Atmospheric Boundary Identification and Delineation Experiment (ABIDE)

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This grant supports an observational study of the structure and evolution of boundaries between airmasses and other phenomena that indicate wind convergence in the atmospheric layer near the ground. The goal is to improve the understanding of the properties of these boundaries and their relation to the initiation and development of convective clouds. The observing network is situated in northern Alabama within an inhomogeneous region that includes the city of Huntsville and surrounding forests, farmland, and wetlands of the Tennessee River valley. The observing instruments consist of the University of Alabama Mobile Integrated Profiling System (MIPS), three Doppler radars, surface meteorological stations, and a radiosonde facility. The instruments will be employed continuously over a three-year period to document the characteristics of airmass boundaries in a wide variety of weather conditions. Collaboration with the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service is planned, to evaluate the contributions of the fine-scale, continuous observations to short-term weather forecasting.