NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
High Ice Water Concentrations in the 19 August 2015 Coastal Mesoconvective SystemDuring August 2015, NASA's DC-8 research aircraft was flown into High Ice Water Content (HIWC) events as part of a three-week campaign to collect airborne radar data and to obtain measurements from microphysical probes. Goals for this flight campaign included improved characterization of HIWC events, especially from an airborne radar perspective. This paper focuses on one of the flight days, in which a coastal mesoscale convective system (MCS) was investigated for HIWC conditions. The system appears to have been maintained by bands of convection flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico. These convective bands were capped by a large cloud canopy, which masks the underlying structure if viewed from an infrared sensing satellite. The DC-8 was equipped with an IsoKinetic Probe that measured ice concentrations of up to 2.3 g m(exp -3) within the cloud canopy of this system. Sustained measurements of ice crystals with concentrations exceeding 1 g m(exp -3) were encountered for up to ten minutes of flight time. Airborne Radar reflectivity factors were found to be weak within these regions of high ice water concentrations, suggesting that Radar detection of HIWC would be a challenging endeavor. This case is then investigated using a three-dimensional numerical cloud model. Profiles of ice water concentrations and radar reflectivity factor demonstrate similar magnitudes and scales between the flight measurements and model simulation. Also discussed are recent modifications to the numerical model's ice-microphysics that are based on measurements during the flight campaign. The numerical model and its updated ice-microphysics are further validated with a simulation of a well-known case of a supercell hailstorm measured during the Cooperative Convective Precipitation Experiment. Differences in HIWC between the continental supercell and the coastal MCS are discussed.
Document ID
20170006487
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Proctor, Fred H.
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Harrah, Steven
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Switzer, George F.
(Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Hampton, VA, United States)
Strickland, Justin K.
(Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Hampton, VA, United States)
Hunt, Patricia J.
(Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Hampton, VA, United States)
Date Acquired
July 11, 2017
Publication Date
June 5, 2017
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
NF1676L-26975
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference (AVIATION 2017)
Location: Denver, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: June 5, 2017
End Date: June 9, 2017
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 081876.02.07.50.08.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available