James Mccaa

Vaisala

The primary goal of the Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2) is to advance the state-of-the-art of wind energy forecasting in complex terrain. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive 18-month field measurement campaign was conducted in the region of the Columbia River basin. The observations were used to diagnose and quantify systematic f...

In 2015 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a 4-yr study, the Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2), to improve the representation of boundary layer physics and related processes in mesoscale models for better treatment of scales applicable to wind and wind power forecasts. This goal challenges numerical weather prediction (NWP...

The Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)- and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-funded program, with private-sector and university partners, which aims to improve the accuracy of numerical weather prediction (NWP) model forecasts of wind speed in complex terrain for wind energy a...

The Pan-Canadian Wind Integration Study (PCWIS) was performed to assess the implications of integrating large amounts of wind in the Canadian electrical system: Specifically, • To develop a consistent database of chronological wind data for potential wind sites across Canada • To provide an improved understanding of the operational challenges and o...

Regional wind integration studies in the United States require detailed wind power output data at many locations to perform simulations of how the power system will operate under high-penetration scenarios. The wind data sets that serve as inputs into the study must realistically reflect the ramping characteristics, spatial and temporal correlation...

There has been a lack of field studies that include measurements to specifically evaluate the ability of mesoscale meteorological models to accurately predict low-altitude winds in the vicinity of operating wind plants. The Columbia Basin Wind Energy Study (CBWES) is a US Department of Energy supported study designed to partially address this short...

The links between climate change and trends in wind energy resources have important potential implications for the wind energy industry, and have received significant attention in recent studies. We have conducted two studies that provide insights into the potential for climate change to affect future wind power production. In one experiment, we pr...

The parameterizations of clouds and precipitation processes have been revised considerably in the Community Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3) compared to its predecessors, CAM2 and the Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3). The parameterizations in CAM3 are more realistic in their representation of processes affecting cloud liquid and ice partic...

A new version of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) has been developed and released to the climate community. CAM Version 3 (CAM3) is an atmospheric general circulation model that includes the Community Land Model (CLM3), an optional slab ocean model, and a thermodynamic sea ice model. The dynamics and physics in CAM3 have been changed substantia...

A new parameterization of shallow cumulus convection is presented. The parameterization consists of a mass flux scheme based on a buoyancy-sorting, entrainment-detrainment plume model. The mass flux scheme is coupled to a 1.5-order turbulence closure model with an entrainment closure for convective boundary layers. Model performance is verified usi...

The impact of physical parameterizations on simulations of cloud-topped marine boundary layers is investigated using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5). Three-month MM5 simulations of the northeast and southeast Pacific during June-August 1987 are boundary forced with time-varying ECMWF analyses. Runs with...

The MM5 regional forecast model is being used by the Northwest Regional Modeling Consortium to provide forecasts for the Pacific Northwestern United States for a variety of purposes including forest fire forecasting and smoke plume modeling. To improve the quality of these forecasts, we are evaluating the effects of the model surface and boundary l...

Parallel simulations of clouds and radiation fields by a single-column model (SCM), a regional circulation model, and a global circulation model (GCM), each using the same treatment of all physical processes and approximately the same spatial resolution, are compared with observations at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Clouds and Radiation Te...

To address these issues, a new planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme for the MM5 is introduced which utilizes a 1.5 order turbulence closure model based on variables conserved under condensation. Representation of entrainment pro- cesses at the top of the turbulent PBL is expressed through an entrainment parameterization. In conjunction with the PB...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001 A new parameterization of marine stratocumulus and shallow cumulus clouds is presented. The parameterization consists of a mass flux cumulus convection scheme coupled to a 1.5 order Turbulence Closure Model (TCM) with an entrainment closure for convective boundary layers. The mass flux scheme is based...