There are several research opportunities, which all focus on severe convective storm events. At the core, the research focuses on using cloud-scale numerical models to improve our understanding of the physical processes of the atmosphere and on exploring the ability of these models to improve operational forecasts and warnings of severe weather events. Research topics include (1) improving the representation of convective-scale processes in clouds including microphysical and other sub-grid processes, (2) assimilating radar and surface observations into numerical model simulations of thunderstorms using an ensemble Kalman filter approaches, (3) understanding the limits of predictability at the convective scale, and (4) the visualization/presentation of storm-scale model output to operational forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center and National Weather Service. These topics represent most of the significant hurdles that need to be addressed in order to create a storm-scale numerical weather prediction capability for the US operational forecasting community.

 

key words

Visualization; Operational forecasting; Parameterizations; Thunderstorms; Data assimilation; Ensemble Kalman filter; Convection; Numerical modeling; Radar;

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents and non-U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral and Senior applicants