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David Parsons |
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Senior Scientist
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Contact Information:
Mailing: P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO USA 80307-3000
Office: FL2 - 3088
Phone: 303.497.8749
Email: parsons@ucar.edu |
Dave & his research in the News - a sampling |
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High flying balloons investigate the african monsoon and the genesis of hurricanes |
High flying balloons begin tracking emerging hurricans - NCAR News Center
Driftsonde Visuals Gallery - NCAR News Center |
"In a unique collaboration, U.S. and French engineers  and researchers from National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) are launching from Zinder (Niger) large, specialized balloons into the stratosphere to drop nearly 300 instrument packages over wide swaths of Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. The stratospheric balloons were developed by CNES whereas the packages were designed by scientists and technicians at NCAR. The packages gather detailed data from critical regions of the atmosphere where some of the most dangerous U.S. hurricanes develop." more from CNRS Media
Driftsonde Fact Sheet |
Research Interests:
Over the last several decades, the skill of numerical weather prediction is generally considered to have increased at an average rate of about one day per decade. Thus, the skill of today’s four-day forecast is equivalent to the skill of a three-day forecast of a decade earlier. The rate of improvement is even slower for the forecast variables needed most by society, such as the prediction of heavy rainfall. This relatively slow, linear rate of improvement is not sufficient to keep pace with the demand for accurate weather information in the world today, where an exponentially growing world population places an ever-increasing number of people in areas at risk for weather disasters. In view of this situation, the approximately 180 nations and territories of the World Meteorological Congress part of the World Meterological Organization (WMO) initiated THe Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX) under the World Weather Research Program (USWRP) to conduct research that will accelerate the rate of improvement in the predictive skill of high-impact weather and to improve the utilization of weather information for the benefit to society, the economy and environmental stewardship. The time-scale of interest to THORPEX is the 1 to 14-day forecast with collaborative efforts aimed at seasonal prediction.The goals of THORPEX match the NCAR Strategic Plan in the area of improving the prediction of the Earth System. THORPEX began its implementation phase in 2005 and the Earth and Sun Systems Laboratory (ESSL) staff, Christopher Snyder, Rebecca Morss and David Parsons, have been involved in the national and international leadership of the program. The North American and U.S. Project Office for THORPEX is currently located in TIIMES and staffed by Parsons and Pamela Johnson.
Remote and in-situ instrumentation and technique development; mesoscale circulations in the tropics and middle latitudes; dynamics of convective systems; numerical modeling and convective parameterizations. |
Instrumentation & Model Development Activities:
Lead scientist for the Integrated Sounding System (ISS) 1991 to 2001. This activity began during the development phase of the facility. Was the PI on a proposal that partly funded the development of the ISS and played a role in directing the development. Published first work describing the system and demonstrating its capabilities. Was responsible for establishing the direction of ISS developments such as supervisory oversight for developing MAPR (Multiple Antenna Wind Profiler), the world’s first spaced antenna wind profiler at UHF frequency. Interacting with the TAOS development team and was the PI for the first TAOS deployment. |
Major Field Studies: |
2005-2008 |
T-PARC (THORPEX Pacific Asian Regional Campaign):
T-PARC is the community’s first scale interaction experiment aimed at medium range weather prediction. The goals of T-PARC are to increase understanding of the factors that limit our ability to predict both high-impact weather over the densely populated regions of East Asia’s Pacific Rim and the downstream effects of these processes on weather events over North America. |
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2006 |
 Driftsonde for THORPEX-AMMA:
A pilot field experiment in August and September, 2006 for the upcoming T-PARC field study to investigate the roots of hurricane genesis and to demonstrate the driftsonde technology developed by the Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL). T-PARC plans to make extensive use of driftsonde. This work was done in collaboration with Centre National d'Etudes des Telecommunications (CNES, the French Space Agency), during the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) Campaign |
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2002 |
IHOP_2002:
International H2O Project, Principal Investigator. The International H2O Project (IHOP_2002) is a field experiment that took place over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) of the United States from 13 May to 25 June 2002. The chief aim of IHOP_2002 was improved characterization of the four-dimensional (4-D) distribution of water vapor and its application to improving the understanding and prediction of convection. The region was an optimal location due to existing experimental and operational facilities, strong variability in moisture, and active convection. |
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2000 |
VTMX Program:
Vertical Transport and MiXing, Principal Investigator for the NCAR component of a boundary layer experiment in Salt Lake City. The VTMX Program is concerned with vertical transport and mixing in the boundary layer, particularly in stably stratified conditions, weak or intermittent turbulence, and morning/evening transitions. VTMX is centered primarily around urban basins or valleys and will investigate phenomena such as formation and evolution of inversions and motion of pollutants around layers trapped in valleys. The first field campaign for VTMX was centered on the Salt Lake Valley over the month of October, 2000. |
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1996 |
ARM GPS Water Vapor Experiment
Atmospheric Water Vapor Tomography, Principal Investigator. |
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1994 |
Project Scientist
Participant in the field phase through ATD project support of the ISS in the LANTEX, and ACE projects. |
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1992 |
ARM Program
Principal Investigator for a June 1993 experiment at the
Cloud and Radiation Measurement (CART) site for testing a data assimilation into a non-hydrostatic model under warm season convective conditions. |
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1992 |
ARM Program
Co-principal investigator for a November 1992 experiment
at the Cloud and Radiation Measurement (CART) site for measuring boundary layer fluxes with a newly developed interfermetric profiler and comparing this technique against measurements from a research aircraft. |
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1991 - 1993 |
TOGA COARE:
Tropical Ocean Global Atmopshere (TOGA) Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE)Participant in planning and field work for the ISS systems. The TOGA COARE has as its goal an improved understanding of the role of the western Pacific Ocean warm water pool in the mean and transient state of the tropical ocean/global atmosphere system. Project objectives: 1) The principal processes responsible for the coupling of the ocean and the atmosphere in the western-Pacific Ocean warm-pool system; 2) The principal atmospheric processes that organize convection in the warm-pool region; 3) The oceanic response to combined buoyancy and wind stress forcing in the western Pacific Ocean warm-pool region; and 4) The multiple-scale interactions that extend the oceanic and atmospheric influence of the western Pacific Ocean warm-pool system to other regions and vice-versa. NOTE: The data from all radiosonde stations that utilized Vaisala radiosondes are in the process of being replaced with versions corrected for the humidity bias. |
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1989 |
National STORM Program:
Invited participant in small working group that help to draft 1989 planning document for summer STORM. |
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1986 - 1988 |
TAMEX:
Taiwan Mesoscale Experiment, Member Experimental Design Committee,
Co-chair Doppler Radar Working Group,
Radar coordinator and NCAR/ATD Project Manager Supervising the radar data management. |
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1985 |
OK Pre-STORM:
Oklahoma-Kansas Pre-STORM Project, Joint NOAA, NCAR, and University Project; observer on aircraft. |
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1985 |
TEXEX:
Texas Frontal Experiment, NOAA and NCAR; Experimental planning and observer at Doppler lidar site. |
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1984 |
MAYPOLE:
May Radar Polarization Experiment, NCAR, Field Observing Facility; Experimental planning and forecaster. |
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1976 - 1979 |
CYCLES:
Cyclonic Extratropical Storms, University of Washington;
experimental planning and observer at Doppler radar site. |
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Daily Camera (Boulder) -