Modeling atmospheric circulation and region scale meteorology

The Fifth-Generation NCAR / Penn State Mesoscale Model (MM5) is the latest in a series of limited-area, hydrostatic or nonhydrostatic , terrain-following sigma-coordinate models designed to simulate or predict mesoscale and regional-scale atmospheric circulation. The Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington is now running version 3.7.3 (MM5 v3.7.3) twice a day in order to produce high resolution meteorological forecasts for the Pacific Northwest.

Within the PRISM framework, surface output of MM5 is used to provide input for both the land surface hydrology model(DHSVM) and the marine circulation model (POM). As one of PRISM's earliest partnerships, which is still vital today, PRISM's support of graduate student allows the pursuit of the interdisciplinary studies in the field of atmospheric modeling.