RIT CARBONE MOVES TO MESOSCALE RESEARCH, USWRP

As he passes the baton of ATD director to Dave Carlson (see next 
page), Rit Carbone is beginning a new phase of his own career.  
Effective tomorrow, Rit will be a full-time senior scientist in the 
Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division (MMM).  At the 
same time, he is preparing to take on the role of chief scientist for the 
U.S. Weather Research Program (USWRP), a broad-based mesoscale 
research effort now being rejuvenated after several quiet years.

Rit says that one of his top priorities at MMM is to "restart my 
personal program of research."  His first order of business is to 
complete some papers on the Hawaiian Rainband Project (HaRP).  
Another goal is to prepare for the Maritime Continent Thunderstorm 
Experiment (MCTEX), scheduled for November and December 1995 
just off the north coast of Australia.  This multinational program will 
examine tropical convection over Tiwi Island, looking in particular at 
coastal and diurnal effects.  The size of the island (roughly 5,000 
square kilometers, or 1,950 square miles) lends itself to the use of the 
Electra Doppler radar and high-resolution numerical models.  The 
regularity of convection at Tiwi is another drawing card.

"The locals have dubbed the convection over the islands 'Hector,' " 
says Rit.  "It appears on at least 70% of the days in the Southern 
Hemisphere summer, and sometimes on almost 100% of the days.  
This is as close to a laboratory for tropical convection as you can get."

The duties of chairing the USWRP's science team will occupy the rest 
of Rit's work time.  He expects to assume that role on 1 September.  
"I'll be working with literally hundreds of scientists in the United 
States and many others internationally to develop this program of 
research," he says.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration and the National Science Foundation are currently 
the lead cosponsors, though others are expected to join in later.

"We're using fiscal year 1995 to provide a fresh scientific definition of 
the program," says Rit.  "We will be hosting a large number of 
mesoscale scientists to examine the state of the science as it applies to 
weather forecasting, with emphasis on short-term forecasting."  
Novel research approaches will be welcome, with particular interest 
in "testable hypotheses and tightly focused inquiries."  Societal 
impacts will be a prime concern, and NCAR's Environmental and 
Societal Impacts Group is already participating in some USWRP 
work.

Rit also is chairing a new working group of the World Meteorological 
Organization on short-term and very short term weather forecasting.  
He eventually sees the USWRP as feeding into an international 
program analogous to the current World Climate Research 
Programme.  --BH