Severe weather reports from the European Severe Weather Database on 6 August 2013. Source: eswd.eu.
Synoptic analysis of convection
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)
Contents
Description:
Many strong convective precipitation events leading to flash floods in Germany occur at or near a cold front (e.g., Fink et al, 2009). The scale interactions between the frontal circulation and smaller-scale convective processes drive the dynamics of these convective storms.
In this project, one particular case study in August 2013 that led to flash flooding, severe wind and hail reports across parts of Germany (including Berlin, see also the figure below) will be analyzed in detail. Combining radar and reanalysis data the role of various environmental factors will be investigated that may have favored the occurrence of convection (e.g., Doswell III et al., 1996).
Prerequisites for this project are an interest in atmospheric convection and synoptic analyses as well as the willingness to communicate in English, as one of the supervisors does not speak German. The thesis may still be written in German. First experience with a scripting language (such as python) that will be used for data analysis can be helpful, but may also be obtained during the project.
Supervisors: Stephan Pfahl, George Pacey
Literature:
Doswell III, C. A., H. E. Brooks, and R. A. Maddox, 1996. Flash flood forecasting: An ingredients-based methodology. Wea. Forecasting11, doi:10.1175/1520-0434%281996%29011%3C0560%3AFFFAIB%3E2.0.CO%3B2.
Fink, A. H., T. Brücher, V. Ermert, A. Krüger, and J. G. Pinto, 2009: The European storm Kyrill in January 2007: synoptic evolution, meteorological impacts and some considerations with respect to climate change. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 9, 405-423, doi:10.5194/nhess-9-405-2009.