THOMAS CRAM

Software Engineer/Programmer II
Computational and Information Systems Laboratory/Data Support Section
National Center for Atmospheric Research
P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO 80307-3000

Tel: 303.497.1217
E-mail: tcram [at] ucar.edu
Web: dss.ucar.edu/staff/tcram

EDUCATION
Colorado State University
Master of Science, Atmospheric Science, Fall 2000
Thesis: "Evolution and Organization of Vertical Vorticity in a Numerically-Simulated Idealized Convective Line"
Advisor: Michael T. Montgomery, Ph. D.
Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota
Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude, Spring 1994
Major: Mathematics
Minor: German
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO
Software Engineer/Programmer II, 2010 - present
Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Research Associate II, 2002 - 2010
Research Associate I, 2001-2002
Graduate Research Assistant, 1998-2001
Primary responsibilities (present)
Provide maintenance and support of meteorological and oceanographic scientific datasets contained within the Research Data Archive (RDA) at the National Center for Atmospheric Science. Specific work involves developing a web-based validation portal to support the THORPEX Interactive Grand Global Ensemble (TIGGE) project.
Primary responsibilities (past)
Design and testing of a global cloud-resolving model on a geodesic grid. Current work involves the testing and analysis of key physical processes--including microphysics, radiation, and turbulence--in a cloud-resolving Vector Vorticity Model (VVM). Code development involves both a scientific analysis of the model results and a computational analysis of the model performance. Model source code is modified using the Subversion version control system.

Conversion and testing of the VVM source code to the Fortran 90 standard with multi-processor parallelization capability.

Scientific and data management programming and visualization in Fortran, IDL, MATLAB, Mathematica, NCAR Graphics, HTML, UNIX Shell scripting.

Secondary Linux system administrator for the Montgomery research group. Duties involve maintenance of user accounts, network workstations, and databases.

Research on hurricane intensity theory, structure and dynamics. Current work is an in depth Lagrangian analysis of the transport and mixing processes that occur in a high-resolution MM5 simulation of Hurricane Bonnie (1998).

Development of an objective method via linear discriminant analysis to identify annular hurricanes using GOES Infrared and NCEP reanalysis data.

Research on tropical cyclogenesis using high-resolution idealized numerical experiments in RAMS. Analysis focuses on the formation and organization of vertical vorticity in environments conducive to the formation of tropical cyclones.
PUBLICATIONS
Knaff, J. A., T. A. Cram, A. B. Schumacher, J. P. Kossin, and M. DeMaria, 2008: Objective identification of annular hurricanes. Wea. Forecasting, 23, 17-28.
PDF file (1.1 Mb)
Cram, T. A., J. Persing, M. T. Montgomery, and S. A. Braun, 2007: A Lagrangian trajectory view on transport and mixing processes between the eye, eyewall, and environment using a high resolution simulation of Hurricane Bonnie (1998). J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 1835-1856.
PDF file (2.5 Mb)
NASA press release
Kossin, J. P., J. A. Knaff, H. I. Berger, D. C. Herndon, T. A. Cram, C. S. Velden, R. J. Murnane, and J. D. Hawkins, 2007: Estimating hurricane wind structure in the absence of aircraft reconaissance. Wea. Forecasting, 22, 89-101.
PDF file (1.3 Mb)
Montgomery, M. T., M. E. Nicholls, T. A. Cram, and A. Saunders, 2006: A vortical hot tower route to tropical cyclogenesis. J. Atmos. Sci., 63, 355-386.
PDF file (4.5 Mb)
1Cram, T. A., M. T. Montgomery, and R. F. A. Hertenstein, 2002: Early evolution of vertical vorticity in a numerically-simulated idealized convective line. J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 2113-2127.
PDF file (608 Kb)

1: Selected by the American Meteorological Society as a paper of note. Abstract appears in Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 855 - 856.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
( * = First author/presenter)
* Cram, T. A., D. A. Randall, R. Heikes, C. Konor, J.-H. Jung, 2009: Design and testing of a global cloud resolving model (GCRM). Workshop on Scientific Data Analysis and Visualization for Petascale Computing, Tahoe City, CA, 3-6 August 2009.
PDF file (3 Mb)
* Cram, T. A., J.-H. Jung, C. Konor, and D. Randall, 2009: An evaluation of the radiation and turbulence parameterizations in the Vector Vorticity Model. CMMAP Team Meeting, Fort Collins, CO, 28-30 July 2009.
PDF file (3.7 Mb)
* Cram, T. A., J. A. Knaff, M. DeMaria, and J. P. Kossin, 2006: Objective identification of annular hurricanes using GOES and reanalysis data. 27th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, 24 -- 28 April 2006, Monterey, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
PDF file (68 Kb)
Link to recorded presentation
Montgomery, M. T., T. A. Cram, J. Persing, and S. A. Braun, 2006: A Lagrangian trajectory view of a simulated hurricane. 27th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, 24 -- 28 April 2006, Monterey, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
Abstract
* Cram, T. A., M.T. Montgomery, S.A. Braun, and J. Persing, 2004: In what sense is the hurricane eye a "containment vessel"? 26th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, 3 -- 7 May 2004, Miami, FL, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 475-476.
PDF file (275 Kb)
Link to recorded presentation
Montgomery, M. T., M. E. Nicholls, and T. A. Cram, 2002: A three-dimensional cloud-resolving numerical study of tropical cyclogenesis. 25th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, 29 April -- 3 May 2002, San Diego, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
Abstract
* Cram, T. A., M. T. Montgomery, and R. F. A. Hertenstein, 2001: Early evolution of vertical vorticity in a numerically-simulated idealized convective line. Preprints, 13th Conference on Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics, 4 -- 8 June 2001, Breckenridge, CO, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 99-101.
PDF file (154 Kb)
Montgomery, M. T., R. F. A. Hertenstein, and T. A. Cram, 1999: Vertical vorticity generation in an idealized simulated squall line. Preprints, Eighth Conference on Mesoscale Processes, 28 June -- 1 July, 1999, Boulder, CO, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 28 - 31.
COMPUTER EXPERIENCE
Languages and Scientific Software
Fortran 77/90, C, MATLAB, Mathematica
Parallel Programming
MPI, OpenMP
Graphics and Visual Applications
IDL, VisIT, VAPOR, McIDAS, NCL
Scientific data formats
NetCDF
Shell programming and scripting languages
bash, c-shell, Python
Operating Systems
Mac OSX, Linux, UNIX
Web programming
HTML, XML, CSS, PHP
Typsetting
LaTeX, TeX
Regional Modeling Systems
MM5, RAMS, Vector Vorticity Model (Jung and Arakawa 2008)
WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION
PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Modeling System (MM5) Tutorial Class. 13 - 17 January 2003, Boulder, CO.
Workshop on Numerical Modeling of Tropical Cyclone Intensity and Precipitation Prediction. 3 - 5 May 2002, San Diego, CA.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Awarded American Meteorological Society Student Travel Grant
24th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, 29 May - 2 June 2000, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Awarded Colorado Fellowship
Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, 1998
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS
American Meteorological Society , member, 1999 - present
American Geophysical Union , member, 2000 - present
Mile High Hurricane Society, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, 2000 - present
Last updated September 2010