32nd Conference on Broadcast Meteorology/31st Conference on Radar Meteorology/Fifth Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and Processes

Monday, 11 August 2003: 11:00 AM
A multiple-Doppler radar analysis of intersecting mesoscale boundaries during IHOP
Christina Hannon, Penn State University, University Park, PA; and P. Markowski
Poster PDF (2.4 MB)
On 12 June 2002 convection initiated near the intersection of a nearly stationary outflow boundary and a dryline. The Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radar (SMART-R) and three Doppler-on-Wheels (DOW) continuously observed the evolution of this outflow boundary during a convection initiation (CI) mission. Relationships between both the kinematic and the thermodynamic fields to the observed cloud formations are presented from multi-Doppler analysis. The finescale structures in the water vapor mixing ratio and virtual potential temperature fields along the boundary are revealed. Although convection was initiated just to the east of the radar sampling region, a trajectory analysis yields information about the air parcels that feed the developing cumulus towers.

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