Elevated Nocturnal Convection - The Role of Microphysical Processes

夜间高对流 - 微物理过程的作用

• 批准号: 1359098
• 负责人: Robert Rauber
• 金额: $ 75.25万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-12-15 至 2018-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1359098&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Elevated; Nocturnal; Convection; Role; Microphysical

This award is for participation in the Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) field campaign. PECAN will take place in the central United States in the summer of 2015. The focus of the project is on overnight thunderstorm complexes that regularly occur in the Great Plains area. A variety of observational systems will be put in place for the field experiment including multiple aircraft, mobile radars, and ground-based systems that can profile the wind and particles in the lower atmosphere. This project will provide funding for researchers to take part in the deployment of the NOAA P-3 research aircraft. The P-3 will have a variety of sensors with cloud particle probes and airborne radar as key measurements. The researchers will help collect, quality control, and analyze the data in order to study the key questions surrounding nocturnal elevated convection. The main impact from this research will be better forecasts of overnight storms, which often come with severe winds and flooding rains. The project will also help train the future generation of scientists by involving multiple graduate students in the research.The steering committee for the PECAN campaign has identified four main research topics to be addressed: 1) Nocturnal convection initiation and early evolution of mesoscale convective clusters; 2) Bore and other wave-like disturbances; 3) Dynamics and microphysics of nocturnal mesoscale convective systems; 4) Prediction of nocturnal convection initiation and evolution. This research will focus on the third topic. In-situ cloud microphysical data, ground based and airborne radar data, and the results of numerical modeling simulations will be used to test the main hypothesis; microphysical cooling processes in developing and mature stratiform regions of mesoscale convective systems force downdraft circulations that create bore and mesoscale gravity wave features on the stable nocturnal boundary layer that in turn focuses, organizes and maintains future convective activity.

该奖项旨在奖励对平原夜间高对流 (PECAN) 实地活动的参与。 PECAN 将于 2015 年夏天在美国中部举行。该项目的重点是大平原地区经常出现的夜间雷暴复合体。 现场实验将部署各种观测系统，包括多架飞机、移动雷达和能够对低层大气中的风和颗粒进行分析的地面系统。 该项目将为研究人员参与 NOAA P-3 研究飞机的部署提供资金。 P-3 将配备多种传感器，其中云粒子探测器和机载雷达作为关键测量。 研究人员将帮助收集、质量控制和分析数据，以研究有关夜间高对流的关键问题。 这项研究的主要影响将是更好地预测夜间风暴，这些风暴通常伴随着强风和洪水。 该项目还将通过让多名研究生参与研究来帮助培养未来一代的科学家。PECAN 活动的指导委员会已经确定了四个需要解决的主要研究主题：1）夜间对流启动和中尺度对流星团的早期演化； 2) 钻孔和其他波状扰动； 3）夜间中尺度对流系统动力学与微观物理； 4）夜间对流产生和演化的预测。 本研究将重点关注第三个主题。 现场云微物理数据、地基和机载雷达数据以及数值模型模拟的结果将用于检验主要假设；中尺度对流系统的发展和成熟层状区域的微物理冷却过程迫使下沉气流循环，在稳定的夜间边界层上产生钻孔和中尺度重力波特征，进而集中、组织和维持未来的对流活动。