Assessment of planetary boundary-layer schemes with advanced remote sensing instruments and air quality modelling

Urban air pollution is of major concern in Spain and also throughout Europe and globally with numerous effects on human health and ecosystems. Since air quality (AQ) is predominantly a problem for human health and the environment, the lowest levels of the atmosphere are the most important to investigate, mainly the planetary boundary-layer (PBL). Atmospheric variables (i.e. temperature, humidity, winds) in the PBL are critically important as inputs for accurate simulations in AQ models. From a modeling standpoint PBL height can be extremely difficult to compute accurately due to the fact that boundary layer processes occur at smaller geographical scales than mesoscale meteorological models can resolve. To that end, atmospheric models make use of parameterizations to represent the boundary layer structure in the lower atmosphere.

This research project evaluates the sensitivity of high-resolution AQ simulations from the CALIOPE AQ forecast system (www.bsc.es/caliope) in the distribution of gaseous photochemical pollutants using different PBL schemes in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The project is separated into three main activities.

First, was an evaluation of available methods for estimating PBL height from lidar measurements based on data from the Barcelona multiwavelength Raman lidar (Banks et al., 2014), a member site of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET; http://www.earlinet.org/). Lidar-estimated PBL heights were compared with those obtained from radiosoundings. It was found that a time-adaptive extended Kalman filter technique provided lidar estimates closest to the observed values.

In the second activity, eight PBL schemes from the WRF model were evaluated as compared to observations over Barcelona (Banks et al., 2015a) and Athens (Banks et al., 2015b; under review). Instrumentation includes two lidars, and numerous radiosondes and surface meteorological stations. Data from Athens was collected during the HygrA-CD campaign (http://hygracd.impworks.gr/), which took place in summer 2014. In both studies it is generally found that non-local PBL schemes perform better.

In the final activity (in progress), four WRF PBL schemes are being sensitivity-tested with CALIOPE AQ simulations, as compared with surface observations from ground AQ stations and lidar data from the Barcelona micropulse lidar (MPL), a new station in the NASA MPLNET.

The expected outcome from this project will be a greater knowledge of the sensitivity of AQ simulations to model PBL schemes, which may result in more accurate operational AQ forecasts.

Fig. 1. PBL heights from lidar-based methods against radiosounding for a) extended Kalman filter, b) threshold, c) wavelet covariance transform, and d) variance methods. Data are colour-coded according to their synoptic cluster type arriving at 1.5 km altitude over Barcelona.

Fig. 2. Athens lidar range-corrected power time-range color plots at 1064 nm wavelength for a) Continental, b) Etesians, and c) Saharan synoptic flow types, overlaid with PBL height estimates (circles, 100-s resolution) using the extended Kalman filter technique. Also shown are the 1-h mean PBL height (blue diamonds) calculated with nine 100-s estimates, along with 1-σ standard deviation.

Fig. 3. Hourly-mean PBL height comparison between Athens lidar (open black squares) and WRF PBL schemes (colored lines) for HygrA-CD campaign average. PBL heights estimated by lidar with extended Kalman filter technique.

CAREER SUMMARY

Robert is a U.S. career-service civilian government employee with past positions at the National Weather Service (NWS) and National Ocean Service (NOS), both line offices of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Currently he is living in Barcelona, Spain where he was recently awarded a doctoral degree in Environmental Engineering at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC - BarcelonaTech).

The PhD project focus was based upon the utilization of remote sensing methods (lidar, satellite) to evaluate atmosphere and air quality models over the European domain. Rob was one of eleven early-stage researchers in the European Union funded, Initial Training for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (ITaRS) network.

Prior to moving to Barcelona, Rob worked as a Meteorologist - Marine Forecaster at the NWS NCEP Ocean Prediction Center (OPC) in College Park, Maryland, at a GS-12 level. OPC is responsible for marine weather forecasts, analyses, and warnings for large portions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans.

