Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS)

CO-IS ZHANG AND KUMJIAN AT PSU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSIMILATION OF COMPREHENSIVE MEASUREMENTS FROM NASA AIRCRAFT NOAA OPERATIONAL RADARS AND GROUND-BASED RESEARCH RADARS AS WELL AS FROM OTHER ROUTINE AND REMOTELY SENSED OBSERVATIONS INTO THE REGIONAL CONVECTION PERMITTING WRF-ENKF SYSTEM (1) TO PROVIDE FOUR-DIMENSIONAL (4D) INTEGRATED (RE)ANALYSIS OF THE STORMS AND (2) TO IMPROVE THE MODEL MICROPHYSICS PARAMETERIZATION THROUGH ENSEMBLE BASED SIMULTANEOUS STATE AND PARAMETER ESTIMATION (ESSPE). KEY SCIENCE QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESS THROUGH THE DATA-MODEL INTEGRATION AND ESSPE INCLUDE: (1) WHAT OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FIELD CAMPAIGN ARE NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CHARACTERIZE THE STRUCTURE INTENSITY AND EVOLUTION OF VARIOUS SHOWBANDS AND THEIR GENERATION AND CONTROLLING MECHANISMS AND WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL OBSERVATIONS FOR THE MONITORING AND FORECASTING OF SNOWSTORMS IN OPERATIONS? (2) HOW UNCERTAIN AND DEFICIENT ARE THE CURRENT GENERATION MICROPHYSICS PARAMETERIZATION SCHEMES AND WHAT PHYSICAL PROCESSES AND UNCERTAIN PARAMETERS CAN BE BETTER QUANTIFIED OR ESTIMATED THROUGH ESSPE WITH ASSIMILATION OF FIELD AND ROUTINE OBSERVATIONS? THE WORK INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING TASKS: BULLETED LIST OF TASKS PERFORM REAL-TIME WRF-ENKF ANALYSIS AND FORECAST FOR FIELD MISSION PLANNING ASSIMILATION OF FIELD DATA AND ROUTINE OBSERVATIONS TO GENERATE 4-D INTEGRATED ANALYSIS UNDERSTAND THE STRUCTURE EVOLUTION AND DYNAMICS OF MULTISCALE FEATURES IN SNOWSTORMS USE WRF-ENKF BASED ESSPE FOR ESTIMATING KEY UNCERTAIN PARAMETERS IN PHYSICS PARAMETERIZATIONS AND DELIVERABLES: BULLETED LIST OF DELIVERABLES REALTIME WRF-ENKF ANALYSIS AND FORECAST MODEL OUTPUT MISSION SCIENTIST AND STUDENT FORECASTERS POST-CAMPAIGN 4-D INTEGRATED WRF-ENKF ANALYSIS POST-CAMPAIGN PARAMETER ESTIMATION TO IMPROVE MODEL PHYSICS PARAMETERIZATIONS SYNTHESIZE WRITE PUBLISH AND PRESENT RESEARCH FINDINGS