Dr. Paul A. Newman (NASA/GSFC) has put together this climatology to provide a broad meteorological context for ATTREX.
The plots have been standardized to Orthographic projections centered on the equator. There are 3 range rings around each site that correspond to a GH dwell times of 20 hours (inner ring), 10 hours (middle ring), and 0 hours (distant outer ring).
The met data used herein are derived from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis fields. NCEP and NCAR cooperated to produce a 40-year record of global analyses of atmospheric fields in support of the needs of the research and climate monitoring communities. This effort involved the recovery of land surface, ship, rawinsonde, pibal, aircraft, satellite and other data, quality controlling and assimilating those data with a data assimilation system which is kept unchanged over the reanalysis period 1957 through 2000. This eliminated perceived climate jumps associated with changes in the data assimilation system. Further details can be found at the NCEP/NCAR CDAS/Reanalysis Project homepage. NCEP Reanalysis 2 data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/
The FIR boundaries are included on the 100 hPa plots. Also included on these plots are range rings that correspond to 2200 km, 5300 km, and 8300 km. These rings show the distances that the GH can directly travel to and then dwell at the ring edge for 20, 10, and 0 hours.
** click on the site's name to see the climatology. **
Code 613.3 Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch
Laboratory for Atmospheres
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Building 33, Room E320
(301) 614-5985 fax: x-5903
Last Updated: 2008-11-26
Author: Dr. Paul A. Newman
(NASA/GSFC, Code 613.3) )