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BAMEX: The Bow Echo and Mesoscale Convective Vortex Experiment
(BAMEX) began 19 May and continued through 7 July 2003. The
focus of BAMEX was to investigate bow echoes, principally
those that produce damaging surface winds and last at least
four hours, as well as larger convective systems that produce
long-lived mesoscale convective vortices (MCVs). The main
objectives regarding bow echoes were to understand and improve
prediction of the mesoscale and cell-scale processes that
produce severe winds. For MCV-producing systems the objectives
were to understand MCV formation within mesocale convective
systems (MCSs), the role of MCVs in initiating and modulating
convection, and the feedback of convection onto MCV intensity,
and to improve the overall predictability of the vortex-convection
coupled system. The experiment took place in and around the
St. Louis, MO area. Christopher Davis and Morris Weisman
were the principal investigators. The experiment also included
scientists from NCAR, NSSL, NOAA (National Weather Service),
Colorado State University, Pennsylvania State University,
University of Alabama, Texas A&M, and University of California,
Los Angeles.
http://www.atd.ucar.edu/dir_off/projects/2003/BAMEX.html
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| Daily briefing at BAMEX |
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| Not all work at BAMEX for David Jorgensen (NSSL), Robert
Rauber (University of Illinois, Urbana), Roger Wakimoto (UCLA), and Christopher Davis
(MMM). |
Participant Barbeque at BAMEX site. |
CBLAST: The Coupled Boundary Layers, Air-Sea Transfer Experiment
in Low Winds (CBLAST-LOW) effort is an on-going Office of
Naval Research initiative focusing on processes that occur
in the oceanic and atmospheric wave boundary layers, i.e.,
the regions influenced by ocean surface waves. The program
combines observational and modeling components in all of
its investigations. Jielun Sun is a major contributor, and
Peter Sullivan participates in the modeling component.
FLOSSII: The Flux over Snow Surfaces (FLOSS) project began
recording observations 28 November 2001 south of Walden,
Colorado in the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. FLOSSII
wrapped up in March 2003. This is the second phase of the
project, studying the surface meteorology of snow-covered
rangeland.
http://www.atd.ucar.edu/rtf/projects/FLOSSII/
IDEAS: The Instrument Development and Education in Airborne
Science (IDEAS) program evolved from ideas generated at the
annual UCAR Members' Meeting in the fall of 2000. A review
of facility needs was conducted at this meeting, and one
major issue was that university faculty and students want
more opportunities to participate in instrument development
efforts. In particular, they wish to have the opportunity
to access equipment, such as research aircraft, in order
to test new instruments they have or are developing. Roelof
Bruintjes was a principal investigator for this program.
http://www.atd.ucar.edu/raf/Projects/IDEAS/
UAE: The United Arab Emirates Rainfall Enhancement (UAE)
Program began in June 2001 and ended in September 2003. This
experiment took place in Abu Dhabi and various locations
in the United Arab Emirates. It was a feasibility study for
the potential for rainfall enhancement via cloud seeding
sponsored by the UAE. Roelof Bruintjes was the principal
investigator on this project.
http://www.rap.ucar.edu/projects/UAE/
Looking Ahead (top)
NAME: The North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME) is an
internationally coordinated, joint CLIVAR-GEWEX process
study aimed at determining the sources and limits of predictability
of warm season precipitation over North America, with emphasis
on time scales ranging from seasonal-to-interannual. Christopher
Davis and Rit Carbone are participating in the modeling
working group for this experiment, which began in September
2002 and continued in 2003 and will serve as principal
investigators as the project moves forward. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/monsoon/NAME.html
RIME: The Ross Island Meteorology Experiment (RIME), a basic
and applied research program, will explore in detail the
atmospheric processes over Antarctica and their interactions
with lower latitudes via the Ross sea sector as a prerequisite
to exploring the role of Antarctica in global climate variations.
Local and regional measurements made during the summer-early
fall of 2005/2006 and the spring of 2007 will be complemented
by an extensive numerical modeling effort to accurately simulate
and understand transports of heat, water vapor, and mass
to and from Antarctica along with their modification by topographic
and mesoscale processes. Jordan Powers is involved in the
planning stages. Strong international collaborations will
be a hallmark of RIME and will continue throughout the project
from June 2003 to June 2010.
http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/PolarMet/index.html
THORPEX: The primary
objective of THe Observing system Research and Predictability
Experiment (THORPEX) is to accelerate
improvements in the prediction of high-impact weather on
time scales out to two weeks. Under the umbrella of THORPEX,
two regional tests were conducted during January through
March 2003 (TOST/2003:NorPac and TOST/2003: North Atlantic)
Rebecca Morss, Chris Snyder, MMM visitor Mel Shapiro, Rit
Carbone, Rich Rotunno and Robert Gall are significantly involved
with this ten-year program.
http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/uswrp/programs/thorpex.html
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