Project Description

Overview

    “Taiwan-Area Heavy rain Observation and Prediction Experiment” (TAHOPE) will be conducted from August 2019 to July 2022 to study Mei-Yu fronts, mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), and landfalling typhoons near Taiwan. During May to August 2020, our TAHOPE team will join the PRECIP experiment team from the US, the T-PARCII team from Japan, and the KPOP team from Korea to conduct the joint international field experiment for severe weather (Mei-yu fronts and typhoons) in the vicinity of Taiwan. The main themes of TAHOPE project range from large-scale environmental influence, mesoscale convective systems as well as microscale cloud physics processes, under the special topography of Taiwan Island with steep terrain. Through the joint network of intense observations, real-time or near real-time data assimilation and prediction will be conducted using advanced atmospheric models.

    In order to accomplish this large internationall joint observation and prediction experiments, National Taiwan University takes a role in integrating the available domestic observation instruments and invites interested scientists to jointly submit an integrated three-year research proposal (from 1 August 2019 to 31 July 2022) to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and Atmodpheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S. have approved the funding for several instruments (P3-aircraft, S-PolKa radar, and CSU SEA-Pol radar) from the U.S. to combine with CWB’s operational observation facilities (radars, radiosondes, and DOSTAR dropsonde), and the atmospheric measurements (wind profiler) of National Applied Research Laboratory (NARL) to perform intense observation experiment during 25 May to 10 August 2020. The evaluation of data impact on the assimilation and prediction from Taiwan’s satellite (FORMOSAT-7) GPS RO and reflectometry measurements will also be carried out during the field experiment. The U.S. partners include project principal investigators, Dr. Michael Bell (CSU professor) and many renowned scientists (Profs. Yi-Leng Chen, Yuh-Lang Lin, Shu-Hua Chen, Kristen Rasmussen, Angela Rowe, Deanna Hence, Rob Rogers, and others). On Taiwan side, the TAHOPE Project Office led by Prof. Ming-Jen Yang, has been set up and integrated 10 subprojects related to the observation and data assimilation (6 subprojects during the period of 2020/08– 2022/07). In addition, other 9 subprojects related to the modeling and routine-data assimilation/analysis work are integrated into the TAHPEX (Taiwan-Area Heavy-rainfall Prediction Experiment) project (led by Prof. Chung-Chieh Wang at NTNU); the two TAHOPE and TAHPEX integrated projects are supporting each other through observation data exchange and resource sharing. Subprojects will be coordinated by the TAHOPE Project Office with the help of two senior scientists as project consultants (Prof. Ben J.-D. Jou at NTU and Dr. Bill Y.-H. Kuo at NCAR). The Scientific Advisory Committee consisting of senior scientists in Taiwan and USA will also provide valuable comments and suggestions on the proposed scientific goals and experimental design of the joint project.

    However, due to the global outbreak of corona virus (COVID-19) after February 2020, the NCAR S-PolKa radar observation and intense sounding release are delayed for one year, i.e., they will be conducted in Taiwan from mid-May to early August of 2021. The forecast experiment by the MPAS model will be run in real time from May to August 2020, but the planned NOAA P3 aircraft observations in July 2020 are cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and international travel restrictions.