A review of the climatological characteristics of landfalling Gulf hurricanes for wind, wave, and surge hazard estimation

The climatological characteristics of landfalling Gulf of Mexico hurricanes are presented, focusing on the basic parameters needed for accurately determining the structure and intensity of hurricanes for ocean response models. These include the maximum sustained wind, radius of maximum winds, the Holland-B parameter, the peripheral or far-field pressure, the surface roughness and coefficient of drag, and the central pressure for historical hurricanes in the Gulf.Despite evidence of a slight increase in the annual number of named storms over the past 50 years, presently there is no statistically significant trend in tropical storms, hurricanes, or major hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the long-term variability of tropical cyclones in the Gulf reflects the observed variability in the Atlantic basin as a whole. Analyses of hurricane winds from multiple sources suggest the presence of a bias toward overestimating the strength of winds in the HURDAT dataset from 7% to 15%. Results presented comparing HURDAT with other sources also show an overestimation of intensity at landfall, with an estimated bias of ~10%.Finally, a review of recent studies has shown that hurricane frequencies and intensities appear to vary on a much more localized scale than previously believed. This exacerbates the sampling problem for accurate characterization of hurricane parameters for design and operational applications.     

Modelling combined open channel flow by artificial neural networks

Combined open channel flow is encountered in many hydraulic engineering structures and processes, such as irrigation ditches and wastewater treatment facilities. Extensive experimental studies have conducted to investigate combined flow characteristics. Nevertheless, there is no simple relationship that can fully describe the velocity profiles in a turbulent flow. The artificial neural network (ANN) has great computational capability for solving various complex problems, such as function approximation. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the applicability of the ANN for simulating velocity profiles, velocity contours and estimating the discharges accordingly. The velocity profiles measured by an acoustic doppler velocimeter in the open channel of the Chihtan purification plant, Taipei, with different discharges at fixed measuring section and different depths are presented. The total number of data sets is 640 and the data sets are split into two subsets, i.e. training and validation sets. The backpropagation algorithm is used to construct the neural network. The results demonstrate that the velocity profiles can be modelled by the ANN, and the ANN constructed can nicely fit the velocity profiles and can precisely predict the discharges for the conditions investigated. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

用数字测高仪漂移测量研究电离层声重波扰动

数字测高仪Digisonde中的漂移测量,常用来研究小尺度电离层扰动,如电离层小不均匀体的漂移。文中提出一种新的分析方法,利用漂移测量数据中多普勒频移和到达角参量的最大熵动态功率谱,估算声重波一类大尺度电离层扰动的水平传播速度和传播方向。作为实例,研究了Millstone Hill测高仪站的漂移观测资料,并对处理结果进行了初步分析。分析结果表明,从数字测高仪漂移测量数据中,可有效地提取声重波一类大尺度电离层扰动的传播参量,在电离层动力过程的研究中很有意义。     

多卜勒雷达经向速度资料的预处理方法

利用变分法原理提出了对雷达速度资料进行预处理的一种方法，数值试验表明该法能有效地消除雷达速度资料中的小尺度运动径向速度分量及“噪声”。     

ERROR COMPARISON OF WIND FIELD RETRIEVAL FROM SINGLE AND DUAL-DOPPLER RADAR OBSERVATIONS

The error distributions of the wind fields retrieved from single and dual-Doppler radar observations are given inthis paper.The results indicate that the error of dual-Doppler retrieval depends on the position in the scan region of thedual-Doppler radar.The error of single-Doppler retrieval by using velocity azimuth processing(VAP)technique de-pends on the angle between the directions of wind and the radar beam.Generally,the winds retrieved from single Doppl-er radar are close to those retrieved from dual-Doppler radar.But,the error distribution of the single-Doppler retrievalis different from the dual-Doppler retrieval.We simulate the retrievals of single Doppler observation by the use of theoutput wind data from a 3-D numerical model of severe convection.The comparison of the simulated single-anddual-Doppler retrievals shows that the VAP may be a suitable technique for the operational analysis of mesoscale windfields.It can also be used as a supplement to wind field retrieval in the field experiment.     

