Projects

MSU Award Number

363544-191001-021000

Current NGI File Number

19-NGI3-72

Associated MSU Award or NGI File Numbers

19-NGI3-40

Start Date

10/1/2019

End Date

2021-12-31 0:0:0

Project Status

Completed

Award Amount

$116,365.00

Project Title

Examination of Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) System at the Land and Ocean Interface

PI Last Name

Chen

PI First Name

Xiaomin

PI Affiliation

MSU

Co-PI Last Name

Moorhead

Co-PI First Name

Robert

Co-PI Affiliation

MSU

Research Theme

Coastal Hazards CH

Funding Source

OAR

Project Description

The planetary boundary layer (PBL) is the lowest level of the atmosphere, whose conditions frequently and rapidly change in response to the Earth’s surface fluxes. These rapidly changing conditions are parameterized in the NOAA hurricane forecasting modeling system. Researchers are seeking to improve the NOAA modeling system and its products by identifying error sources, conducting validations, and analyzing case studies. This project will improve parametric formulations of the surface tropical cyclone winds equation to better represent wind decay after a hurricane reaches land. Currently, the extrapolation of parametric wind equations (20- to 34-knot winds) in the tropical cyclone outer-core contains a positive bias, resulting in over-specified surge inundation and wind gust impacts. New empirical equations are being developed for tropical cyclone wind profiles extending past the radius of 34-knot winds using surface sustained winds extracted from a University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) hurricane reconnaissance flight dataset from 1997 to 2019.