Evaluation of the atmospheric water budget following an intense cold- air outbreak over the Gulf of Mexico - application of a regional forecast model and SSM/I observations

Abstract

The atmospheric water budget is examined for a 12-day period following an intense cold-air outbreak over the Gulf of Mexico. Budget terms are compared using analyses from the US National Meteorological Center's operational Nested Grid Model (NGM) and using precipitable water and surface wind speed estimated from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) instrument aboard the defense meteorological satellite F8. The atmospheric-storage term, determined from the areal-averaged total precipitable water, does not differ significantly between that obtained from the NGM and that obtained from SSM/I data. The storage increases by a factor of more than 3 during the initial five days following the passage of the surface high over the Gulf. -from Authors