Evaluation of High-Resolution Atmospheric Analyses and Forecasts for the Narragansett Bay Region

NOAA's Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS) was implemented for the Narragansett Bay region to provide surface forcing for an oceanographic forecast model for the bay and adjacent coastal waters. The forecast model used by LAPS was the Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) mesoscale model (MM5). The Narragansett Bay, with its complex shoreline and numerous islands, provided a difficult challenge for an atmospheric model in properly forecasting mesoscale phenomena such as sea and land breezes. MM5 forecasts (primarily its surface wind predictions) will be evaluated using observations from a variety of different federal, state, university, and cooperative networks. When considered together, these networks provide a dense coverage of observations essential for evaluating mesoscale forecasts in the coastal zone.