The ORCESTRA campaign

ORCESTRA - Organized Convection and EarthCare Studies over the Tropical Atlantic

The overarching objective of ORCESTRA is to better understand the physical mechanisms that organize tropical convection at the mesoscale, influencing the structure and dynamics of the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ). This includes the interaction of convective organization with tropical waves and air-sea interaction, and the impact of convective organization on climate and the Earth’s radiation budget and processes of tropical cyclogenesis. In addition to advancing understanding of tropical meteorology and atmospheric processes, ORCESTRA observations will help calibrate and validate satellite remote sensing (especially EarthCARE) and a new generation of global ocean-eddy and storm-resolving climate models.

ORCESTRA is an international initiative that combines five different sub-campaigns:

• BOW-TIE - Beobachtung von Ozean und Wolken – Das Trans ITCZ Experiment

• CELLO - Cloud and EarthCARE caL/vaL Observations

• MAESTRO - Mesoscale organisation of tropical convection

• PERCUSSION - Persistent EarthCare underflight studies of the ITCZ and organized convection

• PICCOLO - Process Investigation of Clouds and Convective Organization over the atLantic Ocean

• SCORE - Sub-Cloud Observations of Rain Evaporation

ORCESTRA will happen in August and September 2024 in the tropical Atlantic region. Further details can be found on the ORCESTRA overview page. This book further includes information on the science, the (measurement) strategy, preparations (e.g. the virtual field campaign), and soonish also everything around data including a data concept, data policy, data access and description.