Overview of SoWMEX/TiMREX

Taiwan and the United States jointly organized and executed the SoWMEX/TiMREX (Southwest Monsoon Experiment/Terrain-influenced Monsoon Rainfall Experiment) in southern Taiwan from 15 May to 30 June 2008 to study the mesoscale environment and the physical processes leading to the orographically induced heavy precipitation systems over the windward slope of southwestern Taiwan during the onset of the Asian summer monsoon. The ultimate goal of SoWMEX/TiMREX is to improve quantitative precipitation forecast of heavy rain systems to meet the urgent societal needs for disaster reduction on frequent flooding events in Taiwan.

The regular operation network in Taiwan was augmented by research facilities from Taiwan, United States, Japan, Korea and Canada to form an impressive mesoscale observing network. This network provided the opportunity to sample (1) upstream flow characterization with dropsonde and shipborne sounding, and (2) convective-scale and microphysical characterization of heavy rain precipitation systems with NCAR SPOL, NSC X-band polarimetric radar, Japan X-band Doppler radar, and extensive rain measurement network (e.g., rain supersite network). This paper will provide an overview of SoWMEX/TiMREX operations and set the stage for detail analysis of SoWMEX/TiMREX data in other papers submitted to this conference.