THOR Tornado and Hazardous weather (Hurricane) Observations and Research

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THOR Tornado and Hazardous weather (Hurricane)
Observations and Research
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Background on funding

• NOAA funded
• FY 2006 (start 8/1/06) for two years
• FY 2007 (start 8/1/07) for two years
• FY 2008 is going through the systems
• FY 2009 is lined up

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THOR Activities

• Interactions between UAH and NOAA (NSSL, NWS)
• Infrastructure enhancement
• ARMOR upgrade (Fall 2006)
• Parsivel disdrometers (Dec. 2006)
• MAX (Nov. 2007)
• MAX enhancements (2008)
• Research (severe and hazardous weather)
• End to End is the goal
• Tornadoes
• Squall lines cool season bow echoes
• Convective Initiation lightning initiation
• Relation between lightning and severe storms
• Landfalling tropical cyclones
• QPE (wide variety)
• Atmospheric Technology
• Mobile instrumentation collaboration (targeted
  obs)
• Longer term with NOAA/NSSL and OU

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THOR personnel

• PI level
• Knupp, Mecikalski, Petersen, Cecil, Carey
• Research Associates 3
• Graduate students
• 9 directly funded
• About the same number funded by other sources

About 30 individuals are working in the general
area of mesoscale meteorology
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Infrastructure improvements during last 15 months
(FY 06 funds)

• Parsivel disdrometers (Dec. 2006)
• ARMOR upgrade (Oct. 2006)
• Mobile Alabama X-band (MAX) dual pol radar (Nov.
  2007)

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Gravity Wave/Mesocyclone Interactions

• Gravity waves can cause rapid changes in local
  shear and helicity
• Paper to be submitted to Wea. Forecasting. in
  Nov 2007
• Example case 2 Feb 2006

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Gravity Wave/Mesocyclone Interactions

• Gravity waves can produce rapid variations in the
  wind profile
• Example case 10 May 2006 KHTX

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Gravity Wave/Mesocyclone Interactions

• Interactions between ducted gravity waves and
  mesocyclones appear to enhance the rotation
  within mesocyclones
• Careful analysis may show that the F5 Birmingham
  tornado of 8 April 1998 was enhanced by
  interaction with an undular bore manuscript
  submitted to Mon. Wea. Rev.

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Outreach activities

• Gravity Wave Tour Explaining gravity waves
  and their impacts on operational meteorology to
  NWS and TV forecasters
• 5 presentations so far to NWS, Weather Channel,
  RFC
• Plans for up to 7 more in 2008

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Atmospheric technology

• Ground-based passive microwave remote sensing of
  high-impact weather
• Precip estimation with dual pol radar

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Cold front of 16 March 2007
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Squall line and wake low event of 8 June 2007
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Use of THOR for additional leveragingNSF
Mid-Size Infrastructure proposal

• Aerosols -- clouds -- precipitation
• 4-4.5 M proposal
• MAX-W (or MAX-Ka)
• X and W-band dual pol, dual frequency radar (dual
  freq feed, one dish)
• Ceilometer
• Profiling radiometer
• PR radiometer suite (89 GHz, 37 GHz, 19 GHz)
• MIPS enhancements
• New 35 Channel microwave radiometer
• W-band vertical pointing cloud radar
• New ceilometer
• Scanning Doppler lidar for low-level wind and
  aerosol profiles
• Mobile Doppler wind lidar (1.61 ?m)