A case study of insitu-aircraft observations in a waterspout producing cloud
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Authors
Baskin, Clayton M.
Subjects
Waterspout
Aircraft data
CIRPAS
Synoptic analysis
Sea surface temperature
Aircraft data
CIRPAS
Synoptic analysis
Sea surface temperature
Advisors
Jonsson, Haflidi
Nuss, Wendell
Date of Issue
2005-03
Date
March 2005
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
An analysis of in-situ aircraft observations collected in the parent cloud of a waterspout is presented. Previous waterspout studies were confined mainly to photometric and model simulated data, no in-situ observations were made internal to the parent cloud. On 27 June 2002 the Cooperative Institute for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) UV-18A Twin Otter aircraft collected observations in a cloud that had developed in a cloud line, located approximately 15km south of Key West, and that formed a waterspout. This study attempts to analyze the waterspout formation process using these data and through a series of scale interactions, from the synoptic scale down to the individual cloud scale. Based upon the analyzed data a hypothetical formation process is developed. The background synoptic scale flow is shown to establish the necessary ambient shear as a key factor in the waterspout formation. The orientation of mesoscale convergent boundaries and thermodynamic processes, internal to the cloud, proved to be an essential factor in developing the vertical motion patterns necessary for formation of an organized circulation in the shear region and to provide the tipping and stretching of the resultant vortex necessary to account for the waterspout formation. This is consistent with conclusions derived from previous studies.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Department of Meteorology
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funding
Format
xiv, 39 p. : ill. (some col.)
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.