Studying Clouds in the Great Plains

Investigator: 
Yanping Li
yanping.li@yale.edu
Advisor: 
Ron Smith
Start Date: 
June, 2004
Description: 

Mountain convections often originate in preferred regions of the topography and propagate downwind far away from the source during the warm season, which is shown by meteorological radar and satellite studies. To investigate this phenomenon, we’ll use daytime MODIS and GOES imagery to:

  1. Determine the amount, pattern and climatology of these convective clouds in the downwind side of Rocky Mountains area during the warm season.
  2. Figure out the relationship between these clouds and the elevated heating (rate, frequency) above the Rocky Mountains.
  3. Determine the condition for the generation of these convective clouds.
  4. Find out the physical mechanisms that determine the propagation speed of these clouds.