Dr. Darko Koracin

Title: Research Professor
Affiliation: Division of Atmospheric Sciences
Location: DRI Reno
Email: Darko This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Phone: 775.674.7091
Full Resume: Download PDF

Professional Interests

Dr. Koračin investigates weather and climate phenomena through the development and application of high-resolution mesoscale meteorological models (MM5, WRF, RAMS, ARPS, COAMPS), microscale models (LES, Fluent), as well as global and regional climate models. His expertise includes assessing the emission, transport, and dispersion of environmental pollutants using the US Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory and advanced air quality models for complex terrain (ISC3ST, AERMOD, CALPUFF, CAMx, CMAQ) as well as applying principles of artificial intelligence (neural networks).  His research includes development of a higher-order turbulence closure atmospheric model, a cloud-resolving model, and a large-eddy simulation model, as well as turbulence and radiation parameterizations of existing models.  Dr. Koračin also develops models for the transport and dispersion of atmospheric pollutants (modified Gaussian, higher-order closure plume model and Lagrangian stochastic particle model) and integrates these with meteorological models.  Applications include investigation of air-sea interaction, atmospheric dynamics and cloudiness in coastal regions, coupling of the oceanic and atmospheric models, real time weather forecasting; predictability and chaos in weather and climate modeling; atmospheric flow over complex terrain; assessment of wind energy; and evaluation methods applied to atmospheric models.  Analysis of data from aircraft measurements is used for model verification.

Dr. Koračin has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles in recognized U.S. and international journals and has presented over 120 conference papers at domestic and international conferences.  He has served as a reviewer for over 40 peer-reviewed journals and various funding agencies in the U.S. and abroad.  He has been invited to visit many institutions and participate in and design environmental research in the US, Denmark, Sweden, Croatia, Brazil, Turkey, Australia, Greece, Uganda, and Chile.  He is actively involved in the Atmospheric Sciences graduate program at the University of Nevada, Reno.  He is teaching graduate level classes and mentoring students in the M.S. and Ph.D. programs.

Research Topics

• Transport and dispersion of atmospheric pollutants and tracers in complex terrain and coastal regions.
• Air-sea interaction and coupling between atmospheric and ocean models.
• Formation of offshore fog.
• Effects of the wind stress and wind stress curl on the upwelling of coastal waters.
• Wind energy.
• Coupling between atmospheric and hydrological models.
• Optimization and evaluation of cloud seeding and precipitation enhancements.
• MM5 real-time mesoscale forecasting and implementation of Four Dimensional Data Assimilation.
• Use of principles of artificial intelligence in air quality modeling.

Research Areas

• Regional, mesoscale and microscale atmospheric and dispersion modeling
• Air quality impact and assessment
• Coastal Dynamics
• Air-sea interaction
• Renewable energies
• Real-time forecasting
• Artificial Intelligence.