Graduate Student Visitor Program 2008 Awards

Karina Apodaca Home Institution: Howard University   NCAR Host Division: Atmospheric Chemistry Division   Purpose of visit: To establish collaborative efforts between the research group at Howard University and NCAR scientists leading research on modeling of cloud-aerosol interactions.   Collaborator(s): Mary Barth   Length of Stay: 12 Months   Advisor: Vernon R. Morris   Matthew Beals Home Institution: Michigan Technological University   NCAR Host Divisions: Earth Observing Laboratory   Purpose of visit: The project is to test and improve the HOLODEC 2 instrument model, hologram processing algorithms, and our understanding of what it measures. This includes possibly some or all of testing the hardware of the instrument, instrument model improvement, hologram processing algorithms, and modeling of airflow about the HOLODEC 2 head.   Collaborator(s): Jacob Fugal   Length of Stay: 6 Months   Advisor: Raymond A. Shaw   Angelita Denny Home Institution: University of Arizona   NCAR Host Division: Atmospheric Chemistry Division   Purpose of visit: The purpose of the visit is for Ms. Angelita Denny to carry out experiments in the kinetics laboratory in ACD, in collaboration with ACD scientists John Orlando and Geoffrey Tyndall. The experiments will involve the study of the atmospheric behavior of alkenes, an important class of organic pollutants that contribute to ‘smog’ formation in urban areas. This work was started last summer here at NCAR, complementary experiments at the University of Arizona are being planned, and we hope to continue the work next summer at NCAR. The work is expected to yield publishable results that will form the core of Ms. Denny’s M. S. thesis.   Collaborator(s): John Orlando   Length of Stay: 3 Months   Advisor: Eric Betterton   Thomas Galarneau Home Institution: SUNY Albany   NCAR Host Division: Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Division   Purpose of visit: The purpose of the extended visit to NCAR/MMM is to work closely with Chris Davis and other NCAR scientists on diagnosing environmental influences on tropical cyclogenesis. This work, while taking advantage of NCAR's computing resources, will use a diagnostic and prognostic approach to examine the important physical and dynamical processes relevant to tropical cyclogenesis among the "nontraditional" genesis pathways. By nontraditional, we mean genesis that occurs in the presence of features originating outside the tropics. Prediction of these events still proves difficult, and climate models (e.g. NRCM) have shown a propensity for producing too many tropical cyclones in association with such features. Another aspect of the extended NCAR visit is to advance collaborative research with Russ Schumacher (ASP Postdoc) on tropical cyclones that reintensify after landfall.   Collaborator(s): Chris Davis   Length of Stay: 3 Months   Advisor: Lance Bosart   Alexandra Jonko   Home Institution: Oregon State University   NCAR Host Division: Climate and Global Dynamics Division   Purpose of visit: The purpose of this visit is to familiarize the student with NCAR and with CGD in particular. She will learn how to run the new version of CAM and will be introduced to aspects of the model that influence the physical climate feedbacks (e.g., radiative transfer and cloud physics). She will also become comfortable using NCAR's computational resources and take advantage of CAM and CCSM simulations already performed by NCAR scientists.   Collaborator(s): Ben Sanderson   Length of Stay: 3 Months   Advisor: Karen Shell   Christian Kuehnlein Home Institution: DLR Oberpfaffenhofen   NCAR Host Division: Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Division   Purpose of visit: The purpose of the visit is to implement moving mesh partial differential equations (MMPDEs) into the geophysical fluid solver EULAG. At his home institution, Christian Kuehnlein has developed and tested the coupling of MMPDEs with the solution of simple dynamical problems (linear advection equation) in a two-dimensional framework. The structure of his programmes resembles the numerical structure of EULAG. During the planned visit, these software tools will be extended and implemented in the three-dimensional numerical code EULAG.   Collaborator(s): Piotr Smolarkiewicz   Length of Stay: 3 Months   Advisors: Andreas Doernbrack   Marta Lewander Home Institution: Lund Institute of Technology   NCAR Host Division: Earth Observing Laboratory   Purpose of visit: Extend the knowledge and experience of the graduate student and promote deeper links and scientific exchange between NCAR and Lund Univeristy.   