UWKA and WCR

Data summaries, issues, problems, availability, etc

WCR data processing : Dave Leon, Sam Haimov, Rick Damiani

UWKA data processing: Glenn Gordon, Perry Wechsler, Larry Oolman

Students: Qun Miao (PhD), Tim Trudel (MS)

http://flights.uwyo.edu/ihop02/

date UWKA data

location WCR times UTC

WCR modes* comments WCR echo strength

CI Coordination with

P-3 Falcon S-POL armada

5/22 all OK Homestead 21:45-23:43 VPDD (5), UD (2),P (2)

Clear dryline, with deeper drier BL to the west

good none + - + +Tornado

radar

5/24 all OK Shamrock 18:53-21:13 VPDD (7), UD (4) 6 dryline transects (2 at low levels), 11 cold-front transects (4

at low levels)

very good east of cold front, but aligned with it

+ + - +

6/02 Heiman dead

Garden City 21:07-23:30 UP (3), P (1), nadir beam dead

2 microbursts, some hi-based precip

poor none + - - -

6/03 Heiman dead

Liberal 17:14-20:4122:33-23:45

VPDD (11), UD (2) 12 legs across a weakening cold front, 1 leg along it

mediocre none + - + + mips

Tornado radar

6/9 all OK Guymon [17:00-19:09] all beams dead 1 long E-W low-level leg into NM, 3 UWKA soundings

- none + - - +

6/10 all OK north of Dodge City

[18:56-22:20] all beams dead line-normal stack, 11 legs between 160-1500 m AGL,

plus 2 soundings

- vigorous, within IOR + - - +

6/12 all OK east of Homestead

17:50-22:00 VPDD (15), UD (4) N-S line-normal stack, none parallel to the ‘fat-line’

good on a fine line, east of the boundary we

sampled

+ - + +

6/15 all OK Dumas 17:39-20:57 VPDD (8), UD (4) E-W line-normal stack, none parallel of the diffuse boundary

mediocre none + + (+) +

6/18 all OK Sublette 17:48-22:03 VPDD (6), UD (6) ESE-WNW line-normal stack, none parallel; followed retreating

line well

mediocre within IOR, but benign

+ - - +

6/19 all OK Goodland 17:48-22:03 VPDD (7), UD (3), UP (4), P(1)

ESE-WNW line-normal stack, one excellent parallel leg

good excellent CI sampled + - - +

Summary case study priorities

5/24: highest priority6/19: high priority6/12: priority5/22, 6/3, 6/15, 6/18: possible use

(more for intercomparison than for CI case study)Other CI data (purple in previous table): no interest

Wyoming Cloud Radar

95 GHz (3 mm) - Doppler

c

c

WCR through nadir port

Vertical-Plane Dual-Doppler

w = -Vn -winsects

u = Vf - Vn - uinsects

sin tan

--> extract circulation (u,w) below AC

name mode antenna PRF (kHz) pulse (ns) # rg r (m) Rmax (m) Flight legs (height AGL)

A-250-SPP SPPmag side 20 225 150 30 4500 CI – along @ ~200 m [default]

A-PP4 PPmag4 side 10/15/20 225 150 30 4500 CI – along @ ~200 m [try]

A-500-SPP SPPmag side 10 500 150 50 7.5 km CI – along @ ~200 m [try]ABL - @ 0.55 & 0.8 Zi [try]CI – across @ 0.6 Zi [try]

low-SPP SPPmag up 20 225 150 15 2250 CI – across @ ~200 m [default]ABL – 50 m & 0.25 Zi [default]bore @ 300 m [default]

X-lo-PP4 PPmag4 VPDD 20 225 100 15 1500 CI – across @ 0.6 Zi [default]ABL – @ 0.55 Zi and 0.8 Zi [try]

X-hi-PP4 PPmag4 VPDD 20(10 between bursts)

225 100 30 3000 (z)2600 (xz)

CI – across and box @ 1.5 Zi [default]ABL – @ 0.5 Zi [try]ABL – @ 1.2 Zi [default]

M-PP4 PPmag4 nadir/up 20(10 between bursts)

225 100 15 1500 up 1500 dn

ABL – @ 30 m [when feeling lousy]ABL – @ 0.5 Zi [default]CI – across @ 0.6 Zi [try]

Add, only if velocity folding is a problem:

