Multi-Sensor Analysis of MCS Maintenance and Boundary Layer Evolution During the 4–5 June 2012 ABIDE-III Field Deployment

Over the course of an approximately 26 hour period (18Z 4 June 2012 to 20Z 5 June 2012), an MCS initiated near St. Louis, MO and propagated southeastward through the mid-west and southeast U.S. before exiting off the coast of southern Georgia. This MCS was sustained through several boundary layer transitions, with convective initiation during the convective boundary layer (CBL) cycle, maintenance through the stable nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) regime, and into the next day's CBL. Severe reports were associated with the storm during initial afternoon and late evening time periods with an EF-2 tornado in Missouri on 4 June (0144Z) and hail reports in southern Georgia during the afternoon on 5 June.

This study will focus on the evolution of the nocturnal boundary layer and its interaction with the MCS. While no severe reports were received during this period, the ability of the storm to persist through the nocturnal period is of interest. As part of the ABIDE-III project, assets from UAH were deployed to sample the storm and environment as it passed over northern Alabama during the predawn hours. In addition to WSR-88D data, radar data from the Advanced Radar for Meteorological and Operational Research (ARMOR) C-band polarimetric and Mobile Alabama X-band (MAX) polarimetric radars are utilized to construct the 3-D wind field as the MCS propagated through the triple Doppler network. Additionally, the Mobile Integrated Profiling System (MIPS) deployed within the Doppler network acquired high temporal measurements (6 Hz) from a vertically pointing X-band radar, LIDAR ceilometer, 915 MHz Doppler wind profiler, a microwave profiling radiometer, and a mobile sounding platform which launched four soundings in the pre-storm environment. This multi-sensor approach is used to (a) document the destabilization of the NBL as the MCS approached the observational network and (b) characterize the mode of propagation and internal structure of convective elements within the MCS as it passed over the MIPS location and triple Doppler network.