Mesoscale Frontal Waves

气象学家认识到，大多数强降水和恶劣天气事件是由发生在气象学家所称的风暴或中尺度上的因素控制的。这些特征具有10到100公里的典型空间尺度，没有被业务天气系统很好地采样，也没有得到很好的理解。在与国家大气研究中心的一名科学家的合作下，首席调查员将研究在大尺度天气锋面上观测到的小中尺度扰动。要解决的主要问题是产生中尺度波的水动力机制、它们与对流的相互作用以及它们对形成它们的锋区结构的影响。对这些问题的回答将加深我们对锋面边界降水分布和强度的基本了解。本研究涉及理论、数值模型和观测分析三个方面。将使用的数据是在两个专注于中尺度过程的现场调查中收集的--大西洋低压的起源实验和俄克拉荷马-堪萨斯州风暴中心(STORM代表StormScale业务和研究气象学)的初步区域实验。

Meteorologists recognize that most heavy precipitation and severe weather events are controlled by factors that occur on what is termed the stormscale or mesoscale as it is called by meteorologist. These features have typical spatial scales of 10 to 100 kilometers and are not well sampled by the operational weather system nor well understood. In a collaborative effort with a scientist from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Principal Investigator will study small mesoscale disturbances that have been observed to develop on large scale synoptic frontal surfaces. The primary questions to be addressed are the hydrodynamic mechanisms that give rise to mesoscale waves, their interactions with convection and their effect on the structure of the frontal zones on which they form. Answers to these questions will enhance our basic understanding of the distribution and intensity of precipitation along frontal boundaries. This investigation involves theory, numerical models and observational analysis. The data to be used were collected during two field investigations focussed on mesoscale processes -- the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment and the Oklahoma-Kansas Preliminary Regional Experiment for STORM-Central (STORM stands for Stormscale Operational and Research Meteorology).