NSF Award
9714611
9714611 Narayana Description: This award supports collaborative research between Drs. Sethu Raman and Leonard Pietrafesa of North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, and Dr. P.A. Aswatha Narayana of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM), India. These scientists, in collaboration with the Indian National Institute of Ocean Technology, will study Indian sea breezes, atmospheric convection along the sea breeze front, and storm surge processes along the East coast of India. In the first part, the scientists will investigate the horizontal extent of the sea breezes in relation to land-sea temperature differences and the ambient wind, as well as the formation of deep convection along the sea breeze front and its dependence on other factors such as land use pattern and upper air stability. They will use a hydrostatic numerical model developed at NCSU and transferred to IITM. This model will be extended to a 3-dimensional state and used with atmospheric observations in India that are taken every three hours and that date back for 30 years. The model may be supplemented with a non-hydrostatic model as needed. In the second part, the scientists will utilize a storm surge model available at the NIOT and based on Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model originally developed in the United States. They will develop methods to prescribe meteorological forces that drive the ocean model and will also use a simple hydrodynamic model developed at NCSU that was successfully used in predicting the tropical storm surge in North Carolina. Scope: This award allows cooperation between a US team that is quite active in modeling various atmospheric-sea-land phenomena, and an Indian team that has excellent analytical capability as well as access to extensive data sources including governmental organizations that operate radar, satellite, and other atmospheric and ocean measurement instrumentation on a continuous basis. The resear ch is of significant scientific benefit to the US and India, and is of particular importance to the meteorological activities of the Indian authorities in predicting severe climatic and weather conditions. The project involves both eminent and young scientists. ***
