Where Are the Most Intense Thunderstorms on Earth?

22‐Year survey of tropical convection penetrating into the lower stratosphere

“…There is a corresponding tendency for TMIN (maximum optical thickness) values to decrease (increase) with increasing CS size [cf. Fu et al, 1990;Machado and Rossow, 1993] suggesting that penetrating CS are more vigorous storm systems than typical, consistent with the interpretation by Zipser et al [2006]. In the tropics, almost all CS with radii >500 km contain convection that penetrates into the TTL; almost all CS with radii >1000 km penetrate above TT.…”

“…Liu and Zipser [2005] find higher peak frequencies of occurrence over land than ocean for penetrating convection detected by the TRMM radar and microwave radiometer, both sensitive to precipitation-sized ice particles rather than to the much smaller cloud particles detected by IR radiances. Zipser et al [2006] argue that this difference can be understood to be consistent with much stronger convective updrafts over land (much more frequent lightning, larger rainfall intensities) that loft the larger ice particles nearer to cloud tops than do the much smaller updrafts in oceanic convection (much less frequent lightning, smaller rainfall intensities). Despite the difference in updraft strength, there are more frequent penetrations to higher (colder) levels over ocean than over land, which is consistent with differences in the vertical profiles of static stability over ocean and land [cf.…”

“…On the other hand, if the relative humidity is above saturation, as appears to be common in the upper troposphere near the tropopause [Jensen et al, 2001a], injection of ice can dehydrate the environment [Jensen et al, 2001b]. The fact that the amount of ice near the tops of deep convective clouds is significantly different over land than ocean [Zipser et al, 2006] may mean that the effects on humidity of land and ocean deep convection are also different.…”

Estimativa Da Erosividade De Chuvas No Estado Do Paraná Pelo Método Da Pluviometria: Atualização Com Dados De 1986 a 2008

“…Essas regiões são também aquelas que apresentam os maiores valores de precipitação anual no Estado, com algumas partes superando 2.000 mm (Caviglione et al, 2000). Segundo Zipser et al (2006), a região que engloba o sudoeste do Paraná, oeste de Santa Catarina, noroeste do Rio Grande do Sul, nordeste da Argentina e sudeste do Paraguai é uma das regiões do globo onde ocorrem as mais fortes tempestades. O principal sistema meteorológico que contribui para a formação dessas tempestades e para a elevada precipitação anual na região são os complexos convectivos de mesoescala (CCM), constituídos de espessa cobertura de nuvens frias com forma aproximadamente circular e com diâmetro na ordem de centenas de km, que duram no mínimo 6 h (Grimm, 2009).…”

Regional comparison of West African convective characteristics: a TRMM‐based climatology

“…Additionally, regional characteristics have also been compared (Nesbitt et al, 2000;Geerts and Dejene, 2005;Schumacher and Houze, 2006;Zipser et al, 2006;Fuentes et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2008;Nicholls and Mohr, 2010). Within Africa, latitudinal (e.g.…”