamill, T. M. and Colucci, S. J.: Verification of Eta-RSM Short-Range
Ensemble Forecasts, Mon. Weather Rev., 125, 1312–1327, 1997. a
Harris, D., Seed, A., Menabde, M., and Austin, G.: Factors affecting multiscaling analysis of rainfall time series, Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 4, 137–156, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-4-137-1997, 1997. a
Heistermann, M., Jacobi, S., and Pfaff, T.: Technical Note: An open source library for processing weather radar data (wradlib), Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 863–871, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-863-2013, 2013. a, b
Heistermann, M., Collis, S., Dixon, M. J., Giangrande, S., Helmus, J. J.,
Kelley, B., Koistinen, J., Michelson, D. B., Peura, M., Pfaff, T., and Wolff,
D. B.: The emergence of open-source software for the weather radar community,
B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 96, 117–128, 2015. a
Helmus, J. J. and Collis, S. M.: The Python ARM Radar Toolkit (Py-ART), a Library for Working with Weather Radar Data in the Python Programming Language, J. Open Res. Softw., 4, e25, https://doi.org/10.5334/jors.119, 2016. a
Hunter, J. D.: Matplotlib: A 2D graphics environment, Comput. Sci. Eng., 9,
90–95, https://doi.org/10.1109/MCSE.2007.55, 2007. a
Hutton, C., Wagener, T., Freer, J., Han, D., Duffy, C., and Arheimer, B.: Most computational hydrology is not reproducible, so is it really science?, Water Resour. Res., 52, 7548–7555, 2016. a
Jacques, D., Michelson, D., Caron, J.-F., and Fillion, L.: Latent Heat Nudging in the Canadian Regional Deterministic Prediction System, Mon. Weather Rev., 146, 3995–4014, 2018. a
Jones, E., Oliphant, T., and Peterson, P.: SciPy: Open source scientific
tools for Python, available at: http://www.scipy.org/ (last access:
30 July 2019), 2001. a
Jordan, P., Seed, A., and Weinmann, P.: A Stochastic Model of Radar Measurement
Errors in Rainfall Accumulations at Catchment Scale, J. Hydrometeorol., 4,
841–855, 2003. a
Koistinen, J. and Pohjola, H.: Estimation of Ground-Level Reflectivity Factor
in Operational Weather Radar Networks Using VPR-Based Correction Ensembles, J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 53, 2394–2411, 2014. a
Lakshmanan, V., Smith, T., Hondl, K., Stumpf, G. J., and Witt, A.: A Real-Time, Three-Dimensional, Rapidly Updating, Heterogeneous Radar Merger Technique for Reflectivity, Velocity, and Derived Products, Weather Forecast., 21, 802–823, 2006. a
Lakshmanan, V., Fritz, A., Smith, T., Hondl, K., and Stumpf, G.: An Automated
Technique to Quality Control Radar Reflectivity Data, J. Appl. Meteorol.
Climatol., 46, 288–305, 2007. a
Laroche, S. and Zawadzki, I.: A Variational Analysis Method for Retrieval of
Three-Dimensional Wind Field from Single-Doppler Radar Data, J. Atmos. Sci., 51, 2664–2682, 1994. a
Leblois, E. and Creutin, J. D.: Space-time simulation of intermittent rainfall
with prescribed advection field: Adaptation of the turning band method,
Water Resour. Res., 49, 3375–3387, 2013. a
Leinonen, J., Moisseev, D., Leskinen, M., and Petersen, W. A.: A Climatology of Disdrometer Measurements of Rainfall in Finland over Five Years with
Implications for Global Radar Observations, J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 51, 392–404, 2012. a
Liguori, S. and Rico-Ramirez, M. A.: A review of current approaches to
radar-based quantitative precipitation forecasts, Int. J. River Basin Manag.,
12, 391–402, 2014. a
Lovejoy, S. and Schertzer, D.: The Weather and Climate: Emergent Laws and
Multifractal Cascades, Cambridge University Press, 2013. a
Lucas, B. D. and Kanade, T.: An iterative image registration technique with an application to stereo vision, in: Proceedings of the 1981 DARPA Imaging
Understanding Workshop, 121–130 pp., 1981. a
Lukach, M., Foresti, L., Giot, O., and Delobbe, L.: Estimating the occurrence
and severity of hail based on 10 years of observations from weather radar in
Belgium, Meteorol. Appl., 24, 250–259, 2017. a
Mandapaka, P. V., Germann, U., Panziera, L., and Hering, A.: Can lagrangian
extrapolation of radar fields be used for precipitation nowcasting over
complex alpine orography?, Weather Forecast., 27, 28–49, 2012. a
Marzban, C. and Sandgathe, S.: Optical flow for verification, Weather Forecast., 25, 1479–1494, 2010. a
