Collaborative Research: The Kinematics, Microphysics and Dynamics of Long-fetch Lake-effect Systems in Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS)

该奖项是一个更大的努力集中在安大略冬季（OW）湖泊效应系统（LeS）现场项目，将于2013年12月至2014年1月进行的一个关键部分。 OWLeS将侧重于两个互补的研究方向，每个方向都追踪到美国五大湖地区的首选风况和相应的冬季风暴组织的不同中尺度模式。 该小组领导的活动将集中在所谓的“长距离”风暴事件上，即低空风与安大略湖的长轴大致平行。 OWLeS期间将使用的观测资产包括怀俄明州大学的空中国王仪表飞机、CSWR的轮式多普勒（DOW）移动的雷达、多个移动的雷达探测系统、米勒斯维尔大学的剖面系统、UAH的移动的综合剖面系统以及各种其他可部署的表面测量系统。 这些研究人员认为，对Les降雪量和内陆范围的预测仍然很差，部分原因是逆风行星边界层结构的细尺度变化以及云微物理，动力学和表面过程的表现不佳。 为了解决这些缺点，这项研究的知识价值将来自于对以下问题的更好理解：1）长距离LeS如何在湖泊的顺风处加强和发展，在那里长时间的强降雪率特别有影响力; 2）云和动力学过程如何有助于云带电和闪电，就像偶尔在长距离LeS强降水单元中观察到的那样;以及3）移动DOW和国家气象局WSR-88 D雷达分别使用的X和S波段波长的双极化（以及在选定区域，双多普勒）雷达测量如何揭示LeS的详细降水过程。 通过与现场飞机测量的详细比较，评价双极化粒子识别和定量降水估计（QPE）算法将扩大遥感观测在这一独特的冷季环境中的效用，更广泛的影响将包括为相当多的本科生和研究生提供现场活动规划、实际数据收集和数据分析的经验。 初级和高级主要调查员的适当组合将有助于交流既有的复杂项目设计和观测方法，并促进改进适合严冬气候条件的实地观测技术。 外联工作将扩大到K-12学生和在附近高等院校就读的大学生。 考虑到湖泊效应降雪对美国人口众多的五大湖沿岸的公共安全和沿着经济活动的重大影响，对湖泊效应系统的进一步了解应有助于建立完善的模型和预测技术，以满足长期的社会需求。

This award is one key segment of a larger effort centered on the Ontario Winter (OW) Lake-effect Systems (LeS) field project, to be conducted December 2013-January 2014. OWLeS will focus on two complementary lines of research, each tracing to a preferred wind regime over the U.S. Great lakes region and corresponding distinct mesoscale mode of winter storm organization. Activities led by this group will focus on so-called "long-fetch" storm events, for which low-level winds are aligned approximately parallel to Lake Ontario's long axis. Observational assets to be employed during OWLeS include the University of Wyoming King Air instrumented aircraft, the CSWR Doppler on Wheels (DOW) mobile radars, multiple mobile rawinsounding systems, the Millersville University Profiling System, the UAH Mobile Integrated Profiling System, and a variety of other deployable surface measurement systems. These researchers contend that predictions of the amounts and inland extent of LeS snowfall remain poor, due in part to fine-scale variations in upwind planetary boundary layer structure and poor representation of cloud microphysical, dynamical, and surface processes. To address these shortcomings, the intellectual merits of this research will derive from improved understanding of: 1) How long-fetch LeS intensify and evolve downwind of the lake, where prolonged heavy snowfall rates are particularly impactful; 2) how cloud and dynamical processes may contribute to cloud electrification and to lightning, as occasionally observed in long-fetch LeS heavy precipitation cells; and 3) how dual-polarimetric (and in select regions, dual-Doppler) radar measurements at X- and S-band wavelengths as utilized by mobile-DOW and operational National Weather Service WSR-88D radars, respectively, may reveal detailed precipitation processes in LeS. Through detailed comparisons with in-situ aircraft measurements, evaluations dual-polarimetric particle identification and quantitative precipitation estimate (QPE) algorithms will extend the utility of remote-sensing observations in this unique cool-season environment.Broader impacts will include experience infield campaign planning, hands-on data collection and data analysis for a notably large number of undergraduate as well as graduate students. A desirable mix of junior and senior principal investigators will facilitate exchange of established and complex project design and observing methodologies, and foster improved field observing techniques tailored to severe winter weather conditions. Outreach efforts will extend to K-12 students and college students enrolled at nearby institutes of higher learning. Given the significant impacts of lake effect snowfall on public safety and economic activity along the populous shores of the U.S. Great Lakes, improved understanding of lake-effect systems should foster refined models and forecasting techniques that will address a longer-term societal need.