METEOR-20240907

METEOR-20240907#

Summary#

After deploying three gliders, one drift buoy, and one drift buoy with WireWalker yesterday, RV Meteor is now heading north towards the northern edge of the ITCZ. Due to our late departure from Mindelo, we are running short on time so won’t be able to make a full transect. There is also quite a bit of uncertainty in where exactly the northern edge will be, due to continued forecast uncertainty regarding the chance, timing, and location of potential tropical cyclone development in the central Atlantic. We will be closely watching the forecast, and will try to make it as close to the northern edge as time and the weather conditions permit. This afternoon, we experienced very low wind speeds, briefly dropping below 1 m/s, and found ourself amidst widespread convective rain showers. It is perhaps fitting that a campaign about the ITCZ celebrates its midpoint in the heart of the ITCZ, but the rain dampened preparations for our Bergfest, which includes a BBQ of yesterday’s catch.

We had our usual daily briefing and science discussion today, where I presented an overview of PICCOLO. PICCOLO is the United States NSF-funded contribution to ORCESTRA, in which we’ve brought the SEA-POL radar to the BOWTIE cruise. Our overarching objective, which is very complementary to the goals of ORCESTRA overall, is to investigate the nature, governing mechanisms, and impact of mesoscale organization of precipitating convection in the context of the Atlantic ITCZ. In particular, we are interested in how cloud-radiative feedbacks, which have been shown to drive convective organization in idealized simulations, contribute to observed mesoscale organization. I provided some background information on convective organization and reviewed the four science objectives of PICCOLO, and how we plan to address them.

Remarks#

  • Meteor is in the UTC-2 time zone.

  • Radiosondes were launched on the normal 3-hourly schedule. One additional sonde was launched at 13:20 UTC, during very low wind conditions.

Plans#

  • 07.09 - 11.09: Head north along or just east of 38W towards the northern edge of the ITCZ, then return to 8N, 38W to recover the oceanographic instruments.

Events#

Time (Local)

Comment

03:32 - 04:14

MSS

04:19 - 05:16

CTD

10:20

Meeting led by D. Klocke, presentation by A. Wing

12:01 - 12:39

MSS

12:48 - 14:04

CTD

12:53 - 14:09

Drone flight

14:15 - 14:35

SEA-POL circle

16:12 - 16:23

Drone flight

17:00 -

Bergfest
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