DYNAMIC CLIMATOLOGY AS A TRAINING AID IN THE 

 WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC AREA 



By Captain William Best, U.S. Air Force 



The United States Air Force maintains weather installations in Japan, 

 Korea, eastern China, and the adjacent waters and islands of the 

 north-west Pacific Ocean. Meteorologists serving at these stations 

 consider as their operational area the entire East Asia - North-west 

 Pacific sector, and rotate on duty tours lasting from thirty to thirty-six 

 months. This is a relatively short period, especially if we admit that 

 local experience is necessary in gaining analysis and forecast proficiency. 



The problem of forecaster orientation is an important one — namely, 

 how to give the new forecaster in a minimum of time the maximum 

 familiarization with East Asia - North-west Pacific weather. 



An examination of the usual methods of orientation and training, 

 such as studying past analyzed weather situations and studying meteoro- 

 logical texts and reports on regional weather, finds them insufficient. 

 This is due primarily to the sparse synoptic data available (particularly 

 in the upper air), and secondaril}^ to the haste and/or lack of integration 

 of weather research performed over the last decade. 



As a training aid, an attempt has been made to compound a dynamic 

 climatology of the area, consisting of an analysis of — 



(1) The climatic controls and influences ; and 



(2) The typical weather processes which develop when the laws of 



meteorology are superimposed upon them. 



The eight factors in such a cHmatology (at least as a preHminary 

 definition) are terrain, ocean currents, the monsoon circulation, air- 

 masses, extratropical cyclones, migrating anticyclones, the polar trough- 

 polar front, and the descriptive weather types. 



In the training procedure, the first seven factors are discussed and 

 evaluated at length, with emphasis on {a) their mutual interaction, 

 {b) their seasonal and within-season variation, and [c) their weather 

 effects over the forecast area and how they can be exploited for map 

 analysis and forecasting, even in the absence of adequate synoptic data 

 coverage. 



The descriptive weather types are an attempt to separate weather 

 sequences into homogeneous groups, in the sense that all sequences 

 belonging to one type develop from similar causes, appear alike on 

 weather charts, and have similar effects. Their value is four fold — ■ 



(1) They familiarize the new forecaster with typical weather sequences. 



(2) Because they are based on a finite number of weather com- 



binations, rather than assuming that " anything is possible," 

 they lend objectiveness to analysis and forecasting. 



(3) The analysis of types and how to forecast them points out weak 



spots in our forecast techniques, and thus suggests lines of 

 research. 



(4) They represent an integration of the dynamic climatological 



factors over a large forecast area. 



Charts A to G show the basic features of each of the seven basic 

 weather types. 



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