On Thursday at 7pm at the Norman Public Library, we're going to gather to hear Dr. Michael Jensen of Brookhaven National Lab talk about the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). This experiment is employing the largest network of meteorological instruments in history for the study of convective clouds, which are the progenitors of severe thunderstorms. The researchers hope to better understand the processes that lead to these types of clouds, so that we can better forecast severe weather in the future.
I personally went to the Department of Energy's Southern Great Plains facility near Lamont, Oklahoma, and the array of instruments is impressive. In addition to multiple radars with different capabilities, there are many different types of sensors for estimating the amount of moisture throughout the atmosphere above the site (important for cloud formation), several different lidars (like a radar, but with pulses of light), and a pair of airplanes that fly into cloud structures to measure what the cloud looks like directly.
Hopefully you will all come out to learn more about clouds, which is a favorite topic of mine, and to support Science Cafe. Don't forget we'll we having Gray Owl Coffee, and snacks provided by the Friends of the Norman Public Library!
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