Severe Precipitation In South East Asia (SPISEA)

Start date: 1 April 2020
End date: 31 March 2022
Funder: Newton Fund
Value: £261,000
Primary investigator: Dr Simon Peatman
Co-investigators: Dr Juliane Schwendike, Professor Cathryn Birch
External co-investigators: Thorwald Stein, University of Reading
Postgraduate students: Fran Morris

Tracking mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) over south-east Asia and improving understanding of how they give rise to high-impact weather.

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are organized systems of convection that can bring severe weather to the southeast Asia region. The SPISEA project will track MCSs in satellite data to produce a comprehensive 5-year dataset. Through statistical analysis and the investigation of case studies in convection-permitting forecasts, we shall provide an overview of how the occurrence of MCSs and their characteristics depend on the large-scale environment, for example, the MJO and equatorial waves; and improve understanding of how MCSs can give rise to high-impact weather.

Dr Julia Crook is a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant on this project.