Cloud and Dynamical Processes of Precipitating Warm Cumuli During Rain In Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO)

“海洋上积云中的雨”（RICO）实验将是一个多研究员的国际研究，研究信风积云的性质和这种云中暖雨的形成。在这个更广泛的实验背景下，怀俄明大学的研究人员Geerts和Vali将使用怀俄明国王空气及其w波段云雷达来确定积云中的空气运动如何与降水的发展相关联，以及信风积云如何传播和形成集群。第一个研究是建立在同样的雷达对层积云的类似研究的基础上，强调了积云细胞的运动演变与降水发展之间的联系。第二项研究测试了关于细胞繁殖的两种相互竞争的假设，其中一种假设基于下行气流驱动的冷池边缘的阵风锋的动态强迫，另一种假设基于下行气流驱动的阵风导致的地表通量增强。RICO的许多其他研究人员也将受益于怀俄明州国王空气和怀俄明州云雷达收集的数据。在此工作过程中，研究生将学习机载研究方法和机载雷达的使用，机载雷达正在成为研究云中精细尺度空气运动的重要工具。研究人员还将参加RICO研究生研讨会，以使该项目的所有研究生受益。这项研究的一个更广泛的影响将是云雷达测量结果在NASA“CloudSat”雷达规划中的潜在应用，该雷达将具有与怀俄明州云雷达相似的特性。

The "Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean" (RICO) experiment will be a multi-investigator international study of the nature of trade wind Cumulus clouds and of warm-rain formation in such clouds. Within the context of that broader experiment, investigators Geerts and Vali of the University of Wyoming will use the Wyoming King Air and its W-band cloud radar to determine how the air motions in cumulus clouds are associated with the development of precipitation and how trade-wind Cumulus propagate and generate clusters. The first study, which builds upon similar studies of stratocumulus clouds by the same radar, emphasizes the connection between kinematic evolution of the cumulus cells and the development of precipitation. The second features tests of two competing hypotheses regarding cell propagation, one based on dynamic forcing as for a gust front at the edge of the downdraft-driven cold pool, and the second based on enhancement of surface fluxes as a result of downdraft-driven gusts. Many other investigators in RICO will also benefit from the data to be collected by the Wyoming King Air and the Wyoming Cloud Radar. In the course of this work, graduate students will be educated in airborne research methods and the use of the airborne radar, which is becoming an important tool for studies of the fine-scale air motions in clouds. The investigators will also participate in the conduct of a RICO Graduate Student Seminar for the benefit of all graduate students in the project. A further broader impact of the research will be the potential use of the measurements from the cloud radar in the planning for the NASA "CloudSat" radar, a radar that will have properties similar to the Wyoming Cloud Radar.