AGRON 590

Student presentations on microphysics schemes

Each student will give a presentation on a microphysics scheme used in a modern weather or climate model. Here the format of the presentations is described, along with a list of microphysics schemes that you may want to choose.

Format

• You will have 20 minutes to describe your microphysics scheme, followed by a few minutes for questions.
• Your goal is to help the audience understand how your scheme works, especially its assumptions, limitations, and performance compared to other schemes.
• Since 20 minutes is a short time compared to the complexity of a typical microphysics scheme, you should focus on the main assumptions and methodological aspects of your scheme and not get too bogged down in details.
• You may use whatever presentation format you think will be most effective. This could be PowerPoint (or other) electronic materials, the blackboard, a a combination of the two, or something else.

Microphysics scheme

You may choose from one of the following microphysics schemes. If you would like to give a presentation on a scheme that is not listed here, please let me know and we will discuss whether the scheme is appopriate. Send me an email message indicating your scheme of choice not later than 2 pm on Thursday, Sept 18.

• Warm rain microphysics (based on Kessler or similar) Haifan Yan
• Zhao and Carr (1997) scheme, used in NOAA GFS Sean Stelton
• Tiedke (1993) scheme, basis of the scheme currently used in ECMWF Ariele Daniel
• Ferrier scheme, used in NAM until August 2014 (superseded by Ferrier-Aligo, which is not yet formally documented) Renee Walton
• WSM6 scheme (option in WRF) Sarah Fingerle
• Milbrandt and Yao (2005) multi-moment scheme Brad Carlberg

Grading standards

Your presentation will be graded both on content and on the effectiveness with which you present your material. See the rubric for oral presentations to give you an idea of what is expected.