RETRIEVAL OF HORIZONTAL WIND PERTURBATION FIELDS FROM SIMULATED SINGLE DOPPLER RADAR OBSERVATIONS*

The application of the single Doppler radar dataset analysis is usually confined to the assumption that the actual wind is linearly distributed or uniform locally.Following some dynamic features of convective weather,a conceptual model of moderate complexity is constructed,wherewith a horizontal wind perturbation field is retrieved directly from the single Doppler radar measurements.The numerical experiments are based on a 3-D cloud model-generated convective cell,whose radial velocity component is taken as the radar observations that are put into the closed equations based on the conceptual model to retrieve the horizontal wind perturbation field.After the initial field is properly treated,the retrieval equation is solved in terms of the 2-D FFT technique and the sensitivity to noise is examined.Finally,contrast analysis is done of the retrieved and the cloud model output wind fields,indicating the usefulness of the approach proposed in this paper.     

桂林暴雨天气的多普勒雷达径向速度分析与应用

利用桂林新一带天气雷达径向速度产品资料对2004年发生在桂林的强暴雨过程及其暴雨个例的径向速度平面位置显示产品（PPI）特征的多样性进行分析发现，利用径向速度变化可判断中尺度对流的发展，可对桂林暴雨提前做出预报。     

Impact of Doppler Radar Wind in Simulating the Intensity and Propagation of Rainbands Associated with Mesoscale Convective Complexes Using MM5-3DVAR System

Pre-monsoon rainfall around Kolkata (northeastern part of India) is mostly of convective origin as 80% of the seasonal rainfall is produced by Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS). Accurate prediction of the intensity and structure of these convective cloud clusters becomes challenging, mostly because the convective clouds within these clusters are short lived and the inaccuracy in the models initial state to represent the mesoscale details of the true atmospheric state. Besides the role in observing the internal structure of the precipitating systems, Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) provides an important data source for mesoscale and microscale weather analysis and forecasting. An attempt has been made to initialize the storm-scale numerical model using retrieved wind fields from single Doppler radar. In the present study, Doppler wind velocities from the Kolkata Doppler weather radar are assimilated into a mesoscale model, MM5 model using the three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) system for the prediction of intense convective events that occurred during 0600 UTC on 5 May and 0000 UTC on 7 May, 2005. In order to evaluate the impact of the DWR wind data in simulating these severe storms, three experiments were carried out. The results show that assimilation of Doppler radar wind data has a positive impact on the prediction of intensity, organization and propagation of rain bands associated with these mesoscale convective systems. The assimilation system has to be modified further to incorporate the radar reflectivity data so that simulation of the microphysical and thermodynamic structure of these convective storms can be improved.     

714SD多普勒雷达在强降水中的应用

本文针对近几年汕头地区出现的强降水天气，重点开展了多普勒天气雷达速度回波及其产品的应用研究，结合相应的天气背景、物理量变化对强度回波和速度场回波作一些分析，归纳总结出台风、冷锋锋面、暖切变、西南急流、脊后槽前辐合区、东风波等不同天气形势下强降水的类型及其回波特征，并尝试性地解释了一些特殊回波的风场结构和天气现象。     

The June 4th 1999 severe weather episode in San Quirino, Italy: a tornado event?

On the morning of June 4th 1999, a severe weather event took place in San Quirino, a small village of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in the northeast of Italy. This village is located near the piedmont of the Alps, 40 km west from Udine and 60 km north from Venice.Around 0900 UTC (1100 local time), a thunderstorm with an intense hail fall affected the area of San Quirino. A few minutes later (around 0920 UTC, source: a farmer), a funnel cloud from a cumulonimbus touched the ground, producing damages to houses, trees and sheds. The damaged area was quite narrow (about 300 m) and short (less than 10 km). No injuries to people were reported.In spite of the smallness of the area interested by the phenomenon, this storm is studied here starting from the synoptic scale, moving to the mesoscale and finishing with the storm scale, trying to underline its characteristics. These analyses, especially those coming from the Doppler radar images, bring us to the conclusion that the San Quirino episode was produced by a supercell storm.