IMPROVE project description
Improvement of Microphysical Parameterization through Observational Verification Experiment
Summary
The UW Department of Atmospheric Sciences in Seattle was the Forecasting and Operations Control Center (FOCC) for IMPROVE-1. Between IOPs, the S-Pol radar on the Washington Coast was used for surveillance of incoming storms, and this radar imagery was available to forecasters at the FOCC. When forecasts indicated that a frontal system was approaching within ~200 km of the Washington Coast, 3-hourly launches of rawinsondes were commenced at Quillayute, Westport, and Salem.
The Convair-580 departed from its home base at Paine Field, Washington, when the S-Pol radar showed precipitation features of interest within ~1 hour of being ~170 km from the coast. The Convair-580 was guided into precipitation features of interest off the Washington Coast by air-to-ground communications with a scientist at the FOCC who had real-time displays of the S-Pol radar images with the location of the Convair-580 overlaid. The basic flight pattern was a vertical profile from close to the ocean surface to the top of the cloud system or to the maximum altitude of the Convair-580 (~7.25 km), with the aircraft generally advecting with the precipitating feature of interest as it moved onto the coast through the region of dual-Doppler coverage.
Data access
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Additional Information
Related links:- info: S-Pol
- homepage: IMPROVE project main web page
- homepage: IMPROVE
Temporal coverage
Begin date: 2001-01-01 00:00:00, End date: 2001-02-14 23:59:59Spatial coverage
Minimum latitude: 45.000000, Minimum longitude: -126.000000Maximum latitude: 49.000000, Maximum longitude: -122.000000