While at NOAA, temporary assignments included cross-training at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Florida and a NOAA rotational assignment at the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing Systems (IOOS) program office in Silver Spring, Maryland.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Research interests include planetary boundary-layer dynamics, air quality modelling, remote sensing of land and oceans, air-sea interactions, and marine meteorology, including high wind and wave events.

Robert F. Banks, Ph.D.

CAREER SUMMARY

Robert is a former U.S. career-service civilian government employee with past positions at the National Weather Service (NWS) and National Ocean Service, which are both line offices of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Most recently he was a graduate fellow with the Initial Training for Atmospheric Remote Sensing project, as part of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions initial training network. The focus of the project was the improvement of a numerical weather prediction model for application to air quality forecasting. Robert was awarded a doctoral degree in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain.

Prior to his fellowship, Robert worked as a meteorologist - marine forecaster at the NWS Ocean Prediction Center (OPC) in College Park, MD. The OPC is one-of-nine centers that make up the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction. OPC is responsible for marine weather forecasts, analyses and warnings for large portions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans.

In addition, during his tenure at NOAA temporary assignments included cross training at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida and a rotational assignment at the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing Systems program office in Silver Spring, Maryland.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Research interests include interdisciplinary studies in planetary boundary-layer dynamics, atmospheric and air quality modelling, remote sensing of land and oceans, air-sea interactions, and marine meteorology, including extreme high wind and wave events.

EDUCATION

Technical University of Catalonia, Environmental Modelling Lab., Barcelona, Spain

• Doctor of Philosophy, Environmental Engineering, 4 April 2016
  Thesis: “Assessment of planetary boundary-layer schemes with advanced remote sensing instruments and air quality modelling”

The Florida State University, Department of Meteorology, Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.A.

• Master of Science, Meteorology, April 2006

Thesis: “Variability of Indian Ocean surface fluxes using a new objective method”

The Florida State University, Department of Meteorology, Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.A.

• Bachelor of Science, Meteorology, minors in mathematics and physics, April 2004

Thesis: “Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation runs in the Southeast US”

WORK EXPERIENCE

Barcelona Supercomputing Centre - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), Barcelona, Spain

Marie Curie Actions Doctoral Fellow, March 2013 – April 2016

Advisor: Dr. José María Baldasano

• Visiting research scientist at the BSC-CNS in the Earth Sciences Department, as part of the Initial Training for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (ITaRS) program.
• Main research focus was the sensitivity of outputs from an air quality forecast system to boundary-layer physics parameterizations in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.
• Several peer-reviewed publications and numerous conference presentations on WRF model meteorological evaluation and exploration of verification techniques.
• Investigated use of WRF data assimilation (WRFDA) to incorporate observations from a micropulse lidar system.

NOAA/NWS/NCEP - Ocean Prediction Center, College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.

Meteorologist – Marine Forecaster, August 2006 – February 2013

Supervisor: Mr. Anthony Siebers

• Served as an operational meteorologist to provide public warnings and forecasts for portions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans using satellite data, weather radar, and analysis of other meteorological data such as ship and buoy observations.
• Regularly use satellite data from a variety of sensors such as sea surface temperature from AVHRR and MODIS, sea height measurements and altimetry data from Jason-1 and Envisat, ocean wind data from ASCAT, and imagery data from GOES.
• Participated in special incident support operations for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010), the nuclear reactor meltdown at Fukushima, Japan (2011), and numerous Antarctic summer field campaigns for NOAA ships. Incident response for Fukushima included special daily forecasts delivered to high-level White House officials for decision support.
• Focal point duties include GIS programming, satellite and remote sensing observations, marine training, and Graphical Forecast Editor (GFE) training.

Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Program Office, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

Rotational Assignee and Program Analyst, September 2012 – December 2012

Advisor: Ms. Becky Baltes

• Participated in the NOAA Rotational Assignment Program hosted at the U.S. IOOS Program Office near NOAA Headquarters just outside Washington, D.C.
• As part of a national steering team of government partners, the academic community, and private companies helped craft a National Plan for underwater ocean gliders.
• Result of this project is a National Network of underwater ocean gliders operated under a Data Assembly Center using a common data and cyber infrastructure.

NOAA NOS Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

Remote Sensing Specialist, January – August 2006

Supervisor: Dr. Richard Stumpf

• Contract internship provided through the Environmental Careers Organization.
• Assisted in the continuing development and research of harmful algal blooms (HABs) forecast systems along U.S. coastlines.
• Evaluated the meteorological influences of HABs by developing and testing atmosphere-ocean models to depict changes in movement and intensity of HABs.
• Helped with the evaluation of a 3-D advective Lagrangian transport model to show HAB movement and dispersion in real time.
• Used IDL and Perl scripting to acquire and process large amounts of remotely sensed ocean-color data from the SeaWiFS and MODIS instruments.

FSU Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.A.

Graduate Research Assistant, May 2004 – December 2005

Advisor: Dr. Mark A. Bourassa

• Worked on a variety of research projects ranging from developing in house quality control procedures for global ship and buoy observations to studying the impacts of air-sea interactions over the Indian Ocean using state-of-the-art numerical ocean models.
• Employed various computer programming languages, mainly IDL, to develop and test a numerical ocean and atmosphere model with primary output of surface latent and sensible heat fluxes.
• Presented research findings at technical conferences and workshops.

FSU Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.A.

Undergraduate Research Assistant, May 2002 – May 2004

Advisor: Mr. Shawn R. Smith

• Performed research and analysis under the supervision of Dr. James J. O'Brien and Mr. Shawn Smith at COAPS, a research center with affiliations to FSU.
• Assisted in quality control of large scientific datasets from volunteer observing ship (VOS) research vessels and ocean meteorological buoys using a developed in-house quality control system.
• Thesis: “Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation runs across the Southeast U.S.” was submitted for The Father James B. Macelwane Annual Award.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.A.

Electric Systems Operations Meteorologist Intern, Summer 2003

Supervisor and Mentor: Mr. Patrick Walshe

• Created electric power load forecasts for the largest public utility company in the world.
• Conducted business presentations and provided daily weather briefings to head personnel at TVA headquarters.

SKILLS

Software: Proficient in UNIX/Linux environments, Microsoft Office suite, and internet research. Experience with programming languages (in preferential order); Matlab, NCAR Command Language (NCL), R, Panopoly, Fortran 77/90, Perl, ESRI ArcGIS, Python, and IDL.

Languages: English (native), French (intermediate), Castellano (basic)

HONORS AND AWARDS

Student Travel Grant Awardee, January 2016

96^th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society

Best Student Paper Award, September 2014

2014 SPIE Remote Sensing Conference

Marie Curie Actions – Initial Training Networks (ITN) PhD Fellowship, April 2013

European Union (EU) 7^th Framework Programme

Local and Regional Isaac M. Cline Awards in Meteorology, January and August 2012

U.S. National Weather Service – National Centers for Environmental Prediction

PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES

Banks, R. F. (2016), Assessment of planetary boundary-layer schemes with advanced remote sensing instruments and air quality modelling, Ph.D. thesis, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.

Banks, R. F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, A. Papayannis, S. Solomos, and C. G. Tzanis (2016), Sensitivity of boundary-layer variables to PBL schemes in the WRF model based on surface meteorological observations, lidar, and radiosondes during the HygrA-CD campaign, Atmos. Research, doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2016.02.024, Open access.

Banks, R. F., S. Crewell, S. Henkel, and J. M. Baldasano (2016), European training network for young atmospheric researchers, AGU Eos , doi:10.1029/2016EO045899, Published on 16 February 2016.

