P2.23
The Greenland Flow Distortion experiment
Ian A. Renfrew, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England; and G. W. K. Moore, J. E. Kristjánsson, H. Olafsson, S. L. Gray, G. N. Petersen, K. Bovis, P. Brown, I. Fřre, T. W. N. Haine, C. Hay, E. A. Irvine, T. Oghuishi, S. D. Outten, R. S. Pickart, D. Sproson, R. Swinbank, A. Woolley, and S. Zhang
Greenland has a major influence on the atmospheric circulation of the North Atlantic-Western Europe region, dictating the location and strength of mesoscale weather systems around the coastal seas of Greenland and directly influencing synoptic-scale weather systems both locally and downstream over Europe. High winds associated with the local weather systems can induce large air-sea fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum in a region that is critical to the overturning of the thermohaline circulation and so play a key role in controlling the coupled atmosphere-ocean climate system.
The Greenland Flow Distortion (GFD) experiment is investigating the role of Greenland in defining the structure and the predictability of both local and downstream weather systems, through a programme of aircraft-based observations and numerical modelling. The GFD experiment centered upon an aircraft-based field campaing in February and March 2007 - at the dawn of the International Polar Year. Twelve missions were flown with the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurement, based out of Keflavik, Iceland. These included the first aircraft-based observations of a reverse tip jet event; the first aircraft-based observations of barrier winds off SE Greenland; two polar mesoscale cyclones; a dramatice case of lee cyclogenesis; and several targeted observation missions into areas predicted to be sensitive to error growth in the forecast models.
Poster Session 2, Mountain Meteorology Poster Session 2
Wednesday, 13 August 2008, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM, Sea to Sky Ballroom A
Previous paper Next paper