Jacob R. Carley

The Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP): A Public–Private Partnership Addressing Wind Energy Forecast Needs

AbstractThe Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP) is a public–private research program, the goal of which is to improve the accuracy of short-term (0–6 h) wind power forecasts for the wind energy industry. WFIP was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), with partners that included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), private forecasting companies (WindLogics and AWS Truepower), DOE national laboratories, grid operators, and universities. WFIP employed two avenues for improving wind power forecasts: first, through the collection of special observations to be assimilated into forecast models and, second, by upgrading NWP forecast models and ensembles. The new observations were collected during concurrent year-long field campaigns in two high wind energy resource areas of the United States (the upper Great Plains and Texas) and included 12 wind profiling radars, 12 sodars, several lidars and surface flux stations, 184 instrumented tall towers, and over 400 nacelle anemome...

A Comparison of Multiscale GSI-Based EnKF and 3DVar Data Assimilation Using Radar and Conventional Observations for Midlatitude Convective-Scale Precipitation Forecasts

AbstractA GSI-based data assimilation (DA) system, including three-dimensional variational assimilation (3DVar) and ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), is extended to the multiscale assimilation of both meso- and synoptic-scale observation networks and convective-scale radar reflectivity and velocity observations. EnKF and 3DVar are systematically compared in this multiscale context to better understand the impacts of differences between the DA techniques on the analyses at multiple scales and the subsequent convective-scale precipitation forecasts.Averaged over 10 diverse cases, 8-h precipitation forecasts initialized using GSI-based EnKF are more skillful than those using GSI-based 3DVar, both with and without storm-scale radar DA. The advantage from radar DA persists for ~5 h using EnKF, but only ~1 h using 3DVar.A case study of an upscale growing MCS is also examined. The better EnKF-initialized forecast is attributed to more accurate analyses of both the mesoscale environment and the storm-scale features....

Mesoscale Model Evaluation Testbed (MMET): A Resource for Transitioning NWP Innovations from Research to Operations (R2O)

AbstractA wide range of numerical weather prediction (NWP) innovations are under development in the research community that have the potential to positively impact operational models. The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) helps facilitate the transition of these innovations from research to operations (R2O). With the large number of innovations available in the research community, it is critical to clearly define a testing protocol to streamline the R2O process. The DTC has defined such a process that relies on shared responsibilities of the researchers, the DTC, and operational centers to test promising new NWP advancements. As part of the first stage of this process, the DTC instituted the mesoscale model evaluation testbed (MMET), which established a common testing framework to assist the research community in demonstrating the merits of developments. The ability to compare performance across innovations for critical cases provides a mechanism for selecting the most promising capabilities for further ...

Modified NAM Microphysics for Forecasts of Deep Convective Storms

AbstractThe Ferrier-Aligo (FA) microphysics scheme has been running operationally in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) since August 2014. It was developed to improve forecasts of deep convection in the NAM CONUS nest, and it replaces previous versions of the NAM microphysics. The FA scheme is the culmination of extensive microphysical scheme sensitivity experiments made over nearly a dozen warm and cool season severe weather cases, as well as an extensive real-time testing in a full, system-wide developmental version of the NAM. While the FA scheme advects each hydrometeor species separately, it was the mass-weighted rime factor (RF) that allowed rimed ice to be advected to very cold temperatures aloft and improved the vertical structure of deep convection. Rimed ice fall speeds were reduced in order to offset an increase in bias of heavy precipitation as a consequence of the mass-weighted RF advection. The FA scheme also incorporated f...

The Community Leveraged Unified Ensemble (CLUE) in the 2016 NOAA/Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Forecasting Experiment

CapsuleThe CLUE system represents an unprecedented effort to leverage several academic and government research institutions to help guide NOAA’s operational environmental modeling efforts at the convection-allowing scale.

Assessment of NWP Forecast Models in Simulating Offshore Winds through the Lower Boundary Layer by Measurements from a Ship-Based Scanning Doppler Lidar

AbstractEvaluation of model skill in predicting winds over the ocean was performed by comparing retrospective runs of numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecast models to shipborne Doppler lidar measurements in the Gulf of Maine, a potential region for U.S. coastal wind farm development. Deployed on board the NOAA R/V Ronald H. Brown during a 2004 field campaign, the high-resolution Doppler lidar (HRDL) provided accurate motion-compensated wind measurements from the water surface up through several hundred meters of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL). The quality and resolution of the HRDL data allow detailed analysis of wind flow at heights within the rotor layer of modern wind turbines and data on other critical variables to be obtained, such as wind speed and direction shear, turbulence, low-level jet properties, ramp events, and many other wind-energy-relevant aspects of the flow. This study will focus on the quantitative validation of NWP models’ wind forecasts within the lower MABL by com...

Evaluating and Improving NWP Forecast Models for the Future: How the Needs of Offshore Wind Energy Can Point the Way

AbstractTo advance the understanding of meteorological processes in offshore coastal regions, the spatial variability of wind profiles must be characterized and uncertainties (errors) in NWP model wind forecasts quantified. These gaps are especially critical for the new offshore wind energy industry, where wind profile measurements in the marine atmospheric layer spanned by wind turbine rotor blades, generally 50–200 m above mean sea level (MSL), have been largely unavailable. Here, high-quality wind profile measurements were available every 15 min from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Earth System Research Laboratory (NOAA/ESRL)’s high-resolution Doppler lidar (HRDL) during a monthlong research cruise in the Gulf of Maine for the 2004 New England Air Quality Study. These measurements were compared with retrospective NWP model wind forecasts over the area using two NOAA forecast-modeling systems [North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) and Rapid Refresh (RAP)]. HRDL profile measu...