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Two Millersville University faculty members and 16 undergraduate meteorology students are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime studying nighttime thunderstorms in the Great Plains of Kansas for six weeks this summer.
They will be joining scientists, students and staff from eight research laboratories and 14 universities from all over North America as part of the Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) project, based in Hays, Kan. from June 1-July 15.
According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), Millersville University’s participation in the PECAN campaign is “mission critical.”
The primary scientific objective of Drs. Richard Clark, Todd Sikora and the MU meteorology students will focus on a wind-field known as the Great Plains Low Level Jet (LLJ), about 1,000 feet above the surface. The LLJ is a recurring feature in nighttime storms and acts as a conveyor of heat and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into the central plains where it can invigorate thunderstorms at night well after solar heating has gone away.
“It is most common for thunderstorms to form in the daytime when they are aided by the sun heating the Earth’s surface, which drives convective motions deep into the atmosphere,” said Clark. “Less obvious are those mechanisms that can help in the development and maintain the vigor of thunderstorms that occur at night, and no where in the U.S. are nocturnal thunderstorms more prevalent than in the central plains. In fact, most of the summertime precipitation across the plains states occurs at night. Moreover, because at night the near-surface air is cooler than air aloft, the interaction between nocturnal thunderstorms and the surrounding environment can be significantly more complex than in the daytime. PECAN is designed to study these mechanisms with the aim of improving forecasts of severe weather at night over the central plains with an eye on the safety and well-being of the public. ”
Millersville will stage its operations at Ellis, Kan. where it will deploy its suite of ground-based and balloon-borne instruments. “We bring a unique capability with our integrated system consisting of a Lidar, acoustic sodar, high frequency flux measurements, and, of course, our upper air measurements with free balloons and detailed measurements between the surface and 2,000 feet using our tethered aerostat,” said Clark.
PECAN is funded largely by the NSF, with additional funding from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy, totaling $13.5 million.
