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Abstract:
Current prediction methods evaluate numerous physical processes during the time-integration of the dynamical equations. A century ago, Tor Bergeron (1928) sought to quantify various such processes in his treatise “Three-dimensionally combining synoptic analysis”. These milestones for future research were presented: the role of conserved quantities in atmospheric physics; frontal blockage by the Alps and ensuing cyclogenesis over the Mediterranean; the generation of air-mass types (cold and warm) by diabatic processes; a relating visibility to aerosol content and air-mass type; a process chain for the generation of precipitation (now termed Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process); the presentation of a full annual cycle (for 1922) of potential temperature soundings to document changing air-masses above a fixed location.
The presentation is based on a recent publication (Schultz et al., 2020), which accompanied the first translation of Bergeron’s dissertation to English. It also contains results from a synoptic view onto the life-cycle of a thunderstorm during the COPS field campaign of 2007, when satellite imagery, multiple-Doppler analyses from precipitation radars and lightning detection were juxtaposed to a non-hydrostatic simulation in order to determine the current limits of space-time-resolution for quasi-operational analyses for severe events (Schmidt et al., 2012).
References: Schmidt, K., et al., 2012: Detailed flow, hydrometeor and lightning characteristics of an isolated thunderstorm during COPS. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 6679–6698; online: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-6679-2012 .Schultz, D.M. et al., 2020: Defender and Expositor of the Bergen Methods of Synoptic Analysis - Significance, History, and Translation of Bergeron’s (1928) “Three-Dimensionally Combining Synoptic Analysis”. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. , 101, E2078-E2094; online: https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0021.1 .
