Simulation of Meteorological Fields for Icing Applications at the Summit of Mount Washington Sandra L
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources Natural Resources, School of 2-2014 Simulation of Meteorological Fields for Icing Applications at the Summit of Mount Washington Sandra L. Jones University of Nebraska – Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natresdiss Part of the Atmospheric Sciences Commons, Environmental Sciences Commons, and the Hydrology Commons Jones, Sandra L., "Simulation of Meteorological Fields for Icing Applications at the Summit of Mount Washington" (2014). Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources. 86. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natresdiss/86 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Natural Resources, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. SIMULATION OF METEOROLOGICAL FIELDS FOR ICING APPLICATIONS AT THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT WASHINGTON by Sandra L. Jones A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science Major: Natural Resource Sciences Under the Supervision of Professor Robert J. Oglesby Lincoln, Nebraska February, 2014 SIMULATION OF METEOROLOGICAL FIELDS FOR ICING APPLICATIONS AT THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT WASHINGTON Sandra L. Jones, M.S. University of Nebraska, 2014 Adviser: Robert J. Oglesby Hazards related to in-cloud icing on aircraft and ground structures are important considerations for structural design, risk mitigation and operations. A variety of robust ice accretion algorithms exist for application dependent purposes; however, these algorithms are often dependent on reliable meteorological input data to be of use. This study investigates the potential for predicting meteorological parameters relevant to in- cloud icing episodes at ground level using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Model performance with regards to explicit simulation of super-cooled cloud liquid water content, cloud droplet diameter, temperature, and wind speed is evaluated against measurements collected at the summit of Mount Washington. Simulation sensitivity to horizontal grid resolution, cloud microphysics parameterization, and terrain height representation are also discussed. Results from the case studies analyzed provide guidance for model configuration for icing purposes and justification for further scientific investigation. iii Contents Contents ......................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Icing Types ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Ice Accretion Rate ................................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Numerical Weather Prediction .............................................................................................. 7 1.3.1 Parameterization ............................................................................................................. 8 1.3.2 Microphysics Schemes ................................................................................................... 8 1.4 Related Work ....................................................................................................................... 10 1.5 Objectives ............................................................................................................................ 12 Chapter 2: Methodology .............................................................................................................. 14 2.1 Study Site and Observations ................................................................................................ 14 2.2 Model Description ............................................................................................................... 16 2.3 Sensitivity Tests ................................................................................................................... 18 2.3.1 Terrain .......................................................................................................................... 18 2.3.1 Microphysics ................................................................................................................ 20 2.4 Model Assessment ............................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 3: Results and Discussion ............................................................................................. 25 3.1 Case 1: March 10-13, 2011 .................................................................................................. 25 3.1.1 Temperature ................................................................................................................. 26 3.1.2 Wind Speed .................................................................................................................. 26 iv 3.1.3 Cloud LWC .................................................................................................................. 27 3.1.4 Droplet MVD ............................................................................................................... 33 3.1.5 Qualitative Discussion .................................................................................................. 35 3.1.5.1 Milbrandt-Yau Number Concentration ............................................................. 35 3.1.5.2 Hydrometeor Mixing Ratios .............................................................................. 36 3.1.6 Case 1 Summary ........................................................................................................... 42 3.2 Case 2: April 1-3, 2013 ........................................................................................................ 42 3.2.1 Temperature ................................................................................................................. 43 3.2.2 Wind Speed .................................................................................................................. 43 3.2.3 Cloud LWC .................................................................................................................. 45 3.2.4 Droplet MVD ............................................................................................................... 49 3.2.5 Qualitative Discussion .................................................................................................. 51 3.2.5.1 Milbrandt-Yau Number Concentration ............................................................. 51 3.2.5.2 Hydrometeor Mixing Ratios .............................................................................. 52 3.2.6 Case 2 Summary ........................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 4: Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................ 56 4.1 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 56 4.2 Recommendations for Future Work .................................................................................... 57 References ..................................................................................................................................... 60 v List of Figures Figure 1.1. Dry growth icing. ........................................................................................................... 2 Figure 1.2. Rime and glaze ice accretions.. ..................................................................................... 3 Figure 1.3. Wet growth icing. .......................................................................................................... 3 Figure 1.4. Comparative radii and terminal fall velocities of atmospheric water droplets. ............. 4 Figure 1.5. Air streamlines and droplet trajectories around a cylindrical object. ............................ 5 Figure 2.1. Six-cylinder rotating multicylinder used to diagnose cloud properties at Mount Washington. ........................................................................................................................... 15 Figure 2.2. Model domains. ........................................................................................................... 16 Figure 3.1. Case 1 comparison of observed and simulated temperatures. ..................................... 29 Figure 3.2. Case 1 comparison of observed and simulated wind speeds. ...................................... 30 Figure 3.3. Case 1 comparison of observed and simulated cloud liquid water content. ................ 31 Figure 3.4. Case 1 simulated versus observed cloud liquid water content. ..................................