The Stratiform Precipitation Region of Mesoscale Convective Sy stems:Inductive Charging Evidence and Global Circuit Effects
Analyses based on 45 vertical soundings of electric field through mesoscale convective system (MCS) stratiform regions acquired with balloons between 1986 and 1998 are presented. Re-examination of these data has yielded statistics on the number of MCSs and soundings of the different types of electrical structure that have been observed, which charge polarity is most often found at the 0 o C isotherm, whether there is a screening layer near the cloud top, and the typical polarity and magnitude of the above-cloud electric field. Among the available soundings, there is great variability seen in the polarity and density of charge at and warmer than 0 o C. However, it is found that most of these soundings can fit with the inductive melting charging mechanism. As current drivers in the Earth’s global electric circuit, individual MCS stratiform regions are important due to their large horizontal extent and long duration. Because of the variability seen in the electric field inside and above stratiform regions, however, the overall contribution of MCSs to the global circuit can be generative or dissipative. The observed variability among stratiform region internal and above-cloud electrical structures may also help explain why transient luminous events occur only above some MCSs.
M. Stolzenburg T.C. Marshall W.D. Rust E.A. Mareev S.S. Davydenko
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA Department of Commerce/NOAA/OAR National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, OK, USA Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
国际会议
第13届国际大气电学会议(The 13th International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity)
北京
英文
2007-08-13（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）