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- Author or Editor: Yolande L. Serra x
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An ad hoc experiment in the marine stratocumulus region to the west of Mexico was conducted from 29 August to 6 September 1997 as part of the Pan American Climate Studies Tropical Eastern Pacific Process Study cruise on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Ronald H. Brown after a medical emergency cut short the planned time in the eastern Pacific ITCZ. The joint variation of cloud structure, drizzle, and tropospheric stratification was documented by a combination of three hourly upper air soundings, scanning C-band radar, hourly cloud photography, and visual observation. The sensitive C-band Doppler radar mounted on the ship was able to obtain observations of drizzle cells with regions of greater than 10 dBZ of 2–3-km scale in the horizontal and peak reflectivities of greater than 25 dBZ.
An ad hoc experiment in the marine stratocumulus region to the west of Mexico was conducted from 29 August to 6 September 1997 as part of the Pan American Climate Studies Tropical Eastern Pacific Process Study cruise on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Ronald H. Brown after a medical emergency cut short the planned time in the eastern Pacific ITCZ. The joint variation of cloud structure, drizzle, and tropospheric stratification was documented by a combination of three hourly upper air soundings, scanning C-band radar, hourly cloud photography, and visual observation. The sensitive C-band Doppler radar mounted on the ship was able to obtain observations of drizzle cells with regions of greater than 10 dBZ of 2–3-km scale in the horizontal and peak reflectivities of greater than 25 dBZ.
Abstract
Northwestern Mexico experiences large variations in water vapor on seasonal time scales in association with the North American monsoon, as well as during the monsoon associated with upper-tropospheric troughs, mesoscale convective systems, tropical easterly waves, and tropical cyclones. Together these events provide more than half of the annual rainfall to the region. A sufficient density of meteorological observations is required to properly observe, understand, and forecast the important processes contributing to the development of organized convection over northwestern Mexico. The stability of observations over long time periods is also of interest to monitor seasonal and longer-time-scale variability in the water cycle. For more than a decade, the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used to obtain tropospheric precipitable water vapor (PWV) for applications in the atmospheric sciences. There is particular interest in establishing these systems where conventional operational meteorological networks are not possible due to the lack of financial or human resources to support the network. Here, we provide an overview of the North American Monsoon GPS Transect Experiment 2013 in northwestern Mexico for the study of mesoscale processes and the impact of PWV observations on high-resolution model forecasts of organized convective events during the 2013 monsoon. Some highlights are presented, as well as a look forward at GPS networks with surface meteorology (GPS-Met) planned for the region that will be capable of capturing a wider range of water vapor variability in both space and time across Mexico and into the southwestern United States.
Abstract
Northwestern Mexico experiences large variations in water vapor on seasonal time scales in association with the North American monsoon, as well as during the monsoon associated with upper-tropospheric troughs, mesoscale convective systems, tropical easterly waves, and tropical cyclones. Together these events provide more than half of the annual rainfall to the region. A sufficient density of meteorological observations is required to properly observe, understand, and forecast the important processes contributing to the development of organized convection over northwestern Mexico. The stability of observations over long time periods is also of interest to monitor seasonal and longer-time-scale variability in the water cycle. For more than a decade, the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used to obtain tropospheric precipitable water vapor (PWV) for applications in the atmospheric sciences. There is particular interest in establishing these systems where conventional operational meteorological networks are not possible due to the lack of financial or human resources to support the network. Here, we provide an overview of the North American Monsoon GPS Transect Experiment 2013 in northwestern Mexico for the study of mesoscale processes and the impact of PWV observations on high-resolution model forecasts of organized convective events during the 2013 monsoon. Some highlights are presented, as well as a look forward at GPS networks with surface meteorology (GPS-Met) planned for the region that will be capable of capturing a wider range of water vapor variability in both space and time across Mexico and into the southwestern United States.
