Request for the use of the Mobile Mesonet and Tornado Pods NSF Facility for Education Boundaries around Severe Storms (BASS) Project

Transcription

1 Request for the use of the Mobile Mesonet and Tornado Pods NSF Facility for Education Boundaries around Severe Storms (BASS) Project Scott M. Steiger Department of Atmospheric and Geological Sciences The State University of New York at Oswego Oswego, NY September Introduction The Meteorology Program in the Department of Atmospheric and Geological Sciences at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego would like to request the use of the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR) Mobile Mesonet and Tornado Pod for educational purposes during the period 1 June 22 June The proposed deployment will coincide with the SUNY Oswego Storm Forecasting and Observation ( Storm Chasing ) Program ( and be part of the new Field Experiences in Storm Observation and Forecasting course (MET 325). There will be 15 participants of the Storm Chasing Program, along with four instructors. SUNY Oswego has experience with CSWR facilities, having used the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) for two NSF projects (EAGER-LLAP grant and OWLeS ) and one educational deployment in The objectives of this proposed deployment are to: 1) give undergraduate meteorology students exposure to state-of-the-art equipment and have them learn how to operate the mobile mesonet and tornado pods, 2) have students plan and carry out storm sampling strategies (e.g., where to deploy to sample the rear/forward flank downdrafts in supercells), and 3) immediately perform quality control and initial analyses back in the lab in Oswego after we return from the trip. Students and teachers from local K-12 schools and nearby colleges, along with the 1

2 remainder of the SUNY Oswego community (e.g., administrators), will either be invited to the Oswego campus for an open house or we will bring the facilities to a school or two exposing them to how the mobile mesonet and tornado pods collect data and to show some of the initial data analysis. 2. Proposed use of the Mobile Mesonet and Tornado Pods for Education Typically 15 students and 4 leaders (Dr. Steiger, a forecast assistant, and 2 drivers) drive in two 12-passenger vans to the Plains as part of the SUNY Oswego Storm Forecasting and Observation Program. We propose to arrive in Boulder, CO 1 June 2015 to be introduced to the CSWR and its staff and to be trained in how to use the mobile mesonets and pods. A team of 3 students will lead a forecast discussion every morning of the Storm Forecasting and Observation Program. After reviewing the forecast and target area, we will then discuss how to position the mesonet and pods around a thunderstorm (e.g., see Fig. 1 for a supercell deployment). These deployments will be based on thunderstorm type (supercell, squall line) and anticipated movement of these storms. If the storm motion will be greater than 30 kts, we will deploy pods well ahead of the storm (e.g., 25 km) or not deploy, as it may be too dangerous for students to stop near a fast-moving storm. Dr. Steiger will assign students to teams [e.g., mesonet & pod team (3-4 students), rawinsonde] and review the operations plan of the day. We will stay in contact via ham radio (both school vans are equipped with one and we are requesting a radio for the mesonet) and cell phone during operations in case adjustments will need to be made. After the storm passes the mesonet team will retrieve the pods. SUNY Oswego owns a state-of-the-art Vaisala, Inc. rawinsonde system that we anticipate using during this project. These launches will be mostly done prior to storm initiation to assess 2

3 the environment. It is too difficult to launch nearby an ongoing storm as it takes over an hour to deploy and collect the data (we cannot move while collecting sonde data). Before we depart Oswego, students in the Met 325 course will devise strategies for different weather scenarios and objectives. They will work with Dr. Steiger during the in-class part of the MET 325 course during the last quarter of the spring term. The main scientific goal is to study how meteorological variables change across storm boundaries (e.g., Markowski et al. 2002, Lee et al. 2012). We will relate temperature gradients across the boundaries to storm behavior and development of hazardous weather (e.g., tornadoes). We will not target tornadoes themselves, keeping a distance of at least 5 km. For the analysis phase of this proposed project, students will examine the mesonet and pod data in the Oswego lab. They will have one week to analyze the collected data testing hypotheses or doing case studies and then present their findings in oral and written format. The data will be available for future student projects (and backed up on an external hard drive). It will be helpful to have a technician to train us for a day to help with operating the equipment, downloading and analyzing the data. It will also be very helpful to have real-time viewing capabilities of the mesonet s position overlaid on a road map and NEXRAD data. Lastly, if possible, we will participate in project PECAN (Plains Elevated Convection at Night). We will discuss with CSWR staff how to participate. The main limiting factor will be student fatigue, but I am almost certain some students will be excited to be a part of a major science project! 3. Outreach to other schools and the public We had a very successful outreach program to the public outside the SUNY Oswego community during the NSF EAGER-LLAP and OWLeS projects and we foresee the same 3

