Radar Studies of Aviation Hazards: Part 2 Lightning Precursors

For convective storms developing in a weakly sheared environment, considerable evidence has been amassed that relates radar reflectivity structure and lightning activity. Marshall and Radhakant (1978) suggest that the electrical activity of thunderstorms is related to radar reflectivity observed at...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Harris, F. I, Smalley, David J, Tung, Shu-Lin, Bohne, Alan R
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment
AERONAUTICS
AUTOMATED TECHNIQUES
AVIATION SAFETY
CONVECTION(ATMOSPHERIC)
DOPPLER RADAR
DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
FLASHES
FLORIDA
HAZARDS
LIGHTNING
LIGHTNING PRECURSORS
MASS
Meteorology
NEW MEXICO
PE63707F
PEAK VALUES
PREDICTIONS
RADAR REFLECTIONS
RATES
REFLECTIVITY
Safety Engineering
STORM MASS
STORM STRUCTURE
STORM VOLUME
STORMS
THUNDERSTORMS
TROPICAL REGIONS
WUPL2781GTMA
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:For convective storms developing in a weakly sheared environment, considerable evidence has been amassed that relates radar reflectivity structure and lightning activity. Marshall and Radhakant (1978) suggest that the electrical activity of thunderstorms is related to radar reflectivity observed at the 6-7 km level. This idea was further tested by Lhermitte and Krehbiel (1979). They horizontally integrated the radar reflectivity of a storm at several heights and found that lightning began when the storm top reached 8 km (-20c C). Also, they found that the peak flash rate (about 1 flash/s) occurred when the reflectivity exceeded 50 dBZ at the 100 C level. Buechier and Goodman (1991) observed that cloud-to-ground strikes began when the reflectivity values of 30-40 dBZ extended above 7 km. While all the above observations were made in Florida, similar altitude or temperature thresholds were found in New Mexico (Krehbiel, 1986) and the tropics (Williams, 1991). Other studies have looked at various methods of comparing reflectivity data and lightning activity. A recent study by Harris-Hobbs et al (1992) attempted to correlate lightning activity with storm volumes exceeding various thresholds. They found good correlations between the magnitudes of the volumes exceeding 20 dBZ and flash activity. However, for some of their data, study by Harris-Hobbs et al (1992) attempted to correlate lightning activity with storm volumes exceeding various thresholds. They found good correlations between the magnitudes of the volumes exceeding 20 dBZ and flash activity. However, for some of their data, regions with higher reflectivity thresholds attain peak volumes before that for the 20 dBZ threshold and before the time of maximum lightning activity. ADA320981 ADA320982 ADA320983