Collaborative Research: Supercell Left Flank Boundaries and Coherent Structures--Targeted Observations by Radars and UAS of Supercells Left-flank-Intensive Experiment (TORUS-LItE)

合作研究：超级单元左翼边界和相干结构——雷达和无人机对超级单元左翼密集实验（TORUS-LItE）的定向观测

• 批准号: 2312995
• 负责人: Christopher Weiss
• 金额: $ 23.34万
• 依托单位: Texas Tech University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2312995&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Supercell; Left; Flank

Supercell thunderstorms are responsible for the majority of significant tornadoes in the United States. However, not all supercells form tornadoes and the false alarm rate for tornado warnings is stubbornly high. This small field campaign will use a variety of instrumentation, including radar trucks and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) to observe atmospheric boundaries that form in what is known as the left flank region of a supercell. The idea is that observing small scale motions and boundaries near supercells will allow us to better understand why some supercells form tornadoes while others do not. Beyond the practical operational forecasting aspect of this project, the field campaign will provide 15-20 students with the opportunity to participate in the collection of data. This award is for the Targeted Observations by Radars and UAS of Supercells Left-flank-Intensive Experiment (TORUS-LItE), an observational study of specific processes in the left flank of supercell thunderstorms and how they relate to tornadogenesis. The research team will deploy UAS, radar, sounding, and mobile Mesonet assets during a three-week period in May and June 2023 in the Great Plains to directly sample boundaries and coherent structures. The investigators believe that advancing understanding of the relationship between supercell tornadogenesis and left/forward flank boundaries and coherent structures requires cross-sectional datasets that enable characterization of the structure and evolution of these boundaries and associated coherent structures in the context of supercell/mesocyclone strength and proximate evolution of near-surface rotation. The science questions to be studied are: A) How often are left/forward-flank boundaries coincident with enhanced vorticity and how does the magnitude of this vorticity relate to the characteristics of the associated boundaries and environmental/ambient state? B) Do the characteristics of streamwise vorticity currents (SVCs) and associated boundaries attendant to tornadic storms differ significantly from those associated with non-tornadic storms? C) Can the dense-side airmasses of left-flank boundaries be characterized as density currents and are SVCs the attendant Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) billows?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.

超级单体雷暴是美国大部分重大龙卷风的罪魁祸首。 然而，并非所有超级单体都会形成龙卷风，龙卷风警报的误报率也居高不下。 这次小型野外活动将使用各种仪器，包括雷达车和无人驾驶航空系统（UAS）来观察超级单体左翼区域形成的大气边界。 这个想法是，观察超级单体附近的小尺度运动和边界将使我们更好地理解为什么一些超级单体形成龙卷风，而另一些则不会。 除了该项目的实际操作预测之外，实地活动还将为 15-20 名学生提供参与数据收集的机会。 该奖项授予雷达和无人机对超级单体左翼密集实验（TORUS-LItE）的定向观测，这是一项对超级单体雷暴左翼特定过程及其与龙卷风发生关系的观测研究。 研究团队将在 2023 年 5 月和 6 月的三周时间内在大平原部署无人机、雷达、探测和移动 Mesonet 资产，以直接对边界和相干结构进行采样。 研究人员认为，要加深对超单体龙卷发生与左/前翼边界和相干结构之间关系的理解，需要横截面数据集，这些数据集能够在超单体/中气旋强度和相关结构的背景下表征这些边界和相关相干结构的结构和演化。近地表旋转的近似演化。 要研究的科学问题是：A）左/前翼边界与增强涡度重合的频率如何，以及该涡度的大小与相关边界和环境/环境状态的特征有何关系？ B) 龙卷风暴所伴随的流向涡流 (SVC) 和相关边界的特征与非龙卷风暴相关的特征是否有显着差异？ C) 左翼边界的密集侧气团能否被表征为密度流，SVC 是否伴随着开尔文-亥姆霍兹 (KH) 波浪？该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力评估进行评估，被认为值得支持优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。