Collaborative Research: RAPID--Multi-Scale Investigation into the Storm Processes of the 10 August 2020 Midwest Derecho

2020年8月10日，一场特别强烈的德雷克造成了从内布拉斯加州东部到印第安纳州北部的大范围大风破坏，造成爱荷华州估计38亿美元的农业损失。由中尺度对流系统(MCS)产生的长寿命风暴德雷克仍然是一种需要理解的重要大气现象，因为它们产生了从20-200公里宽到数百公里长的大范围风害区域。该奖项将允许一个多学科的科学团队(即大气科学家、遥感专家、风能和结构工程师)在多个空间尺度上进行高分辨率的数值模拟和详细的破坏调查，以调查德回声中的风暴过程。将大风破坏的详细记录与风暴过程联系起来，可以提供有关德雷克极端风产生和风暴破坏潜力的重要信息，从而更好地理解强风暴过程、雷达解释以及与向公众发出警告相关的风险沟通。2020年8月10日德雷科的风暴特征和近地表风流将通过1)使用最先进的数值模拟系统作为真实事件的代理对该事件进行高分辨率模拟，以及2)雷达特征与由无人驾驶航空系统(UAS)数据、卫星图像和地面实况调查的2D和3D分析提供的损害信息的详细比较来研究。将对最好地描述德雷克演变的模拟进行分析，以探索导致极端风产生的这一事件独特物理特征的机制。植被和农作物易受长期损害的破坏性大风的大范围特征，以及德雷克核心靠近爱荷华州得梅因和达文波特国家气象局雷达的通过，为更好地将损害信息与雷达采样的速度结构联系起来提供了独特的机会。本研究对风灾的详细分析将为高分辨率数值模拟提供前所未有的验证数据集。这个异常全面的数据集将被用来理解造成极端风灾的物理过程。此外，详细的损害文件也可用于在未来的大风事件中校准基于卫星的评估，并可以根据植被制定更多的损害描述。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

On 10 August 2020, a particularly intense derecho produced widespread high-wind damage from eastern Nebraska through northern Indiana, resulting in 3.8 billion USD in estimated agricultural losses in Iowa. Derechos, or long-lived windstorms produced by mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), remain an important atmospheric phenomenon to understand because they produce large-scale wind damage areas, varying from 20 – 200 km in width to hundreds of kilometers long. This award will allow a multidisciplinary scientific team (i.e., atmospheric scientists, remote sensing experts, wind and structural engineers) to perform high-resolution numerical simulations and detailed damage surveys across multiple spatial scales to investigate storm processes in derechos. Relating detailed documentation of high-wind damage with storm processes can provide vital information on extreme wind production in derechos and storm damage potential, leading to improved understanding of severe-storm processes, radar interpretation, and risk communication associated with warnings to the general public.Storm characteristics and near-surface wind flow of 10 August 2020 derecho will be investigated through 1) high-resolution simulations of the event using a state-of-the-art numerical modeling system as a proxy for the real event, and 2) detailed comparisons of radar signatures to damage information provided by 2D and 3D analyses of unpiloted aerial systems (UAS) data, satellite imagery, and ground truth surveys. Simulations that best depict the evolution of the derecho will be analyzed to explore the mechanisms responsible for the unique physical characteristics of this event that were responsible for the extreme wind production. The large-scale character of the damaging winds over vegetation and crops susceptible to long-term damage and passage of the derecho’s core close to Des Moines and Davenport National Weather Service radars in Iowa provide a unique opportunity to better connect damage information to velocity structures sampled by radar. The detailed analysis of wind damage produced in this study will provide an unprecedented validation dataset for the high-resolution numerical simulations. This unusually comprehensive dataset will be used to understand the physical processes responsible for extreme wind damage. Additionally, detailed damage documentation can also be used to calibrate satellite-based assessments in future high-wind events and could enable the development of additional damage descriptors based to vegetation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.