Understanding the Contributions from Thunderstorms and Electrified Shower Clouds to the Global Electric Circuit

本研究旨在提高我们对云电气化在全球电路（GEC）中的作用的认识。几十年来，我们已经知道，产生闪电的雷暴会增加一个向上的定向电流，即威尔逊电流。GEC还包括一个向下的，晴朗的天气，电流起源于地球表面和高层大气之间的电位差。虽然这些联系被很好地理解，但迄今为止还没有已知的研究利用观察来量化这些特性。我们对这些过程的理解的改进将导致GEC的定量模型，这反过来又将通过提高对GEC在天气和气候中的作用的认识而造福社会。本研究提供指导经验和培训，并通过包容代表性不足的群体来支持教育多样性；尤其是西班牙裔学生。这项研究将重点关注来自地面雷达、机载和卫星遥感平台的现有云电气化数据。本研究将建立威尔逊流的全球气候学，以描述雷暴和带电阵雨云对GEC的贡献。这项研究也将促进我们对电气化云顶产生的威尔逊电流与其对流强度之间关系的理解。从这项研究中获得的知识将作为回答全球规模、电流发电机和电气化云系统个体生命周期等更大问题的定量基础。

This study seeks to improve our knowledge of the role of cloud electrification in the global electric circuit (GEC). For decades we have known that lightning-producing thunderstorms add an upward directed current, known as the Wilson current. The GEC also consists of a downward, fair weather, current that originates from the electric potential difference between the earth's surface and the upper atmosphere. Though these connections are well understood, no known study to date has quantified these properties using observations. Improvements in our understanding of these processes will lead to quantitative models of the GEC, which will in turn benefit society through an improved knowledge of the role of the GEC on weather and climate. This study provides mentorship experiences and training and supports educational diversity through the inclusion of underrepresented groups; especially Hispanic students.This study will focus on existing cloud electrification data from ground-based radar, airborne and satellite remote sensing platforms. This study will create a global climatology of Wilson current to describe the contribution to the GEC from thunderstorms and electrified shower clouds. This research will also advance our understanding of the relationship between the Wilson current emanating from electrified cloud tops and their convective intensity. Knowledge gained from this research will serve as the quantitative basis for answering larger questions of the global scale, current generators and individual life cycles of electrified cloud systems.