This paper presents the TRAC98 experiment held in central France in June 1998. This field campaign was devoted to the observation and study of coherent structure impacts and shallow convection initiation within Continental Planetar Boundary Layer (CPBL) over a flat and homogeneous terrain. A special care was taken to collect relevant data for numerical simulation of CPBL processes.
A meteorological Doppler Radar was placed in the centre of experimental area in order to describe the 3D structure of the clear air CPBL and its associated cloud layer. A network of three wind-profilers was located around it, working continuously during the three weeks experimental period, along with surface flux stations and chemical measurements.
During the intensive observation periods, two aircrafts (instrumented for turbulence, thermodynamics, microphysics and complemented by a radar-lidar system), high frequency radio-soundings, a tethered ballon and gliders were brought into operation