The Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) Field Campaign—Five Years Later

Abstract Studying convection, which is one of the least understood physical mechanisms in the tropical atmosphere, is very important for weather and climate predictions of extreme events such as storms, hurricanes, monsoons, floods, and hail. Collecting more observations to do so is critical. It is also a challenge. The Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) field project took place in the summer of 2019. More than thirty scientists and twenty students from the United States, Costa Rica, Colombia, México, and the United Kingdom were involved in collecting observations over the ocean (east Pacific and Caribbean) and land (Costa Rica, Colombia). We used the NSF NCAR Gulfstream V airplane to fly at 13-km altitude sampling the tropical atmosphere under diverse weather conditions. The plane was flown in a “lawnmower” pattern and every 10 min deployed dropsondes that measured temperature, wind, humidity, and pressure from the flight level to the ocean. Similarly, over the land, we launched radiosondes, leveraged existing radars, and surface meteorological networks across the region, some with collocated global positioning system (GPS) receivers and rain sensors, and installed a new surface GPS meteorological network across Costa Rica, culminating in an impressive systematic dataset that when assimilated into weather models immediately gave better forecasts. We are now closer than ever in understanding the environmental conditions necessary for convection as well as how convection influences extreme events. The OTREC dataset continues to be studied by researchers all over the globe. This article aims to describe the lengthy process that precedes science breakthroughs. Significance Statement The purpose of this paper is to inform BAMS readers of the field campaign Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) and its results 5 years later. We convey the excitement, the amount of work involved in collecting observations, the many different aspects of OTREC including many students in the field (flying, performing weather forecasts, launching radiosondes), certain challenges, and funny moments as well as the engagement component (open house, lectures, movies, blogs, creating classes, school visits). While in the field, we all felt there is nothing more important than OTREC; for 2 months straight, we lived and breathed for OTREC—we hope the readers will wish to have been a part of it.

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Publication Details

Journal
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Published
2025-05-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-24-0134.1
Primary Topic
Geological and Geophysical Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

The Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) Field Campaign—Five Years Later

J. Ristvey, Peter Bechtold, Mark Piper, Isabelle Bunge et al.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Geological and Geophysical Studies
article

The Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) Field Campaign—Five Years Later

J. Ristvey, Peter Bechtold, Mark Piper, Isabelle Bunge, Benjamin R. Lintner, Manuel D. Zuluaga, Yolande L. Serra, Ana María Durán‐Quesada, Adam H. Sobel, David J. Raymond, Germán Poveda, Lidia Huaman, Marcial Garbanzo‐Salas, Rebecca Haacker, Larissa E. Back, Stipo Sentić, George N. Kiladis, Željka Fuchs‐Stone, John F. Mejía, Daniel W. Zietlow, Justin W. Whitaker, Eric Daniel Maloney, Vijit Maithel, Miguel Bernardez, Daniel Deckers, Zhiming Kuang, Giuseppe Torri, Julio C. Maŕın, Lorena Medina Luna
article en

Abstract

Abstract Studying convection, which is one of the least understood physical mechanisms in the tropical atmosphere, is very important for weather and climate predictions of extreme events such as storms, hurricanes, monsoons, floods, and hail. Collecting more observations to do so is critical. It is also a challenge. The Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) field project took place in the summer of 2019. More than thirty scientists and twenty students from the United States, Costa Rica, Colombia, México, and the United Kingdom were involved in collecting observations over the ocean (east Pacific and Caribbean) and land (Costa Rica, Colombia). We used the NSF NCAR Gulfstream V airplane to fly at 13-km altitude sampling the tropical atmosphere under diverse weather conditions. The plane was flown in a “lawnmower” pattern and every 10 min deployed dropsondes that measured temperature, wind, humidity, and pressure from the flight level to the ocean. Similarly, over the land, we launched radiosondes, leveraged existing radars, and surface meteorological networks across the region, some with collocated global positioning system (GPS) receivers and rain sensors, and installed a new surface GPS meteorological network across Costa Rica, culminating in an impressive systematic dataset that when assimilated into weather models immediately gave better forecasts. We are now closer than ever in understanding the environmental conditions necessary for convection as well as how convection influences extreme events. The OTREC dataset continues to be studied by researchers all over the globe. This article aims to describe the lengthy process that precedes science breakthroughs. Significance Statement The purpose of this paper is to inform BAMS readers of the field campaign Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) and its results 5 years later. We convey the excitement, the amount of work involved in collecting observations, the many different aspects of OTREC including many students in the field (flying, performing weather forecasts, launching radiosondes), certain challenges, and funny moments as well as the engagement component (open house, lectures, movies, blogs, creating classes, school visits). While in the field, we all felt there is nothing more important than OTREC; for 2 months straight, we lived and breathed for OTREC—we hope the readers will wish to have been a part of it.

Bulletin of the American Meteorological SocietyVol. 106(7)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), Albany State University (US), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US), Planetary Science Institute (US), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), Harvard University (US), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), University of Colorado Boulder (US), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (US), University of Washington (US), New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (US), University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (US), Universidad de Costa Rica (CR), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (CO), University at Albany, State University of New York (US), Planetary Systems (United States) (US), Prescient Weather (United states) (US), NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (US), Desert Research Institute (US), Rice University (US), Columbia University (US), University of Valparaíso (CL), Colorado State University (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 83%
Geological and Geophysical Studies
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