Understanding the Evolution of Stratocumulus Clouds in the Coastal Region

层云和层积云在世界许多沿海地区有规律地形成和消散。这些云不仅是区域天气的重要因素，还通过对太阳辐射的影响影响区域和全球气候。该项目的目标是提高沿海地区低层云的预报能力。其目的是确定中尺度环流和云的微物理特性对云行为的重要性。该方法是基于对由跨学科远程驾驶飞机研究中心(CIRPAS)操作的仪表式双水獭飞机和地面设备的观察，这些设备包括风廓线/RASS系统、激光测深仪和毫米波雷达。由海军研究办公室资助的单独项目包括飞机时间、雷达分析和在飞机上安装用于云物理研究的新设备的成本。王博士将与迈阿密大学的布鲁斯·阿尔布雷希特博士以及来自CIRPAS和加州理工大学的研究人员密切合作，以确保不同小组的实验得到有效协调。这项研究应该会导致对沿海地区层状云演变的更全面的了解，并更好地将这些云纳入数值预报模式。

Stratus and stratocumulus clouds regularly form and dissipate in many coastal regions of the world. These clouds are not only an important element of regional weather, they also influence regional and global climate through their effect on solar radiation. The goal of this project is to improve the ability to forecast low-level clouds in coastal regions. The objectives are to determine the importance of mesoscale circulations and the microphysical properties of the clouds on cloud behavior. The approach is based on observations with the instrumented Twin Otter aircraft operated by the Center for Interdisciplinary Remote Piloted Aircraft Study (CIRPAS) and ground-based equipment including a wind profiler/RASS system, a laser ceilometer, and a millimeter-wavelength radar. Separate projects funded by the Office of Naval Research cover the cost of the airplane time, the radar analysis, and the installation on the airplane of new equipment for cloud physics research. Dr. Wang will collaborate closely with Dr. Bruce Albrecht of the University of Miami and researchers from CIRPAS and Cal Tech to insure that the experiments of the different groups are effectively coordinated. The research should lead to a more complete understanding of the evolution of stratiform clouds in coastal regions and better ways of incorporating these clouds in numerical forecasting models.