Mobile Integrated Profiler System (MIPS) Observations of Low-Level Convergent Boundaries during IHOP

Abstract

Abstract Characteristics of convergent boundary zones (CBZs) sampled by the Mobile Integrated Profiling System (MIPS) during the 2002 International H2O Project (IHOP_2002) are presented. The MIPS sensors (915-MHz wind profiler, 12-channel microwave profiling radiometer, ceilometer, and surface instrumentation) provide very fine temporal kinematic and thermodynamic profiles of the atmospheric boundary layer and CBZ properties, including enhanced 915-MHz backscatter within the CBZ updraft (equivalent to the radar fine line), a general increase in integrated water vapor within the updrafts of the CBZ, an increase in the convective boundary layer (CBL) depth, and changes in ceilometer backscatter that are typically coincident with arrival of cooler, moister air (the case for density current CBZ). Three contrasting CBZs are analyzed. Convective initiation was associated with a slow-moving dryline as it passed over the MIPS on 19 June. Updrafts up to 6 m s−1 were measured, and the CBL attained its greatest depth within the CBZ. The CBZ in the other two cases were quite similar to density currents. The retrograding dryline of 18 June produced an enhancement in preexisting convection within 30 km of the MIPS. On 24 May, a shallow cold front, about 800 m deep, was sampled.