Banks, R. F. and J. M. Baldasano (2016), Impact of WRF model PBL schemes on air quality simulations over Catalonia, Spain, Atmos. Chem. Phys., Submitted.

Papayannis, A., A. Argyrouli, A. Bougiatioti, E. Remoundaki, S. Vratolis, A. Nenes, J. Van de Hey, M. Komppula, S. Solomos, S. Kazadzis, R. F. Banks, L. Labzovskii, I. Kalogiros, C. G. Tzanis, I. Binietoglou, and C. S. Zerefos (2016), From hygroscopic aerosols to cloud droplets: the HygrA-CD Campaign in the Athens basin – An overview, Sci. Tot. Environ., Submitted.

Labzovskii, L., I. Binietoglou, A. Papayannis, Banks, R.F., and J. M. Baldasano (2016), Comparison of two methods for relative humidity retrieval using lidar and radiometer, Atmos. Meas. Tech., In prep.

Labzovskii, L., I. Binietoglou, A. Papayannis, Banks, R.F., and J. M. Baldasano (2015), Use of lidar water vapor retrieval for assessment of model capability to simulate water vapor profiles, in Proc. SPIE 9645, 96450G, doi:10.1117/12.2195638.

Banks, R. F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, and F. Rocadenbosch (2015), Performance evaluation of boundary-layer height from lidar and the Weather Research and Forecasting model at an urban coastal site in the north-east Iberian Peninsula, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 157(2), 265-292, doi:10.1007/s10546-015-0056-2, Open access.

Banks, R. F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, and F. Rocadenbosch (2014), Retrieval of boundary layer height from lidar using extended Kalman filter approach, classic methods, and backtrajectory cluster analysis, in Proc. SPIE 9242, 92420F,doi:10.1117/12.2072049.

Baltes, B., D. Rudnick, M. Crowley, O. Schofield, C. Lee, J. Barth, C. Lembke, D. Stanitski, R. Banks, D. Snowden, and J. Potemra (2014), U.S. IOOS National Underwater Glider Network Plan, Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Program Office, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, www.ioos.noaa.gov/glider/strategy.

Banks, R. F. (2005), Variability of Indian Ocean surface fluxes using a new objective method, M.S. Thesis, 43 pp., Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.

WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING EXPERIENCES

ITaRS final presentation at Meteorological Technology World Expo 2015, 13.-16.10,2015, Brussels, Belgium.

ITaRS Scientific Writing workshop by Writing About Science and Data Assimilation training session by ECMWF, 18.-20-03.2015, Barcelona, Spain.

2^nd Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) General Assembly, 06.-07.02.2015, Porto, Portugal.

2015 Winter Tutorial on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, 26.-30.01.2015, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado, USA.

4th Joint ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network) WP2/WP20 Workshop, 28.-31.10.2014, Lille, France.

2^nd ITaRS (Initial Training for atmospheric Remote Sensing) Summer School - Clouds and Precipitation: Observation and Processes, 08.-19.09.2014, Research Center Jülich, Germany.

ACTRIS Winter 2014 School - Advanced Analysis of Atmospheric Processes and Feedbacks and Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions, 10.-21.03.2014, Hyytiälä Forestry Field Station, Finland.

1^st ITaRS (Initial Training for atmospheric Remote Sensing) Summer School - Aerosol Remote Sensing, Processes & Applications, 23.09-04.10.2013, Romanian Atmospheric Research 3D Observatory, Bucharest, Romania.

ITaRS (Initial Training for atmospheric Remote Sensing) start-up workshop, 13.-.15.02.2013, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece.

Inter-departmental Cross-training – Ocean Prediction Center (OPC) and National Hurricane Center (NHC), August 2010, NOAA/NWS/NCEP – NHC, Miami, Florida, USA.

National Weather Service WSR-88D Radar Training through Distance Learning Operations Course (DLOC), Fall 2008-Spring 2009, NOAA National Weather Center, Weather Decision Training Branch, Norman, Oklahoma, USA.

