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Questions and Answers
What can help fill in the gaps of upper-air data?
What can help fill in the gaps of upper-air data?
What is a limitation of computer models?
What is a limitation of computer models?
What is the purpose of using multiple models to make a better forecast?
What is the purpose of using multiple models to make a better forecast?
What is one way in which errors can get introduced into computer models?
What is one way in which errors can get introduced into computer models?
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What is the main purpose of computer models?
What is the main purpose of computer models?
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Study Notes
- Observational errors can creep into computer models' initializations due to imperfect measurements and uneven distribution of data.
- Weather balloons help provide some upper-air data, but there are few sites where they're launched and large gaps exist between observation sites.
- Satellite measurements help fill in the gaps of the upper-air data, but they're expensive and there are few of them.
- Weather models must simulate the atmosphere in three dimensions, so they need initialization data for conditions above the surface of the Earth.
- Initialization errors in computer models can rapidly grow, leading to wildly inaccurate predictions.
- Other errors get introduced into computer models during the calculations themselves, such as rounding numbers and skipped calculations.
- Making the model's time step shorter reduces the amount of error, but requires more computing power.
- Computer models perform their calculations only at certain spots on the virtual Earth, and then interpolate the results to cover the whole globe, further introducing error.
- Computer models are used to simulate weather patterns.
- Each model has its own strengths and limitations.
- Meteorologists use many models to make a better forecast.
- Model forecasts are imperfect, but they are still very useful.
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Description
Test your knowledge about the errors and limitations in computer weather models. Learn about observational errors, data gaps, initialization errors, and computational limitations.
