Collaborative Research: Lightning Studies in a Polluted Atmosphere

对流云的带电过程涉及通过收集过冷云滴（）而增长的大冰降水粒子与通过气相沉积而增长的冰晶的碰撞。 带负电荷的霰下降，而带正电荷的晶体随着上升气流上升，从而分离电荷并增加电场，直到其以闪电的形式崩溃。 过冷云滴的存在和强烈的上升气流是这一过程所必需的，这可以归因于空气质量的热力学和气溶胶特性。解开动力学和气溶胶效应是一个长期存在的问题，因为气溶胶和热力学性质往往不是独立的。这项研究通过首次应用于这一问题的新的观察工具组合来解决这一挑战。 云的微观结构是由新的NPP/VIIRS卫星测量，将提供检索云的属性在375米的分辨率检索。 将持续提供地面真实气溶胶测量数据。休斯顿闪电测绘阵列（LMA）和俄克拉荷马州中部的LMA将提供闪电源及其极性的精确三维测绘。新的偏振雷达将提供云中降水的演变。这些测量将在休斯顿地区进行，该地区有炼油厂和其他空气污染源。将对休斯顿污染羽流内外的类似云进行检查，以将气溶胶与对云微观结构、降水形成过程和带电（包括充电极性）的热力学影响分开。类似的研究将在中部俄克拉荷马州进行。这项研究将有助于教育的几个本科生和研究生谁将直接参与研究，其中将包括他们的共享数据采集和分析。这项研究包括支持学生撰写论文和学位论文，并在研讨会和专业会议上展示他们的成果。 研究成果将纳入云物理学和中尺度现象课程。 研究小组将继续通过项目网站向更广泛的科学界通报、参与和传播信息和数据。 访问LMA实时闪电显示是免费提供给休斯顿社区和周边地区。

The process of electrification of convective clouds involves collisions of large ice precipitation particles that are growing by collecting supercooled cloud droplets (graupel) with ice crystals that grow by vapor deposition. The negatively charged graupel fall and lower whereas the positively charged crystals ascend with the updraft, thus separating the charges and increasing the electric field until its breakdown in the form of lightning flashes. The existence of supercooled cloud droplets and strong updrafts that are required for the process can be ascribed to both thermodynamic and aerosol properties of the air mass. Disentangling the dynamic and aerosol effects is a long-standing question, because the aerosol and thermodynamic properties are often not independent. This study addresses this challenge with a new combination of observational tools that are applied to this problem for the first time. The cloud microstructure is retrieved by the new NPP/VIIRS satellite measurements that will provide retrieved cloud properties at a resolution of 375 m. Ground-truth aerosol measurements will be continuously available. The Houston Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) and the central Oklahoma LMA will provide accurate 3-dimensional mapping of the lightning sources and their polarity. The new polarimetric radars will provide the evolution of the precipitation in the clouds. These measurements will be conducted over the Houston area, which has refineries and other sources of air pollution. Similar clouds in and outside of the Houston pollution plume will be examined for separating the aerosol from thermodynamic effects on cloud microstructure, precipitation forming processes and electrification, including charging polarity. Similar studies will be conducted in central Oklahoma.This research will contribute to the education of several undergraduate and graduate students who will directly participate in the research, which will include their sharing in data acquisition and analysis. Included in this study is support for students who will write theses and dissertations and present their results at seminars and professional meetings. Research results will be incorporated into courses on cloud physics and mesoscale phenomena. The research team will continue to inform, engage, and disseminate information and data to the wider scientific community through the project website. Access to the LMA real-time lightning display is provided at no cost to the Houston community and surrounding areas.