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KC2GMM > NOAA 12.04.09 09:13l 89 Lines 4362 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 810953KC2GMM
Read: GUEST DK6RN DK3HG
Subj: May Tornado Experiment
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From: KC2GMM@WA2SNA.#NNJ.NJ.USA.NOAM
To : NOAA@USBBS
National Tornado Experiment to Begin in May
April 6, 2009
VORTEX2 is the largest and most ambitious field experiment in history to
explore tornadoes.
A collaborative nationwide project exploring the origins, structure and
evolution of tornadoes will occur from May 10 through June 13 in the
central United States. The project, Verification of Origin of Rotation in
Tornadoes EXperiment2 (VORTEX2 or V2), is the largest and most ambitious
attempt to study tornadoes in history and will involve more than 50
scientists and 40 research vehicles, including 10 mobile radars.
"Data collected from V2 will help researchers understand how tornadoes
form and how the large-scale environment of thunderstorms is related to
tornado formation," according to Louis Wicker, research meteorologist with
NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory and V2 co-principal investigator.
Scientists will sample the environment of supercell thunderstorms, violent
thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, and
tornadoes that form over more than 900 miles of the central Great Plains.
Areas of focus include southern South Dakota, western Iowa, eastern
Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma. The
V2 Operations Center will be at the National Weather Center in Norman,
Okla.
The VORTEX2 teams will be looking to understand how, when and why
tornadoes form.
Preliminary results from V2 are scheduled for presentation at Penn State
University during fall 2009. At that time, organizers will begin planning
details of the second phase of V2 scheduled for May 1- June 15, 2010.
V2 is a $11.9 million program funded by NOAA and the National Science
Foundation, 10 universities, and three non-profit organizations.
The original VORTEX program, operated in the central Great Plains during
1994 and 1995, documented the entire life cycle of a tornado for the first
time in history. Recent improvements in National Weather Service severe
weather warning statistics may be partly due to the application of VORTEX
findings. V2 will build on the progress made during VORTEX and further
improve tornado warnings and short-term severe weather forecasts.
"An important finding from the original VORTEX experiment was that the
factors responsible for causing tornadoes happen on smaller time and space
scales than scientists had thought," said Stephan Nelson, NSF program
director for physical and dynamic meteorology. "New advances will allow
for a more detailed sampling of a storm's wind, temperature and moisture
environment and lead to a better understanding of why tornadoes form and
how they can be more accurately predicted."
V2 teams will target potentially tornadic supercell thunderstorms on the
Central Plains.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
Scientists and students throughout the United States, Canada, and
Australia that will work with the V2 program include the Center for Severe
Weather Research, Rasmussen Systems, NOAA National Severe Storms
Laboratory, OU/NOAA Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological
Studies, NSF-sponsored National Centers for Atmospheric Research, Penn
State University, University of Oklahoma, Texas Tech University, Lyndon
State College, University of Colorado, Purdue University, North Carolina
State University, University of Illinois, University of Massachusetts,
University of Nebraska, Environment Canada, and the Australian Bureau of
Meteorology.
For a complete list of participating scientists, and to learn more about
the experiment, visit the V2 site and the official project Web site.
NSF is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research
and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual
budget of $6.06 billion. Its funds reach all 50 states through grants to
more than 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives
about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new
funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and
service contracts yearly.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the
depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages
our coastal and marine resources.
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www.noaa.gov
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