Vortex 2...

[Andrea Griffa]

After Vortex1 a new interesting experiment is gonna start out: Vortex 2.
It will start in may and june of 2007-2008.

I read a lot of intersting things about this new experiment and this is the web site if someone would take a look:

http://www.vortex2.org/

There's a thing that impressed my mind: each supercell that will be analyzed, will be scanned with a really elevated number of instrumentations:

2 X-band mobile radars from Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR)
1 X-band CSWR rapid-scan mobile radar
2 C-band Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching (SMART) radars
1 X-band dual-polarization mobile radar (“XPOLâ€￾ a.k.a. “DOW4â€￾)
1 W-band and 1 X-band UMASS radar
Mobile mesonets (several)
Dropsonde aircraft
M-GLASS
ELDORA
Univ of Wyoming cloud radar
Turtles

 

[Jeff Snyder]

VORTEX2 to has been pushed back to (at least) 2008-2009. As far as I know, funding has not been fully established, so it may not even start in 2008.

http://www.vortex2.org/

 

[Andrea Griffa]

VORTEX2 to has been pushed back to (at least) 2008-2009. As far as I know, funding has not been fully established, so it may not even start in 2008.

http://www.vortex2.org/

Thanks Jeff I didn't understand...As far as I understood some aircrafts will be used in the experiments..If I'm not wrong they were not used in vortex 1: anyone knows wich role will they play?

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Andrea,

Your question may be addressed in the Experimental Design Overview, available at http://www.vortex2.org/edo.doc ... The discussion of the airborne instruments starts on page 6. An operating scenario is given later in the document.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

The setup for Vortex II will be pretty similar to how IHOP (International H20 Project) was run. Multiple radars, plenty of mobile mesonets, and numerous aircraft. From what I understand, IHOP was the largest mobile expirement ever run in terms of people and equipment being used.

Tentatively, Vortex II will use aircraft to:
a) Get soundings around the environment the supercell develops in
B) Radar observations via ELDORA (who was around during Vortex I) and the Wyoming cloud radar (perhaps sampling the rear flank/anvil region?)
c)mobile observations near the tornado/low level mesocyclone (UAV)

I'm not sure if the UAVs are operational yet... everything else is good to go once we get funding

Note that the in situ turtles are probably from our very own Tim Samaras... who has had an extremely sucessful past few years!

One last note... the project hopes to use multiple bases for the ground units. This is one improvement over past projects... the ability to roam the entire plains for storms!


Aaron

 

[Benjamin Sipprell]

B) Radar observations via ELDORA (who was around during Vortex I) and the Wyoming cloud radar (perhaps sampling the rear flank/anvil region?)

I'm not sure the University of Wyoming is getting involved. I know Dr. Bart Geerts was part of the committee in January of 2005 ... but last he informed me the UWKA was being pulled from the project.

Maybe ATSC of Wyoming will get back on the table, maybe not. I do know this from my time in Wyoming that the UWKA is undergoing significant improvements, especially to its WCR. I wish, and I asked, they would put an additional release point from the aircraft for dropsones. It would have worked out well for all my research on the 19 June 2002 IHOP CI case in terms of acquiring a more comprehensive vertical profile with the UWKA stepped traverses.

Hopefully I'll have an answer tomorrow about Vortex2 and Wyoming intentions.