Atmospheric Frontal Dynamics

大气锋区是相对暖气团和冷气团之间的过渡区，是高度湍流的。在该区域内，动能被耗散，并产生内波，这可能导致强烈的对流活动或远离锋面的湍流。这两个过程都对大气可预报性有影响。首席调查员将采用两种方法研究锋区。他将分析在最近一个旨在研究被称为风暴狂欢的锋面过程的野外项目中所获得的观测结果，并将使用小波分解作为他的主要分析工具。他还将进行一些模拟实验，目的是分离对锋面演化至关重要的物理过程。许多支配天气系统行为的重要物理过程都是在尺度上发生的，而数值预报模式并没有明确解决这些问题。这项研究的最终目标是提供信息，以便开发此类表示法，从而改进数值天气预报。

Atmospheric frontal zones, the transition zone between relatively warm and cold air masses, are highly turbulent. In the this zone, kinetic energy is dissipated and internal waves are generated which may result in severe convective activity or turbulence far from the front. Both of these processes have implications for atmospheric predictability. The principal investigator will employ two approaches in the study of frontal zones. He will analyze observations taken during a recent field program designed to investigate frontal processes known as STORM-FEST, and will use wavelet decomposition as his principal analysis tool. He will also conduct a number of modeling experiments with the goal of isolating the physical processes important for frontal evolution. Many of the important physical processes that govern the behavior of weather systems occur on scales which are not explicitly resolved in numerical prediction models. The ultimate goal of this study is to provide information which will allow the development of representations of such and, thereby, improve numerical weather forecasts.