Applications of ARM Southern Great Plains data sets to evaluating multiphase winter precipitating systems: thermodynamics and microphysics

Description

The principal goal of the Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program is to reduce the uncertainty in future climate projections through improving process understanding of cloud, precipitation, and aerosol; their interactions; and the radiative budget. ASR draws from the unique observational capabilities of ARM Climate Research Facility sites around the world. The situation of the Southern Great Plains (SGP) facility was motivated by the wide variety of observed cloud systems, ranging from isolated convection to synoptic-scale disturbances. The ARM SGP site now has approximately 18 years of data, which is ideal for use in both interannual climatology and individual case study analysis. This poster demonstrates the current and potential future value of ARM data sets for improving understanding of multiphase synoptic-scale winter precipitating systems. Using a selection of case studies, a holistic approach to examining the evolution of the thermodynamic environment, as it relates to cloud phase, microphysics evolution, and precipitation growth, is considered. We highlight the use of ARM data in understanding the average thermal environment associated with mixed phase precipitation, we examine the evolution of the thermal profile associated with a specific winter weather case study, and we also consider the uses of in situ data sets in the validation of a WRF simulation. Finally, we identify some of the ways that the ASR program and the ARM Facility, with its recent addition of polarimetric radar capabilities, might be able to improve understanding of the microphysics of mixed-phase cloud and precipitation though dual-polarimetric techniques. The latter inquiry is based on a case study using the C-band OU-Prime precipitation radar.