Integrated Observations of Nocturnal Low-Level Jet Evolution during the Plains Elevated Convection at Night Field Campaign

During the Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) field campaign in June and July of 2015, the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) operated multiple mobile facilities during five low-level jet missions, including the Mobile Integrated Profiling System (MIPS) and the Mobile Alabama X-band polarimetric radar (MAX). The UAH MIPS is equipped with 3 instruments capable of providing wind profiles: 1) a 915 MHz Doppler wind profiler (40-60 s resolution), 2) a 1.55 μm Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL, 1 Hz sampling frequency), and 3) iMET radiosondes (1-3 hour launch frequency). Prior to the start of PECAN field operations, there were questions regarding the ability of scanning radars to accurately sample the nocturnal low-level jet (LLJ) winds due to motion bias from bioflyers. These UAH facilities were generally located less than 10 km apart during the low-level jet missions, thereby providing an opportunity to compare full volume and range height indicator scans from the MAX radar with the remote sensing and in-situ wind profiles from the MIPS. Preliminary comparisons indicate the MAX and other scanning radars sampled the nocturnal low-level jet evolution quite well, with very low bias from bioflyers. This paper will compare the horizontal LLJ wind profiles retrieved from the MAX radar with those profiles retrieved from remote sensing and in-situ instrumentation at the MIPS site. The evolution of the nocturnal low-level jet during these PECAN cases will be discussed, and radar animations of the LLJ evolution will be presented.