4 success with this proposed project. Dr. Steiger and some of his students will present how the mobile mesonet and pods operate and some of their findings via an open house-type event to be held on campus the week after we return from the Plains. We propose to travel to nearby schools with the facility manager s permission. Dr. Steiger has very good relationships with the local media and will invite them to these events as well. 4. Budget We travel an average of ~600 miles per day during the storm observation program (*10 days = 6000 miles). It will likely be ~1500 miles to drive from the Plains states to Oswego, NY after the storm chase. We may drive ~500 miles while in New York. Hence, we will need the costs of driving and maintaining the mesonet for 8000 miles covered. A plane ticket to send a driver from CSWR to Oswego will be needed to drive the mobile mesonet and pods back to Boulder, CO (1700 miles and ~$250 for a one way ticket Denver to Syracuse). References Lee, B. D., C. A. Finley, and C. D. Karstens, 2012: The Bowdle, South Dakota, cyclic tornadic supercell of 22 May 2010: Surface analysis of rear-flank downdraft evolution and multiple internal surges. Mon. Wea. Rev., 140, Markowski, P. and Y. Richardson, 2010: Mesoscale Meteorology in Midlatitudes. Wiley- Blackwell, 407 pp. Markowski, P. M., J. M. Straka, and E. N. Rasmussen, 2002: Direct surface thermodynamic observations within the rear-flank downdrafts of nontornadic and tornadic supercells. Mon. Wea, Rev., 130,

5 Figure 1. An idealized step pattern for the mobile mesonet. Figure from Markowski and Richardson (2010). Star shows location of viewer for picture to the right. This is the position where one of the pods would be placed by the students in the school van. The students in the mesonet would then drop off 2-3 pods along their path (spacing at least 1 km). 5

6 Version 4 February 2012 Facility Request Form for Educational Activities Part I: General Information Requestor Name Institution and Address Phone and Scott Steiger SUNY Oswego Department of Atmospheric and Geological Sciences; room 366 Shineman Science Center; Oswego, NY (315) ; scott.steiger@oswego.edu Faculty Advisor Name (if student requestor) Part II: Project Description Project Title Boundaries around severe storms (BASS) Project Location Central Plains of the United States Start and End Dates of Field Deployment 1 22 June 2015 NSF Facilities requested (type and # of systems) Number of Expendables requested (if applicable) 1 Mobile mesonet, 4 pods Part III: Educational Activities Description Number of students actively involved Graduate: 0 Undergraduate: 15 Desired training activities conducted by Facility Staff including time in the field Desired teaching activities conducted by Facility Staff including time in the field Additional special requirements that pertain to Facility support We would like to be trained on how to operate (including saving the data, data analysis tools) the mesonet and pods during 1 June 2015 Maintenance if vehicle breakdown occurs or if equipment stops working.

7 Version 4 February 2012 Ancillary/Opportunistic Outreach Activities While traveling to observe storms over the Plains states, we will give tours of the facilities to the local public and visitors at the hotels where we will stay. If allowed to bring the facilities to Oswego, we will visit local K-12 schools and invite nearby university students (e.g., SUNY Oswego and Brockport) and the public to watch demonstrations with the equipment. Part IV: Operational Requirements Please specify data access needs (e.g., real time) Please specify data analysis needs Please specify communications needs Real time data access is needed. If possible, a method for viewing the mesonet s position overlaid on NEXRAD data and the road network. Mobile Internet. If there are any data analysis tools for the mesonet and pod data beyond Microsoft Excel it would be appreciated if shared with us. Ham radio in the mesonet.