X-hi-PP6 PPmag6 VPDD 15 & 20 staggered

225 150 20 3000 CI – across and box @ 1.5 Zi [try]CI – across @ 0.6 Zi [try]bore @ 0.8, 1.6, 2.4 km [default]

WCR operational modes

WCR/UWKA data• Most WCR data processed at this time

– netcdf – time-corrected– corrected for aircraft motion– bad data due to radio-interference corrected or omitted

• UWKA probe data at 1 Hz and 25 Hz• Plans for higher level WCR reflectivity and velocities

– focus on a few key CI days– probably structured 1 file = 1 flight leg– probably downgraded (eg 30 Hz to 2 Hz)– possibly merged dataset (WCR + UWKA, same time stamp)– probably not:

• 2D gridded• Dual-Doppler synthesized

Examples:

May 24

June 19

19:43

19:52

UWKA

19:42 UTC

AMA

cold front

dryline

WCR up-looking, flight level 165 m

N

24 May

5/24, 21:07 UTC

Total leg length: 12 km

frontal motion

Flight level: ~2300 m AGL

20:10 ZVPDD

cold front below

@ 20:09 Z

cold front and dryline have collapsed

SSE164

NNW344

front & drylinemoist air cold air

frontal motion

Aspect ratio : 2:1

WCR nadirantenna reflectivity

Time (UTC)

Flight level: 2300 m AGL

Height below flight level(m)

dBZ

20:21:50 - 20:25:40

frontal motion

frontkm

possibly stratus clouds

km

-5

-45

dBZ

SSE164

NNW344

6 8

frontal motion

SE120

NW300

frontal motionkm

20:27:00 - 20:30:48

20:42:43 - 20:46:18

ESE164

SE135

NW315

Height aboveflight level(m)

frontal motionflight level: 360 m AGL total length: 11.2 kmaspect ratio: 1:1

WNW344

19:33 - 19:35:33

21:06:36-21:13:20

ESE110

WNW290

frontal motion This is a cloud whose towering tops had grown well above 4 km AGL, part of a line of storm cells aligned with the cold front

Deep convection develops 9 km ahead of sfc cold front

9 km

Gravity waves in the cold-frontal stratus

21:32

21:05 21:15

w

mixing ratio

e

wind direction

20:03

20:06 UWKA

wind shift

19 June

‘dryline’

0

500

1000

1500

2000

height AGL (m)

UWKA flight level (~880 m)

wind direction

mixing ratio

e

SE NW

4 m/s1 m/s 1 m/s

11 km

19 June

vertical velocity

mixing ratio

21:22 - 21:25 UTC

flight level: 1280 m MSL( 300 m AGL)

wind shift

‘dryline’

21:18 UTClooking SE

June 19

N

relative humidity

mixing ratio

e

SENW

buoyant plume!

1.5 km displacementplume on the dry side

‘dryline’

21:37

21:33

Deep convection pops up on the moist side, some 10 km east of the fine line

wind shift

UWKA

19 June

‘dryline’

0

1000

2000height AGL (m)

UWKA flight level (~745 m)

wind direction

mixing ratio

e

13.6 km

19 June

Signal overwhelmed by rain drops

SENW

w

RH

Research objectives

• Understand WCR echo plumes (mainly BLH)– vertical structure (echo and velocity) – compare vertical velocities (UWKA vs WCR)– document buoyancy and moisture anomalies– interpret the BL dynamics, possibly in relation to land surface

heterogeneity

• CI case studies– background info (sondes, satellite, ELDORA, ground radars)– focused on WCR & UWKA data

• Structure and evolution• Kinematics (updraft, VPDD)• Dynamical interpretation

– priorities: May 24, June 19 (, June 12, …)

May 31 – BLH mission – 38 km total length – 1:1 aspect ratio

Vertical velocity structure & bias

May 19 – vertical velocity field

questions

• Quiescent BL (BLH-BLE)– Are bug plumes thermals? – Do bug plumes transfer moisture/heat?– Do bugs oppose the updraft in which they are embedded?– What is the vertical velocity structure within plumes?– How do plumes evolve and/or move?– How do plumes behave spatially (spacing, width, geographic preference …)?– How does plume location relate to BL structure (shear, depth, land surface

properties?

• CI case studies• WCR and UWKA documented structure and evolution• Kinematics (updraft, VPDD)• Dynamical interpretation: what triggers deep convection?

– priorities: May 24, June 19 (, June 12, May 22, June 3…)