Mesoscale Dynamics and Mixed-phase Microphysics in Arctic Cold Air Outbreaks

北极冷空气爆发中的中尺度动力学和混合相微物理

• 批准号: 2151329
• 负责人: Bart Geerts
• 金额: $ 74.37万
• 依托单位: University of Wyoming
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2026-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2151329&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Mesoscale; Dynamics; Mixed; phase; Microphysics

Arctic climate is changing at a faster pace than anywhere on Earth. Climate projections indicate that the Arctic will continue to warm, but uncertainties arise due to questions about the future behavior of Arctic clouds. An area of primary uncertainty is the properties of clouds that form during cold-air outbreaks, where very cold airmasses over the Arctic ice move southward over the relatively warm open ocean. This award will help to provide observational data of these clouds (and precipitation) and the exchange of energy between the ocean and atmosphere during the Cold-Air outbreak Experiment in the Sub-Arctic Region (CAESAR), which will be conducted in Spring 2024 out of northern Scandinavia. The observations collected during CAESAR will be used in an effort to better understand the characteristics of the cold-air outbreak system, and the Arctic climate system more broadly, in order to inform climate models and projections. The project will also help to improve forecasting of weather hazards with significant relevance to naval operations, commercial shipping, and coastal communities. The broader field effort includes significant opportunities for students and early-career scientists, international collaboration, and public outreach. A unique aspect of this award is the mentorship of a student in the NCAR Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program, which is an undergraduate-to-graduate bridge program designed to broaden participation of historically underrepresented communities in atmospheric and related science. This project will contribute to the overall CAESAR goals by focusing on the finely resolved vertical transects of precipitation and kinematic data from airborne Doppler radars, and in situ cloud and precipitation probes. The scientific objectives of this award are to: 1) to characterize the vertical structure and circulations of Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) convection in cold-air outbreaks (CAOs), in order to elucidate the role of cloud processes in the mesoscale organization of the CAO cloud regime, and in polar lows; and 2) to document the size and phase distribution of hydrometeors, in order to elucidate the roles of primary and secondary ice processes on precipitation generation and cloud dynamics. The team will be responsible for installing and test-flying the Ka-band Precipitation Radar (KPR), developing an improved Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR) hydrometeor vertical velocity profile dataset, developing the QA/QC’d and processed KPR reflectivity and Doppler velocity dataset, developing the WCR dual-Doppler velocity synthesis dataset, providing the retrieval of Ice Water Content (IWC) and other cloud and precipitation products from WCR and other sensors, and providing in-situ Liquid Water Content (LWC)/IWC from the Nevzorov probe.Primary funding for this project comes from the Physical and Dynamic Meteorology program with partial funding from the Arctic Natural Sciences program. The deployment of observational assets for CAESAR is being funded by the Facilities for Atmospheric Research and Education program.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.

北极气候的变化速度比地球上任何地方都快。气候预测表明，北极将继续变暖，但由于对北极云未来行为的疑问，出现了不确定性。主要不确定的领域是云的特性。冷空气爆发期间形成的，北极冰上的极冷气团向南移动到相对温暖的开放海洋上。该奖项将有助于提供这些云（和降水）以及海洋和大气之间能量交换的观测数据。冷空气爆发实验期间亚北极地区 (CAESAR) 将于 2024 年春季在斯堪的纳维亚半岛北部进行，CAESAR 期间收集的观测结果将用于更好地了解冷空气爆发系统和北极气候系统的特征。从广义上讲，该项目还将有助于改善与海军行动、商业航运和沿海社区密切相关的天气灾害的预测，为学生和早期职业科学家提供重要机会。 ,该奖项的一个独特之处是对 NCAR 大气研究和科学重大机会 (SOARS) 项目的学生进行指导，该项目是一个本科生到研究生的桥梁项目，旨在扩大历史性的参与。该项目将重点关注机载多普勒雷达的精细解析垂直断面和运动学数据以及原位云和降水，从而为大气和相关科学领域代表性不足的社区做出贡献。该奖项的科学目标是：1）描述冷空气爆发（CAO）中海洋边界层（MBL）对流的垂直结构和环流，以阐明云过程在中尺度组织中的作用。 2) 记录水凝物的大小和相位分布，以阐明初级和次级冰过程对降水生成和云的作用该团队将负责安装和试飞 Ka 波段降水雷达 (KPR)、开发改进的怀俄明州云雷达 (WCR) 水凝物垂直速度剖面数据集、开发 QA/QC 和处理的 KPR 反射率和动态。多普勒速度数据集，开发WCR双多普勒速度合成数据集，提供来自WCR和其他传感器的冰水含量（IWC）和其他云和降水产品的反演，并提供原位来自内夫佐罗夫探测器的液态水含量 (LWC)/IWC。该项目的主要资金来自物理和动态气象学计划，部分资金来自北极自然科学计划。CAESAR 观测资产的部署由设施资助。大气研究和教育计划。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。