Collaborative Research: The Great Plains Irrigation Experiment (GRAINEX) for Understanding the Influence of Irrigation on the Planetary Boundary Layer and Weather Events

本研究项目旨在调查灌溉对北部大平原地区，特别是内布拉斯加州东南部地区行星边界层大气演变的影响。本研究将确定春季快速开始灌溉的影响以及由此导致的中尺度陆-气耦合变化。西肯塔基大学和阿拉巴马大学亨茨维尔分校的研究生将获得研究/使用天气/气候模型的经验，并获得实地经验。这些学生也将由NCAR和NASA-GSFC专家指导。同时，该项目还将为当地中学的K-12学生提供科学教育。对于陆地-大气相互作用和地表水文群落，提出的工作可能会带来有趣的发现，以促进我们对当地灌溉和降水之间联系的理解。南方大平原是一个土壤湿度对局地大气边界层过程、局地云形成和降水具有重要影响的“热点”。农业活动引起的土地利用变化和灌溉可能是影响当地陆地-大气相互作用的重要因素。本研究将探讨灌溉水用量的季节性变化及其对边界层大气的影响，以及这些变化所涉及的各种过程和机制。这项研究将与大学大气研究联盟（UCAR）的低层大气观测设施（LAOF）合作收集实地数据，并进行模式模拟，以进一步了解灌溉对大气的影响。为了进一步了解陆地-大气相互作用和耦合，本研究将使用以内布拉斯加州东南部为中心的天气研究与预报（WRF）模型，该地区由于广泛应用灌溉而具有很强的土壤湿度梯度。

This research project seeks to investigate the impacts of irrigation on the evolution of the planetary boundary layer atmosphere in a region of the Northern Great Plains, specifically in southeastern Nebraska. This study will determine the impacts of the rapid commencement of irrigation in the spring and resultant changes in the land-atmosphere (L-A) coupling at the mesoscale. Graduate students at Western Kentucky University and the University of Alabama at Huntsville will gain experience in studying/working with weather/climate models and gain field experience. These students will be guided by NCAR and NASA-GSFC experts also. Meanwhile, this project will also contribute science education to K-12 students in local middle schools. For land-atmospheric interaction and surface hydrology communities, the proposed work could potentially bring interesting findings to advance our understanding regarding the connection between local irrigation and precipitation.The Southern Great Plain (SGP) is a "hot spot" where soil moisture plays an important role affecting the local atmospheric boundary layer processes and local cloud formation as well as precipitation. Land use change and irrigation due to agricultural activities could be important factors affecting local land-atmospheric interactions. This research will investigate the intra-seasonal changes in application in irrigation and their impacts on the boundary layer atmosphere and various processes and mechanisms involved in these changes. This study will collect field data in collaboration with the Lower Atmospheric Observation Facilities (LAOF) of the University Consortium for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and conduct model simulations to further understand the impacts of irrigation on the atmosphere. To further understand land-atmosphere interactions and coupling, this study will use the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model centered on southeastern Nebraska, a region containing strong soil moisture gradients due to widespread application of irrigation.