CAREER: Thunderstorm Electrical Energy Structure, Dissipation, and Visualization

在这个项目中，为期两年的野外活动将用两台高分辨率气象雷达测量雷暴流的湍流特征。湍流数据与闪电速度和范围的比较将检验湍流对流运动是风暴中电能来源的假设。雷雨数据丰富的肌理特征将通过创新的艺术展传递给公众。数据和软件将与传统的出版形式一起公开共享。智力优势：雷暴通电后，了解闪电发生的频率和范围是最基本的兴趣。储存在风暴电场中的电位能是沉淀和非沉淀水成物所携带的电荷的结果，这些水成物本身就嵌入在风暴流中。在风暴的上升气流区，那里的条件最有利于起电，风暴的流动是高度紊流的，而在下游的砧状或有组织的层状降水区，流动是平滑的。最近使用闪电映射阵列（LMA）的工作表明，从闪电范围和闪光速率计算出的闪电能谱看起来很像柯尔莫哥洛夫经典湍流理论预测的雷暴对流羽流的能谱。该项目将利用高分辨率雷达评估雷暴的湍流特征，并利用气象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大小分布的假设提供定量检验，而电荷区大小分布反过来又控制闪速和范围。通过在闪电和羽流对流特征固有的尺度范围内建立对流和电能之间的定量联系，该项目有望建立闪电和深层对流之间的基本新关系，包括关于雷暴中预期的闪电大小分布的可靠统计声明。更广泛的影响：闪电对娱乐、商业和环境的影响，使闪电成为个人和企业和政府机构之间提供的正式决策支持服务的兴趣领域。这个项目将有助于厘清风暴中的电势分布，这在很大程度上控制着闪电是否击中地面。实地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，艺术家们将根据现场数据制作一个沉浸式的画廊展览。该展览将包括一个测量组件，以测试其在呈现闪电数据时的有效性，这些数据具有丰富的纹理，因为它实际上存在于风暴中，反对闪电在简单的垂直堆叠电荷层之间的单一风暴范围放电的概念。数据收集，分析，并在一个团队设置的结果发表将为学生提供学术和方法上的训练，通过一个项目是丰富的跨学科理论和实践技能与观察工作。在一个计算资源不断增加、强调数据管理和数字知识传播的时代，该项目将训练学生采用由分散、多样化的基于互联网的社区提供的开放、泛学科工具，在可重复的科学研究中采用最佳实践。

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.