The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX) is a multi-agency field program to investigate (i) tornadogenesis, maintenance, and demise, (ii) tornado near-ground wind field, (iii) relationships among tornadoes, their parent thunderstorms, and the larger-scale environment, and (iv) numerical weather predication of supercells and tornadoes. The first VORTEX field phase (VORTEX1) was conducted in 1994-1995 and advanced the understanding of the kinematic similarities between tornadic and nontornadic supercell thunderstorms and the implied sensitivity of supercell evolution and tornadogenesis to fine-scale heterogeneity, both pre-storm and storm-induced.
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The second field phase of VORTEX (VORTEX2) will take place over a broad region
of the central United States Great Plains during the months of May-June, 2009-2010.
VORTEX2 will take full advantage of cutting-edge remote and in situ mobile and
fixed observing systems, as well as data assimilation techniques that can improve
analyses by combining the dense observations with governing dynamical equations.
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VORTEX2 is designed to improve our understanding of tornadogenesis, which ultimately will better allow us to assess the likelihood of tornadoes in supercell thunderstorms and possibly even tornado intensity, longevity, and cyclic behavior. Moreover, VORTEX2 is expected to improve vastly our understanding of the range of tornado structures and the relationships between tornado structure and characteristics of the parent thunderstorm.
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For more information about the VORTEX2 2009 field activities see the following links:
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 (Miles City, Montana. CCOPE) |
General VORTEX2 Media Contacts UCAR/NCAR Media Contacts Education Information VORTEX2 Photo and Video Library More VORTEX2 Media... VORTEX2 Animations |
 (Photo by Linda Lusk. Southeast Colorado) |
Meetings and Presentations |
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Primary VORTEX2 Page (maintained by CSWR) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) VORTEX2 Page Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS) Other Related Projects Logos |
