Collaborative Research: Impact of Convectively-Generated Gravity Waves on Mesoscale Convective Systems

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Gravity waves, generated by thunderstorms, are commonly associated with nighttime thunderstorm clusters called "Mesoscale Convective Systems" (MCSs); storm systems that are frequent producers of heavy rainfall and damaging winds. These gravity waves modify both the environment surrounding the MCS and its internal circulation. Considering that even small changes in the surrounding environment or internal circulation have been shown to affect MCS development, improved understanding of these wave processes is important to successful MCS prediction. Gravity waves have been linked to storm intensification and potential severe weather, so improved understanding of these features would lead to improved immediate, short-term forecasts of severe weather risks. This research supports an early career female investigator and one graduate student, and also involves a collaboration between a university and private industry involved in atmospheric research. Knowledge of the MCS gravity wave generation-feedback process, including the influence of microphysical perturbations on this process, will lead to better understanding of MCS development, as well as the sensitivity of convection to these environmental changes. Understanding the extent to which changes in the environment due to convectively generated gravity waves need to be captured to correctly simulate MCSs is a significant step to understanding MCS predictability. Furthermore, knowledge of the gravity wave characteristics produced by an MCS allows inferences to be made about the phase, depth, and intensity of the latent heating profile without direct microphysical observations that can be resource-intensive to obtain. Understanding of the influence of microphysical perturbations upon the generation and impacts of gravity waves will be useful in microphysical parameterization development, leading to better numerical model prediction of convection in general. Model simulations will be compared against actual data from the Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) Field Campaign.