Defenses for Fall 2013
Numirical Simulation Diagnostics of a Flash Flood Event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
December 18, 2013
Ahmad Samman
On 26 January 2011, a severe storm hit the city of Jeddah, the second largest city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The storm resulted in a flash flood, which produced heavy rainfall in a short period of time. This event caused at least 11 fatalities and more than 114 injuries. Although the observed rainfall data are limited to the weather station at King Abdul Aziz International airport north…
Ensemble-based Analysis of Front Range Severe Convection on 6-7 June 2012: Forecast Uncertainty and Communication of Weather Information to Front Range Decision-makers
December 17, 2013
Vanessa Vincente
The variation of topography in Colorado not only adds to the beauty of its landscape, but also tests our ability to predict warm season severe convection. Deficient radar coverage and limited observations make quantitative precipitation forecasting quite a challenge. Past studies have suggested that greater forecast skill of mesoscale convection initiation and precipitation characteristics are…
On Modeled and Observed Warm Rainfall Occurrence and its Relationships with Cloud Macrophysical Properties
December 17, 2013
Josh King
Rainfall from low-level, liquid-phase ("warm") clouds over the global oceans is ubiquitous and contributes non- negligibly to the total amount of precipitation that falls to the globe. In this study, modeled and observed warm rainfall occurrence and its bulk statistical relationships with cloud macrophysical properties are analyzed independently and directly compared with one another. Rain is…
Comparison of convective clouds observed by spaceborne w-band radar and simulated by cloud-resolving atmospheric models
November 15, 2013
Brant Dodson
Deep convective clouds (DCCs) play an important role in regulating global climate through vertical mass flux, vertical water transport, and radiation. For general circulation models (GCMs) to simulate the global climate realistically, they must simulate DCCs realistically. GCMs have traditionally used cumulus parameterizations (CPs). Much recent research has shown that multiple persistent…
Characteristics, Sources, and Formation of Organic Aerosol in the Central Rocky Mountains
November 07, 2013
Misha Schurman
Particulate matter in the atmosphere has wide-ranging health, environmental, and climate effects, many of which are attributed to fine-mode secondary organic aerosols. High-altitude ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains are sensitive to increased nutrient, and particularly nitrogen, deposition, with documented changes in dominant diatom, lichen, and vegetative communities; visibility is also…
The Climatology of Lightning Producing Large Impulse Charge Moment Changes with an Emphasis on Mesoscale Convective Systems
October 30, 2013
Nick Beavis
The use of both total charge moment change (CMC) and impulse charge moment change (iCMC) magnitudes to assess the potential of a cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning stroke to induce a mesospheric sprite has been well described in literature. However, this work has primarily been carried out on a case study basis. To complement these previous case studies, climatologies of regional, seasonal, and…
Transport of pollutants from eastern Colorado into the Rocky Mountains via upslope winds
October 08, 2013
Aaron Piña
The confluence of mountain meteorology and major pollution sources conspire to transport pollutants across the Front Range, especially nitrogen species (NH3, NH4+, orgN, NO3-, and HNO3) from concentrated animal feeding operations and urban regions, into the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains have coarse-textured soils which…
Deep and Shallow Overturning Circulations in the Tropical Atmosphere
September 27, 2013
Gabriela Mora-Rojas
This dissertation examines the dynamics of zonally symmetric, deep and shallow overturning circulations in the tropical atmosphere. The dynamics are discussed in the context of idealized analytical solutions of the equatorial β-plane version of the Eliassen meridional circulation equation that arises in balanced models of the Hadley circulation. This Elliptic equation for the meridional…