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

“海洋上空积云中的雨”实验将是一项由多名研究人员参加的国际研究，研究信风积云的性质和这种云中的暖雨形成。在这个更广泛的实验背景下，怀俄明州大学的研究人员Geberg和Vali将使用怀俄明州的King Air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以及信风积云如何传播和产生集群。第一项研究，建立在相同的雷达层积云的类似研究，强调积云细胞的运动学演变和降水的发展之间的联系。第二个功能测试的两个竞争的假设细胞的传播，一个是基于动态强迫的阵风前在边缘的下沉气流驱动的冷池，第二个基于增强的表面通量作为结果的下沉气流驱动的阵风。RICO的许多其他调查人员也将受益于怀俄明州空中国王和怀俄明州云雷达收集的数据。在这项工作的过程中，研究生将接受机载研究方法和机载雷达使用方面的教育，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。调查人员还将参加RICO研究生研讨会的进行，以使该项目的所有研究生受益。该研究的另一个更广泛的影响将是云雷达的测量结果可能用于NASA“CloudSat”雷达的规划，该雷达将具有与怀俄明州云雷达类似的特性。

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.