Microphysics and Microdynamics of Ice Crystals in Clouds

层云和层积云在世界上许多沿海地区有规律地形成和消散。 这些云不仅是区域天气的一个重要因素，它们还通过对太阳辐射的影响来影响区域和全球气候。 该项目的目标是提高沿海地区预报低空云的能力。 目的是确定中尺度环流的重要性和云的微物理特性对云的行为。 该方法基于由跨学科遥控飞机研究中心（CIRPAS）操作的仪表化双水獭飞机和地面设备（包括风廓线仪/RASS系统，激光云高计和毫米波长雷达）的观测。 由海军研究办公室资助的独立项目包括飞行时间、雷达分析和在飞机上安装用于云物理研究的新设备的费用。 王博士将与迈阿密大学的布鲁斯阿尔布雷希特博士以及来自CIRPAS和加州理工学院的研究人员密切合作，以确保不同小组的实验得到有效协调。 这项研究将使人们更全面地了解沿海地区层状云的演变，并更好地将这些云纳入数值预报模式。

Stratus and stratocumulus clouds regularly form and dissipate in many coastal regions of the world. These clouds are not only an important element of regional weather, they also influence regional and global climate through their effect on solar radiation. The goal of this project is to improve the ability to forecast low-level clouds in coastal regions. The objectives are to determine the importance of mesoscale circulations and the microphysical properties of the clouds on cloud behavior. The approach is based on observations with the instrumented Twin Otter aircraft operated by the Center for Interdisciplinary Remote Piloted Aircraft Study (CIRPAS) and ground-based equipment including a wind profiler/RASS system, a laser ceilometer, and a millimeter-wavelength radar. Separate projects funded by the Office of Naval Research cover the cost of the airplane time, the radar analysis, and the installation on the airplane of new equipment for cloud physics research. Dr. Wang will collaborate closely with Dr. Bruce Albrecht of the University of Miami and researchers from CIRPAS and Cal Tech to insure that the experiments of the different groups are effectively coordinated. The research should lead to a more complete understanding of the evolution of stratiform clouds in coastal regions and better ways of incorporating these clouds in numerical forecasting models.