TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of Turbulence Intensity in Different Spots of Lightning Flash Propagation
AU - Souza, Jessica C.S.
AU - Bruning, Eric C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the National Science Foundation Award AGS-1352144 under the CAREER Program. Mr. Jerry Guynes capably maintained the TTU Ka radars. Data collection would not have been possible without the commitment of a large group of faculty, graduate students, and research staff at Texas Tech University, for whom we are grateful. Dr. Vanna Chmielewski, Dr. Vicente Salinas, and Ms. Samantha Berkseth played especially crucial roles in LMA and radar data collection and postprocessing.
Funding Information:
This study was supported by the National Science Foundation Award AGS‐1352144 under the CAREER Program. Mr. Jerry Guynes capably maintained the TTU Ka radars. Data collection would not have been possible without the commitment of a large group of faculty, graduate students, and research staff at Texas Tech University, for whom we are grateful. Dr. Vanna Chmielewski, Dr. Vicente Salinas, and Ms. Samantha Berkseth played especially crucial roles in LMA and radar data collection and postprocessing.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. The Authors.
PY - 2021/11/16
Y1 - 2021/11/16
N2 - The updraft speed is correlated to the total lightning flashes a storm produces. Shear along updraft gradients is one of the mechanisms responsible for the production of turbulence kinetic energy (TKE). Thus, the radar-estimated eddy dissipation rate (EDR) overlapped with Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) data is used to evaluate the storm's kinematic and electrical relationship. The majority of the sampled flashes shows higher turbulence intensities close to lightning initiation regions. As the distance from initiation increases along the lightning propagation path, there is a gradient to less turbulent regions. We identified small-sized and medium-sized flashes initiated at lower altitudes in regions of smaller EDR values consistent with the unmixed flow within inner part of updrafts. Furthermore, there were a concentration of small flashes initiated in the upper portion of the cloud in high EDR values due to their associated small-scale variability.
AB - The updraft speed is correlated to the total lightning flashes a storm produces. Shear along updraft gradients is one of the mechanisms responsible for the production of turbulence kinetic energy (TKE). Thus, the radar-estimated eddy dissipation rate (EDR) overlapped with Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) data is used to evaluate the storm's kinematic and electrical relationship. The majority of the sampled flashes shows higher turbulence intensities close to lightning initiation regions. As the distance from initiation increases along the lightning propagation path, there is a gradient to less turbulent regions. We identified small-sized and medium-sized flashes initiated at lower altitudes in regions of smaller EDR values consistent with the unmixed flow within inner part of updrafts. Furthermore, there were a concentration of small flashes initiated in the upper portion of the cloud in high EDR values due to their associated small-scale variability.
KW - eddy dissipation rate
KW - lightning propagation
KW - turbulence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118877921&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2021GL095923
DO - 10.1029/2021GL095923
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85118877921
VL - 48
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
SN - 0094-8276
IS - 21
M1 - e2021GL095923
ER -