The Correlation between Tornado Formation, Intensification, and Decay and Ground Features using Rapid-Scan Mobile Radar Observations, Damage Surveys, and GIS

长期以来，人们一直认为地表和海拔的变化对龙卷风的形成和强度变化起到了一定的作用。然而，大多数研究要么是理想化的建模努力，要么是关于特定事件的案例研究。该奖项将为开发龙卷风与地表相互作用的气候学提供资金，目的是回答有关龙卷风如何受到地表特征影响的几个紧迫问题。该项目的主要社会影响是有可能提高龙卷风警报的准确性，这是一个重大的公共安全问题。该项目还包括外联和培训活动，以提高公众对科学的了解，培养下一代研究人员。这项研究的主要目标是确定是否可以检索到龙卷风的形成/衰变和强度与土地复盖和地形等非大气表面特征之间的统计关系。研究人员计划将雷达和损害调查数据与基于地理信息系统的数字高程图和国家土地覆盖数据集相结合，以回答以下问题：1)地形特征或地形变化与龙卷风强度之间的统计关系？2)土地覆盖特征变化和龙卷风强度变化之间的统计关系？3)(1)和(2)关系对龙卷风强度敏感吗？4)龙卷风发生/衰变位置与土地覆盖类型或地形之间的空间关系？该裁决反映了美国国家科学基金会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。

It has long been theorized that land surface and elevation changes play a role in tornado formation and intensity changes. However, most studies have either been idealized modeling efforts or case studies on a particular event. This award will provide funding to develop a climatology of tornado interactions with the surface with a goal of answering several pressing questions about how tornadoes are impacted by surface characteristics. The main societal impact of the project is the potential for improving tornado warning accuracy, which is a significant public safety issue. The project also involves outreach and training activities to improve public understanding of science and develop the next generation of researchers.This overarching goal of the study is to determine if statistical relationships can be retrieved that correlate tornado formation/decay and intensity to non-atmospheric surface features such as land cover and topography. The researcher plans to combine a large database of radar and damage survey data with GIS-based digital elevation maps and national land cover data sets to answer the following questions: 1) What is the statistical relationship between topographic characteristics or changes in topography and tornado intensity? 2) What is the statistical relationship between land cover characteristics changes in land cover and changes in tornado intensity? 3) Are relationships in (1) and (2) sensitive to a tornado's intensity? 4) What is the spatial relationship between tornadogenesis/decay locations and land cover type or topography?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.