EDI Staging Environment
Extratropical cyclones are responsible for major weather events and trends in the mid-latitudes and preferentially develop in regions of enhanced cyclogenesis and proceed along climatological storm tracks. It has been shown that terrestrial snow cover exerts considerable influence on atmospheric baroclinicity which is largely responsible for the aforementioned cyclogeneses and storm tracks. Research about the effect which terrestrial snow cover exerts on cyclones' intensities, trajectories, and precipitation characteristics is limited but indicates a robust relationship with these factors. Many examinations of climate model projections have generally shown a poleward shift in storm tracks by the late 21st century though none have determined the degree to which the coincident poleward shift in snow extent is responsible.
A method of imposing 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile values of snow retreat between the late 20th and 21st centuries as projected by 14 models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase Five (CMIP5) is used to alter 20 historical cold season cyclones which tracked over or adjacent to the North American Great Plains. Simulations by the Advanced Research version of the Weather Research and Forecast Model (WRF-ARW) are initialized at 0 to 4 days prior to cyclogenesis. Including control and sensitivity testing wherein snow is unaltered or removed entirely, each cyclone case is simulated 25 times for a total of 500 simulations.
EDI is a collaboration between the University of New Mexico and the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Center for Limnology:
