World's Largest Tornado Experiment Heads for Great Plains (w/Videos)
May 5, 2009
The VORTEX2 study area (left), shown as a red loop, stretches some 900 miles from north to south across the Great Plains. Shown at right is a supercell thunderstorm surrounded by VORTEX2 observing teams. The heaviest precipitation, in green, loops around the target area where a tornado might occur. (Image courtesy VORTEX2)
The largest and most ambitious tornado study in history will begin next week, as dozens of scientists deploy radars and other ground-based instruments across the Great Plains to gain a better understanding of these often-deadly weather events.
The collaborative international project, involving scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and a number of other organizations, will examine in detail how tornadoes form and the patterns of damage they cause. The findings are expected to improve tornado warnings and short-term severe weather forecasts.
This video is not supported by your browser at this time.
NCAR's Roger Wakimoto, a principal investigator for VORTEX2, explains some of the science behind the field project. NCAR's Roger Wakimoto, a principal investigator for VORTEX2, explains some of the science behind the field project. He will be using video and damage surveys to analyze the structure of tornadoes.
The field campaign, known as VORTEX2 (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment 2), will run from May 10 to June 13. A second phase is planned for the spring of 2010."We still do not completely understand the processes that lead to tornado formation and shape its development," says Roger Wakimoto, director of NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory and a principal investigator for VORTEX2. "We hope that VORTEX2 will provide the data we need to learn more about the development of tornadoes and in time help forecasters give people more advance warning before a tornado strikes."
The $11.9 million VORTEX2 program is funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, which sponsors NCAR, and by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In addition to NCAR, participants include the Center for Severe Weather Research, Rasmussen Systems, NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies at the University of Oklahoma, Pennsylvania State University, University of Oklahoma, Texas Tech University, Lyndon State College, University of Colorado, Purdue University, North Carolina State University, University of Illinois, University of Massachusetts, University of Nebraska, Environment Canada, and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
This video is not supported by your browser at this time.
This one-minute animation gives a 3-D overview of the VORTEX fleet, with descriptions of instruments as they might be deployed around a potentially tornadic thunderstorm. Credit: National Center for Atmospheric Research
The crucial zoneThe first VORTEX project, conducted in 1994 and 1995, gathered critical data on supercells, the severe and long-lived thunderstorms that give birth to the most destructive and deadly tornadoes. VORTEX findings are credited for improving National Weather Service tornado warnings, which now have a lead time of about 13 minutes.
Building on that progress, VORTEX2 researchers will use enhanced mobile radars and other new weather-sensing tools to gather far more detail on the crucial zone where tornadoes develop. Rapidly changing contrasts in wind and temperature in this zone, which is only a few miles across, can spawn a tornado within minutes. However, such an event happens in only a small fraction of supercell storms, and standard observing networks and radars often fail to capture the atmospheric conditions that lead to a tornado.
"VORTEX2 will help us better understand the difference between thunderstorms that produce tornadoes and those that don't," says NCAR scientist David Dowell, a VORTEX2 field coordinator. "By identifying the characteristics of severe thunderstorms that produce tornadoes, forecasters will be able to issue tornado warnings further in advance and potentially save lives."
Probing a vast region with high-tech tools
The radar fleet for VORTEX2, including 10 mobile radars, will track winds and precipitation in and near tornadoes in unprecedented detail. The instruments will have a resolution as fine as 300 feet and time steps as small as 15 seconds. More than three dozen portable surface weather stations will blanket the area in and near a target storm.
The VORTEX2 study area spans more than 900 miles, stretching from west Texas to southwest Minnesota. On each day of operations, participants will position equipment about an hour ahead of a potentially tornadic storm and remain in place until the storm arrives. NOAA forecasters and partners will provide intensive guidance on short-fuse weather events as each day unfolds.
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
More information:
VORTEX2:http://www.vortex2.org
Reports on each day's findings:http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/vortex2/
Source: National Center for Atmospheric Research
-
Largest Attempt in History to Understand Tornadoes Slated to Begin
Apr 07, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Rapid-Scanning Doppler on Wheels Keeps Pace with Twisters
Jun 01, 2005 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Scientists Unravel Midwest Tornado Formation
Nov 08, 2005 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Scientists Unravel Midwest Tornado Formation
Apr 01, 2005 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Study: New radar system cut tornado deaths
Jun 29, 2005 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (29) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Wind Waves in Reservoir ~ Wind run-up and Wind set-up
Feb 08, 2012
-
Balance of oxygen in the atmosphere
Feb 01, 2012
-
The case for a methanol-based economy
Jan 30, 2012
-
Weather in a rotating cylinder
Jan 25, 2012
-
Importance of difference between SVP over ice and water?
Jan 19, 2012
-
Ozone and atmosphere sampling
Jan 16, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Earth
More news stories
New views show old NASA Mars landers
(PhysOrg.com) -- The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
13 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Bird populations near Fukushima are more diminished than expected
(PhysOrg.com) -- Low-level radiation in Fukushima Prefecture appears to have had immediate effects on bird populations, and to a greater degree than was expected from a related analysis of Chernobyl, an international ...
1 hour ago |
not rated yet |
0
'Pyramids' planted to revive Philippine corals
Thousands of small "pyramids" are being planted off the Philippines' famous Boracay resort island in an effort to bring its nearly destroyed coral reefs back to life, an environment group said Thursday.
19 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Big trees face 'dire future'
Already on the decline worldwide, big trees face a dire future according to James Cook Universitys Distinguished Professor William Laurance.
16 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Bonding out: Making companies pay up front for potential environmental disasters
Whether its building an oil pipeline, drilling for fuel in the ocean or fracking to flush natural gas out of the Earth, were often asked to believe the process is safe, when companies want to do something ...
2 hours ago |
not rated yet |
1
Inspired by steel, nanomanufacturing gets wear-resistant carbide tip
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and IBM Research - Zurich have fabricated an ultrasharp silicon carbide tip possessing such high strength ...
Borexino Collaboration succeeds in spotting pep neutrinos emitted from the sun
(PhysOrg.com) -- To learn more about how the sun works, scientists study particles that are emitted from it into space due to thermonuclear reactions that occur inside; by applying known physics principles, ...
Samsung can continue selling Galaxy tabs in Germany: court
South Korea's Samsung Electronics can continue to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet computer in Germany, a German court ruled Thursday, rejecting a bid by arch-rival Apple to have them banned.
Engineers find inspiration for new materials in Piranha-proof armor
(PhysOrg.com) -- Its a matchup worthy of a late-night cable movie: put a school of starving piranha and a 300-pound fish together, and who comes out the winner?
Improving fitness, preventing fat gain key in protecting heart
(Medical Xpress) -- Good news for active adults fighting the battle of the bulge. Exercising and getting fit may protect your heart, even if you have a few extra pounds, according to a study published in the Feb. 14 issue ...
Many companies fall short of social responsibility promises
(PhysOrg.com) -- Whether eliminating child labor, creating environmentally friendly technology or working against all forms of corruption, many corporations fail to become socially responsible despite promises to change, ...