Mesoscale convective systems in weakly forced large-scale environments. Part II: generation of a mesoscale initial condition

Abstract

It is found that the initial conditions created using the conventional initialization procedure of The Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model do not include several of the mesoscale-sized features oberved at 1200 TC 11 May 1982, 9 h before the development of the first MS. Although it is true that new operational observing systems, such as the WSR-88D radar and the 404-MHz radar wind profilers, provide more detailed information, the data density on the mesoscale remains subcritical. It is found that the mesoscale initial condition created using this subjective approach produces a more reasonable representation of the observed mesoscale features in comparison with the conventionally produced initial condition. -from Authors