Meteorology for Mariners Advanced Training Course, August 2007, Marine Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITaGS), Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Cornell Satellite Remote Sensing Training Program, June 2006, Cornell University, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Ithaca, New York, USA.

FIELD CAMPAIGNS

CHARADMExp (Characterization of Aerosol mixtures of Dust and Marine origin)

20.06-22.07.2014, Crete, Greece

Data collection from the monitoring station of Finokalia for derivation of optical, microphysical, and chemical properties of marine aerosol, and its mixture with dust. Main contributions included daily simulations from a mesoscale meteorological model on the Crete domain.

HygrA-CD (From Hygroscopic Aerosol to Cloud Droplets)

15.05-22.06.2014, Athens, Greece

International field campaign bringing together different instruments and expertise for the purpose of understanding more about the impact of aerosols and clouds on weather and climate. Objective is to strengthen the links between the remote sensing and in-situ communities, while making use of established know-how on numerical weather prediction and atmospheric modeling. Participation included daily simulations from a mesoscale meteorological model, weather briefings to the participants, and radiosonde launch coordination.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Member, Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA)
  • Founding Member, Spain/Portugal Chapter of MCAA
• Member, American Meteorological Society (AMS)
  • Student representative, Weather Analysis and Forecasting Committee
  • Student representative, Committee on Atmospheric Aspects of Air Pollution
• Member, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • Student representative, Natural Hazards Focus Group
• Journal referee, Atmospheric Research
• Journal referee, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
• Graduate Brother, International Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI)

CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTIONS

Banks, R.F., J. M. Baldasano, M. Pandolfi, A. Comerón, and M. Sicard (2016), Improved boundary-layer height monitoring over Barcelona for validation of NWP model simulations, 2^nd ACTRIS-2 General Meeting, 29.02-4.03.2016, Frascati, Italy, [poster].

Banks, R.F., J. M. Baldasano, and M. Pandolfi (2016), Meteorological applications of a continuously-operating micropulse lidar in Barcelona, Spain, 96^th Annual Meeting of the Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 09.-14.01.2016, New Orleans, USA, [poster].

Lewis, J., R. Banks, T. Berkoff, E. Welton, E. Joseph, A. Thompson, P. Decola, and J. Hegarty (2015), Spatiotemporal variability in observations of urban mixed-layer heights from surface-based lidar systems during DISCOVER-AQ 2011, AGU Fall Meeting 2015, 14.-18.12.2016, San Francisco, USA. [poster]

Banks, R.F. and J. M. Baldasano (2015), Impact of WRF PBL schemes on boundary-layer simulations using lidar, modelling, and observations during Spring 2015: Towards improvement of an air quality forecast system, Met. and Clim. – Met. Aspects of Air Qual. (MAC-MAQ) conference, 16.-18.09.2015, Sacramento, USA. [talk]

Banks, R.F., J. Tiana Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, and A. Papayannis (2015), Sensitivity of boundary layer variables to WRF model PBL schemes during the 2014 Athens HygrA-CD campaign, EGU General Assembly 2015, 12.-17.04.2015, Vienna, Austria. [poster]

Labzovskii, L., I. Binietoglou, A. Papayannis, Banks, R.F., and J. M. Baldasano (2015), Evaluation of model-simulated water profiles as a tool for aerosol hygroscopicity studies: based upon lidar and microwave radiometer measurements from the HygrA-CD campaign, EGU General Assembly 2015, 13.04.2015, Vienna, Austria. [talk]

Banks, R. F., J. M. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, M. Sicard, and A. Comerón (2014), PBL height retrieval over Barcelona from EARLINET and Micro-Pulse lidars, and WRF mesoscale meteorological model, 4th Joint ACTRIS WP2/WP20 Workshop, 28.-31.10.2014, Lille, France. [talk]

