RAPID: Upper-Air Observations over the Far Eastern Pacific (OTREC; ChocoJEX II)

RAPID：远东太平洋高空观测（OTREC；ChocoJEX II）

• 批准号: 1922918
• 负责人: John Mejia
• 金额: $ 19.94万
• 依托单位: Nevada System of Higher Education, Desert Research Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-03-15 至 2020-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1922918&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Upper; Air; Observations; over

This award supports work on the Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) field campaign. The campaign seeks to understand the formation and development of tropical convective clouds and associated heavy rainfall in the adjacent but distinct regions of the eastern equatorial Pacific and the southwest Caribbean, along with their evolution over the intervening portions of Central America and Colombia. The campaign also examines the genesis and evolution of easterly waves, large westward-moving atmospheric disturbances (wavelengths of about 2,000 km) which occur on a weekly basis in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The full set of campaign awards is discoverable on the nsf.gov/awardsearch webpage by a keyword search on "OTREC".Work supported under this award contributes to the campaign by adding a weather station in a region of interest. The station provides continuous surface observations (winds, pressure, temperature, etc) as well as weather balloon launches to record vertical profiles of atmospheric conditions. It is located at Nuqui (6N, 77W), on the west coast of Colombia. The site is chosen for its proximity to the Choco' jet, a low-level jet flowing northward over Choco' Province, which extends from the Serrania del Baudo', the western fork of the Andes in Colombia, to the Pacific coast.The jet is of interest to OTREC because it extends significantly offshore and may contribute substantially to rainfall in the OTREC study area. It may also play a key role in the generation of easterly waves. The PIs hypothesize that the diurnal cycle of heating and cooling over the western slopes of the Andes accounts for the diurnal cycle of offshore convection, despite differences in timing. They also argue that the Andean topography plays a role in organizing the rain-bearing mesoscale convective systems found over Choco' Province and the adjacent ocean.The Nuqui station will operate through August and September, with balloon launches four times per day when the OTREC aircraft is collecting data over the eastern Pacific (see OTREC award 1758513). The station is also complementary to rainwater sampling under OTREC award 1759255, for which Nuqui is one of three collection sites. The project is also a follow-on to ChocoJex, a Colombian-led field campaign focused specifically on the Choco' jet.A better understanding of extreme precipitation and its relationship to low-level jets is desirable for societal as well as scientific reasons. Research under this award directly addresses these issues, with a particular focus on hazardous mesoscale convective systems. The work also addresses easterly waves, which can spawn destructive hurricanes. In addition, the award supports a partnership between US and Colombian scientists and thus promotes capacity building in the international research enterprise.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项支持热带东太平洋对流组织(OTREC)实地活动的工作。该运动力求了解赤道东太平洋和加勒比海西南部邻近但不同区域的热带对流云及其相关强降雨的形成和发展，以及它们在中美洲和哥伦比亚中间部分的演变。该运动还研究了加勒比和东太平洋每周发生的东风波的起源和演变，东风波是一种向西移动的大的大气扰动(波长约为2 000公里)。在nsf.gov/awdearch网页上搜索“OTREC”即可找到全套活动奖项。该奖项支持的工作通过在感兴趣的地区增加一个气象站来为活动做出贡献。空间站提供连续的地面观测(风、气压、温度等)以及气象气球发射，以记录大气条件的垂直剖面。它位于哥伦比亚西海岸的努基(北纬6度，西经77度)。之所以选择这个地点，是因为它靠近乔科急流，这是一种低空急流，从哥伦比亚安第斯山脉的西部分叉塞拉尼亚-德尔博多‘延伸到太平洋海岸，从哥伦比亚的乔科省向北流动。该急流对OTREC来说是有意义的，因为它在近海显著延伸，可能对OTREC研究区域的降雨有很大贡献。它也可能在东风波的产生中起到关键作用。PI假设，尽管时间不同，但安第斯山脉西坡的加热和冷却的日循环解释了近海对流的日循环。他们还认为，安第斯地形在组织乔科省和邻近海域发现的含雨中尺度对流系统方面发挥了作用。努基空间站将在8月至9月期间运行，当OTREC飞机在东太平洋上空收集数据时，每天将发射四次气球(见OTREC奖1758513)。该站也是对OTREC奖1759255项下的雨水采样的补充，努基是三个采集点之一。该项目也是ChocoJex的后续项目，ChocoJex是哥伦比亚领导的一项现场活动，专门关注乔科喷流。出于社会和科学原因，更好地了解极端降水及其与低空喷流的关系是可取的。该奖项下的研究直接涉及这些问题，特别关注危险的中尺度对流系统。这项工作还涉及可能引发破坏性飓风的东风波。此外，该奖项支持美国和哥伦比亚科学家之间的合作伙伴关系，从而促进国际研究企业的能力建设。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。