Influence of Natural Cloud Seeding on Lake-effect Snow System Microphysical and Entrainment Processes

自然播云是指在大气高层产生雪粒，然后降落并影响低层云和降水的过程。在这个奖项中，将调查自然云播对美国五大湖湖效应降雪的影响。该项目的主要社会影响将是通过更好地选择数值天气模式参数来改进对湖效应降雪位置和强度的预测。这里研究的过程也可能有更广泛的应用，比如在开放水域增加的北极地区。该项目将通过多名研究生参与，帮助培养下一代科学家。本研究旨在分析自然播云对湖效应层微物理特性和湍流风暴动力学的潜在影响。该研究将利用2013-2014年安大略省冬季湖效应系统（OWLeS）现场项目的数据，特别是来自怀俄明大学King Air研究飞机的现场数据，以及来自King Air上的怀俄明云雷达和地面多普勒轮式雷达的遥感数据。研究的三个主要科学目标是：1)确定“外部”雪源对湖效应暴风雪微物理和热力学演化的重要性；2)确定播种对湖效应边界层卷带带的影响；3)编制湖效应系统微物理和湍流剖面目录，以便与环境条件进行比较。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Natural cloud seeding refers to the process by which snow particles are produced at higher levels in the atmosphere and then fall and impact clouds and precipitation at a lower level. In this award, the impact of natural cloud seeding on lake-effect snowfall in the US Great Lakes will be investigated. The main societal impact of the project will be through the potential for improved forecasting of lake-effect snowfall location and intensity through better choices of numerical weather model parameters. The processes investigated here may also have broader applications, such as to Arctic locations that have increased open water. The project will help to train the next generation of scientists by involving multiple graduate students.This research is for the analysis of the potential for natural cloud seeding to impact microphysical properties and turbulent storm dynamics in the lake-effect layer. The research will make use of data from the 2013-2014 Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS) field project, particularly in situ data from the University of Wyoming King Air research aircraft and remote sensing data from the Wyoming Cloud Radar on the King Air and the ground-based Doppler on Wheels radars. Three main scientific objectives will be investigated: 1) Determine the importance of “external” sources of snow on the microphysical and thermodynamic evolution of lake-effect snowstorms, 2) Determine the impacts of seeding on the lake-effect boundary layer entrainment zone, and 3) Develop a catalog of microphysical and turbulence profiles in lake-effect systems for comparison with environmental conditions.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.