The Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study
- 1 August 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
- Vol. 85 (8) , 1107-1126
- https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-85-8-1107
Abstract
During May–July 2000, the Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS) occurred in the High Plains, near the Colorado–Kansas border. STEPS aimed to achieve a better understanding of the interactions between kinematics, precipitation, and electrification in severe thunderstorms. Specific scientific objectives included 1) understanding the apparent major differences in precipitation output from supercells that have led to them being classified as low precipitation (LP), classic or medium precipitation, and high precipitation; 2) understanding lightning formation and behavior in storms, and how lightning differs among storm types, particularly to better understand the mechanisms by which storms produce predominantly positive cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning; and 3) verifying and improving microphysical interpretations from polarimetric radar. The project involved the use of a multiple-Doppler polarimetric radar network, as well as a time-of-arrival very high frequency (VHF) lightning map... During May–July 2000, the Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS) occurred in the High Plains, near the Colorado–Kansas border. STEPS aimed to achieve a better understanding of the interactions between kinematics, precipitation, and electrification in severe thunderstorms. Specific scientific objectives included 1) understanding the apparent major differences in precipitation output from supercells that have led to them being classified as low precipitation (LP), classic or medium precipitation, and high precipitation; 2) understanding lightning formation and behavior in storms, and how lightning differs among storm types, particularly to better understand the mechanisms by which storms produce predominantly positive cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning; and 3) verifying and improving microphysical interpretations from polarimetric radar. The project involved the use of a multiple-Doppler polarimetric radar network, as well as a time-of-arrival very high frequency (VHF) lightning map...Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Characteristics of cloud‐to‐ground lightning in severe and nonsevere storms over the central United States from 1989–1998Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2003
- Effects of charge and electrostatic potential on lightning propagationJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2003
- Upward Electrical Discharges From Thunderstorm TopsBulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2003
- Two simultaneous charge structures in thunderstorm convectionJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2002
- Possibly inverted‐polarity electrical structures in thunderstorms during STEPSGeophysical Research Letters, 2002
- Lightning charge moment changes for the initiation of spritesGeophysical Research Letters, 2002
- An improved ELF/VLF method for globally geolocating sprite‐producing lightningGeophysical Research Letters, 2002
- The Electrification of Severe StormsMeteorological Monographs, 2001
- The hundred year hunt for the spriteEos, 2000
- Electrical structure in thunderstorm convective regions: 3. SynthesisJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 1998