RUI: Characterization of Aerosol Effects within an Urban Lightning Climatology across a North American Climatic Gradient

RUI：北美气候梯度城市闪电气候学中气溶胶效应的表征

• 批准号: 2104299
• 负责人: Mace Bentley
• 金额: $ 45万
• 依托单位: James Madison University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-01 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2104299&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Characterization; Aerosol; Effects; within

Small atmospheric particulates, known as aerosols, have the potential to modify the lifespan and intensity of thunderstorms and properties of lightning. This research project takes a climatological look at how urban aerosols influence thunderstorms at three distinct sites across the US: Washington DC, Kansas City and Salt Lake City. The researchers will assess how background climate and weather conditions shape variability in urban aerosol conditions and how this, in turn, affects the intensity of thunderstorms. The broader societal impacts of the award will be through the increased knowledge of high-impact urban weather. As a Facilitating Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions award, the project will also train the next generation of scientists by involving a significant number of undergraduates in the research itself.The research team specifically proposes to characterize how urban and regional aerosol conditions vary within the larger context of environmental controls on thunderstorms, and how this in turn may amplify or dampen thunderstorm and lightning activity beyond what would be expected from a thermodynamic/wind shear perspective alone. Lightning, aerosol, air quality, and sounding data from 3 distinct urban areas across the United States would be analyzed to achieve the following objectives: 1) Quantify how aerosol concentration covaries with lightning production and atmospheric environments, 2) Assess geographic expression of threshold relationships between stability and lightning production, and 3) Compare urban thunderstorm environments obtained from synoptic-scale classifications with typologies derived from aerosols and local thermodynamics variables.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

被称为气溶胶的小的大气颗粒物有可能改变雷暴的寿命和强度以及闪电的性质。 这项研究项目从气候学的角度研究了城市气溶胶如何影响美国三个不同地点的雷暴：华盛顿特区，堪萨斯城和湖城。 研究人员将评估背景气候和天气条件如何塑造城市气溶胶条件的变化，以及这反过来如何影响雷暴的强度。 该奖项的更广泛的社会影响将通过增加对高影响城市天气的了解来实现。 作为一个促进研究在私立大学本科院校奖，该项目还将培养下一代的科学家，让相当数量的本科生参与研究本身。研究小组特别提出，以表征城市和区域气溶胶条件如何在雷暴环境控制的大背景下变化，以及这又如何可能放大或抑制雷暴和闪电活动，超出仅从热力学/风切变的角度所预期的。 将分析来自美国3个不同城市地区的闪电、气溶胶、空气质量和探空数据，以实现以下目标：1）量化气溶胶浓度如何与闪电产生和大气环境协变，2）评估稳定性和闪电产生之间阈值关系的地理表达，3）比较天气学资料得到的城市雷暴环境，根据气溶胶和当地热力学变量得出的类型学进行规模分类。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过评估被认为值得支持使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。