Banks, R. F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, (2014), Retrieval of boundary layer height from lidar using extended Kalman filter approach, classic methods, and backtrajectory cluster analysis, 2014 SPIE Remote Sensing Conference, 21.-25.09.2014, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [talk]

Banks, R.F., J. Baldasano, A. Comerón, M. Sicard, and F. Rocadenbosch (2013), Inter-comparison of lidar methods for obtaining planetary boundary-layer height from a July 2012 monitoring campaign over the Iberian Peninsula in the framework of EARLINET, AGU Fall Meeting 2013, 09.-13.12.2013, San Francisco, USA. [poster]

Banks, R. F., M. A. Bourassa, P. Hughes, J. J. O’Brien, and S. R. Smith (2006), Variability of surface turbulent fluxes over the Indian Ocean, 14th Conference on Interactions of the Sea and Atmosphere. [poster]

Banks, R. F., (2005), Precipitation runs in the Southeast United States: impact to agriculture through variations, International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) 2005 Scientific Assembly, 02.-11.08.2005, Beijing, China. [talk]

Banks, R. F., J. J. O'Brien, and S. R. Smith (2004), Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation runs in the Southeast U.S. and their potential impact on agriculture, 15th AMS Conference on Applied Climatology, AMS, Savannah, GA, USA. [poster]

POSTERS: ITARS EVENTS

Banks, R.F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, and A. Papayannis (2014), Investigation of planetary boundary-layer properties over Athens, Greece during the 2014 HygrA-CD campaign, 2^nd ITaRS Summer School, 08.09.2014, Jülich, Germany. [poster]

Banks, R.F., J. Baldasano, and F. Rocadenbosch (2014), Determination of boundary-layer heights from lidar using Kalman filter, classic methods, and synoptic cluster analysis, ITaRS-Mid-term Review Meeting, 19.-21.02.2014, Potsdam, Germany. [poster]

Banks, R.F., J. M. Baldasano, A. Comerón, M. Sicard (2013), Inter-comparison of lidar methods for obtaining planetary boundary-layer height from a July 2012 monitoring campaign over the Iberian Peninsula in the framework of EARLINET, 1^st ITaRS Summer School, 23.09.-04.10.2013, Bucharest, Romania. [poster]

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• Banks, R. F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, A. Papayannis, S. Solomos, and C. G. Tzanis (2016), Sensitivity of boundary-layer variables to PBL schemes in the WRF model based on surface meteorological observations, lidar, and radiosondes during the HygrA-CD campaign, Atmos. Research, doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2016.02.024, Open access.
  
  • Full paper available here

• Labzovskii, L., I. Binietoglou, A. Papayannis, Banks, R.F., and J. M. Baldasano (2015), Use of lidar water vapor retrieval for assessment of model capability to simulate water vapor profiles, in Proc. SPIE 9645, 96450G, doi:10.1117/12.2195638.
  • Full paper available here

• Banks, R.F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J.M. Baldasano, and F. Rocadenbosch (2015), Performance evaluation of boundary-layer height from lidar and the Weather Research and Forecasting model at an urban coastal site in the north-east Iberian Peninsula, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., doi:10.1007/s10546-015-0056-2, Open access.
  • Full paper available here
    
    
• Banks, R. F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, and F. Rocadenbosch (2014), Retrieval of boundary layer height from lidar using extended Kalman filter approach, classic methods, and backtrajectory cluster analysis, in Proc. SPIE 9242, 92420F, doi:10.1117/12.2072049.
  • Full paper available here
    
    
• Baltes, B., D. Rudnick, M. Crowley, O. Schofield, C. Lee, J. Barth, C. Lembke, D. Stanitski, R. Banks, D. Snowden, and J. Potemra (2014), U.S. IOOS National Underwater Glider Network Plan, Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Program Office, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, www.ioos.noaa.gov/glider/strategy.
  
