RUI: Field Study and Modeling of Lake-Effect Snow Near Lake Ontario

任何住在五大湖背风处的人都熟悉一种被称为“湖效应暴风雪”的中尺度气象现象。湖效应雪是相对局部的天气事件，可以导致一些地区收到多达100厘米的雪，而其他地方只有几十公里远，可能几乎没有痕迹。特别是安大略湖，由于其长度和方向相对于盛行风，有一个异常明确的雪带，年降雪量超过500厘米。湖效应雪已经被认识和研究了一段时间，在确定成因方面取得了很大进展。然而，我们的知识中仍然存在空白，无法持续预测大雪的时间、地点和数量就是明证。1990年冬天，一家私营电力公司、美国国家海洋和大气管理局和宾夕法尼亚州立大学将在一个名为安大略湖冬季风暴项目（LOWS）的联合实地努力中进行合作。该项目将侧重于提高对安大略湖背风处当地强降雪的了解和预测。现场部分将带来先进的中尺度测量系统，如多普勒雷达，风和热力学剖面系统，以及微波辐射计。在美国国家科学基金会本科院校研究计划（RUI）下，主要研究人员（pi）提议参与低成本研究项目。这些专业人员不仅为该项目带来了他们的气象专业知识，而且还将通过部署两个移动大气探测系统直接为观测工作做出贡献，这两个系统将由该地区RUI学院的本科生操作。野外试验后的研究将集中于诊断研究和数值模拟，最终目的是更好地了解湖效应雪形成和维持的环境结构和物理机制。pi的活动很好地补充了参与该项目的其他科学家。//

Anyone who lives to the lee of the Great Lakes is familiar with a mesoscale meteorological phenomenon know as "lake effect snow storms". Lake effect snows are relatively local weather events that can cause some areas to receive as much as 100 cm of snow while other locations only a few tens of kilometers away may experience barely a trace. In particular, Lake Ontario, because of its length and orientation with respect to the prevailing winds, has an unusually well defined snowbelt with annual snowfall accumulations that exceed 500 cm. Lake effect snows have been recognized and studied for some time with much progress having been made in determining causative factors. Gaps, however, still exist in our knowledge as is evidenced by an inability to consistently predict the timing, location and amount of heavy snows. During the winter of 1990, a private power company, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Pennsylvania State University will collaborate in a joint field effort called the Lake Ontario Winter Storms Project (LOWS). The project will focus on improved understanding and prediction of intense local snowfalls to the lee of Lake Ontario. The field component will bring to bear on this problem advanced mesoscale measuring systems such as Doppler radar, wind and thermodynamic profiling systems, and a microwave radiometer. Under the National Science Foundation's program for Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI), the Principal Investigators (PIs) proposes to participate in the LOWS Project. The PIs bring to the project not only their meteorological expertise, but also they will contribute directly to the observational effort by fielding two mobile atmospheric sounding systems which will be operated by undergraduate students from RUI colleges in the area. Post field experiment research will concentrate on diagnostic studies and numerical simulations with the ultimate goal of gaining a better understanding of the environmental structure and physical mechanisms involved in the formation and maintenance of lake effect snows. The activities of the PIs complement nicely the other scientists involved in the project. //