9411767 Snow Due to their severity, tornadoes have been the subject of much study. One data source, however, that is still relatively unexplored is that of the location of debris lofted by the tornado and parent storm. The phenomena of lofting, deposition, transport and fallout of debris are not well understood with most data being anecdotal in nature. The Principal Investigator will carry out his research under the umbrella of the Verification of Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX) that will be conducted in 1994 by a consortium of university and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers. The Principal Investigator will conduct field surveys, and telephone and mail campaigns of regions where deposition and fallout are deemed likely. He will use these data in combination with supporting meteorological data collected in VORTEX to fine tune a debris trajectory model and to develop data sets for later use in evaluating the ability of cloud/mesoscale models to replicate the observed patterns of fallout. He will use the observed deposition and fallout patterns together with observations of the tornadoes to infer the likely mechanism that control lofting. Results of this research will extend understanding of tornadoes and their damage producing mechanisms, elucidate connections between tornadoes and their parent thunderstorms and further reveal the interaction between a thunderstorm and the environmental winds. Because of the potential hazard posed by lofting and subsequent deposition and fallout of contaminated or toxic materials, the results will be of interest to emergency management personnel as well as to the meteorological community. ***
