Measurements are essential to provide information on the actual state of the atmosphere for nowcasting purposes, for climate monitoring, for assimilation into numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems and to improve our understanding of atmospheric processes and their role in the climate system. In particular, there is a strong need for complex observations suitable to develop, improve and validate parameterizations used in NWP and climate models and to provide ground-truth against which to compare atmospheric parameters derived from satellite data. With a new generation of high-resolution forecast models (1-3 km) used for the prediction of high-impact weather, dense observational networks focusing on measurements in the lower few kilometers of the atmosphere are required. At the meso ~ and micro scales land surface heterogeneity poses special challenges to match scales between experimental techniques, models and satellite images.
This session is intended to give a forum to discuss recent developments and achievements in local to regional scale measurement concepts and technology. There will be a special emphasis on measurements which seek to improve our understanding of complex atmospheric processes – especially those characterizing interactions in the climate system – through obtaining comprehensive data sets. The session will also include consideration of novel measurement approaches and networks under development for future operational use, and the performance of new measurement techniques. The focus is on measurements of the energy and water cycle components, such as wind, temperature, humidity, aerosol and trace gas profiles (mean values and spatial / temporal statistics), heat and water storage in the soil, radiation and turbulent fluxes of energy and momentum, and cloud and precipitation physics.
Techniques may cover in-situ and remote sensing measurements from various ground-based and airborne platforms. Special attention will be given to the creation of a new generation of reliable unmanned instrument networks across Europe that provide calibrated and controlled data on the boundary layer structure in near-real time. Contributions are also invited that make use of advanced data sets for model assessment and satellite data validation.