|
SHRMC MM5 Modeling SystemThe regional MM5 forecasting effort is supported by the Southern High Resolution Modeling Consortium, a group of state, and federal agencies. 48-hour forecasts of United States weather by the non-hydrostatic Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model (MM5) are produced two times (00 and 12 UTC) daily at the University of Georgia. MM5 is a research oriented numerical weather prediction model, maintained by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division (NCAR/MMM). Below you will find a description of how SHRMC's MM5 System operates. MM5 is a non-hydrostatic, finite-differencing, terrain-following model designed to simulate or predict complex mesoscale meteorological phenomena (on the order of a few to several hundred km). The MM5 modeling system is on the forefront of atmospheric research and computing technology, with applications in operational meteorology, hydrology, air quality, and theoretical research. The MM5 system was installed, configured, and initialized by SHRMC staff during the Summer of 2002 on a Beowulf cluster located in the UGA Department of Geography. The Beowulf cluster has since been replaced. There are several additional computing systems involved in making the SHRMC MM5 System a reality. The first consists of a NOAAPORT system (see diagram below). The NOAAPORT broadcast system provides a one-way broadcast communication of NOAA environmental data and information in near-real time to NOAA and external users. This broadcast is implemented by a commercial provider of satellite communications utilizing the C-band. Its primary purpose is for providing internal communications within the National Weather Service and for providing forecasts, warnings and other products to the mass media (newspapers, radio stations, TV, etc.), emergency management agencies, and private weather services. The NOAAPORT system at SHRMC, consisting of a satellite receiver and ingest system, is used to obtain the initial conditions for MM5 as well as fire weather and other meteorological products that may be of importance to the consortium's members. 
In addition to the NOAAPORT system, a dual PIII server, Cacimbo, is used as a Local Data Manager (LDM). The LDM is a collection of cooperating programs that select, capture, manage, and distribute meteorological data products. The system is designed for event-driven data distribution, and is currently used in the Unidata Internet Data Distribution (IDD) project. The LDM system is now used by more than 150 universities/cooperating agencies. The LDM5 software is currently freely available from the Unidata Program Center. The LDM on Cacimbo is utilized as the SHRMC data manager, operating most of SHRMC's data transfers. In addition, the system ingests analyses and forecasts as a backup for the NOAAPORT system. Finally, the SHRMC MM5 System contains a Linux-based PC post-processor (aptly named "SHRMC") that is used for processing MM5 image output (i.e., the imagery viewed on this web site) and as the server for the SHRMC Website. A schematic of the SHRMC MM5 Modeling System. The SHRMC MM5 is run for a 0- to 48- hr forecast period at 36 and 12 km grid spacing with the option to nest down to 4-km (see grid specifications below). The 36-km "mother" domain covers the continental United States as well as surrounding regions in Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. The 12-km nested grid covers the SHRMC area of concern, stretching from Nebraska to Texas in the west and from New Jersey to Florida in the east. An optional 4-km grid may be implemented at anytime within the 12-km domain region. However, at this time, this option is turned off. The system is run twice a day and is generally completed by 2:30 (PM/AM) EST. The MM5 initialization and boundary conditions are derived from the NCEP Eta model. Additionally, the model's terrain and land-use classifications are derived from high-resolution datasets obtained from the US Geological Survey. The SHRMC MM5 detailed description of the domain boundaries as well as the actual terrain.namelist are given here. Please visit the NCAR MM5 website for an overview of the MM5 system and its capabilities. 
SHRMC MM5 Parameterizations
sigma_f_bu =
1.0000,0.9974,0.9942,0.9904,0.9858,
0.9802,0.9735,0.9654,0.9557,0.9439,
0.9296,0.9124,0.8917,0.8667,0.8365,
0.8000,0.7600,0.7200,0.6800,0.6400,
0.6000,0.5600,0.5200,0.4800,0.4400,
0.4000,0.3600,0.3200,0.2800,0.2400,
0.2000,0.1600,0.1200,0.0800,0.0400,
0.0000
|