Observational and Theoretical Study of the Baroclinic Boundary Layer Processes During GALE

冬季气旋在沿海地区的迅速发展和加强是一个主要的天气预报问题。在东海岸，气旋风暴和锋面系统的发展经常发生在卡罗莱纳州的沿海地区。这些天气系统可能会导致人口稠密的东北走廊出现冻雨、大雪、暴风雪和大范围海岸侵蚀等恶劣天气。为了研究这些现象，美国国家科学基金会赞助了一项名为大西洋低涡起源实验(GALE)的密集实地调查。大风的实地阶段是一项为期两个月的多部门工作，于1986年冬天执行。作为大风的一部分，首席调查员在设计和实施一个网络方面发挥了重要作用，该网络研究海洋上空大气最低三公里处即海洋边界层中热量和水分的重新分配。MBL和海洋-大气相互作用过程似乎在气旋的形成或现有气旋的加强中发挥重要作用。对数据的初步分析表明，墨西哥湾流附近的热通量非常大。首席调查员将利用在大风期间收集的数据和数值模式，继续其关于MBL的工作。其中一个目标是测试和制定可用于数值天气预报模式的边界层过程的新近似。

The rapid development and intensification of winter cyclones in coastal regions presents a major weather forecasting problem. Along the eastern seaboard, the development of cyclonic storms and frontal systems often occurs along the coastal region of the Carolinas. These weather systems may lead to severe weather in the heavily populated Northeast Corridor in the form of freezing rain, heavy snowfall, blizzards and extensive coastal erosion. In order to study these phenomena, the National Science Foundation sponsored an intensive field investigation known as the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE). The field phase of the GALE was a two-month, multiagency endeavor executed during the winter of 1986. As part of the GALE, the Principal Investigator was instrumental in designing and implementing a network to study the redistribution of heat and moisture in the lowest three kilometers of the atmosphere over the ocean which is known as the marine boundary layer (MBL). The MBL and ocean-atmosphere interaction processes appear to play an important role in the genesis of cyclones or in the intensification of an existing cyclone. Preliminary analysis of the data has shown exceptionally large heat fluxes in the vicinity of the Gulf Stream. The Principal Investigator will continue his work on the MBL using a combination of data collected during the GALE and numerical models. One goal is to test and formulate new approximations for boundary layer processes which can be used in numerical weather forecast models.