High-Frequency Mobile Soundings in Convective Environments during RELAMPAGO: Overview and Preliminary Findings

During the RELAMPAGO field campaign in November-December 2018, mobile sounding observations were collected with unprecedented geographic coverage and temporal frequency for storm environments in subtropical South America, including both the Sierras de Córdoba mountains and the proximal plains. Nearly 600 mobile soundings were collected, which when combined with fixed sounding sites yielded over 1000 soundings during the RELAMPAGO field phase. A wide variety of environments were sampled, including boundary layers supporting daytime and nocturnal storms; environments of ordinary, supercell, and organized mesoscale convection; and convectively generated outflows and cold pools. Similarities as well as important differences were observed with respect to typical storm environments in North America. Mobile sounding collection also offered unique opportunities for education, outreach, and cultural exchange.

This presentation will provide an overview of the strategies used for collecting mobile soundings during RELAMPAGO, the successes and challenges associated with these strategies, and preliminary synthesis of the observations.