Dr. Charles A. Doswell III - NSSL Internet: doswell@nssl.noaa.gov Web: Doswell homepage Dr. Robert M. Rabin - NSSL Internet: rabin@nssl.noaa.gov Dr. Martin Setvák - Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI) Internet: setvak@chmi.cz Dr. Vincenzo Levizzani - FISBAT-CNR Internet: vince@atmosphere.fisbat.bo.cnr.it Web: Levizzani homepage Dr. Dusan Zrnic - NSSL Internet: zrnic@nssl.noaa.gov Co-Investigator: Pavel Hampl - CHMI Internet: phampl@chmi.cz Other collaborator(s): John Weaver - NESDIS
Updated: 29 November 1996
What's New?: The whole page has been given a
major facelift. For a summary of what we are up to, we include an
extended version of a conference paper that we intend to turn into a
formal paper describing our project, slated to appear somewhere
in the literature at some unspecified future date (subject to journal
acceptance, of course).
This project began by using the AVHRR channel 3 (3.55 - 3.93 micrometers) imagery from the NOAA polar-orbiting meteorological satellites. That channel's sensitivity to cloud top microphysics means that it is commonly used for ice/water discrimination. However, even within cloud tops of non-tropical convective storms, which are generally assumed to be composed of ice particles only, significant differences in so-called Channel 3 Cloud Top Reflectivity (CH3CTR) can be observed occasionally. The approach being pursued involves more than just single sensor interpretation, however. We are using the 3.7 micrometer channel observations from NOAA polar orbiting satellites, the 3.9 micrometer channel observations from GOES geostationary satellite, and modern Doppler radar observations, hopefully eventually to include polarimetric radar information. We obtained data from several different platforms during the VORTEX project, held during spring of 1995 in the Southern Plains of the U.S. (Rasmussen et al.1994). We also are exploring the microphysical and radiative transfer issues associated the the signatures we have been seeing.
We are seeking explanations for the observed behavior of convective storms with respect to the signatures we have been seeing. Moreover, if any connections to observed weather events can be established, this might have important forecasting/nowcasting implications. Those connections, if any, have yet to be established, however.
1. Setvák, M. and C.A. Doswell III (1991): The AVHRR channel 3 cloud top reflectivity of convective storms. Mon. Wea. Rev., 119, 841-847.
2. Doswell, C.A. III, R.M. Rabin, M. Setvák, and V. Levizzani, 1996: Multispectral GOES-8 and NOAA/AVHRR obsevations of Great Plains storms. Preprints, 15th Conf. on Wea. Analysis and Forecasting, Norfolk, VA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 28-31.
3. Levizzani, V., M. Setvák, R.M. Rabin, C.A. Doswell III, and P.K. Wang, 1996: Ice crystal plumes on top of convective storms. In IRS'96: Current Problems in Atmospheric Radiation, W.L. Smith and K. Stamnes, Eds., A.Deepak, Hampton,VA, (in press).
4. Setvák, M., R.M. Rabin, V. Levizzani, and C. A. Doswell III, 1996: Relations between increased 3.7/3.9 µm reflectivity above Great Plains thunderstorms from NOAA/AVHRR and GOES-8 and internal storm structure from NEXRAD radar. Preprints, 1996 Meteorological Satellite Data User's Conference (Vienna, Austria), EUMETSAT, [in press].
5. Levizzani, V., and M. Setvák, 1996: Multispectral, high-resolution satellite observations of plumes on top of convective storms. J. Atmos. Sci., 53, 361-369.
6. A draft version of what eventually we hope to be a formal publication describing our project.