Collaborator(s): Lars Rippe   Length of Stay: 6 Months   Advisor: Sune Svanberg   Junhong Liang   Home Institution: UCLA   NCAR Host Division: Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Division   Purpose of visit: The student will add a gas bubble model for oceanic boundary layer into the current NCAR LES code. After being validated by available observations, the model will be used to investigate the effect of gas bubbles on upper ocean turbulence and the mediation of air-sea gas transfer by gas bubbles.   Collaborator(s): Peter Sullivan   Length of Stay: 4 Months   Advisor: Prof. James C. McWilliams   Hernan Moreno Home Institution: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology   NCAR Host Division: Research Applications Laboratory   Purpose of visit: Quantitative precipitation estimations and forecasts will be used as precipitation inputs to evaluate the performance of a distributed flood forecasting tool in an ensemble framework that accounts for parameter and initial condition uncertainty.   Collaborator(s): David Gochis   Length of Stay: 3 Months   Advisor: Enrique Vivoni   Thomas Nipen   Home Institution: University of British Columbia   NCAR Host Division: Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Division   Purpose of visit: High-performance computing research on application of Graphics Processor Units (GPUs) and other accelerator architectures for strongly scaled weather and climate applications. Work will be done in the context of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. The graduate visitor will also participate in computing research for the design and development of ESSL’s development of the next-generate Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS).   Collaborator(s): John Michalakes   Length of Stay: 3 Months   Advisor: Roland B. Stull   Xin Qiu Home Institution: Ninjing University   NCAR Host Division: Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Division   Purpose of visit: The purposes of this visit will be for Mr. Qiu to experiment with the newly developed WRF-HYCOM, a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean model, implemented by incorporating WRF and HYCOM as components of Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF). He will perform model simulation of specific hurricane cases, validate model results against observations in terms of storm track, intensity and structure, and carry out detailed diagnostic analysis to evaluate the performance of this fully coupled atmosphere-ocean model. Model tuning, if necessary, is required to obtain desirable output. The resulting model data set will be used to further reveal dynamical and physical processes responsible for the storm’s structure and intensity changes so as to deepen our current understandings of ocean-atmosphere interaction with respect to hurricane intensity and intensity change.   Collaborator(s): Qingnon Xiao   Length of Stay: 6 Months   Advisor: Prof. Zhe-Min Tan   Zhiyong Wu   Home Institution: Sun Yat-Sen University   NCAR Host Division: Research Applications Laboratory   Purpose of visit: Zhiyong Wu is part of the research team led by Prof. Xuemei Wang at Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China, which is supported by the Chinese National Science Foundation to investigate the impacts of land cover change on regional biogenic emission, climate and air pollution. The goal of this visit is for him to interact with NCAR scientists, to acquire international experiences, to participate in the NCAR BEACHON program, and perform research relevant to his dissertation work, which is of mutual interest to our research group, and to interact with NCAR scientists to form future collaborations.   Collaborator(s): Fei Chen   Length of Stay: 6 Months   Advisor: Xuemei Wang   Binheng Zhang   Home Institution: Dartmouth College   NCAR Host Division: High Altitude Observatory   Purpose of visit: Student (and adviser) to work with Wenbin Wang and Mike Wiltberger to improve causal electron precipitation model in LFM simulation code, to implement and evaluate effects of improved precipitation model in CMIT (Coupled Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere) simulation model which couples the LFM magnetosphere model with the TIE-GCM Ionosphere-Thermosphere model, and to conduct scientific studies using the modified CMIT code, especially simulations of major geospace storm events.   Collaborator(s): Mike Wiltberger   Length of Stay: 3 Months   Advisor: William Lotko