AGS-FIRP Track 1: Learning by Doing: Observing the Lake Michigan Lake-Breeze Circulation

这项拟议工作中的PI将在2024年4月29日至2024年5月10日期间部署威斯康星大学麦迪逊空间科学与工程中心(SSEC)便携式大气研究中心(SPARC)以及相关仪器，以观测威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校中尺度气象学学生学期项目的密歇根湖湖风环流。威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校的尼斯凯号科考船将部署在密歇根湖进行为期一天的同步观测。本科生将在课堂上使用新观察，七年级课堂将获得与SPARC的实践经验，这些设施将被用来收集数据以检验两个假设：(1)由于受湖泊影响的气团在陆地上停留的时间较短，紧邻密歇根湖的近地表湖风热力学特征与密歇根湖上的对应湖风热力特征没有显著差异；(2)湖风环流前沿的水平和垂直温度和密度梯度在湖风季节的早期比季节高峰期的幅度更大，因为密歇根湖和邻近的陆地块之间的气候温差更大。这项拟议的研究将使大气科学专业的本科生有机会发展新的理解，生成自己的湖风环流概念模型，并将课堂上的理论应用于观测研究。此外，该项目将包括密尔沃基公立学校的三个七年级理科班级与SPARC一起开展实践活动。最后，开放参观将促进公众更广泛地参与大气观测以及区域天气和气候。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。

The PI in this proposed work will deploy the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) Portable Atmospheric Research Center (SPARC) along with the associated instrumentation from April 29, 2024, through May 10, 2024, in order to observe the Lake Michigan lake-breeze circulations for term projects for mesoscale meteorology students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Concurrent observations will be taken for a single day by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Research Vessel Neeskay which will be deployed in Lake Michigan. Undergraduate students will use the new observations in the classroom, seventh-grade classrooms will gain hands-on experience with the SPARC, and an open house will be organized to engage the broader public.These facilities will be used to collect data to test two hypotheses: (1) near-surface lake breeze thermodynamic characteristics immediately adjacent to Lake Michigan are not significantly different from their counterparts over Lake Michigan owing to the short residence time of the lake-influenced airmass over land and (2) horizontal and vertical temperature and density gradients along the leading edge of the lake-breeze circulation have greater magnitudes early in the lake-breeze season than they do during the season’s peak because of the climatologically greater temperature differential between Lake Michigan and adjacent land masses. The proposed research will allow undergraduate atmospheric science majors the opportunity to develop new understanding and generate their own conceptual models of lake-breeze circulations and to apply theories from the classroom to observational research. Further, the project will involve three seventh-grade science classes from Milwaukee Public Schools in hands-on activities with the SPARC. Finally, an open house will facilitate broader public engagement with atmospheric observation and regional weather and climate.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.