Doppler Wind Lidar in the Inflow of Supercells: Synthesis of Observations from Mini-MPEX and TORUS 2019

Reports from the National Research Council and instrumentation workshops have recommended that networks of ground-based profiling systems (e.g., microwave and infrared radiometers, Doppler wind profilers and lidars, and water vapor lidars) be developed for monitoring rapid changes in the local severe convective environment. Boundary layer observations near supercells are lacking and may provide critical information for understanding tornadogenesis. Doppler wind lidars (DWLs) provide an intriguing tool to measure rapid changes to low-level supercell inflow because of the high temporal (O(s)) and vertical resolution (~30 m) of their retrievals.

In three out of the last four years, a DWL owned by the National Severe Storms Laboratory has been mounted on various mobile platforms to allow for flexible and nimble sampling near thunderstorms. Collocated radiosonde observations serve to validate the DWL VAD wind retrievals and to provide thermodynamic observations. In 2016 and 2017, this DWL was mounted in a trailer and deployed in pre-convective and near-storm environments to support the mini-MPEX field project. In 2019 the DWL was mounted in the back of a pickup truck to allow for rapid deployments in the near inflow of supercells to support the TORUS (Targeted Observations by Radars and UAS of Supercells) project. Research goals include understanding how the low-level inflow environment varies with internal supercell outflow/boundary characteristics and tornado production and when those modifications are observed relative to the maturity of the mesocyclone. The far-field and/or near-field inflow environment of over 30 supercells was sampled over these three seasons. A synthesis of horizontal wind profiles retrieved using a Velocity Azimuth Display (VAD) method, as well as the vertical velocity sampled directly from zenith-pointing stares from these observations, many obtained within a few kilometers of the mesocyclone and within supercell outflow, will be presented at the conference.