Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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Description
The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) consists of a linkage between changes in sea-surface temperatures and atmospheric pressure across the Tropical Pacific. ENSO encompasses three phases: neutral events, warm/El Niño events in which sea-surface temperatures are warmer-than-normal and the pressure gradient decreases across the Equatorial Pacific, and cold/La Niña events in which Tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures are cooler-than-normal and the pressure gradient increases. Previous studies have determined a connection between variations in ENSO phase and weather patterns across the globe, focusing particularly on surface temperature and precipitation patterns in the United States. However, little research exists that attempts to link changes in ENSO phase with severe weather in Arizona. Therefore, in this study, I analyzed how variations in ENSO phase affect the frequency, intensity, and spatial distribution of four types of severe weather from 1959 to 2016 in Arizona, including a) tornado events, b) severe thunderstorm wind events, c) hail events, and d) heavy rain and flash flood events. I collected data on the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI), a measure of ENSO, as well as storm reports for each severe weather phenomenon dating back to 1959. Then, I analyzed the frequency of each Arizona severe weather event type within each of the twelve annual months and over the entire study period. I also analyzed mean intensity values (Fujita/Enhanced Fujita Scale rating, path width, and path length for tornadoes; hail diameter in millimeters for hail; and wind gust speed for severe thunderstorm wind events) for each severe weather phenomenon, excluding the heavy rain and flash flood events. Finally, I used the Mean Center and Directional Distribution tools in ArcGIS to determine variations in the spatial distribution and mean centers between each ENSO phase for each severe weather event type. I found that ENSO phase, particularly La Niña, does impact the frequency and intensity of tornadoes, hail, thunderstorm wind, and heavy rain/flash flood events in Arizona. However, it appears that ENSO does not affect the spatial distribution of these Arizona severe weather phenomena. These findings attempt to fill in the gap in the literature and could help meteorologists better forecast changes in Arizona severe weather, in turn allowing Arizonans to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of severe weather across the state.
ContributorsGreenwood, Trey Austin (Author) / Cerveny, Randall (Thesis director) / Balling, Robert (Committee member) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The Great Plains region of the central United States and southern Canada is a promising location for wind energy resource development. Wind energy site assessments and forecasts can benefit from better understanding the variability that may result from several teleconnections affecting North America. This thesis investigates how the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Pacific/North American Pattern (PNA) impact mean monthly wind speeds at 850 hPa over the Great Plains. Using wind speeds from the NCAR/NCEP Reanalysis 1, correlations were computed between the mean monthly wind speeds and average monthly teleconnection index values. A difference of means test was used to compute the change in wind speeds between the positive and negative phases of each index. ENSO was not found to have a significant impact on wind speeds, while the NAO and PNA patterns weakly affected wind speeds. The NAO index was positively (negatively) correlated with wind speeds over the northern (southern) plains, while the PNA index was negatively correlated with wind speeds over most of the plains. Even a small change in wind speed can have a large effect on the potential power output, so the effects of these teleconnections should be considered in wind resource assessments and climatologies.
ContributorsOrdonez, Ana Cristina (Author) / Cerveny, Randall (Thesis director) / Svoma, Bohumil (Committee member) / Balling, Robert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This study examines the linkage between surface level ozone and planetary boundary layer meteorological variables in the Phoenix Metropolitan region during the summer North American Monsoon period for years 2010 through 2020. Data used in this study was obtained and derived from both 1200 UTC radiosonde observations launched from the Phoenix National Weather Service office, and 8-hour average ozone concentration measurements from Maricopa County monitoring stations. Specific boundary layer meteorological variables examined in this study included inversion temperature, mixing level pressure, mixing level height, and the surface level variables of temperature, dew point temperature, pressure, wind speed, and meridional and zonal wind directions. The daily maximum, 8-hour average ozone concentrations among all Maricopa County monitoring stations were used in this study. To determine ozone’s linkage to meteorological variables, normality tests, determination of Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and/or the Spearman rank correlation coefficient, and the discriminative Student’s two-sided t-test statistic between ozone exceedance and non-exceedance days were used. Statistically significant coefficients indicate weak negative correlations between surface level ozone and surface level pressure, and mixing level pressure, and weak positive correlations between surface level ozone and surface level temperature, surface level zonal wind direction, mixing level height, and inversion temperature. These correlations were linear for surface level pressure, surface level temperature, and inversion temperature. The two-sided Student’s t-test statistic indicates a significant difference in the mean on ozone exceedance and non-exceedance days for surface level temperature, and the upper-air variables of mixing level height, mixing level pressure, and inversion temperature. Both correlations and differences in the mean of upper-air variables showed statistically significant results. These findings suggest that further research should be completed to determine the forecasting ability of morning sounding analyses on surface level ozone in locations exhibiting similar emissions and geographic features as the Phoenix Valley.
ContributorsLopez, David (Author) / Cerveny, Randall (Thesis director) / Balling, Robert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor)
Created2023-05