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Diabatic processes not only modify the upper-level Rossby waves, they also have a strong impact on the structure, intensity and evolution of the weather system (e.g., MCS, ET, extratropical cyclone). For extratropical cyclones, a climatological study (Campa and Wernli, 2012) has shown that deep cyclones have systematically stronger, diabatically produced, low-tropospheric cyclonic PV anomalies in their centre.
Certain categories of extratropical cyclones, so-called diabatic Rossby waves (DRWs) (e.g., Parker and Thorpe, 1995; Wernli et al., 2002; Moore et al., 2010; Boettcher and Wernli, 2011) only exist because of continuous diabatic low-level PV production. These systems are potentially highly relevant, as they can explosively intensify via interaction with an upper-level trough, not unlike the re-intensification of ET systems. During NAWDEX, a horizontal setup with a set of vertical profiles of winds and temperature in the vicinity of cyclonic systems (e.g., from dropsondes) could reveal novel insight into the structure of the diabatic intensification of these systems.
Diabatic effects on cyclonic systems | |
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Research Questions |
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Planned Observations | HALO (dropsondes, in-situ, cloud radar) |
Obsevation strategy |
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Schematic flight plan: |
NAWDEX goals: