Fronts and Atlantic Storm Track Experiment (FASTEX) at UCAR/JOSS/NOAA/CODIAC

FASTEX took place during January and February 1997 over the North Atlantic Ocean. The sceintific objectives of FASTEX included: (1) Increase the scientific understanding of the intensification process of eastern Atlantic extra-tropical cyclones and the role performed by precipitating clouds; (2) Provide a test for various "adaptive" observational strategies designed to place dropsonde observations in places crucial to improved numerical forecasts of cyclone development; (3) Provide a quantitative description of the mesoscale organization, of precipitation at various stages of the life-cycle of the extratropical cyclone, and tropopause folds and dry intrusions; (4) Construct 3-D kinematic fields over the cyclone domain suitable for input into mesoscale data assimilation models; and (5) Gather datasets from which heat and moisture budgets and the vertical distribution of heating by cloud systems can be calculated.