8 Feasibility Analysis Project: Boundaries And Severe Storms (BASS) project Location: SUNY-Oswego and the Great Plains Duration: 1 June - 22 June 2015 Requesting PI/Host: Scott Steiger Summary: CSWR finds this request feasible and feels that it is an appropriate use of a Mesonet and Pods for educational purposes. CSWR will be able to train PI Steiger and his students on Mobile Mesonet and Pod operations. The educational plan proposed by PI Steiger is appropriate for these deployments, incorporating the Mesonet and Pods into an existing Storm Observations course makes excellent use of a relatively inexpensive observational resource. Longer analysis: The requested use is well planned. The Mesonet and Pods will be used synergistically with the SUNY-Oswego Sounding System during a field program, Field Experiences in Storm Observations and Forecasting (MET 325), and students will analyze the data at the culmination of the field portion of the course. Data also will be archived at SUNY- Oswego for potential use in future analyses. Prior to the field portion of the project, students will plan deployment strategies for the Mesonet and Pods (and SUNY-Oswego Soundings) for different types of convection and under the supervision of PI Steiger, execute these deployments out in the field. After the field project in the Great Plains, the Mesonet and Pods will be driven by the PI s team to Oswego, New York, and outreach events K-12 schools and local colleges in the Oswego-area and possibly an open house at SUNY-Oswego will be conducted. PI Steiger is well connected with the local media, so advertising of events and additional outreach will be pursued through this venue. The breadth of local outreach planned should engage a large segment of the population in meteorology education. As with all relatively short educational deployments, there is a risk that the weather will not be favorable, however, given that this is a fully mobile project and there is a wide diversity of potential phenomena in the Plains during early June, the probability of observing interesting weather useful for the educational purposes of this project is very high. The project will target temperature boundaries associated with various types of weather phenomena (e.g., supercells, squall lines, ordinary thunderstorms), which are common in June. CSWR staff will train the PI and his students in Mesonet and Pod operations, data transfer, and the use of software during the deployment. No CSWR staff is needed to accompany the Mesonet during deployments, but a technician will be available to assist SUNY-Oswego for emergency maintenance. The PI has significant experience with undergraduate field programs that target severe storms, so safety concerns are mitigated. The PI will not be attempting observations in or near tornadoes. The PI proposes to sample gust fronts at least 5 km distant from any tornado, and either will not deploy or deploy at least 25 km distance from fast-moving and/or complex storms. The Mesonet vehicle will be equipped with VHF radio and cell Internet, so PI Steiger will be in radio and

9 cell contact with his students during deployments. The PI will make the final deployment and safety decisions. Students will pick up the Pods after it is safe after the region of interest has passed over the Pod array. The PI would like the ability to overlay Pod locations with NEXRAD data and the road network. Currently, CSWR does not have this capability at this time, but may by the time of the proposed BASS project. While desirable, this is not critical for operations or safety. CSWR is participating in the PECAN experiment during June BASS will use a vehicle planned for use as a DOW support vehicle in PECAN, and a replacement vehicle will be rented for use PECAN. The Mobile Mesonet and Pods will be picked up by the PIs team from Hays, Kansas. CSWR will fly a driver to the Syracuse/Oswego area to retrieve the system afer the end of BASS. CSWR personnel will be available to train PI Steiger and his students on mesonet operations and Pod deployments on or immediately before 1 June in Hays, KS. But, if the PI has some flexibility on the start-date of his course, a PECAN open house (presentations, media, showcasing of PECAN instrumentation, etc.) is scheduled for Saturday, 30 May, that would provide his students with an excellent opportunity to learn more about the project and interact with scientists and instruments from a multitude of institutions that they might not otherwise have the chance to do. Additionally, on 31 May, the SUNY-Oswego students may have the opportunity to participate in a CSWR PECAN practice deployment, giving them the chance to experience a mutli-instrument deployment. If the opportunity arises, and safety allows, students fielding the CSWR Mesonet and Pods for BASS might be able to participate in one or more PECAN scientific missions.

10 DOW Education Project Budget Summary Project Name Boundaries And Severe Storms (BASS) project Location SUNY-Oswego and the Great Plains Duration 1 June - 22 June 2015 Principal Investigator Scott Steiger 1. Field Operation A.Mesonet Fuel 8000 miles estimate, 10 mpg gallon/rate B. Vehicle Rental Days of rental 25 Days/rate (DOW support replacement in PECAN) Total Field Cost $6, Ferry A. Fuel 1700 miles 10 mpg gallon/rate B. Hotel 3 ferry day Days/rate C. Perdiem Days/rate D. Airfare + Airport Transportation ow HYS-SYR Trip/rate Total Ferry Cost $1, Salary+Fringe A. Non-LOAF Staff + Fringe (38%) 5 days for Mesonet ferrying + flight travel $1, Radar /Facility Usage Fee A. Vehicle Mileage Charge Ferry + Ops Miles/reate $2, Purchased Service (Disks, rent, communication) 0 6. Equipment 0 7. Participant Support A. Stipend B. Travel 0 4. Indirect Costs 68% of items 1 to 5 $8,475 Total BASS Cost $20,937

