Contribution of lower and upper tropospheric forcing to the initiation and inhibition of convection over complex terrain

• Applicant: Dr. Christian Barthlott
• Subject Area: Atmospheric Science
• Term: from 2008 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 72127928

A key question concerning convection initiation is why deep convection breaks out precisely where and when. The development of convection mainly depends on (i) a potentially unstable atmosphere, (ii) the processes to release the potential instability and (iii) the existence of inversions or lids, which may prevent the development of deep convection. To release the potential instability, mesoscale processes in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and large-scale synoptic forcing in the middle and upper troposphere are most important. The goal of this proposal is to investigate the contribution of boundary layer and synoptic processes to initiate convection and the role of lids for convection inhibition. The analysis includes the whole COPS domain and is based mainly on the meteorological surface stations, GPS data, profiling systems of boundary layer wind, radiosondes and dropsondes as well as in-situ measurements by aircraft. From these data, combined fields of convection indices, convection inhibition and PBL convergence zones will be generated. Calculation of synoptic forcing (e.g. vorticity or air mass advection) will be based on COSMO modelling for which different initial and boundary conditions (GME, COSMO re-analysis data) will be used.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1167: Quantitative Precipitation Forecast PQP (Praecipitationis Quantitativae Praedictio)
• Participating Person: Dr. Norbert Kalthoff