The National Center for Atmospheric Research

Previous NCAR Features

VAPOR - Visualization and Analysis Platform

(Posted: 04 April 2008)

VAPOR is the Visualization and Analysis Platform for Ocean, Atmosphere, and Solar Researchers, and provides a visual data discovery environment tailored to the specialized needs of the geosciences CFD community.

Human-Environmental Interaction and Risk for Dengue Fever

(Posted: 31 March 2008)

Dengue fever is an emerging arboviral disease with worldwide impact. Increasing numbers of cases of this disease in both the Americas and Asia necessitate an examination of changing human and vector ecology, in order to better understand the dynamics of dengue transmission.

Turbulence in Hurricane Models

(Posted: 26 February 2008)

Scientists have discovered signs of turbulent eddies swirling through a simplified tropical cyclone. Such turbulence, which occurs on too small a scale to be directly depicted in global or regional weather models, was detected by ESSL/MMM’s Yongsheng Chen and Rich Rotunno in some of the finest-scale hurricane modeling ever conducted.

EOL’s Flight Tracking System

(Posted: 15 February 2008)

The EOL Flight tracking system, designed by EOL with Google and other technologies, allows the user to watch a live track of EOL's aircraft in flight.

Now available: Model Evaluation Tools (MET), version 1.0

(Posted: 04 February 2008)

NCAR feature image Now Available: Model Evaluation Tools (MET), version 1.0. MET is designed to be a highly-configurable, state-of-the-art suite of verification tools. It was developed using output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) modeling system may but be applied to the output of other modeling systems as well.

Newest CCSM3 Animation shows Four IPCC Scenarios

(Posted: 24 January 2008)

NCAR feature image NCAR's Climate & Global Dynamics Division (ESSL), has released an updated animation from the CCSM3 model, which models the warming effects of the four IPCC Fourth Assessment Report scenarios for CO2 levels, into the year 2100. Entitled, "Surface temperature change relative to 1879 - 1899 baseline", the model shows the temporary cooling effects during the 5 major volcanic eruptions of this time period, and then the model's estimates of warming under the different scenarios.

The Globalization of air quality and intercontinental transport

(Posted: 18 December 2007)

feature image The Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF HTAP) was set up in 2004 by the United Nations Economy Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention). The TF HTAP was charged to obtain a better understanding of intercontinental transport of air pollution and to provide estimates of source-receptor (S/R) relationships for intercontinental air pollution.

Field Guide: The Effects of Climate Change on Coral Reefs

(Posted: 14 December 2007)

Because coral reefs are sensitive to environmental perturbations, reef degradation is increasingly common worldwide. Slight changes in incoming sunlight, water temperature, salinity, and acidity affect coral’s ability to thrive. Human impacts, both indirect (greenhouse gas emissions) and direct (sewage or sediment runoff flowing into the ocean, or blast fishing using dynamite) stress these ecosystems and may threaten the long-term survival of many coral species.

Featured in RAL’s 2007 Annual Report: The Developmental Testbed Center

(Posted: 07 December 2007)

The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) is a national facility created in 2003 to facilitate the interaction of the operational and research communities in accelerating the improvement of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) for the U.S.

Weather Forecast Goes Global

(Posted: 19 November 2007)

Regional weather forecasting models focus on targeted areas, from a river basin to a continent, at resolutions high enough to depict individual storms and other fine-scale features. But weather doesn’t stop at the edge of a model’s domain, and the artificial boundaries between regions can create forecasting problems.

Global model goes local, zooming in on hurricanes and other fine-scale features

(Posted: 05 November 2007)

NCAR experimenters boosted resolution fourfold in two key components of the Community Climate System Model to produce the fine-scale details in this animation, which captures one month of a five-year simulation. The animation shows the global circulation pattern that transports water vapor from the tropics toward the poles, an atmospheric feature generally well simulated by climate models.

IPCC shares Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore

(Posted: 30 October 2007)

Click to view one of NCAR’s CCSM model animations for the IPCC. Congratulations to the United Nation’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore on their Nobel Peace Prize award. Since 1990, the IPCC has issued four major assessment reports documenting the growing scientific understanding of the climate change issue. Scientists at NCAR and within our wider research community contributed significantly to these reports, serving as authors and reviewers, and conducting the research on climate change and its impacts that provides the foundation for the IPCC’s work.