Research Page

PhD Research

The focus of my phd research so far has been frontogenesis over Nevada. I'm using the WRF model to look at
a cold front case from 25 Mar 2006. We hope to get a better understanding of the complex structural and
dynamical evolution of the front as it traverses the Sierra Nevada and the basin and range topography of
Nevada. Specifically I'll be investigating how diabatic processes and confluence in the lee of the Sierra
Nevada contribute to the front's rapid intensification.



Master's Research


Spurious Grid-Scale Precipitation in the The North American Regional Reanalysis

While working on a climatology of Intermountain cyclones for my master's thesis, we discovered what
is known as "spurious grid-scale precipitation" in the new North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR).
Traditionally this occurs when the convective parameterization in a model is unable to remove sufficient
amounts of instability, resulting in grid-scale convective overturning; essentially the model is trying to explicitly
resolve a thunderstorm, which is not possible with 32-km grid spacing. In the NARR, spurious
grid-scale precipitation occurs when the precipitation data assimilated into the reanalysis is not
in agreement with the Eta model 3-h forecast on which the reanalysis is based. A corresponding amount
of latent heating is then specified in the cloud layer, and if sufficient amounts of latent heating are
introduced, it causes grid-scale updrafts and spurious grid-scale precipitation. This became the focus of my
master's thesis, which I defended in July 2005. If you are using the North American Regional Reanalysis,
I strongly recommend that you read through my thesis, as spurious grid-scale convection can affect many
fields, including but not limited to: precipitation, vertical velocity, precipitable water, relative humidity,
equivalent potential temperature, pressure, geopotential height, and temperature.

Spurious Grid-Scale Precipitation in the North American Regional Reanalysis (pdf, submitted to Monthly Weather Review)
Master's thesis (pdf, 77p., ~4mb)

Poster: Spurious Grid-Scale Precipitation in the North American Regional Reanalysis
presented at the WAF/NWP conference in August 2005 (powerpoint)

Poster: Anomalous Pressure and Geopotential Height Changes in the North American Regional
Reanalysis (initial findings)
presented at the at the Annual AMS meeting in January 2005 (pdf)



Intermountain Cyclogenesis and Frontogenesis

Some of my initial research here focused on Intermountain cyclogenesis and frontogenesis,
specifically concerning a case known as the Tax Day Storm which took place on 15 April 2002.

Poster: Understanding the Effects of Complex Terrain on Intermountain Cyclogenesis
presented at the Mountain Meteorology Conference in June 2004 (pdf)

Poster: Characteristics of a strong cold front over the Western US
presented at Intermountain Weather Workshop in October 2003 (powerpoint)