Collaborative Research: Investigations of Mesoscale and Microscale Processes in Extratropical Cyclones and Mesoscale Convective Systems

合作研究：温带气旋和中尺度对流系统中尺度和微尺度过程的研究

• 批准号: 0833828
• 负责人: Robert Rauber
• 金额: $ 127.68万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0833828&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Investigations; Mesoscale; Microscale

The dynamic and microphysical processes that govern the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation within extratropical cyclones remain poorly understood. Variability in the location, type, and intensity of precipitation is often determined by precipitation banding and/or embedded convection, particularly in the northwest and warm frontal quadrant in cyclones where frontal structures and associated frontal circulations are modified by deformation flow. The Principal Investigators will execute a comprehensive field campaign and numerical modeling study that will address outstanding scientific questions targeted at improving understanding of precipitation substructures in the northwest and warm frontal quadrants of continental extratropical cyclones. In the course of this study the following questions will be addressed: 1) What are the predominant spatial patterns of organized precipitation substructures, such as bands and generating cells and how do they evolve? 2) How do frontal scale systems above and within the boundary layer such as warm fronts, trowals, cold fronts aloft, and occluded fronts relate to these precipitation substructures? 3) What are the thermodynamic and kinematic structures of these frontal systems including the distribution of moisture and vertical motion? 4) What instabilities and types of mesoscale forcing control the generation and evolution of precipitation substructures? 5) How do microphysical processes vary between the different precipitation substructures and what are the consequences? 6) Is instability triggered in ice-saturated ascent critical in some of these instances and is it through the release of the latent heat of deposition that instabilities can persist? The Principal Investigators will obtain and analyze detailed, high resolution observations of precipitation substructures using three mobile ground-based observing systems, the University of Alabama at Huntsville Mobile Integrated Profiling System, the Mobile Alabama X-band dual polarization radar, and the NSF/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mobile GPS Advanced Upper Air Sounding System, along with the NSF/NCAR C-130 Aircraft equipped with microphysical probes and the Wyoming Cloud Doppler Radar and Cloud Lidar. They will also simulate the precipitation substructures using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model at high horizontal and vertical resolution. The observations will provide the basis for the development of testable hypotheses that can be addressed systematically in the modeling studies. The field campaign (termed Profiling Of Winter Storms, or PlOWS) will have an education component, involving students from 9 universities with atmospheric science departments. Intellectual merit: The combined dynamical/microphysical observational strategy in conjunction with high resolution numerical modeling, will provide the basis for answering key scientific questions in a more complete and definitive way than heretofore possible. The new observational capabilities that will be applied in this research will provide fundamentally new information about the structure, dynamic and physical properties of these storms on scales never before observed. Broader impacts: Nationwide, nearly 7000 deaths, 600,000 injuries, and 1.4 million accidents per year are due to adverse road weather, mostly during winter, and costs associated with a single blizzard can range from $0.1M to $3.0B. The research will provide new insight concerning remote sensing of winter weather systems that can translate directly into better operational interpretation and observation strategies of winter weather mesoscale features. The research will contribute to a fundamental understanding of the relationship between the microphysical properties of clouds in winter cyclones and radar and lidar sensing of those properties. The modeling studies will determine if modeled precipitation substructures are consistent with observed features in winter storm systems and provide a better understanding of processes responsible for the occurrence of those substructures. Thus the findings will have direct application to forecasting. The education component, involving students from nine universities with atmospheric science departments, will contribute to undergraduate and graduate education and recruitment of new scientists into atmospheric field research.

对控制热带气旋内降水的空间和时间变化的动力学和微物理过程仍然知之甚少。降水的位置、类型和强度的变化通常由降水带和/或嵌入式对流决定，特别是在气旋的西北和温暖锋面象限，锋面结构和相关的锋面环流被变形流改变。主要研究人员将进行全面的实地活动和数值模拟研究，以解决突出的科学问题，旨在提高对大陆外热带气旋西北和温暖锋面象限降水子结构的理解。 在这项研究的过程中，将解决以下问题：1）有组织的降水子结构，如带和生成细胞的主要空间模式是什么，他们是如何演变的？2)边界层之上和之内的锋面尺度系统，如暖锋、高空冷锋和阻塞锋，与这些降水子结构有什么关系？3)这些锋面系统的热力学和运动学结构，包括湿度和垂直运动的分布是什么？4)什么样的不稳定性和中尺度强迫控制着降水子结构的产生和演变？5)微物理过程在不同的降水子结构之间是如何变化的，其后果是什么？6)在这些例子中，冰饱和上升过程中触发的不稳定性是否至关重要？不稳定性是否通过释放沉积物的潜热得以持续？主要研究人员将使用三个移动的地面观测系统，亚拉巴马大学亨茨维尔分校的移动的综合剖面系统、移动的亚拉巴马X波段双极化雷达和NSF/国家大气研究中心（NCAR）的移动的GPS高级高空探测系统，获得并分析降水子结构的详细高分辨率观测结果。沿着的还有配备微物理探测器的NSF/NCAR C-130飞机和怀俄明州云多普勒雷达和云激光雷达。他们还将使用天气研究和预报模式以高水平和垂直分辨率模拟降水子结构。这些观察结果将为可验证的假设的发展提供基础，这些假设可以在建模研究中系统地解决。实地活动（称为冬季风暴概况分析，或PlOWS）将有一个教育部分，涉及9所大学的学生与大气科学系。智力优点：结合动力学/微物理观测战略与高分辨率数值模拟，将提供一个更完整和明确的方式回答关键的科学问题比迄今为止可能的基础。这项研究中应用的新的观测能力将提供有关这些风暴的结构、动力学和物理特性的全新信息，其规模前所未有。更广泛的影响：在全国范围内，每年有近7000人死亡，60万人受伤和140万起事故是由于恶劣的道路天气，主要是在冬季，与一场暴风雪相关的成本从10万美元到30亿美元不等。 这项研究将提供有关冬季天气系统遥感的新见解，可以直接转化为更好的业务解释和冬季天气中尺度特征的观测战略。该研究将有助于从根本上了解冬季气旋中云的微物理特性与雷达和激光雷达对这些特性的感知之间的关系。模拟研究将确定模拟的降水子结构是否与冬季风暴系统中观察到的特征一致，并更好地了解导致这些子结构发生的过程。因此，研究结果将直接应用于预测。教育部分涉及9所设有大气科学系的大学的学生，将有助于本科生和研究生教育，并为大气领域研究招聘新的科学家。