Mid-Level Vorticity in Mesoscale Convective Systems.

Abstract

The objective of this study has been to examine and document the development of mid-level Mesoscale Convective Vortices (MCVs) within Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) and Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCCs) using the Central Plains Wind Profiler Demonstration Network (WPDN). Nine MCSs from the summer of 1993 were picked for this study based on their formation and lifetime spent over the WPDN. Bartels and Maddox's (1991) climatological study of MCVs for 1981 - 1988 estimated that less than 5% of MCSs exhibit a vortex whose clouds persist long enough after the dissipation of the MCSs high-level obscuring cirrus cloud to become apparent in visible satellite imagery. This low estimate of MCVs in MCSs leads to the question of how many MCSs produce MCVs. Some researchers state that the MCV is an inherent part of the MCC circulation (Velasco and Fritsch, 1987; Menard and Fritsch, 1989).

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 08, 1996
Accession Number
ADA311705

Entities

People

  • Ronnie G. King

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Boundaries
  • Cirrus Clouds
  • Colorado
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Doppler Radar
  • Equations
  • Floods
  • Heat Energy
  • Latent Heat
  • Measurement
  • Meteorology
  • Satellite Imaging
  • Temperature Gradients
  • United States
  • Wind Shear

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Educational Psychology

Technology Areas

  • Space