CAREER: Thunderstorm Electrical Energy Structure, Dissipation, and Visualization

职业：雷暴电能结构、耗散和可视化

• 批准号: 1352144
• 负责人: Eric Bruning
• 金额: $ 73.86万
• 依托单位: Texas Tech University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-05-01 至 2021-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1352144&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Thunderstorm; Electrical; Energy; Structure

During this project, a two-year field campaign will measure the turbulent character of thunderstorm flow with two high-resolution weather radars. Comparison of the turbulence data to lightning flash rate and extent will test the hypothesis that turbulent convective motions are the source of electrical energy in storms. The rich textural character of thunderstorm data will be conveyed to the public in an innovative art exhibit. Data and software will be shared openly alongside traditional forms of publication.Intellectual Merit :After thunderstorms become electrified, it is of basic interest to understand how often lightning will occur and how extensive those lightning flashes will be. Electrical potential energy stored in a storm's electric field is the result of charge carried on precipitating and non-precipitating hydrometeors which are themselves embedded in the storm's flow. In updraft regions of the storm, where conditions are most favorable for electrification, the storm's flow is highly turbulent, while downstream in anvils or in organized stratiform precipitation regions, flow is smoother. Recent work with a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) has revealed that a lightning energy spectrum calculated from flash extent and flash rate looks much like the energy spectrum that would be predicted by Kolmogorov's classical turbulence theory for thunderstorm convective plumes. This project will assess turbulent characteristics of thunderstorms using high-resolution radars to quantitatively measure thunderstorm kinematics with weather radars. The combination of radar and LMA data will provide a quantitative test of the hypothesis that turbulence controls the distribution of sizes of charge regions, which in turn controls flash rate and extent. By establishing quantitative links between convective and electrical energy at the range of scales native to both lightning and the convective character of the plume, this project is expected to establish a fundamental new relationship between lightning and deep convection, including a reliable statistical statement about the distribution of flash sizes expected in thunderstorms.Broader Impacts :Attending lightning are recreational, commercial and environmental impacts, which makes lightning an area of interest to individuals and formal decision support services provided by and between businesses and government agencies. This project will help clarify the distribution of electrical potential in storms, which controls to a large extent whether a flash strikes ground. The field campaign and its results will be shared at local high schools to stimulate interest in science and mathematics. During the project, artists will produce an immersive gallery exhibit derived from field data. This exhibit will include a survey component to test its effectiveness in presenting lightning data with the rich texture as it actually exists in storms, countering notions of lightning as singleton storm-wide discharges between simple vertically stacked charge layers. Data collection, analysis, and publication of results in a team setting will provide students with scholarly and methodological training through a project that is rich in cross-disciplinary theory and in practical skills tied to observational work. In an era of increasing computational resources and emphasis on data management and digital knowledge dissemination, this project will train students to adopt best practices in reproducible scientific research using open, pan-disciplinary tools enabled by dispersed, diverse internet-based communities.

在这个项目中，一个为期两年的野外活动将使用两个高分辨率天气雷达来测量雷暴气流的湍流特征。将湍流数据与闪电频率和闪电范围进行比较，将检验湍流对流运动是风暴电能来源的假设。雷雨数据丰富的纹理特征将在创新的艺术展中传达给公众。数据和软件将与传统的出版形式一起公开共享。智力优势：雷暴带电后，了解闪电发生的频率和范围是基本利益。储存在风暴电场中的电势能是沉淀物和非沉淀物携带的电荷的结果，这些物质本身嵌在风暴的气流中。在风暴的上升气流区，那里的条件最有利于电气化，风暴的流动是高度湍流的，而在峡谷下游或有组织的层状降水区，流动更平稳。最近与闪电映射阵列(LMA)的工作表明，根据闪光范围和闪光速率计算的闪电能量谱看起来很像科尔莫戈洛夫的经典湍流理论对雷暴对流羽流所预测的能谱。该项目将利用高分辨率雷达评估雷暴的湍流特征，以便用天气雷达定量测量雷暴的运动学。雷达和LMA数据的结合将为湍流控制电荷区域大小分布，进而控制闪光速率和范围的假设提供定量检验。通过在闪电本身的尺度和羽流的对流特性之间建立对流和电能之间的定量联系，该项目有望在闪电和深部对流之间建立一种基本的新关系，包括关于雷暴中闪电大小分布的可靠统计报表。广泛的影响：引起闪电的是娱乐、商业和环境影响，这使得闪电成为个人感兴趣的领域，并由企业和政府机构提供正式的决策支持服务。这个项目将有助于弄清风暴中的电势分布，它在很大程度上控制着闪电是否击中地面。现场活动及其结果将在当地高中分享，以激发人们对科学和数学的兴趣。在项目期间，艺术家们将制作一个由现场数据衍生的身临其境的画廊展览。这一展览将包括一个调查部分，以测试其在呈现闪电数据方面的有效性，因为它实际上存在于风暴中，反驳了闪电是简单垂直堆叠的电荷层之间的单个风暴范围放电的概念。在团队环境中收集、分析和发布结果的数据将通过一个具有丰富的跨学科理论和与观察工作相关的实践技能的项目，为学生提供学术和方法培训。在一个计算资源日益增加、重视数据管理和数字知识传播的时代，该项目将培训学生在可重复使用的科学研究中采用最佳做法，使用分散、多样化的互联网社区提供的开放、跨学科的工具。