The NAWDIC campaign flies inside the Nils storm
Scientists from the NAWDIC-DICHOTOMI campaign (including LAERO) flew aboard SAFIRE’s ATR42 this Wednesday, February 11, into Storm Nils between 15:00–19:00 UTC (16:00–20:00 French time), ahead of its destructive passage over France.
After crossing the occluded front of the depression, they targeted the storm’s center to the south, particularly a cyclonic vortex several hundred kilometers wide, remarkably visible due to a cloud-free “eye” on satellite imagery.
Around this center, winds exceeding 130 km/h (35 m/s) were sampled, either through remote sensing measurements (Doppler radar at 2000 m, LEGs 2 to 4) or in situ measurements (at 600 m, LEG 3). Intense but localized vertical downdrafts caused severe turbulence, with measurements reaching -11 m/s (40 km/h).
This flight holds promise for improving our understanding of turbulence formation within storms and near-surface wind gusts, which is among NAWDIC’s scientific objectives.
At LAERO, NAWDIC-DICHOTOMI activities are led by Florian Pantillon. Other team members involved in the campaign include Sophia Brumer, Johan Hedman, Ferran Lopez Marti, and Nicolas Maury from the Dynamique team.
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