North Atlantic Weather Initiative
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| North Atlantic Weather Initiative | |
|---|---|
| Name | North Atlantic Weather Initiative |
| Acronym | NAWI |
| Established | 1998 |
| Type | International research program |
| Headquarters | unspecified |
| Leader title | Coordinating Committee |
North Atlantic Weather Initiative The North Atlantic Weather Initiative was an international cooperative research program focusing on meteorology, oceanography, and atmospheric chemistry across the North Atlantic basin. It convened scientists from national meteorological services, university research centers, and intergovernmental agencies to improve understanding of synoptic-scale storms, boundary-layer processes, and air–sea interactions that influence weather and climate in the North Atlantic region. The Initiative coordinated field campaigns, observational networks, and numerical modeling intercomparisons to support forecasting services, ship routing, and marine safety.
Background and Objectives
The Initiative emerged from dialogues among World Meteorological Organization, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and academic consortia such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Oxford to address gaps identified after major storms like Great Storm of 1987 and extreme events affecting Iceland and United Kingdom. Primary objectives included improving forecasts for extratropical cyclones, quantifying fluxes between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Atlantic Current, and reducing uncertainties in parameterizations used by centers such as Met Office and Deutscher Wetterdienst. The Initiative sought to coordinate observational assets from agencies including Naval Research Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and national hydrographic institutes to inform operational models used by NOAA National Weather Service and regional forecasting services.
Organization and Participants
Governance involved a steering group with representatives from European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and academic institutions like University of Bergen and Universität Hamburg. Participating laboratories and observatories included Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Field campaigns were coordinated with fleets from Royal Navy, research vessels from RV Discovery (1929), and aircraft operated by National Center for Atmospheric Research and UK Met Office research flights. Funding streams combined support from Horizon 2020 predecessors, national research councils such as the Natural Environment Research Council and National Science Foundation.
Research Activities and Methods
Research activities integrated synoptic analysis used by ECMWF with high-resolution case studies from airborne campaigns like those run by Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements and NOAA WP-3D missions. Methods combined in situ measurements from moorings maintained by National Oceanography Centre and autonomous platforms like Argo floats, with remote sensing from satellites such as Meteosat, NOAA-19, and ERS-2. Intensive observation periods employed dropsondes from NOAA G-IV and Doppler radar deployed aboard R/V Knorr (1968), while process studies used large-eddy simulations developed at Princeton University and data assimilation experiments conducted at ECMWF and NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Collaborations included expertise from European Space Agency and instrument teams from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Observations, Data Products, and Modeling
The Initiative produced gridded datasets, reanalyses, and targeted case-study archives distributed to centers such as NCEP and regional services in Greenland, Portugal, and Ireland. Observational datasets combined shipboard meteorology, surface buoy time series from National Data Buoy Center, and radiosonde profiles from stations like Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport and remote sites in Faroe Islands. Modeling efforts encompassed ensemble forecasting systems at ECMWF, coupled atmosphere–ocean models developed at Met Office Hadley Centre, and regional downscaling experiments run with models from NOAA ESRL and Canadian Meteorological Centre. Data products included improved wind and wave hindcasts used by International Maritime Organization stakeholders and verification suites adopted by European Severe Storms Laboratory.
Major Findings and Impact
Key findings clarified mechanisms of explosive cyclogenesis over the North Atlantic, linking upper-level jet dynamics influenced by the Polar Vortex and the Gulf Stream–mediated sea-surface temperature gradients. The Initiative documented air–sea momentum and heat fluxes that improved representation of storm intensity in models used by ECMWF and Met Office and reduced track errors reported by National Weather Service. Results informed improvements in parametric schemes used in operational models at Deutscher Wetterdienst, advanced understanding of cold-air outbreaks affecting Iceland and Norway, and supported risk assessments by insurers such as Lloyd's of London. Peer-reviewed outputs were published in journals associated with American Meteorological Society, Journal of Climate, and Geophysical Research Letters.
Legacy, Follow-up Projects, and Policy Influence
The Initiative catalyzed follow-up programs, including cooperative projects under Horizon Europe, transatlantic efforts between NOAA and European Commission frameworks, and regional monitoring upgrades by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. It influenced policy discussions in forums like United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for improving ocean–atmosphere monitoring and informed maritime safety guidelines by International Maritime Organization. Legacy infrastructure included sustained buoy arrays, coordinated satellite validation campaigns with European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, and enduring modeling collaborations among ECMWF, Met Office Hadley Centre, and NOAA GFDL that continue to refine forecasts for the North Atlantic basin.