Collaborative Research: RAPID - Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology 2014 (IPHEx) - Enhancing Coupled Observations of the Land-Atmosphere System and Educational Opportunities

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Natural hazards such as flashfloods and landslides occur in response to large precipitation. Flashfloods are associated with heavy rainfall rates, whereas landslides are initiated in response to large subsurface runoff, and thus may happen during the storm or long after rainfall stopped. Previous research in the Great Smoky Mountains suggests that as rain falls through fog and low level clouds, intensity of rainfall can increase by a factor of ten in a few minutes. In this project, we will collect observations to investigate rainfall enhancement processes that can be used to improve the estimation and prediction of rainfall and the response-time of subsurface runoff and streamflows. The measurements will include characterization of aerosols and CCN leading to fog and low level cloud formation, and observations of the microphysics of fog, light and heavy rainfall. Soil water and stream water samples will be collected for future tracer analysis to determine how the subsurface water moves and how the water in the streams travels within regional watersheds. Many graduate and undergraduate students from multiple universities and colleges will work side-by-side in the project. We will train the students to use a variety of novel instruments, and to collect high-quality measurements that can be used for scientific research. This project will be coordinated with the Integrated Hydrology and Precipitation Experiment (IPHEx) 2014.