Author:
Browning Keith A.,Blyth Alan M.,Clark Peter A.,Corsmeier Ulrich,Morcrette Cyril J.,Agnew Judith L.,Ballard Sue P.,Bamber Dave,Barthlott Christian,Bennett Lindsay J.,Beswick Karl M.,Bitter Mark,Bozier Karen E.,Brooks Barbara J.,Collier Chris G.,Davies Fay,Deny Bernhard,Dixon Mark A.,Feuerle Thomas,Forbes Richard M.,Gaffard Catherine,Gray Malcolm D.,Hankers Rolf,Hewison Tim J.,Kalthoff Norbert,Khodayar Samiro,Kohler Martin,Kottmeier Christoph,Kraut Stephan,Kunz Michael,Ladd Darcy N.,Lean Humphrey W.,Lenfant Jürgen,Li Zhihong,Marsham John,McGregor James,Mobbs Stephan D.,Nicol John,Norton Emily,Parker Douglas J.,Perry Felicity,Ramatschi Markus,Ricketts Hugo M. A.,Roberts Nigel M.,Russell Andrew,Schulz Helmut,Slack Elizabeth C.,Vaughan Geraint,Waight Joe,Wareing David P.,Watson Robert J.,Webb Ann R.,Wieser Andreas
Abstract
The Convective Storm Initiation Project (CSIP) is an international project to understand precisely where, when, and how convective clouds form and develop into showers in the mainly maritime environment of southern England. A major aim of CSIP is to compare the results of the very high resolution Met Office weather forecasting model with detailed observations of the early stages of convective clouds and to use the newly gained understanding to improve the predictions of the model.
A large array of ground-based instruments plus two instrumented aircraft, from the U.K. National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and the German Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK), Karlsruhe, were deployed in southern England, over an area centered on the meteorological radars at Chilbolton, during the summers of 2004 and 2005. In addition to a variety of ground-based remote-sensing instruments, numerous rawinsondes were released at one- to two-hourly intervals from six closely spaced sites. The Met Office weather radar network and Meteosat satellite imagery were used to provide context for the observations made by the instruments deployed during CSIP.
This article presents an overview of the CSIP field campaign and examples from CSIP of the types of convective initiation phenomena that are typical in the United Kingdom. It shows the way in which certain kinds of observational data are able to reveal these phenomena and gives an explanation of how the analyses of data from the field campaign will be used in the development of an improved very high resolution NWP model for operational use.
Publisher
American Meteorological Society