News by Subject Atmospheric Science

In a recently published paper, a research team, led by University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science Professor Emeritus Joseph M. Prospero, chronicles the history of African dust transport, including three independent "first" discoveries of African dust in the Caribbean Basin in the 1950s and 1960s.

Little is known about the weather at night on Venus as the absence of sunlight makes imaging difficult. Now, researchers have devised a way to use infrared sensors on board the Venus orbiter Akatsuki to reveal the first details of the nighttime weather of our nearest neighbor. Their analytical methods could be used to study other planets including Mars and gas giants as well.

In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, researchers describe a real-time method for potentially helping turbine farms realize additional power from the clustering of their turbines. Their method requires no new sensors to identify which turbines at any given time could increase power production if yaw control is applied, and validation studies showed an increase of 1%-3% in overall power gain.

Tokyo, Japan - Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have analyzed long-term precipitation radar data from satellites and found significantly enhanced rainfall over the most recent decade during the annual Meiyu-Baiu rainy season in East Asia. The data spans 23 years and gives unprecedented insight into how rainfall patterns have changed. They showed that the increased rainfall was driven by the decadal increased transport of moisture from the tropics and frequent occurrence of the upper tropospheric trough over the front.

Researchers used remotely-piloted sailboats to gather data on cold air pools, or pockets of cooler air that form when rain evaporates below tropical storm clouds. These hard-to-study phenomena are thought to have broader effects on tropical weather.