A Study of the Evolution of the Coastal Front and Related Mesoscale Structures in the Atmospheric Planetary Boundary Layer near the Southeast Coast of the United States

美国东南海岸附近大气行星边界层海岸锋及相关中尺度结构的演化研究

• 批准号: 8807064
• 负责人: Allen Riordan
• 金额: $ 20.18万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1988
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1988-09-01 至 1991-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8807064&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Study; Evolution; Coastal; Front; Related

The rapid development and intensification of winter cyclones in coastal regions presents a major weather forecasting problem. Along the East Coast of the United States, the development of cyclonic storms and frontal systems often occurs along the coastal region of the Carolinas. These weather systems may lead to severe weather in the heavily populated Northeast Corridor in the form of freezing rain, heavy snowfall, blizzards and extensive coastal erosion. A complex interaction of cold continental air, warm ocean currents, traveling atmospheric disturbances and local geography all appear to contribute to the rapid development of these systems; however, the processes are not well understood and the phenomena are often poorly forecast. In January-March 1986 a cooperative research project to study winter storms in this region was held by a consortium of universities and Federal agencies. Entitled GALE (Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment), the project was designed to provide detailed information on the role of air-sea interaction, planetary boundary-layer processes and mesoscale meteorological processes. As one of the investigators of the GALE, the Principal Investigator was instrumental in designing and executing the experiment. This research will extend initial analyses of data obtained during the GALE. Preliminary work reveals that the mesoscale structure is prevalent within the synoptic field and can better explain the observed precipitation and local weather than can the synoptic field. There is evidence, however, that mesoscale features occur in predictable patterns governed by the topography and synoptic-scale flow. The objectives of the research are to continue to identify and analyze mesoscale features in the atmospheric boundary layer over the near-shore waters and adjacent coastal plain and to explore the time- evolution of these features and their interactions with synoptic-scale systems especially as such interactions affect the precipitation process.

沿海地区冬季气旋的迅速发展和加强给天气预报带来了重大问题。 在美国东海岸，气旋风暴和锋面系统的发展经常发生在卡罗来纳州沿海地区。 这些天气系统可能会导致人口稠密的东北走廊出现冻雨、大雪、暴风雪和大面积海岸侵蚀等恶劣天气。 寒冷的大陆空气、温暖的洋流、移动的大气扰动和当地地理的复杂相互作用似乎都促进了这些系统的快速发展；然而，人们对这一过程并没有很好的理解，而且对这些现象的预测往往很差。 1986 年 1 月至 3 月，大学和联邦机构联合开展了一项研究该地区冬季风暴的合作研究项目。 该项目名为 GALE（大西洋低气压实验的起源），旨在提供有关海气相互作用、行星边界层过程和中尺度气象过程的详细信息。 作为 GALE 的研究人员之一，首席研究员在设计和执行实验方面发挥了重要作用。 这项研究将扩展对 GALE 期间获得的数据的初步分析。 初步工作表明，中尺度结构在天气场中普遍存在，并且比天气场能够更好地解释观测到的降水和局地天气。 然而，有证据表明，中尺度特征以受地形和天气尺度流控制的可预测模式发生。 研究的目标是继续识别和分析近岸水域和邻近沿海平原大气边界层的中尺度特征，并探索这些特征的时间演化及其与天气尺度系统的相互作用，特别是这些相互作用影响降水过程。