GCM Simulations of the Three-Dimensional Propagation of Stationary Waves
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The Department of Agronomy seeks to teach the study of the farm-field, its crops, and its science and management. It originally consisted of three sub-departments to do this: Soils, Farm-Crops, and Agricultural Engineering (which became its own department in 1907). Today, the department teaches crop sciences and breeding, soil sciences, meteorology, agroecology, and biotechnology.
History
The Department of Agronomy was formed in 1902. From 1917 to 1935 it was known as the Department of Farm Crops and Soils.
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1902–present
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- Department of Farm Crops and Soils (1917–1935)
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- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (parent college)
The Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences offers majors in three areas: Geology (traditional, environmental, or hydrogeology, for work as a surveyor or in mineral exploration), Meteorology (studies in global atmosphere, weather technology, and modeling for work as a meteorologist), and Earth Sciences (interdisciplinary mixture of geology, meteorology, and other natural sciences, with option of teacher-licensure).
History
The Department of Geology and Mining was founded in 1898. In 1902 its name changed to the Department of Geology. In 1965 its name changed to the Department of Earth Science. In 1977 its name changed to the Department of Earth Sciences. In 1989 its name changed to the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences.
Dates of Existence
1898-present
Historical Names
- Department of Geology and Mining (1898-1902)
- Department of Geology (1902-1965)
- Department of Earth Science (1965-1977)
- Department of Earth Sciences (1977-1989)
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- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
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Abstract
Plumb's formulation of the stationary wave activity flux is used to determine how well versions of the GFDL and NCAR general circulation models simulate the sources, sinks, and horizontal propagation of atmospheric stationary waves, which play an important role in determining regional climate. The wave activity flux provides insight into the simulation of nondynamic as well as dynamic processes in these models. Model performances for current climate simulations are evaluated with respect to NMC analyses averaged over 1978–1990.
The models fare best when the stationary wave forcing is strongest, that is, in the wintertime Northern Hemisphere, where they reproduce the observed three-branch structure of upward wave activity flux. For the Northern Hemisphere summer and the Southern Hemisphere in both summer and winter, the models show less agreement with observations, although they do simulate the generally downward flux observed during Northern Hemisphere summer, which the analysis suggests is caused by convection. C02-doubling changes in the wave activity flux show little consistency between the two models. The analysis suggests that accurate modeling of stationary wave activity flux is strongly dependent on diabatic forcing, especially that occurring in storm tracks. Improving the simulation of stationary wave activity forcing requires a much better understanding of the physics governing storm tracks and latent heat release in the atmosphere, so that improvements in stationary wave simulation in these models will not occur by simply increasing model resolution.
Comments
This article is published as Yang, Song, and William J. Gutowski Jr. "GCM simulations of the three-dimensional propagation of stationary waves." Journal of Climate 7, no. 3 (1994): 414-433. 10.1175/1520-0442(1994)0072.0.CO;2. Posted with permission.