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

在这项提议的工作中，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分校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，以便为威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校中尺度气象学学生的学期项目观察密歇根湖的湖风环流。威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校的研究船Neeskay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的观察结果，七年级的教室将获得SPARC的实践经验，并将组织一个开放的房子来吸引更广泛的公众。这些设施将用于收集数据以检验两个假设：(1)紧靠密歇根湖的近地表湖风热力特征与密歇根湖上的湖风热力特征没有显著差异，这是由于受湖泊影响的气团在陆地上的停留时间较短；(2)湖风环流前缘的水平和垂直温度和密度梯度在湖风季早期比在湖风季高峰时更大，这是由于气候上更大密歇根湖和邻近陆地之间的温差。拟议的研究将使大气科学专业的本科生有机会发展新的认识，并产生他们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，该项目将涉及密尔沃基公立学校的三个七年级科学班与SPARC的实践活动。最后，开放日将促进更广泛的公众参与大气观测和区域天气和气候。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。

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.