  • Full paper available here
    
    
• Banks, R. F. (2005), Variability of Indian Ocean surface fluxes using a new objective method, M.S. Thesis, 43 pp., Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
  • Full paper available here

Conference Contributions

• Banks, R.F. and J.M. Baldasano (2015), Impact of WRF PBL schemes on boundary-layer simulations using lidar, modelling, and observations during Spring 2015: Towards improvement of an air quality forecast system, Met. and Clim. - Met. Aspects of Air Quality (MAC-MAQ) conference, 16.-18.09.2015, Sacramento, USA. [talk]

• Banks, R., J. Tiana Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, and A. Papayannis (2015), Sensitivity of boundary layer variables to WRF model PBL schemes during the 2014 Athens HygrA-CD campaign, EGU 2015, 12.-17.04.2015, Vienna, Austria. [poster]
  
  
• Labzovskii, L., I. Binietoglou, A. Papayannis, R. Banks, and J. M. Baldasano (2015), Evaluation of model-simulated water profiles as a tool for aerosol hygroscopicity studies: based upon lidar and microwave radiometer measurements from the HygrA-CD campaign, EGU 2015, 13.04.2015, Vienna, Austria. [talk]
  
  
• Banks, R. F., J. M. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, M. Sicard, and A. Comerón (2014), PBL height retrieval over Barcelona from EARLINET and Micro-Pulse lidars, and WRF mesoscale meteorological model, 4th Joint ACTRIS WP2/WP20 Workshop, 28.-31.10.2014, Lille, France. [talk]
  
  
• Banks, R. F., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. M. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, (2014), Retrieval of boundary layer height from lidar using extended Kalman filter approach, classic methods, and backtrajectory cluster analysis, 2014 SPIE Remote Sensing Conference, 21.-25.09.2014, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [talk]
  
  
• Banks, R., J. Baldasano, A. Comerón, M. Sicard, and F. Rocadenbosch (2013), Inter-comparison of lidar methods for obtaining planetary boundary-layer height from a July 2012 monitoring campaign over the Iberian Peninsula in the framework of EARLINET, AGU Fall Meeting, 09.-13.12.2013, San Francisco, USA. [poster]
  
  
• Banks, R. F., M. A. Bourassa, P. Hughes, J. J. O’Brien, and S. R. Smith (2006), Variability of surface turbulent fluxes over the Indian Ocean, 14th Conference on Interactions of the Sea and Atmosphere, (accepted). [poster]
  
  
• Banks, R. F., (2005), Precipitation runs in the Southeast United States: impact to agriculture through variations, International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) 2005 Scientific Assembly, 02.-11.08.2005, Beijing, China. [talk]
  
  
• Banks, R. F., J. J. O'Brien, and S. R. Smith (2004), Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation runs in the Southeast U.S. and their potential impact on agriculture, 15th AMS Conference on Applied Climatology, AMS, Savannah, GA, USA. [poster]

Posters from ITaRS Events

• Banks, R., J. Tiana-Alsina, J. Baldasano, F. Rocadenbosch, and A. Papayannis (2014), Investigation of planetary boundary-layer properties over Athens, Greece during the 2014 HygrA-CD campaign, 2^nd ITaRS Summer School, 08.09.2014, Jülich, Germany. [poster]
  
  
• Banks, R., J. Baldasano, and F. Rocadenbosch (2014), Determination of boundary-layer heights from lidar using Kalman filter, classic methods, and synoptic cluster analysis, ITaRS-Mid-term Review Meeting, 19.-21.02.2014, Potsdam, Germany. [poster]

• Banks, R., J. M. Baldasano, A. Comerón, M. Sicard (2013), Inter-comparison of lidar methods for obtaining planetary boundary-layer height from a July 2012 monitoring campaign over the Iberian Peninsula in the framework of EARLINET, 1^st ITaRS Summer School, 23.09.-04.10.2013, Bucharest, Romania. [poster]