Research application of the novel multi sensor dropsonde for HALO for investigation of cyclones and embedded convection causing high impact weather in the Mediterranean

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christoph Kottmeier
• Subject Area: Atmospheric Science
• Term: from 2010 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 179877336

The new KITsonde multi-sensor dropsonde will have its first operational use aboard HALO for investigation of deep convection and cyclones causing High Impact Weather (HIW) in the Mediterranean during the Demonstration Mission NEPTUN in autumn 2012. Following a sequence of three days of the development of an upper tropospheric trough leading to deep convection, mesoscale convective systems, and a lower tropospheric cyclone with embedded convection, the KITsonde will be used on the one hand to detect the variability of wind temperature and humidity prior to the cyclogenesis upstream, combined with in-situ and lidar remote sensing instruments. On the other hand during the final stage of HIW development, KITsonde will provide high resolution in-situ measurements from the inside of convective cells and MCS, inaccessible for the aircraft and optical remote sensing instruments. This dataset will allow the analysis of the variability of wind, temperature and humidity in time and space on all affecting scales, responsible for vertical fluxes of energy, which themselves are decisive for the initiation of convection - an important trigger mechanism for HIW. The impact of additional high resolution profiles within convective systems on the forecast quality of the NWF model COSMO-DE will be investigated.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1294: Atmospheric and Earth System Research with the "High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft" (HALO)
• Participating Persons: Dr. Ulrich Corsmeier; Dr. Andreas Wieser