Despite advances in mesometeorology and computer technology, high-resolution numerical simulations of small-scale severe weather events remain extremely challenging. This is primarily due to insufficient initial conditions and inadequate convective parameterization schemes (CPSs). This thesis serves to illustrate how these difficulties may be overcome in a real-data simulation of the Garden City, Kansas, tornadic thunderstorm, which occurred during the VORTEX (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment) field experiment of 1995. / Using a sophisticated mesoscale model at 18 km horizontal resolution, a successful reproduction of the environment over southwestern Kansas is obtained. However, modifications to the CPS are required to trigger the Garden City storm at the correct time and location. Utilizing severe weather parameters, it is found that the simulated atmosphere is susceptible to tornadic supercells. The results of a sensitivity study also indicate that a neighbouring storm may have influenced tornadogenesis in the Garden City supercell.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30115 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Anselmo, David. |
| Contributors | Yan, Peter (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001737888, proquestno: MQ55035, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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