Lagrangian forecasting during ASHOE/MAESA: Analysis of predictive skill for analyzed and reverse-domain-filled potential vorticity

Fairlie, T.D., R.B. Pierce, W.L. Grose, G. Lingenfelser, M. Loewenstein, and J.R. Podolske (1997), Lagrangian forecasting during ASHOE/MAESA: Analysis of predictive skill for analyzed and reverse-domain-filled potential vorticity, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 13169-13182.
Abstract

A statistical analysis is conducted to determine to what extent analyzed and 5-day reverse-domain-filled (RDF) potential vorticity(PV) obtained from meteorological analyses can predict ATLAS nitrous oxide(N20) tracer structure encountered along the ER2 flight track during the Airborne Southern Hemisphere Ozone Experiment/ Measurements for Assessing the Effects of Stratospheric Aircraft (ASHOE/MAESA) campaign. The results indicate that RDF PV shows no statistically significant improvement in forecast skill over analyzed PV in predicting tracer structure along the ER-2 flight track. In fact, RDF generally shows a degradation in predictive skill. RDF does show some success in refining large-scale gradients and small-scale structures, present in the analyzedPV fields. In at least one case, RDF PV captured a filament encountered by the ER-2, but in general, such structure is marked by low confidence in the RDF PV analyses.

Research Program
Atmospheric Composition Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP)