Numerical modelling of precipitation over complex terrain
Date
1993
Authors
Huang, Xi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Numerical modelling of precipitation is one of the most important research areas in the development of numerical methods of weather analysis and forecasting. Due to the complexities of precipitation formation and topography, it is difficult to find a numerical model of precipitation suitable for all areas in the world. In different areas, we must consider their distinctive factors such as topography and surface fluxes.
In this thesis, two models are described for calculating topographical effects on precipitation in complex terrain. One is a 3-dimensional variational model, and the other is a 3-dimensional initial value model. The three dimensional initial value model is the best in principle since it incorporates the most physics, but it requires an accurately defined initial state and is computationally expensive. The three dimensional variational model is comparatively simple and easy to compute. The 3-dimensional variational model is applied to calculate the precipitation for July 11, 1983 in the upper Columbia River watershed in southeastern B.C. as an experiment. The application of the variational model is the main contribution of this thesis.