&lt;title&gt;Advanced microwave precipitation radiometer (AMPR): improved calibration and data collection&lt;/title&gt;

James, Mark; Hood, Robbie E.; Spencer, Roy W.

doi:10.1117/12.152595

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“…Instead of directly measuring updraft strength for thunderstorms across the globe, we might infer updraft characteristics by measuring a quantity related to the amount of ice within the clouds that is lofted by the updraft. For example, passive microwave imagers (Draper et al., 2015; Hollinger et al., 1990; James et al., 1993; Kummerow et al., 1998) sense the amount of upwelling microwave radiation that escapes the atmosphere to space. Ice particles are efficient scatterers of microwave radiation at higher frequencies (i.e., 85 GHz), resulting in depressed brightness temperatures relative to clear air.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Thunderstorms With the Greatest Lightning Densities on Earth

Peterson

2024

Earth and Space Science

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The most intense thunderstorms on Earth were surveyed using the comprehensive meteorological instrumentation on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Expansive land‐based Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) were consistently identified among the Earth's most intense thunderstorms, with their organization into many convective cells spanning a large areal extent permitting exceptional overall flash rates for these storms. In this study, we identify a new class of extreme thunderstorm. Lightning‐dense thunderstorms are relatively compact convective storms whose concentrated lightning activity hinders our ability to accurately measure their flash rates. The top storms have a flash rate of one flash spanning many seconds, as there is insufficient separation to distinguish one flash from another. While any particularly active convective cell could be capable of producing high lightning densities, we find that thunderstorms with the greatest lightning densities on Earth are found in maritime thunderstorms that have not been appreciated in prior work due to the inaccurate flash rate measurements. These storms that are mostly found throughout the Gulf of Mexico and east of South Africa (among other coastal and oceanic regions) have measured TRMM proxies for convective intensity that rival the top MCS thunderstorms, but their horizontal and vertical dimensions are small by comparison. Thus, the necessary microphysical elements for electrification processes are more highly concentrated, enabling the observed extreme lightning densities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Thunderstorms With the Greatest Lightning Densities on Earth

Peterson

2024

Earth and Space Science

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<title>Advanced microwave precipitation radiometer (AMPR): improved calibration and data collection</title>

Cited by 1 publication

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The Thunderstorms With the Greatest Lightning Densities on Earth

The Thunderstorms With the Greatest Lightning Densities on Earth

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