Much of the weather that affects a
community is controlled by local atmospheric winds (mesoscale circulations) and by
interactions between the atmosphere and the earth's surface within the lowest
portions of the atmosphere (the atmospheric boundary layer).
The Boundary Layer
and Mesoscale Meteorology group is involved in a wide range of studies in these
areas, focusing on both basic scientific research and efforts on specific applied
areas (hazardous weather, snow forecasting techniques, societal and economic
impacts). As one notable example, during the fall and winter, very severe,
local snowstorms are regularly generated over the Great Lakes, and affect
communities close to their shorelines.
During the winter of 1997/1998, ISWS helped lead a major field project, called
the Lake-Induced Convection Experiment (Lake-ICE), to collect an
unprecedented dataset on this phenomenon.
Lake-ICE
was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and involved the efforts of
nearly 100 participants from 22 institutions in the United States (universities, research
organizations, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Severe
Storms Laboratory and University of Illinois).
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