A Lake-ICE Project: Operations Center and Multi-Scale Numerical Investigations

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

9708314 Tripoli Much of the energy that drives atmospheric circulations is obtained through exchanges of heat, moisture, and momentum with the surface. Lake-effect weather events, where cold air masses are rapidly modified over the Great Lakes, are excellent natural laboratories for studying these exchanges. The Lake-Induced Convection Experiment (Lake-ICE) is a multiple-Principal Investigator project which seeks to use this natural laboratory to determine how boundary layer growth processes are controlled by mesoscale boundary layer convective structures and how the modified boundary layer effects the production of precipitation and the larger scale meteorological conditions. Under this award the Principal Investigator proposes to investigate how the convective planetary boundary layer organizes in response to the evolving environmental flow structure. The researcher will utilize a suite of advanced numerical models along with observations to be collected during the Lake-ICE. The ultimate objective is to bridge the gap in understanding of the large eddies in the dry convective planetary layer that occurs on the upwind side of the Great Lakes to that of the linear cloud rolls on the lee side. If successful, this research will lead to a unified theory of linear cloud roll genesis and the interaction of the factors responsible for that genesis with the larger-scale environmental flows. This could lead eventually to better forecasts of timing, location and magnitude of lake-effect snow events. ***