The Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS) occurred during the summer of 2007 in southwestern Germany and eastern France. COPS was aimed at advancing the quality of forecasts of orographically-induced convective precipitation with the use of 4-D observations and modeling of its life cycle. One of the components of improving quantitative precipitation forecasting skill is better understanding of convection initiation processes.

A unique combination of pre-convective measurements was obtained during COPS with two Doppler on Wheels (DOW) mobile radars and a high-power water vapor Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL). The combination of these wind velocity and water vapor measurements in the pre-convective environment may enable better understanding of low-level boundaries in orographic terrain and their associated influence on the distribution of the 3-D moisture field. This is expected to be important for convection initiation applications. Preliminary analyses will be presented.