AGS-PRF: Warm Rain in Complex Coastal Terrain--Improving Process-level Understanding and Model Representation

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Terrain-forced precipitation in coastal regions is sensitive to a variety of factors, and the amount of precipitation that is produced remains difficult to model and forecast. On the Pacific coast of the United States, this precipitation can be a hazard though flooding and mudslides, but it also provides a significant fraction of the water resources used for agriculture and human consumption. This postdoctoral research fellowship project will improve understanding of terrain-forced precipitation with the eventual goal of improving forecast accuracy. The project will support an early career researcher while also containing plans for community engagement to more broadly improve public understanding of science. This project is specifically for an analysis and modeling effort to improve understanding of rain-producing microphysical processes, especially in areas with coastal terrain. The 2015-2016 Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX), based in coastal Washington state, provided a wealth of data regarding precipitation over topographically complex regions. The researcher plans to produce a comprehensive description of warm rain processes offshore of and over windward slopes of the Olympic Mountains by using radar retrievals to promote a three-dimensional understanding of microphysics and precipitation production. The main sources of data will be radar, satellites, disdrometers, and rain gauges. A set of case studies of individual events will be conducted, and comparisons made to numerical data from the Weather Research and Forecast model.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.