No abstract

No abstract

Development of a cumulonimbus cloud with its top above 18 km in central India is analyzed. The process is observed with a radar. A 1.5 D numerical model is used to simulate the cloud development. The cloud produced very low radar echo, which implies that large cloud particles were absent. Both observations and simulation show that an extremely intense growth of the cloud was associated with its merge with feeder cells. The seeding of feeder cells caused a change in the direction of the cloud movement.

It is well known that environmental conditions like convective instability, aerosol loading, and availability of moisture content affect the polarity of charge structures of thunderstorms. The electrical characteristics of thunderstorms observed during the pre-monsoon season of year 2009, over Eastern India were studied to identify the effects of different environmental conditions on charge structures of thunderstorms occurring over this region. Electric field and Maxwell current data suggest that at least one of these thunderstorms had an inverted charge structure. Doppler RADAR, radiosonde, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data have been used to compare the microphysical and dynamical characteristics of these thunderstorms. The thermo dynamical structure observed by radiosonde during the day on which an inverted polarity thunderstorm was observed showed very high CAPE in the mixed-phase region compared to other thunderstorm days. Furthermore, the AOD peaked 1 day before this thunderstorm. The back trajectories of winds also suggest that the aerosols might have been transported from a desert region on that day. It has been proposed that the large ice nuclei concentration can produce dominant positive charge in the lower portion of the mixed-phase region by maintaining ice saturation.

No abstract