Richard (Rit) Carbone

General Information

TIIMES
Director TIIMES & Senior Scientist

Contact Information:
PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Office: FL2 - 3085
Telephone: 303-497-8626
Email: carbone@ucar.edu
Home Page - Vita

Research Focus FY08:

In addition to his varied duties as the director of the TIIMES Institute, Rit Carbone also finds time to continue to pursue his research interests.

Rit Carbone: the newest member of the AMS Executive Committee

Congratulations to Dr. Carbone for being elected a member of the AMS Executive Committee. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, AMS has a membership of more than 11,000 professionals, professors, students, and weather enthusiasts. AMS publishes nine atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic journals — in print and online — sponsors more than 12 conferences annually, and offers numerous programs and services.

The Executive Committee is the executive arm of the Council (the principal governing body). The Committee meets as often as necessary and is empowered to interpret and execute Council policies when the Council is not in session to ensure that reasonable actions are taken to accomplish the purposes of the Society - scientific, fiscal, and organizational. It is composed of six past AMS Presidents and two rotating positions. Dr. Carbone has been appointed until 2010.

Rainfall occurrence in the U.S. warm season: The diurnal cycle

The diurnal occurrence of warm-season rainfall over the U.S. mainland is examined, particularly in light of forcings at multiple scales. The analysis is based on a radar dataset of 12-seasons duration covering the U.S. mainland from the Continental Divide eastward. The dataset resolves 2-km features at 15-min intervals, thus providing a detailed view of both large- and regional-scale diurnal patterns, as well as the statistics of events underlying these patterns. The results confirm recent findings with respect to the role of propagating rainfall systems and the high frequency at which these are excited by sensible heating over elevated terrain. Between the Rockies and the Appalachians, ∼60% of midsummer rainfall occurs in this manner. more....

Comparison of ground-based radar and geosynchronous satellite climatologies of warm season precipitation over the United States

Studies in the past several years have documented the climatology of warm season precipitation episode statistics (propagation speed, span and duration) over the United States using a national composited radar dataset. Recently these climatological studies have been extended to other continents including Asia, Africa, and Australia. Unfortunately continental regions outside of the United States have insufficient radar coverage and the newer studies have had to rely on geostationary satellite data at infrared (IR) frequencies as a proxy for rainfall. It is well known that the use of IR brightness temperatures to infer rainfall is subject to large errors. In this study the statistics of warm season precipitation episodes derived from radar and satellite IR measurements over the U.S. are compared and biases introduced by the satellite data evaluated. It is found that the satellite span and duration statistics are highly dependent upon the brightness temperature threshold used, but with the appropriate choices of thresholds can be brought into good agreement to those based upon radar data. The propagation speed statistics of satellite events are on average ~4 m s−1 faster than radar events and are relatively insensitive to the brightness temperature threshold. A simple correction procedure based upon the difference between the steering winds for the precipitation core and the winds at the level of maximum anvil outflow is developed. more....

The propagation and diurnal cycles of deep convection in northern tropical Africa

The propagation and diurnal cycle of organized convection in northern tropical Africa are examined using five years (1999-2003) of digital infrared imagery for May-August. Reduced-dimension techniques are used to document the properties of cold clouds - proxies for deep convection and precipitation. Large-scale environments are diagnosed from global analyses. more...

Propagation and diurnal evolution of warm season cloudiness in the Australian and Maritime continent region

Warm season cold cloud-top climatology in the Austral-Indonesian region is examined for evidence of propagating modes of precipitation that originate from elevated heat sources and the diurnal heating cycle. Using satellite-inferred cloudiness from the period 1996-2001 as a proxy for rainfall, this coherent regeneration process and subsequent event propagation is found to consistently occur from the midlatitudes (30°-40°S) to the tropics (10°-20°S) in the Austral region. more...

