EAGER: Collaborative Research: Chilean Coastal Orographic Precipitation Experiment pilot project (CCOPE-2015)

摘要一个研究小组，与同事在智利，将进行为期数月（2015年5月至8月）部署到智利南部的Nahuelbuta山脉，以测量南半球雨季的地形诱导降水。 这一地理位置将使研究人员能够测试现有的沿海地形降水理论的一般性，并与加州沿海山脉沿着的类似山脉进行比较。 这项研究将导致对南美洲南部海岸线沿着沿海降水模式的潜在新发现。 智利南部Nahuelbuta山脉的地理位置为研究气溶胶和小尺度运动在地形降水中的作用提供了一个独特的位置。 降水过程的细节还没有在南美洲沿海地区进行过研究。 因此，在这个现场实验中收集的数据将作为现有理论或沿海地形降水的关键测试，并与充分研究的地区，如加州的沿海山脉进行比较。 同时垂直测量的热力学性质，气溶胶分布，降雨量分布和雷达廓线将有助于表征降水，气溶胶负荷和小尺度对流运动之间的关系。更广泛的影响两名研究生将获得宝贵的经验，在现场测量降水。 此外，该小组将与智利研究人员合作，并将教育智利当地的中学生了解这些实验的结果。 这项研究将产生来自世界上一个现代仪器服务不足的地区的观测数据集。 这些数据将用于评价数值模型和测试基于遥感的定量降水估计算法。

AbstractA team of investigators, working with colleagues in Chile, will undertake a multi-month (May-August, 2015) deployment to the Nahuelbuta Mountains of Southern Chile to measure orographic induced precipitation during the southern hemisphere wet season. This geographic location will allow the investigators to test the generality of existing theories of coastal orographic precipitation in comparison with similar mountains along the Coastal Range of California. This research will lead to potential new discoveries of coastal precipitation patterns along the southern South America coastline. Intellectual MeritThe geographic location of the Nahuelbuta Mountains of southern Chile provides a unique location to study the role of aerosols and small-scale motions in orographic precipitation. Details of precipitation processes have not been examined for coastal South America. As such, data collected during this field experiment will serve as a critical test of existing theories or coastal orographic precipitation and compared with well-studied areas such as the coastal mountain ranges of California. Simultaneous vertical measurements of thermodynamic properties, aerosol distributions, rainfall size distributions, and radar profiles will aid in the characterization of relationships between precipitation, aerosol loading, and small scale convective motions. Broader ImpactsTwo graduate students will gain invaluable experience in field measurements of precipitation. Additionally, this team will work with Chilean researchers and will educate local secondary school children from Chile on the outcomes of these experiments. This research will result in observational datasets from an area of the world largely under-served by modern instrumentation. These data will be used in the evaluation of numerical models and testing of quantitative precipitation estimation algorithms based on remote sensing.