Collaborative Research: Radar Observations of Convective Lifecycle near Argentina's Sierras de Cordoba

可以说，世界上最强烈的风暴发生在阿根廷中西部山区。我们目前对该地区风暴的了解主要来自气象卫星，这些卫星提供了有价值的快照，但缺乏充分理解和预测其形成所需的空间和时间细节。RELAMPAGO（电气化、闪电和中尺度/微尺度过程遥感与自适应地面观测）项目旨在了解这些强烈风暴如何在科尔多瓦山脉附近开始、发展和产生恶劣天气。通过使用最先进的地面仪器，详细观察这些风暴的整个生命周期，以及它们形成的环境，将允许与美国的强风暴进行比较，以帮助理解和改进对阿根廷和世界各地强对流的预测。该项目涉及华盛顿大学和科罗拉多州立大学的研究人员，包括参与2018年11月1日至12月15日在阿根廷科尔多瓦附近举行的RELAMPAGO现场阶段，研究导致风暴强烈向上运动的因素，这些风暴如何在山区附近迅速向高端发展，以及这些过程和环境条件如何与世界上其他具有强烈，严重风暴的山区进行比较。为了实现这一目标，一个由固定和移动研究气象雷达、大气探测、闪电阵列和卫星组成的网络将为实现这些科学目标提供必要的测量。这些研究活动还将促进国际合作，并提供机会与国内外公众接触，以突出该项目的目标，促进科学发展，并为未来几代大气科学家树立榜样。卫星研究强调了阿根廷科尔多瓦山脉（SDC）附近强对流系统的集中启动和高级增长。RELAMPAGO（电气化、闪电和中尺度/微尺度过程遥感与自适应地面观测）野外活动旨在通过利用该地区反复出现的集中地形启动，了解对流生命周期和相关恶劣天气的过程。该研究将使用RELAMPAGO雷达网络，包括nsf支持的双偏振、多普勒、双波长S-PolKa雷达，记录这些强风暴的整个生命周期，并与RELAMPAGO环境观测相一致，确定陡峭地形和局部和大规模大气流动模式在SDC附近这些系统的快速高级增长和维护中的相对作用。这项研究的结果将提供风暴生命周期的第一个连续视图，并将提供一种与其他山区的深度风暴进行比较的方法，以开发概念模型，以改进这些危险事件的全球预测。本项目由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

Arguably the most intense storms in the world occur in mountainous west central Argentina. Our current knowledge of the storms in this region largely comes from weather satellites, which provide valuable snapshots but lack spatial and temporal details needed to fully understand and predict their formation. The RELAMPAGO (Remote sensing of Electrification, Lightning, and Mesoscale/microscale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations) project seeks to understand how these intense storms initiate, grow, and produce severe weather in the vicinity of the Sierras de Cordoba. By using state-of-the-art ground-based instruments, detailed observations of these storms throughout their lifecycle, and the environment in which they form, will allow for a comparison with severe storms over the U.S. to help understand and improve prediction of intense convection in Argentina and around the world. This project, involving researchers at the University of Washington and Colorado State University, includes participation in the field phase of RELAMPAGO occurring 1 November - 15 December 2018 near Cordoba, Argentina to study which factors lead to intense upward motion in the storms, how these storms rapidly grow upscale near the mountains, and how these processes and environmental conditions compare to other mountainous regions of the world with intense, severe storms. To achieve this goal, a network of fixed and mobile research weather radars, atmospheric soundings, lightning arrays, and satellites will provide the necessary measurements for addressing these science objectives. These research activities will also foster international collaborations and provide the opportunity to reach out to the public, both locally and abroad, to highlight the goals of this project, promote science, and serve as role models for future generations of atmospheric scientists. Satellite studies have highlighted focused initiation and upscale growth of intense convective systems near the Sierras de Cordoba (SDC) in Argentina. The RELAMPAGO (Remote sensing of Electrification, Lightning, and Mesoscale/microscale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations) field campaign aims to understand the processes responsible for this convective lifecycle and associated severe weather by leveraging the recurring focused topographic initiation of this region. The research will use the RELAMPAGO radar network, including the NSF-supported, dual-polarization, Doppler, dual-wavelength S-PolKa radar, to document the full lifecycle of these intense storms and, with coincident RELAMPAGO environmental observations, determine the relative roles of steep terrain and localized and large-scale atmospheric flow patterns in the rapid upscale growth and maintenance of these systems near the SDC. Results from this research will provide the first continuous view of the storm lifecycle and will provide a means to compare with deep storms in other mountainous regions to develop conceptual models for improving global prediction of these hazardous events. This project is co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.