Initializing HYSPLIT with Satellite Observations of Volcanic Ash ARL is investigating the use of satellite information about volcanic ash clouds to improve volcanic ash forecasts made with HYSPLIT. Some of this work has been described in a paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres. A. Crawford, B. J. B. Stunder, F. Ngan, M. J.…
Volcanic Ash Model Details Dispersion Simulations Using HYSPLIT HYSPLIT is set to use the same volcanic ash source term and produce look-alike output graphics as VAFTAD (Heffter and Stunder, 1993). The main differences between running HYSPLIT for volcanic ash and running HYSPLIT at the ARL HYSPLIT web page (unregistered or registered) is in the source term (the initial conditions…
Volcanic Ash Modeling History Following the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, a NOAA – Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Volcanic Hazards Alert became effective in 1988. ARL’s contribution was to provide forecast trajectories. However, trajectories are limited in that they only provide a representation of the transport paths of single…
ARL News National Volcanic Ash Operations Plan August 30, 2007 The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM) will soon publish the “National Volcanic Ash Operations Plan for Aviation and Support of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) International Airways Volcano Watch”. ARL’s role, outlined in the plan, is to…
Volcanic Ash Modeling Mt. Augustine volcanic eruption(Credit: Cyrus Read, U.S. Geological Survey) Volcanic ash is a hazard to aircraft because it can degrade engine performance and navigational and operational instrumentation. Operationally, the NWS runs the ARL-developed HYSPLIT model to forecast the transport and dispersion of volcanic ash in and near the U.S. Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers'(VAAC) (Anchorage,…
HQ The NCEP Acting Director gave final approval for the implementation of the HYSPLIT upgrade (NCEP version number 7.6) on June 12, 2019. The main features of this package are changes required to keep up with NCEP’s GFS upgrade, increases the GFS-HYSPLIT-formatted hybrid-level file horizontal resolution to quarter-degree, adds conversion of HRRR native-level output to…
Major HYSPLIT Upgrade Scheduled June 12 June 2019 ARL’s HYSPLIT model will experience a number of behind-the-scenes upgrades when NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) implements a major upgrade to the agency’s Global Forecast System-Finite Volume Cubed (GFS-FV3) on June 12, 2019. The upgrades are not to the HYSPLIT model itself; rather, they’re changes…
HQ ARL hosted the second annual Ozone Water Land Environmental Transition Study (OWLETS) and sixth annual Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) Science Team Meetings in College Park, Maryland, from May 6-8, 2019. Over 50 scientists participated in the joint event, representing NOAA, NASA, and EPA, as well as multiple universities and state agencies involved in…
HQ “Weak-constraint inverse modeling using HYSPLIT-4 Lagrangian dispersion model and Cross-Appalachian Tracer Experiment (CAPTEX) observations – effect of including model uncertainties on source term estimation,” authored by Tianfeng Chai, Ariel Stein, and Fong Ngan, was published in Geoscientific Model Development. This paper is available at https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/11/5135/2018/gmd-11-5135-2018.pdf Nine ARL HQ scientists gave presentations at the American…
Credit: NOAA NOAA Modeling Fair to Feature Two ARL Research Areas September 2018 NOAA’s first General Modeling Meeting and Fair will take place September 10-12, 2018 at its Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, Maryland. Organized under the theme “Interdisciplinary Modeling and Partnerships,” this event is an opportunity for the NOAA modeling…