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Experiment Design of PRECIP 2022



PRECIP will be conducted 25 May – 10 August 2022 to study extreme rainfall in Meiyu front, Mesoscale convective systems, diurnal convection, and typhoons

PRECIP timeline

The experimental design of PRECIP is motivated by four key factors: 1) a moisture-rich environment, 2) the presence of both complex terrain and an oceanic environment, 3) a dense operational observing network to augment the specialized field observations, and 4) a high frequency of a variety of heavy rainfall events. Taiwan and the western North Pacific region are a natural laboratory that optimizes all four of these criteria.

PRECIP geography

Ground-Based Observations

Observations will be collected by the NSF/NCAR S-PolKa and CSU SEA-POL radars, radiosondes, and disdrometers.

instrument map
  • NCAR S-Pol
    • S-band (10-cm) research radar for minimal attenuation in heavy rain
    • Highest quality polarimetric measurements using alternating H/V signals
    • SoWMEX/TiMREX (2008), DYNAMO (2011), PECAN (2015)
  • CSU Sea-Pol Radar
    • Recently built using Major Research Instrumentation award from NSF
    • C-band (5-cm) polarimetric research radar built for harsh environments
    • Successful deployments in SPURS-2 (2017) and PISTON (2018, 2019)
  • NCAR Micro-Pulse Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL)
    • Accurate, continuous profiles of water vapor every 5 minutes in clear-air
    • Low-cost, low-maintenance, long life & stable for unattended operations
    • Eye-safe & invisible radiation

Airborne Observations

Three aircrafts will be available during the PRECIP: Taiwan ASTRA, Korean King-Air, and NOAA P-3. NOAA P-3 will be operated in a partnership with NOAA APHEX-West / ONR TCRI in July 2022.

Aircrafts

Modeling

For real-time modeling, the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) will be used for global scale, and convectionpermitting Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for the area of interest.

model configuration