Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment (MCTEX)

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

It is well known that huge clouds as high as 17 km seen over the Island of Melville before the Australian Monsoon develop into intense rain and thunder. The Maritime-Continent Experiment (MCTEX) was conducted in the months of Movember and December 1995 to study mainly the mechanism of cloud organization. Our group participated in the project launched 14 newly developed videosondes in close collaboration with the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia in using the doppler radar operated by them.When Hector cloud developed, very strong rainfall with gusty wind hit the station for half an hour, followed by moderate rain for 2 hours. The intense echo in front of the Hector cloud, large raindrops as large as 9 mm in diameter at the lower level of the cloud, and many frozen drops (hail) around freezing level were observed. The videosondes ascent into the thick layred cloud sent images of enormous number of ice.The surface electric field shows modified wave pattern, and the high electrification is found in the layr between -10ﾟC and -30ﾟC.It is supposed that drop recirculation in front of the cloud is necessary to grow large raindrops and frozen drops and that new ice particles must be ejected in the process of collision between graupel.