Advances in the understanding of convective processes and precipitation over low-mountain regions through the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study(COPS)

摘要

This Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society Special Issue gives an overview of the scientific results of the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS). It is the all-encompassing objective of COPS to identify thephysical and chemical processes responsible for the deficiencies in Quantitative Precipitation Forecasting (QPF) over low-mountain regions with the target to improve their model representation. The overarching COPS goal can be summarized as: Advance thequality of forecasts of orographically-induced convective precipitation hy 4D observations and modelling of its life cycle. Improving the skill of QPF is one of the major challenges in atmospheric sciences. On the mesoscale, progress in QPF has been slow for a paramount reason: the high degree of complexity involved in the understanding and simulation of the chain of processes leading to the initiation of convection, as well as in the development, organization and decay of clouds and precipitation. The relevance of particular processes within this causal chain strongly depends on the forcing conditions and the geographical region. This holds for factors such as land-surface exchange during airmass convection, as well as the presence of surface fronts.