<i>The Electrical Nature of Storms</i>

MacGorman, Donald R.; Rust, W. David; Williams, Earle

doi:10.1063/1.882670

Cited by 331 publications

(490 citation statements)

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“…For the range of electron flux due to uncertainty of the airplane mass distribution, the range of possible current densities is 90-170 nA m À 2 . These are comparable to other thunderstorm discharging currents, such as lightning and precipitation 19 . Positive intracloud ( þ IC) and positive cloud-to-ground ( þ CG) lightning are the types responsible for discharging the upper positive charge region of a thunderstorm.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) level II (base) data for Jacksonville, Florida was obtained from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). For the altitude of 14.1 km that the Gulfstream V was flying during the 21 August glow in conjunction with the top/bottom ratio and spectral information, and if we assume a simple cartoon tripolar model of a thundercloud 19 , it is consistent that ADELE was flying between the upper positive charge centre and its negative screening layer. The radar data indicate that the altitude of 14.1 km is close to the top of the cloud, a little below where one would expect the negative screening layer to be 19,27 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The temperature of air during the glow was À 68°C so we can assume that all water was in the form of ice. The attachment length, l cl , depends on the density of cloud particles, the total water content, the charge on the cloud particles and the electric field 19,32,33 . The CDP is not designed to measure non-spherical ice, but if we assume a particle density of roughly 10 particles per cm 3 and a particle diameter of 40 mm, which is consistent with both the CDP measurement during the glow and the literature for similar meteorological situations [34][35][36] , we find l cl to be 27 m. The value of 10 particles per cm 3 was chosen to be conservative by a factor of 2 compared with the numbers shown in Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lightning is one of the main mechanisms that can discharge thunderclouds 19 . While estimations of the conductivity induced by RREAs vary 20,21 , RREAs are thought to enhance the conductivity at least somewhat and might therefore help discharge the cloud 1 .…”

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Relativistic electron avalanches as a thunderstorm discharge competing with lightning

et al. 2015

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Gamma-ray 'glows' are long duration (seconds to tens of minutes) X-ray and gamma-ray emission coming from thunderclouds. Measurements suggest the presence of relativistic runaway electron avalanches (RREA), the same process underlying terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. Here we demonstrate that glows are relatively a common phenomena near the tops of thunderstorms, when compared with events such as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. Examining the strongest glow measured by the airborne detector for energetic emissions, we show that this glow is measured near the end of a downward RREA, consistent with occurring between the upper positive charge layer and the negative screening layer above it. The glow discharges the upper positive layer by Z9.6 mA, strong enough to be an important charging mechanism of the storm. For this glow, the gamma-ray flux observed is close to the value at which relativistic feedback processes become important, with an avalanche multiplication factor of 4,500.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Relativistic electron avalanches as a thunderstorm discharge competing with lightning

et al. 2015

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“…In NIC, it is hypothesized that particle-scale charge separation occurs through rebounding collisions between precipitationsized ice particles and abundant small ice crystals in the presence of supercooled liquid water [Takahashi, 1978;Saunders et al, 1991;Saunders, 1993;MacGorman and Rust, 1998]. Observations from different weather regimes suggest that robust mixed-phase processes in the mixedphase region (0°C to −40°C) are necessary to generate storm electrification and initiate lightning [Stolzenburg et al, 1998a;1998b;Lang and Rutledge, 2002;Atlas and Williams, 2003;MacGorman et al, 2005].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the relationships between lightning frequency and thundercloud parameters of regional precipitation systems

Zipser

Liu

et al. 2010

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] Seasonal variations on lightning activity of precipitation systems over south China and Taiwan before and after the onset of Mei-Yu have been observed by the lightning imager sensor (LIS) on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Lightning storms before Mei-Yu onset show higher probability of lightning, higher flash rate, and larger radar reflectivity in the mixed-phase region than the Mei-Yu regime. However, the probability of lightning occurrence with the same threshold of maximum radar reflectivity or ice scattering signature is similar for land systems before and during Mei-Yu season. Oceanic systems show slightly lower probability of lightning even with the same thresholds. Relationships between a set of TRMM-observed parameters and LIS lightning frequency are further examined. For lightning systems over land, the total area of radar echo above 35 dBZ has a closer relationship with lightning flash rate at the temperature between −5°C and −15°C than other parameters. Area of lower radar reflectivity at colder temperature, e.g., area of 20 dBZ at −40°C, is also highly correlated with lightning frequency. The highest correlation between area of specific radar reflectivity and lightning frequency is found at lower temperatures when the oceanic lightning systems are examined.

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Refining the relationship between lightning and convective rainfall over the ocean

Stolz

Terpstra

2014

JGR Atmospheres

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The lightning stroke density observed by Vaisala's Global Lightning Dataset (GLD360) was compared to maximum reflectivity in the upper and lower troposphere observed by NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Precipitation Radar over remote oceanic regions. We found that GLD360 stroke density is strongly correlated with maximum reflectivity above 0°C and the height of the 30 dBZ isopleth in two ocean basins (best represented by a logarithmic least squares regression). The maximum reflectivity above 0°C increases~8-10 dBZ and the maximum height of the 30 dBZ isopleth increases~2.8-3.8 km across the domain of stroke density. Stroke density and the maximum near-surface reflectivity are also correlated, but the range of the resulting logarithmic relationship is less than that found for maximum reflectivity above 0°C. There is high confidence in the logarithmic regressions as R 2 values are generally above 0.9 during the study. A bootstrap resampling approach confirms that the lightning versus rainfall relationship is statistically significant. Vertical profiles of radar reflectivity show that progressively larger values of stroke density are associated with higher reflectivity at most altitudes (most pronounced near 6.5 km mean sea level) and less rapid decreases in reflectivity with increasing height above 0°C. The logarithmic relationships between lightning and rainfall defined in this study have significant utility in creating proxy data sets, such as pseudoreflectivity, for weather analysis and assimilation in numerical weather prediction.

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The Electrical Nature of Storms

Cited by 331 publications

References 0 publications

Relativistic electron avalanches as a thunderstorm discharge competing with lightning

Relativistic electron avalanches as a thunderstorm discharge competing with lightning

On the relationships between lightning frequency and thundercloud parameters of regional precipitation systems

Refining the relationship between lightning and convective rainfall over the ocean

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