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

2015年5月至8月，一组调查人员将与智利的同事一起，在智利南部的纳韦尔布塔山脉进行为期数月的部署，以测量南半球雨季地形诱导降水。这个地理位置将使研究人员能够与加利福尼亚沿海山脉的类似山脉进行比较，以检验现有的沿海地形降水理论的普遍性。这项研究将导致南美洲南部沿海降水模式的潜在新发现。智利南部纳韦尔布塔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。尚未对南美洲沿海地区降水过程的细节进行研究。因此，在实地试验期间收集的数据将作为对现有理论或沿海地形降水的关键测试，并与研究充分的地区（如加利福尼亚沿海山脉）进行比较。同时垂直测量热力学性质、气溶胶分布、降雨大小分布和雷达剖面将有助于表征降水、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在实地测量降水方面获得宝贵的经验。此外，该小组将与智利研究人员合作，并将向智利当地的中学生介绍这些实验的结果。这项研究将产生来自世界上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式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.