Atmospheric Boundary Identification and Delineation Experiment (ABIDE)

这笔赠款支持对气团和其他现象之间边界的结构和演变的观测研究，这些现象表明地面附近的大气层中有风汇聚。其目的是增进对这些边界的性质及其与对流云的形成和发展的关系的理解。观测网络位于阿拉巴马州北部的一个不均匀区域内，其中包括亨茨维尔市及其周围的森林、农田和田纳西河流域的湿地。观测仪器包括阿拉巴马大学移动综合剖面系统(MIPS)、三个多普勒雷达、地面气象站和一个无线电探空仪设施。这些仪器将在三年内连续使用，以记录各种天气条件下气团边界的特征。计划与国家气象局伯明翰办公室合作，评估精细、连续观测对短期天气预报的贡献。

This grant supports an observational study of the structure and evolution of boundaries between airmasses and other phenomena that indicate wind convergence in the atmospheric layer near the ground. The goal is to improve the understanding of the properties of these boundaries and their relation to the initiation and development of convective clouds. The observing network is situated in northern Alabama within an inhomogeneous region that includes the city of Huntsville and surrounding forests, farmland, and wetlands of the Tennessee River valley. The observing instruments consist of the University of Alabama Mobile Integrated Profiling System (MIPS), three Doppler radars, surface meteorological stations, and a radiosonde facility. The instruments will be employed continuously over a three-year period to document the characteristics of airmass boundaries in a wide variety of weather conditions. Collaboration with the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service is planned, to evaluate the contributions of the fine-scale, continuous observations to short-term weather forecasting.