THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIGHTNING TYPE AND CONVECTIVE STATE OF THUNDERCLOUDS Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Thunderstorm case studies and earlier observations are described which illuminate the relationship between cloud vertical development and the prevalence of intracloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning. A consistent temporal evolution starting with peak IC activity changing to predominant CG activity and concluding with strong outflow (microburst) suggests that ice is responsible for both the electrical (i.e., lightning) and dynamical (i.e., microburst) phenomena. The IC activity is attributed to the updraft-driven accumulation of graupel particles in the central dipole region, and the subsequent CG activity to the descent of ice particles beneath the height of the main negative charge. -from Authors

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES

author list (cited authors)

  • WILLIAMS, E. R., WEBER, M. E., & ORVILLE, R. E.

citation count

  • 212

complete list of authors

  • WILLIAMS, ER||WEBER, ME||ORVILLE, RE

publication date

  • September 1989