Collaborative Research: WINTRE-MIX: Winter Precipitation Type Research Multi-scale Experiment

在接近冰点的天气条件下，可能有多种地表降水类型，包括：雨、毛毛雨、冻雨、冰雨、湿雪、冰球和雪。这种接近冰点的降水影响了美国和加拿大的大片地区，影响了航空、公路运输、发电和配电、冬季娱乐、生态和水文学。该奖项授予一项实地实验，名为冬季降水类型研究多尺度实验(WINTRE-MIX)，其首要目标是提高对各种过程如何影响冬季天气事件期间降水类型和降水量的可变性和可预测性的理解。该项目有可能改进对这些事件的预测，从而产生直接的社会影响。此外，该项目将有大量的学生参与、公共外展活动和公民科学参与。WINTRE-MIX活动将在加拿大魁北克南部和美国纽约州北部和弗吉尼亚州进行。加拿大国家研究委员会的Convair-580研究飞机和伊利诺伊大学的移动雷达将在2022年2月和3月与一系列地面仪器一起部署，以进行观测，这些观测可用于确定相互作用的热力学、动力学和微物理过程，以确定接近冰点的降水类型。更具体地说，该项目有三个主要的科学问题，将通过观察、分析和建模来解决：1)中尺度动力学如何调节接近冰点的降水，2)微尺度过程如何调节接近冰点的降水，以及3)多尺度过程如何结合来确定接近冰点的降水的可预报性？这一奖项反映了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。

During near-freezing weather conditions, a diversity of surface precipitation types are possible, including: rain, drizzle, freezing rain, freezing drizzle, wet snow, ice pellets, and snow. Such near freezing precipitation affects wide swaths of the United States and Canada, impacting aviation, road transportation, power generation and distribution, winter recreation, ecology, and hydrology. This award is for a field experiment, named the Winter Precipitation Type Research Multi-scale Experiment (WINTRE-MIX) with the overarching goal of improving understanding of how a variety of processes influence the variability and predictability of the type and amount of precipitation that falls during winter weather events. The project has direct societal impact through the potential for improved forecasting of these events. Additionally, the project will have significant student involvement, public outreach events, and citizen science participation.The WINTRE-MIX campaign will be conducted in southern Quebec, Canada and northern NY and VT in the United States. The Canadian National Research Council Convair-580 research aircraft and the University of Illinois mobile radars will be deployed along with a host of surface-based instrumentation in February and March of 2022 to make observations that can be used to determine the thermodynamic, dynamic, and microphysical processes that interact to determine near-freezing precipitation type. More specifically, the project has three overarching scientific questions that will be addressed using observations, analysis, and modeling: 1) How do mesoscale dynamics modulate near-freezing precipitation, 2) How do microscale processes modulate near-freezing precipitation, and 3) How do multi-scale processes combine to determine the predictability of near-freezing precipitation?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.