Research
My research primarily focuses on the physical processes governing the formation, lifetime, and dissipation of Stratocumulus (Sc) clouds through the use of turbulence theory, large eddy simulation, and observational data. I apply my research findings to advance the accuracy in simulating the spatial coverage and lifetime of Sc in numerical weather prediction models. Due to the frequency and extensive coverage of Sc (especially off of the western coast of the United States), the accurate prediction of Sc is crucial to day-ahead predictions of available solar energy, which in turn facilitate the economic integration of solar power into the electrical grid. Additionally, Sc are difficult to accurately simulate in global climate models, contributing strongly to the spread in climate response due to the associated cloud feedback effect. A better understanding and numerical modeling of Sc will reduce this uncertainty.

Publications

Ghonima*, M. S., Yang*, H., Kim, C. K., Heus, T., & Kleissl, J. (2017). Evaluation of WRF SCM simulations of stratocumulus topped marine boundary layers and proposed correction to improve turbulence and entrainment parameterization. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 9(7), 2635-2653. doi: 10.1002/2017MS001092

Yang, H., & Kleissl, J. (2016). Preprocessing WRF initial conditions for coastal stratocumulus forecasting. Solar Energy, 133, 180-193. doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2016.04.003

Yang, H., Kurtz, B., Nguyen, D., Urquhart, B., Chow, C. W., Ghonima, M., & Kleissl, J. (2014). Solar irradiance forecasting using a ground-based sky imager developed at UC San Diego. Solar Energy, 103, 502-524. doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2014.02.044

Sahu, D. K., Yang, H., & Kleissl, J. (2018). Assimilating conventional in-situ observations for marine layer stratocumulus cloud simulation over Southern California: An application toward solar energy forecasting. Solar Energy, 162, 454-471. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.01.006

Gohari, M. I., Urquhart, B., Yang, H., Kurtz, B., Nguyen, D., Chow, C. W., Ghonima, M., & Kleissl, J. (2014). Comparison of Solar Power Output Forecasting Performance of the Total Sky Imager and the University of California, San Diego Sky Imager. Energy Procedia, 49, 2340-2350. doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2014.03.248

* These authors contributed equally to this work. Cover feature of Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 9(7).