FASTEX: Fronts and Atlantic Storm Track Experiment

Summary

The primary goal of the FASTEX field program was to advance the scientific understanding necessary to enable detailed diagnosis and prediction of the life cycles and effects of eastern oceanic storms and their associated cloud and precipitation systems. FASTEX took place during January and February 1997 over the North Atlantic Ocean.

Objectives:

The scientific objectives of FASTEX included: (1) Increase the scientific understanding of the intensification process of eastern Atlantic extra-tropical cyclones and the role performed by precipitating clouds; (2) Provide a test for various "adaptive" observational strategies designed to place dropsonde observations in places crucial to improved numerical forecasts of cyclone development; (3) Provide a quantitative description of the mesoscale organization, of precipitation at various stages of the life-cycle of the extratropical cyclone, and tropopause folds and dry intrusions; (4) Construct 3-D kinematic fields over the cyclone domain suitable for input into mesoscale data assimilation models; and (5) Gather datasets from which heat and moisture budgets and the vertical distribution of heating by cloud systems can be calculated.