Cold pool Observations Linking Depth and the Environment (COLDE)

This research has been conducted in order to find observational support of the numerical modeling study of Marion and Trapp (2018), which finds a strong “top-down” coupling between updraft width, downdraft width, and cold pool depth. In particular, we are investigating the link between cold pool depth and the environmental parameters of vertical wind shear, convective available potential energy (CAPE), and mixed layer depth. We first used real time radar images to identify cold pools in the Midwest, and then used GR2Analyst to analyze the depth of these cold pools. Using nearby soundings, we then evaluated the environmental data to further link cold pool depth to environmental parameters. The results of two different cases will be presented.