Mejsnar, J., Sokol, Z., and Minářová, J.: Limits of precipitation nowcasting
by extrapolation of radar reflectivity for warm season in Central Europe,
Atmos. Res., 213, 288–301, 2018. a
Met Office: Cartopy: a cartographic python library with a Matplotlib
interface, Exeter, Devon, available at: http://scitools.org.uk/cartopy
(last access: 30 July 2019), 2010–2015. a
Metta, S., von Hardenberg, J., Ferraris, L., Rebora, N., and Provenzale, A.:
Precipitation nowcasting by a spectral-based nonlinear stochastic model, J. Hydrometeorol., 10, 1285–1297, 2009. a
Mittermaier, M. and Roberts, N.: Intercomparison of Spatial Forecast
Verification Methods: Identifying Skillful Spatial Scales Using the Fractions Skill Score, Weather Forecast., 25, 343–354, 2010. a
Nerini, D., Besic, N., Sideris, I., Germann, U., and Foresti, L.: A non-stationary stochastic ensemble generator for radar rainfall fields based on the short-space Fourier transform, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2777–2797, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2777-2017, 2017. a, b, c
Nerini, D., Foresti, L., Leuenberger, D., Robert, S., and Germann, U.: A
reduced-space ensemble Kalman filter approach for flow-dependent integration of radar extrapolation nowcasts and NWP precipitation ensembles, Mon. Weather Rev., 147, 987–1006, 2019. a
Paschalis, A., Molnar, P., Fatichi, S., and Burlando, P.: A stochastic model
for high-resolution space-time precipitation simulation, Water Resour. Res., 49, 8400–8417, 2013. a
Peleg, N., Francesco, M., Fatichi, S., Paschalis, A., Molnar, P., and Burlando, P.: Spatial variability of extreme rainfall at radar subpixel scale, J. Hydrol., 556, 922–933, 2016. a
Peleg, N., Fatichi, S., Paschalis, A., Molnar, P., and Burlando, P.: An
advanced stochastic weather generator for simulating 2‐D high‐resolution
climate variables, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 9, 1595–1627, 2017. a
Pérez, F. and Granger, B. E.: IPython: a System for Interactive Scientific Computing, Comput. Sci. Eng., 9, 21–29, 2007. a
Pierce, C., Seed, A., Ballard, S., Simonin, D., and Li, Z.: Nowcasting, in:
Doppler Radar Observations – Weather Radar, Wind Profiler, Ionospheric Radar,
and Other Advanced Applications, edited by: Bech, J. and Chau, J. L.,
97–142 pp., InTech, 2012. a
Pulkkinen, S., Chandrasekar, V., and Harri, A.-M.: Nowcasting of Precipitation
in the High-Resolution Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Urban Radar Remote
Sensing Network, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens., 11,
2773–2787, 2018. a
Pulkkinen, S., Nerini, D., Perez Hortal, A., Velasco, C., and Foresti, L.: (2019, April 7), pySTEPS/pysteps: pysteps 1.0.0 (Version v1.0.0), Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2631911, 2019.
Raut, B., Seed, A., Reeder, M., and Jakob, C.: A multiplicative cascade model
for high-resolution space-time downscaling of rainfall, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 123, 2050–2067, 2018. a
Renzullo, L., Velasco-Forero, C., and Seed, A.: Blending radar, NWP and
satellite data for real-time ensemble rainfall analysis: a scale-dependent
method, Tech. Rep. EP174236, CSIRO, https://doi.org/10.4225/08/594eb78c96025, 2017. a
Ruzanski, E., Chandrasekar, V., and Wang, Y.: The CASA Nowcasting System, J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol., 28, 640–655, 2011. a
Schertzer, D. and Lovejoy, S.: Physical modeling and analysis of rain and
clouds by anisotropic scaling multiplicative processes, J. Geophys. Res.,
92, 9693–9714, 1987. a
Scovell, R.: Application of the wavelet transform for modelling
non-stationarity and local anisotropy in precipitation fields, in: 11th
International Workshop on Precipitation in Urban Areas, Pontresina,
Switzerland, 2018. a
Seed, A., Shrikanthan, R., and Menabde, M.: A space and time model for design
storm rainfall, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 31623–31630, 1999. a
Sideris, I. V., Foresti, L., Germann, U., and Nerini, D.: Nowprecip: an
algorithm for localized probabilistic precipitation nowcasting in the complex terrain of Switzerland, in: Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Radar in Meteorology and Hydrology (ERAD), Ede-Wageningen, The Netherlands, 2018. a, b