Community Service FY08:

• Member (2008-2011): Executive Committee, American Meteorological Society
• Councilor (2007-2009): American Meteorological Society
• Chairman (2007-2008): NRC Study Committee on Developing Mesoscale Meteorological Observing Capabilities to Meet Multiple National Needs
• Member (2006-2009): NOAA Climate Working Group

Scientific Talks FY08:

• 2008 AMS Summer Community Meeting, 12 August 2008 · Boulder, Colorado, Study on Mesoscale Observations to Meet Multiple National Needs (Boulder, CO USA, October 08)
• 2008 NCAR Undergraduate Leadership Workshop, Boulder, CO  16 June 2008 (Boulder, CO USA, October 08)
• Colorado State University, Dept of Atmospheric Sciences, May 2008: The diurnal cycle of summertime rainfall occurrence. (Fort Collins, CO USA, October 08)
• NOAA Climate Working Group Summer Retreat, 24 June 2008: Issues, Opportunities and Threats Associated with a National Climate Service (Boulder, CO USA, October 08)
• NSF Atmospheric Sciences Directorate, Lower Atmosphere Section, Arlington VA 22 July 2008: The BEACHON research project. (Arlington, VA USA, October 08)
• NSF Earth Systems  Directorate, Arlington VA, 4 Sept 2008: Research Programs in The Institute for Integrative and Multidisciplinary Earth Studies. (Arlington, VA USA, October 08)
• NSF Earth Systems  Directorate, Surface Processes Section, Arlington VA 22 July 2008: Biosphere-Hydrosphere-Atmosphere interactions research at NCAR. (Arlington, VA USA, October 08)
• Plinius Conference, Nicosia Cyprus, 24 Sept 2008: Keynote on Storms - On the systematic occurrence of warm season precipitation episodes. (Nicosia,  CYP, October 08)
• University of Hawaii, Manoa Honolulu, HI:  informal seminar on organized convection and climate 24 April 2008 (Honolulu, HI USA, October 08)
• Vaisala Corporation Board of Directors, Boulder, CO 9 Sept 2008 : Study on Mesoscale Observations to Meet Multiple National Needs (Boulder, CO USA, October 08)

Publications FY08:

Carbone, R. E., J. Block, G. R. Carmichael, F. H. Carr, V. C. Chandrasekar, E. Gruntfest, R. M. Hoff, W. F. Krajewski, M. A. LeMone, T. W. Schlatter, E. S. Takle, J. Titlow, S. E. Boselly, J. F. Purdom, 2009: Developing Mesoscale Meteorological Observational Capabilities to Meet Multiple National Needs. Natl. Research Council of the Natl. Acad. Sci., BASC, Richard E. Carbone, Ed., National Academies Press. (In Press)

Pereira, A., R.E. Carbone, J.E. Janowiak, P. Arkin, R. Hallak, C.G.M Ramos, 2008: Satellite rainfall estimates over South America – Potential applications on water management of large watersheds. J. of the Amer. Water Res. Assoc. (Submitted)

Wang, C.-C., T.-J. Chen, R. E. Carbone, 2009: A preliminary study on the relationship between warm-season cloud/precipitation episodes and dynoptic weather regimes over the East Asian continent. Mon. Wea. Rev.. (Submitted)

Tuttle, J. D., R. E. Carbone, P. A. Arkin, 2008: Comparison of ground-based radar and geosynchronous satellite climatologies of warm season precipitation over the United States. J. Appl. Meteor. Climat., doi: 10.1175/2008JAMC2000.1. (In Press)

Carbone, R. E., J. D. Tuttle, 2008: Rainfall occurrence in the U.S. warm season: The diurnal cycle. J. Climate, 21, 4132-4146, doi: 10.1175/2008JCLI2275.1.

Laing, A. G., R. E. Carbone, V. Levizzani, 2008: The propagation of deep convection in Africa: Implications for predictability of precipitation. Quantification and Reduction of Predictive Uncertainty for Sustainable Water Resources Management, E. Boegh, H. Kunstmann, T. Wagener, A. Hall, L. Bastidas, S. Franks, H. Gupta, D. Rosbjerg, J. Schaake, Eds., IAHS Press, 313, 24-32.

Laing, A. G., R. E. Carbone, V. Levizzani, J. D. Tuttle, 2008: The propagation and diurnal cycles of deep convection in northern tropical Africa. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 134, 93-109, doi: 10.1002/qj.194.

Keenan, T., R. E. Carbone, 2008: Propagation and diurnal evolution of warm season cloudiness in the Australian and maritime continent region. Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 973-994, doi: 10.1175/2007MWR2152.1.