CAREER: Investigation and Parameterizion of Hurricane Boundary Layer Processesfor Improving Hurricane Forecast and Mitigation

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案资助的（公法111-5）作为温暖的海洋和（这是驱动热带气旋的主要能量来源）和这些风暴发展的上层大气，飓风边界层（HBL）是热量形式的能量垂直转移的关键管道，强风和底层洋流所体现的水分和动量。首席研究员将进行多尺度数值模拟研究[包括使用天气研究预测（WRF）模型的大涡模拟]，并分析特殊观测结果，以提高对HBL的理解并优化其在天气预报模型中的表现。将特别注意改进观测和预测伴随风暴登陆的破坏性风型的方法。这项工作的具体目标包括：（1）增进对高强度飓风过程的物理基础上的理解，包括它们对热带气旋能量学的上尺度影响和对海岸破坏模式的下尺度影响;（2）通过推导出专门适用于强飓风条件的复杂参数化，改进数值模拟无法常规解决的“次尺度”高强度飓风过程的表示;以及（3）确定和开发新的方法，以绘制和预测风暴登陆时的HBL风型，以更好地支持减轻沿海飓风影响的工作。结合这些基于模拟的方法，将对CBLAST（耦合边界层海气传输实地活动）的特殊观测结果和两个便携式沿海测风塔的增强测量结果进行分析。这一综合方法将有助于更好地理解和表现各种特征，如嵌入更广泛的气旋气流中的强烈旋转的中涡旋和水平“滚动”环流结构，这些结构影响着登陆热带风暴下方破坏性表面风型的强度和持续时间。这一努力的智力价值集中在对影响飓风行为的大气过程和海气相互作用的物理和动力学基础上的理解，包括控制飓风形成，增强和消散的机制。通过扩大佛罗里达国际大学的本科和研究生课程，将产生更广泛的影响（一个为少数群体服务的机构），通过在附近的一所高中安装气象仪器和后续互动，向K-12学生推广，以提高学生对威胁生命的热带天气事件的认识和理解，并最终通过改进飓风预报和减少人口稠密的沿海地区的生命和财产损失。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).As the interface between the warm ocean (which is the primary energy source driving tropical cyclones) and overlying atmosphere in which these storms develop, the hurricane boundary layer (HBL) represents a pivotal conduit for vertical transfer of energy in the form of heat, moisture and momentum embodied by strong winds and underlying ocean currents. The lead investigator will conduct multi-scale numerical modeling studies [including large-eddy simulations using the Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) model] and analyze special observations to gain improved understanding of the HBL and optimize its representation in weather forecast models. Particular attention will be directed to methods for improved observation and prediction of damaging wind patterns accompanying storm landfall. Specific objectives of this effort include: (1) advancement of physically-based understanding of HBL processes including their up-scale impact on tropical cyclone energetics and down-scale influences on coastal damage patterns; (2) improved representation of "sub-scale" HBL processes not routinely resolved by numerical simulations through derivation of sophisticated parameterizations uniquely suited to strong hurricane wind conditions; and (3) identification and development of novel approaches to map and predict HBL wind patterns at the time of storm landfall to better support efforts to mitigate coastal hurricane impacts. In conjunction with these simulation-based methodologies, analysis of special observations from CBLAST (the Coupled Boundary Layers Air-Sea Transfer field campaign) and enhanced measurements from two portable coastal wind measurement towers will be conducted. This integrated approach will allow improved understanding and representation of features such as intensely-rotating mesovortices and horizontal "roll" circulation structures embedded within broader cyclonic airflows that influence the strength and duration of damaging surface wind patterns beneath landfalling tropical storms. The intellectual merit of this effort centers upon an improved physical and dynamically-based understanding of atmospheric processes and air-sea interactions influencing hurricane behavior, including mechanisms controlling hurricane formation, intensification and dissipation. Broader impacts will be derived through expansion of both undergraduate and graduate course offerings at Florida International University (a minority-serving institution), outreach to K-12 students through installation of meteorological instrumentation and follow-on interactions at a nearby high school to enhance student awareness and understanding of life-threatening tropical weather events, and ultimately through improved hurricane forecasts and reduced loss of life and property within populous coastal zones.