Convective Forcing Mechanisms over the East Pacific Warm Pool in EPIC2001

EPIC（Eastern Pacific Investigation of Climate Processes in the Coupled Ocean-Atmospheric System）是美国气候变率和可预报性（CLIVAR）计划的一项活动。EPIC 2001由四个部分组成，重点是（i）热带辐合带（ITCZ）暖池现象;（ii）进入ITCZ的越赤道气流;（iii）上层海洋结构和混合;以及（iv）东南信风区边界层云特性的探索性研究。EPIC 2001的实地调查阶段定于2001年9月1日至10月15日期间进行，为期6周。除了大气科学部颁发的八个奖项外，这项合作研究还获得了NSF海洋科学部和NOAA全球项目办公室颁发的奖项。在这个奖项下，PI将在实地阶段收集各种数据集，并使用这些数据来检查东太平洋ITCZ对流的机制。这项工作将是制定和验证海洋-大气耦合全球环流模型大气组成部分非绝热过程参数化的关键。这项工作很重要，因为它将改善对热带太平洋东部气候变化的理解和建模。

EPIC (Eastern Pacific Investigation of Climate processes in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system) is an activity of the US Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) Program. EPIC 2001 consists of four components focussing on (i) intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) warm pool phenomena; (ii) cross-equatorial inflow into the ITCZ; (iii) upper ocean structure and mixing; and (iv) an exploratory study of boundary layer cloud properties in the southeasterly tradewind regime. The field phase of EPIC 2001 is scheduled for a 6-week period during the interval Sept 1 to Oct 15, 2001. In addition to the eight awards made by the Division of Atmospheric Sciences, this collaborative research has awards made by NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences and NOAA's Office of Global Programs.Under this award, the PI will gather various data sets in the field phase, and use these to examine the set of mechanisms that force convection in the east Pacific ITCZ. The work will be key to the development and verification of parameterizations for diabatic processes in the atmospheric components of coupled ocean-atmosphere global circulation models. The work is important because it will improve understanding and modeling of climate variability over the eastern tropical Pacific.