The UNderstanding Severe Thunderstorms and Alberta Boundary Layer Experiment (UNSTABLE) in July 2008 was a field project to investigate the initiation of thunderstorms in southern Alberta. Special field observations included an enhanced surface network augmented with instrumented vehicles. Upper air observations were taken from four sites every two hours.
This thesis focuses on the case study day of 17 July 2008 when a dryline formed parallel to the Rocky Mountains at 1030 MDT and persisted for up to nine hours. The vapour mixing ratio changed from 4.5 to 8.5 g/kg over 5 km. We documented the spatial and temporal distribution of cloud and precipitation relative to the dryline. Initially, extensive cloud formed over the dry air to the west of the dryline, while the capping inversion at 800 mb inhibited cloud formation in the moist air. In the afternoon, convection was triggered along the dryline and severe thunderstorms were observed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/966 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Daniel, Brown |
| Contributors | Reuter, Gerhard (Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences), Myers, Paul (Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences), Heimpel, Moritz (Department of Physics), Strong, Geoff (Department of Physics) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 3922131 bytes, application/pdf |
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