Research Campaign: The convective and orographically induced precipitation study

The international field campaign called the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS) took place from June to August 2007 in southwestern Germany/eastern France. The overarching goal of COPS is to advance the quality of forecasts of orographically-induced convective precipitation by four-dimensional observations and modeling of its life cycle. COPS was endorsed as one of the Research and Development Projects of the World Weather Research Program (WWRP), and combines the efforts of institutions and scientists from eight countries. A strong collaboration between instrument principal investigators and experts on mesoscale modeling has been established within COPS. In order to study the relative importance of large-scale and small-scale forcing leading to convection initiation in low mountains, COPS is coordinated with a one-year General Observations Period in central Europe, the WWRP Forecast Demonstration Project MAP D-PHASE, and the first summertime European THORPEX Regional Campaign. Furthermore, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program Mobile Facility operated in the central COPS observing region for nine months in 2007. The article describes the scientific preparation of this project and the design of the observation systems. COPS will rest on three pillars: A unique synergy of observing systems, the next-generation high-resolution mesoscale models with improved model physics, and advanced data assimilation and ensemble prediction systems. These tools will be used to separate and to quantify errors in quantitative precipitation forecasting as well as to study the predictability of convective precipitation.