Simonin, D., Pierce, C., Roberts, N., Ballard, S., and Li, Z.: Performance of
Met Office hourly cycling NWP-based nowcasting for precipitation forecasts,
Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 143, 2862–2873, 2017. a
Sun, J., Xue, M., Wilson, J. W., Zawadzki, I., Ballard, S. P.,
Onvlee-Hooimeyer, J., Joe, P., Barker, D. M., Li, P.-W., Golding, B., Xu, M., and Pinto, J.: Use of NWP for Nowcasting Convective Precipitation: Recent Progress and Challenges, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 95, 409–426, 2014. a
Tabary, P.: The new French operational radar rainfall product, Part I:
Methodology, Weather Forecast., 22, 393–408, 2007. a
Thorndahl, S., Einfalt, T., Willems, P., Nielsen, J. E., ten Veldhuis, M.-C., Arnbjerg-Nielsen, K., Rasmussen, M. R., and Molnar, P.: Weather radar rainfall data in urban hydrology, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1359–1380, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1359-2017, 2017. a
Tippett, M. K., DelSole, T., and Barnston, A. G.: Reliability of
Regression-Corrected Climate Forecasts, J. Climate, 27, 3393–3404, 2014. a
Toth, Z. and Kalnay, E.: Ensemble forecasting at NCEP and the breeding
method, Mon. Weather Rev., 125, 3297–3319, 1997. a
Turner, B. J., Zawadzki, I., and Germann, U.: Predictability of Precipitation
from Continental Radar Images, Part III: Operational Nowcasting
Implementation (MAPLE), J. Appl. Meteorol., 43, 231–248, 2004. a
Van Der Walt, S., Colbert, S. C., and Varoquaux, G.: The NumPy Array: A
Structure for Efficient Numerical Computation, Comput. Sci. Eng., 13, 22–30, https://doi.org/10.1109/MCSE.2011.37, 2011. a
Venugopal, V., Foufoula-Georgiou, E., and Sapozhnikov, V.: Evidence of dynamic
scaling in space-time rainfall, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 104,
31599–31610, 1999. a
Wang, L.-P., Ochoa-Rodriguez, S., Van Assel, J., Pina, R., Pessemier, M.,
Kroll, S., Willems, P., and Onof, C.: Enhancement of radar rainfall estimates for urban hydrology through optical flow temporal interpolation and Bayesian gauge-based adjustment, J. Hydrol., 531, 408–426, 2015. a
Wang, Y., Coning, E. D., Harou, A., Jacobs, W., Joe, P., Nikitina, L., Roberts, R., Wang, J., and Wilson, J.: Guidelines for nowcasting techniques, available at: https://library.wmo.int/opac/doc_num.php?explnum_id=3795 (last access: 23 September 2019),
2017. a
Wong, W.-K., Cheng, V. T.-L., and Woo, W.-C.: Community SWIRLS Nowcasting
System (Com-SWIRLS), in: WMO WWRP 4th International Symposium on Nowcasting
and Very-short-range Forecast (WSN16), p. 113,
available at: http://wsn16.hk/doc/wsn16-abstract-book.pdf (last access: 23 September 2019), 2016. a
Woo, W.-C. and Wong, W.-K.: Operational application of optical flow techniques to radar-based rainfall nowcasting, Atmosphere, 8, 48, 2017. a
Xingjian, S., Chen, Z., Wang, H., Yeung, D., Wong, W., and Woo, W.:
Convolutional LSTM network: A machine learning approach for precipitation
nowcasting, in: Neural Information Processing Systems 28, edited by: Cortes, C., Lawrence, N. D., Lee, D. D., Sugiyama, M., and Garnett, R., 802–810 pp., Curran Associates, Inc., 2015. a
Zappa, M., Simon, J., Germann, U., Walser, A., and Fundel, F.: Superposition
of three sources of uncertainties in operational flood forecasting chains,
Atmos. Res., 100, 246–262, 2011. a
Zawadzki, I., Morneau, J., and Laprise, R.: Predictability of Precipitation
Patterns: An Operational Approach, J. Appl. Meteor., 33, 1562–1571, 1994. a
Zeder, J., Hamann, U., Nerini, D., Foresti, L., Clementi, L., Hering, A., and
Germann, U.: Comparison of thunderstorm characteristics as seen by SEVIRI
and radar regarding lightning and hail initiation, in: EUMETSAT conference, Tallinn, Estonia, 2018. a
Short summary
Reliable precipitation forecasts are vital for the society, as water-related hazards can cause economic losses and loss of lives. Pysteps is an open-source Python library for radar-based precipitation forecasting. It aims to be a well-documented platform for development of new methods as well as an easy-to-use tool for practitioners. The potential of the library is demonstrated by case studies and scientific experiments using radar data from Finland, Switzerland, the United States and Australia.
Reliable precipitation forecasts are vital for the society, as water-related hazards can cause...
