Collaborative Research: Kinematic, Microphysical and Electrical Processes Leading to Extreme Lightning Flash Rates over Argentina Using RELAMPAGO Observations

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项目编号	1661726
	Collaborative Research: Kinematic, Microphysical and Electrical Processes Leading to Extreme Lightning Flash Rates over Argentina Using RELAMPAGO Observations
	Wiebke Deierling
主持机构	University of Colorado at Boulder
项目开始年	2017
	2017-08-15
项目结束日期	2021-07-31
资助机构	US-NSF
项目类别	Continuing grant
项目经费	367375(USD)
国家	美国
语种	英语
英文摘要	Some of the largest and most electrically active storms on earth occur in west-central Argentina in the lee of the Andes Mountains. These storms initiate at the foothills of the Andes Mountains as well as the Sierras de Córdoba (SDC) and produce extreme lightning amounts, large hail, tornadoes and heavy rainfall. The goal of this project is to advance the understanding of characteristics and causes of lightning in this understudied region of uniquely intense storms and differences in electrification between these storms and other convective storms in different environments that lead to such high impact weather. Towards these goals, researchers at the University of Colorado (CU) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) will study atmospheric conditions and physical processes that control storm electrification and lead to extreme lightning flash rates in conjunction with other high impact weather. Measurements of these severe storms will be taken during the planned RELAMPAGO (Remote sensing of Electrification, Lightning, And Mesoscale/microscale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations) field campaign to be able to address these goals. Such storms have a large economic impact as they pose a hazard to people, property, agriculture and infrastructure. An improved understanding of conditions and processes from the studied storms will lead to better nowcasting and forecasting of severe weather. Furthermore, this project will support educational training of graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher. They will participate in the scientific research through independent studies and participation in the RELAMPAGO field campaign and have the opportunity to collaborate with the US and international researchers from a multitude of disciplines. Some fundamental relationships between meteorology and electrification are not completely understood, including a lack of knowledge of how microphysical and kinematic processes control the development of charge regions inside deep convective storms. Recent studies in the US suggest that regional differences between microphysical, dynamical and electrical behavior exist. Thus, more research in different regions of the world such as in Argentina is needed to understand the physical connections between storm processes, electrification and lightning characteristics. The team of researchers from CU and UAH will investigate the environmental conditions and physical processes that control storm electrification and lead to extreme lightning flash rates of severe storms in west-central Argentina. The goal of the research is to advance understanding of storms producing extreme flash rates and of differences in electrification among convective storm types and environments that lead to high impact weather. This includes determining what role various storm environmental, kinematic and microphysical processes play in governing charge, charge region development and resultant flash rates and other properties (e.g., type, size, polarity, current, charge neutralized) in these extremely severe storms. Towards this goal, environmental, kinematic and microphysical measurements will be taken during the 9-month Department of Energy (DOE) CACTI (Clouds, Aerosols, and Complex Terrain Interactions) field campaign and the planned NSF/NASA/NOAA RELAMPAGO (Remote sensing of Electrification, Lightning, And Mesoscale/microscale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations) field campaign. As part of RELAMPAGO, CU and UAH will deploy instrumentation to measure lightning characteristics, electric fields, and inferred charge structures of severe storms during the Intensive Observing Period (11/1-12/15/2018). The CU/UAH team will use measurements from radars and atmospheric soundings deployed during RELAMPAGO to obtain thermodynamic, kinematic, and microphysical measurements. These will be used together with lightning measurements from CU/UAH as well as NASA to analyze the environmental conditions favoring extreme lightning production. They will also be used to study the physical cloud processes leading to charge region creation and extreme lightning flash rates.
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文献类型	项目
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/71585
专题	环境与发展全球科技态势
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Wiebke Deierling.Collaborative Research: Kinematic, Microphysical and Electrical Processes Leading to Extreme Lightning Flash Rates over Argentina Using RELAMPAGO Observations.2017.