Collaborative Research: Radar Observations of Convective Lifecycle near Argentina's Sierras de Cordoba

可以说，世界上最强烈的风暴发生在阿根廷中西部的山区。我们目前对该地区风暴的了解主要来自气象卫星，这些卫星提供了有价值的快照，但缺乏充分理解和预测其形成所需的空间和时间细节。RELAMPAGO（带电，闪电和中尺度/微尺度过程的遥感与自适应地面观测）项目旨在了解这些强烈的风暴如何在科尔多瓦山脉附近启动，发展和产生恶劣天气。通过使用最先进的地面仪器，对这些风暴的整个生命周期以及它们形成的环境进行详细观察，将允许与美国的严重风暴进行比较，以帮助了解和改善阿根廷和世界各地强对流的预测。该项目涉及华盛顿大学和科罗拉多州立大学的研究人员，包括参与2018年11月1日至12月15日在阿根廷科尔多瓦附近发生的RELAMPAGO的现场阶段，以研究哪些因素导致风暴中强烈的向上运动，这些风暴如何在山脉附近迅速增长，以及这些过程和环境条件与世界上其他有强烈风暴的山区相比如何。为了实现这一目标，一个由固定和移动的研究气象雷达、大气探测、闪电阵列和卫星组成的网络将为实现这些科学目标提供必要的测量。这些研究活动还将促进国际合作，并提供机会接触国内外公众，以突出该项目的目标，促进科学，并成为未来几代大气科学家的榜样。 卫星研究突出了阿根廷科尔多瓦山脉附近强对流系统的集中启动和高速增长。RELAMPAGO（带电，闪电和中尺度/微尺度过程的遥感与自适应地面观测）实地活动旨在通过利用该地区反复出现的集中地形初始化来了解导致该对流生命周期和相关恶劣天气的过程。该研究将使用RELAMPAGO雷达网络，包括NSF支持的双极化，多普勒，双波长S-PolKa雷达，记录这些强烈风暴的整个生命周期，并与RELAMPAGO环境观测同步，确定陡峭地形和局部的相对作用和大规模大气流动模式在SDC附近这些系统的快速高档增长和维护。这项研究的结果将提供风暴生命周期的第一个连续视图，并将提供一种手段，与其他山区的深风暴进行比较，以开发概念模型，改善这些危险事件的全球预测。该项目由NSF国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

Arguably the most intense storms in the world occur in mountainous west central Argentina. Our current knowledge of the storms in this region largely comes from weather satellites, which provide valuable snapshots but lack spatial and temporal details needed to fully understand and predict their formation. The RELAMPAGO (Remote sensing of Electrification, Lightning, and Mesoscale/microscale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations) project seeks to understand how these intense storms initiate, grow, and produce severe weather in the vicinity of the Sierras de Cordoba. By using state-of-the-art ground-based instruments, detailed observations of these storms throughout their lifecycle, and the environment in which they form, will allow for a comparison with severe storms over the U.S. to help understand and improve prediction of intense convection in Argentina and around the world. This project, involving researchers at the University of Washington and Colorado State University, includes participation in the field phase of RELAMPAGO occurring 1 November - 15 December 2018 near Cordoba, Argentina to study which factors lead to intense upward motion in the storms, how these storms rapidly grow upscale near the mountains, and how these processes and environmental conditions compare to other mountainous regions of the world with intense, severe storms. To achieve this goal, a network of fixed and mobile research weather radars, atmospheric soundings, lightning arrays, and satellites will provide the necessary measurements for addressing these science objectives. These research activities will also foster international collaborations and provide the opportunity to reach out to the public, both locally and abroad, to highlight the goals of this project, promote science, and serve as role models for future generations of atmospheric scientists. Satellite studies have highlighted focused initiation and upscale growth of intense convective systems near the Sierras de Cordoba (SDC) in Argentina. The RELAMPAGO (Remote sensing of Electrification, Lightning, and Mesoscale/microscale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations) field campaign aims to understand the processes responsible for this convective lifecycle and associated severe weather by leveraging the recurring focused topographic initiation of this region. The research will use the RELAMPAGO radar network, including the NSF-supported, dual-polarization, Doppler, dual-wavelength S-PolKa radar, to document the full lifecycle of these intense storms and, with coincident RELAMPAGO environmental observations, determine the relative roles of steep terrain and localized and large-scale atmospheric flow patterns in the rapid upscale growth and maintenance of these systems near the SDC. Results from this research will provide the first continuous view of the storm lifecycle and will provide a means to compare with deep storms in other mountainous regions to develop conceptual models for improving global prediction of these hazardous events. This project is co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.