11 Final Report for use of CSWR Mobile Mesonet and Tornado Pods Facility Pool Request Boundaries Across Severe Storms (BASS) Education Project 1. Educational objectives The primary objective of the Boundaries Across Severe Storms (BASS) Project was to expose undergraduate students to such state- of- the- art facilities as the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR) mobile mesonet vehicle and tornado pods while sampling airmass characteristics across supercell thunderstorm gust fronts. Fifteen undergraduate students [1 engineering student from the State University of New York (SUNY) Environmental Science and Forestry college; the remainder were meteorology majors from SUNY Oswego, Brockport, Albany, and Penn State] were participants in the 2015 SUNY Oswego Storm Forecasting and Observation Program during which time they were trained by CSWR staff on how to operate these facilities and designed and carried out experiments. At first the students were nervous about driving and using the mobile mesonet, but after the training in Hays, KS on 31 May 2015, they overall enjoyed having the equipment and reported that having the data in real time and archived enhanced their learning. The analysis of the collected data occurred on the SUNY Oswego campus during a 4- day period after returning from the U.S. Plains in which students did brief research reports on topics of their choosing based on observations from the trip. 2. Deployment and class procedures The mesonet vehicle collected data on most every day we had it from 1 to 9 June The students were divided into 3 teams: forecast, logistics, and equipment teams. The teams rotated each day so the team of 5 students on the equipment team one day had this responsibility again 3 days later. Four of the five- team members rode in the mesonet while one remained in the SUNY Oswego vans. This person would then be in the mesonet 3 days later. This was done to increase comfort. The tornado pods were deployed during 1-4 different observation periods (e.g., pod K sampled 4 events while O sampled only 1). Generally the decision of when and where to deploy was made by the head instructor, but the students were the ones who physically ran through the methodology of finding a suitable surface and orientating the pod correctly and 1

12 documenting the location with a GPS unit and pictures. The instructor attempted to place the pods where a supercell thunderstorm or gust front from the storm would propagate over the pod. Safety of the students was given top priority when deciding to deploy the pods. 3. Successes as viewed by professor and students We learned a lot about strategizing to sample key parts of an actual storm, having multiple variables to consider; e.g., do we have time to deploy safely? Will we have time to come back and collect the pods by the next morning? How is the terrain by the road? Students (and instructors) gained an appreciation for how difficult fieldwork can be. Some of the data were used in the student projects. For example, Matthew Wunsch analyzed data collected by the mesonet while it was stationary and a supercell s rear flank downdraft (RFD) moved overhead (see Figs. 1-5). He noted surges in wind speed associated with the RFD passage. This agrees with previous literature showing RFDs can have multiple gust fronts/surges (Lee et al. 2012). A continuation of this particular project and use of the data collected during BASS in future student class projects will have more interesting results for students to discover! 4. Outreach activities The only outreach we were able to do was while on the road storm chasing. We were approached by the public at gas stations and hotel parking lots. The students and professors were more than happy to share with them what we were doing with the facilities. One of the days, we opened up the mesonet truck and placed one of the pods on the ground behind the truck. There were more than 30 other storm chasers around who visited. 5. Lessons learned The main lesson learned was how difficult it is to plan pod deployment. Safety was the top concern, so we did not deploy within 5 miles of the suspected tornadic region in a storm. We wanted to have the pods sample the air masses on either side of a gust front (rear or forward flank), so finding places where this would work where the ground was even and had short grass in a small amount of time (minutes) was challenging. The other consideration was the fact that after we were done chasing, we needed to go back and pick up the pods. For this reason alone we usually did not deploy more than 2 pods during an event. 2

13 A couple of difficulties arose as the mesonet overheated in multiple instances and the air conditioning did not work. We thought we solved the overheating issue by adding more coolant to the truck, but had to return the mesonet and pods one day earlier than planned because it overheated while we were near Hays, KS (the drop off point). Having ham radios in each of our vehicles was key to keeping everyone safe. Thank you to Traeger Meyer for installing a ham radio we brought with us on 31 May! With the experience gained, I plan to ask for these facilities again next chase season. References Lee, B. D., C. A. Finley, and C. D. Karstons, 2012: The Bowdle, South Dakota, Cyclic Tornadic Supercell of 22 May 2010: Surface analysis of rear- flank downdraft evolution and multiple internal surges. Mon. Wea. Rev., 140,

14 Figures Fig. 1. Topeka, KS (KTWX) radial velocity (left; no scale shown) and reflectivity (right; scale shown to left of velocity) at 0056 UTC 8 June The star indicates the mesonet s location. 4

15 Fig. 2. Photograph taken by student Matthew Wunsch at our location shown in Fig. 1 looking east. 5

16 Figs Mesonet data (unsmoothed; we plan to do moving averages in the future with these data). Note: vehicle was not in motion during this time period. Time in UTC. 6

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