A Study of Synoptic and Mesoscale Interaction Over the GATE Ship Network: 4-5-6 September 1974

During the period 4-5-6 September 1974, several small-scale systems developed within the A-B ship array. One of these, on 5 September, was investigated by research aircraft on a Basic Cloud-Cluster Mission. This report presents the four-dimensional wind flow patterns given by synoptic streamline fields for 4-6 September 1974 and mesoscale patterns for 5 September. The patterns are related to the cloud and radar echo fields. This report is concerned exclusively with the wind field and its relation to the main cloud clusters indicated by satellite and radar. Every effort has been made to obtain available observations from the many sources operating during GATE and to integrate them in threedimensional space and time. It is intended both as a progress report and as a support document to facilitate the advanced researches of the authors. In brief, some of the aspects of scale interaction will be approached through budget studies of mass, moisture, and energy. The first part of this report, "Synoptic Analysis," prepared by Gordon Dean under NSF Grant ATM 76-14211, treats the synoptic-scale flow fields for the entire study period. The second part, "Mesoscale Analysis," prepared by Clark Smith, deals with the flow patterns centered on the 5 September mesoscale system when a multi-aircraft mission was flown in the B-C ship array.