Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder

Michael Toy

Research Interests

Michael Toy is a CIRES numerical weather prediction (NWP) model developer who works in the Earth Prediction Advancement Division (EPAD) of NOAA's Global Systems Laboratory.  He works on developing and testing physics parameterizations, particularly gravity wave drag parameterizations, which represent the drag forces on the atmospheric flow due to unresolved (subgrid scale) topography and convection.

Dr. Toy has also worked on the development of dynamical cores, which are the components of NWP models that predict the dynamical properties of the atmosphere, such as the winds, pressure, temperature and water vapor.  He developed a non-hydrostatic dynamical core based on a hybrid sigma-theta vertical coordinate.  He also designed a discretization for the shallow water equations in generalized, curvilinear coordinate systems that conserves total energy and potential enstrophy.

View Publications

  • van Niekerk A; Sandu I; Zadra A; Bazile E; Kanehama T; Koehler M; Koo M-S; Choi H-J; Kuroki Y; Toy MD. (Nov 2020). COnstraining ORographic Drag Effects (COORDE): A Model Comparison of Resolved and Parametrized Orographic Drag. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems , 12(11). 10.1029/2020MS002160
  • Olson, JB; Kenyon, JS; Djalalova, I; Bianco, L; Turner, DD; Pichugina, Y; Choukulkar, A; Toy, MD; Brown, JM; Angevine, WM; Akish, E; Bao, JW; Jimenez, P; Kosovic, B; Lundquist, KA; Draxl, C; Lundquist, JK; McCaa, J; McCaffrey, K; Lantz, K; Long, C; Wilczak, J; Banta, R; Marquis, M; Redfern, S; Berg, LK; Shaw, W; Cline, J. (Nov 2019). Improving Wind Energy Forecasting through Numerical Weather Prediction Model Development. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY , 100(11). 10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0040.1
  • Toy, MD and RD Nair. (Mar 2017). A Potential Enstrophy and Energy Conserving Scheme for the Shallow-Water Equations Extended to Generalized Curvilinear Coordinates. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW , 145(3). 10.1175/MWR-D-16-0250.1
  • Toy, MD and RH Johnson. (Sep 2014). The Influence of an SST Front on a Heavy Rainfall Event over Coastal Taiwan during TiMREX. JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES , 71(9). 10.1175/JAS-D-13-0338.1
  • Toy, MD. (Apr 2013). A Supercell Storm Simulation Using a Nonhydrostatic Cloud-Resolving Model Based on a Hybrid Isentropic-Sigma Vertical Coordinate. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW , 141(4). 10.1175/MWR-D-12-00215.1
  • Toy, MD. (Sep 2011). Incorporating Condensational Heating into a Nonhydrostatic Atmospheric Model Based on a Hybrid Isentropic-Sigma Vertical Coordinate. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW , 139(9). 10.1175/MWR-D-10-05015.1
  • Toy, MD and DA Randall. (Jul 2009). Design of a Nonhydrostatic Atmospheric Model Based on a Generalized Vertical Coordinate. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW , 137(7). 10.1175/2009MWR2834.1
  • Toy, MD and DA Randall. (Apr 2007). Comment on the article "Vertical discretizations for compressible Euler equation atmospheric models giving optimal representation of normal modes" by Thuburn and Woollings. JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS , 223(1). 10.1016/j.jcp.2006.08.022