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

“大洋上的积云中的雨”(RICO)实验将是一项多人参与的国际研究，目的是研究信风积云的性质以及这种云中暖雨的形成。在这项更广泛的实验中，怀俄明大学的研究人员Geerts和Vali将使用怀俄明州国王航空公司及其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生成星团。第一项研究建立在同一雷达对层积云的类似研究基础上，强调了积云的运动演变与降水发展之间的联系。第二部分对两种相互竞争的关于单体传播的假设进行了检验，一种是基于下沉气流驱动的冷池边缘的阵风锋面的动力强迫，另一种是由于下沉气流驱动的阵风导致地表通量的增强。RICO的许多其他调查人员也将受益于怀俄明州国王航空公司和怀俄明州云层雷达将收集的数据。在这项工作中，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细尺度空气运动的重要工具。调查人员还将参加为该项目所有研究生举办的RICO研究生研讨会。这项研究的另一个更广泛的影响将是在规划NASA“云卫星”雷达时可能使用云雷达的测量结果，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.