Studies of the Mesoscale and Microscale Structures and Organization of Clouds and Precipitation in East Coast Winter Storms (GALE)

冬季气旋在沿海地区的迅速发展和加强是一个主要的天气预报问题。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莱纳州的沿海地区。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、暴风雪和大范围海岸侵蚀等恶劣天气。冷大陆性空气、暖洋流、流动大气扰动和当地地理的复杂相互作用似乎都有助于这些系统的快速发展；然而，这些过程没有得到很好的理解，而且对这些现象的预测往往也很差。1986年1月至3月，一个由大学和联邦机构组成的联盟举办了一个研究该地区冬季风暴的合作研究项目。该项目题为GALE(大西洋低涡的起源实验)，旨在提供关于海-气相互作用、行星边界层过程和中尺度气象过程的作用的详细信息。作为大风的核心调查人员之一，首席调查员在设计和执行实验方面发挥了重要作用。利用在大风期间收集的专门数据集，首席调查员将进行一些研究。研究的主要目的是描述锋面系统中的中尺度结构和降水产生机制，并探讨有组织的中尺度降水特征的机制。这项研究将包括多普勒雷达数据和来自数值模式的信息在中尺度雨带诊断中的独特应用。

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 core investigators of the GALE, the Principal Investigator was instrumental in designing and executing the experiment. Using the specialized data sets collected during the GALE, the Principal Investigator will carry out a number of studies. The major goals of the research are to describe the mesoscale structure and precipitation producing mechanisms in frontal systems and to investigate the mechanisms responsible for organized mesoscale precipitation features. Included in this research will be unique applications of Doppler radar data and information from numerical models in the diagnosis of mesoscale rainbands.