Electrical Conditions in Thunderclouds

利用目前的现场计划以及1984年和1987年的观测，我们建议寻找在云边界附近携带电荷的下沉气流，这是一个带电假说的基本预测。对于另一个涉及冰球和冰晶的假设，我们建议建立所需的设施，以找出冰球是否向主要负电荷区域携带足够的电流，以解释电荷的增长。根据遥测的飞机数据，我们将在飞行过程中计算和显示电荷的大致位置以及雷达反射率，以便引导飞机到达假定冰粒携带电流前往主要负电荷区域的区域。我们将对目前垂直扫描的3厘米雷达进行改造，以便将飞机数据叠加到雷达反射率上。我们还建议建立一个专门设计的电荷传感器，与现有的记录粒子图像的探测器兼容。//

Using aircraft and radar observations from current field programs and those in 1984 and 1987, we propose to look for downdrafts that carry charge near cloud boundaries, which is a basic prediction of one hypothesis of electrification. For another hypothesis, which involves ice pellets and ice crystals, we propose to build the facilities required to find out whether or not ice pellets carry sufficient current toward the main region of negative charge to account for the growth of the charge. From telemetered airplane data we will calculate and display during flights the approximate locations of charge along with radar reflectivity in order to guide the airplane to regions where ice particles are postulated to be carrying current toward the main region of negative charge. Our present vertically- scanning 3-cm radar will be modified so that aircraft data can be superimposed upon the radar reflectivity. We also propose to build a charge sensor that is specifically designed to be compatible with existing probes that record the images of particles.//