Fotini Katopodes Chow
Mountain meteorology: bridging the gap between research and forecasting
A 4-day Mountain Weather Workshop was offered August 5-8, 2008 in Whistler, British Colombia, the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The workshop took place the week prior to the 2008 AMS Mountain Meteorology conference and provided a unique learning opportunity for faculty, forecasters, graduate students, and others interested in mountain meteorology. One of the main goals of the workshop was to bridge the gap between the research and forecasting communities by providing a forum for extended discussion and joint education. The workshop consisted of lectures given by 13 distinguished speakers, several group discussion opportunities, and concluded with a day of laboratory exercises designed for forecaster training for the Olympics.
A new book on mountain meteorology is now being organized by the workshop co-organizers, Fotini K. Chow (UC Berkeley), Stephan De Wekker (University of Virginia), and Brad Snyder (Environment Canada), with chapters contributed by the presenters at the Mountain Weather Workshop. This book is intended to be suitable for use in graduate meteorology programs and will have an important focus on operations and forecasting. The book will be published by Springer.
Mountain Weather Research and Forecasting: Recent Progress and Current Challenges
Monograph editors: Fotini Katopodes Chow, Stephan De Wekker, Brad Snyder
Table of contents
- Overview of mountain weather analysis and prediction (Michael Meyers, W. James Steenburgh)
- Diurnal mountain wind systems (Dino Zardi and C. David Whiteman)
- Dynamically driven winds (Peter Jackson, Georg Mayr, Simon Vosper)
- Alpine Foehn (Hans Richner and Patrick Hächler)
- Boundary layers and air quality in mountainous terrain (Douw Steyn, Stephan De Wekker, Meinolf Kossmann, Alberto Martilli)
- Theory and observations of orographic precipitation (Brian Colle, Ron Smith, Doug Wesley)
- Microphysical processes within orographic precipitation systems (Mark Stoelinga, Ronald Stewart, Gregory Thompson, Julie Theriault)
- Observational techniques: sampling the mountain atmosphere (Robert M. Banta, C.M. Shun, Daniel C. Law, William Brown, Roger F. Reinking, R. Michael Hardesty, Christoph J. Senff, W. Alan Brewer, M.J. Post, Lisa S. Darby)
- Mesoscale numerical modeling over complex terrain: basic theory and overview (James D. Doyle, Craig C. Epifanio, Anders Persson, Patrick A. Reinecke, Günther Zängl)
- Mesoscale numerical modeling over complex terrain: modeling and parameterizations (Shiyuan Zhong and Fotini K. Chow)
- Mesoscale numerical modeling over complex terrain: operational applications (Brad Colman)
- Conclusions: bridging the gap between mountain weather research and operations (W. James Steenburgh, David Schultz, Brad Snyder, Michael Meyers)
Photo shows "bridging the gap" in reality with the Peak2Peak Gondola connecting Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains, British Columbia, Canada. Photo Credit: Joern Rohde, insight-photography.com