Characteristics of Convective Sources of Gravity Waves and Sprites Present in Satellite IR Images During the SpreadFEx 2005 Campaign

We developed a technique to identify and estimate the size, intensity, and Tropopause overshoot of thunderstorm convective cores expected to be significant sources of gravity waves. The work was based on GOES IR images of South America on the night of 30 September to 1 October and 25–26 October 2005, as part of the Spread F Experiment (SpreadFEx) in Brazil in 2005. We also characterized, for the first time, the convective activity of three small TLE producing thunderstorms that yielded 11 TLEs on 25–26 October 2005. The campaign occurred during the dry to wet season transition in central Brazil, marked by the presence of extra-tropical cyclogenesis over the Atlantic Ocean, and cold fronts penetrating inland. The Tropopause temperature was typically −76°C with a corresponding altitude of ~15 200 m. Vigorous convective cores capable of generating strong gravity waves were located in convective regions having areas with cloud top temperatures ≤−76°C. They had typical cloud-top temperature deficits of ΔT−2.0°C to −8.0°C from the average surroundings, implying overshoot heights of 200 to 3100 m, which are within the typical range. Fast vertical development and high horizontal growth rates were associated with a large number of simultaneously active vigorous convective cores, indicating that their dynamics may have determined the spatial-temporal development of the thunderstorms analyzed. Moderate convective cores were also present in areas with cloud top −76°C≤T≤−70°C. They had ΔT of −1.9°C to −5.3°C producing overshoots between 80–300 m. All convective cores had typical diameters of 5–20 km and their size tended to increase with ΔT, there was a 57% correlation between the two parameters. Analysis of the relationship of cloud top T with positive and negative cloud-to-ground lightning (+/−CG) occurrence rate and with peak current showed that lighting activity may provide an independent way to identify convective cores and measure their intensity, since they were characterized by a high incidence of low peak current −CGs that forms the bulk of the −CG population

A comparison of two cases of low-latitude thundersnow

http://solberg.snr.missouri.edu/gcc/Two cases of low-latitude snow with lightning are studied to determine their characteristics. Both cases had synoptic-scale origins, but also featured smaller-scale influences (e. g. orographic lift and elevated instability).The first event occurred in the Southern Hemisphere and was a late winter case that developed under the influence of underlying orography. Lightning was plentiful in that event (94 cloud-to-ground flashes in the region), but snow accumulations were not significant. Lightning flashes of negative polarity dominated this case, with a mean peak amplitude of -43.2 kA. The second event was a Northern Hemisphere case of elevated convection, with frontogenesis beneath an extended layer of potential instability. Appreciable lightning occurred with this event as well (706 cloud-to-ground flashes in the region), and snow accumulations were significant over a broad area. Lightning flashes of negative polarity dominated this case also, with a mean peak amplitude of -23.7 kA. Each of these events is worthy of further scrutiny, as studies of such storms do not appear often in the literature. Indeed, such warm, subtropical regions are often unprepared for the effects of just a little snow or ice accumulation. Future forecasters can anticipate better such anomalous events by looking for these broad features: 1) significant and well-defined synoptic-scale weather systems at low latitudes, 2) a strong baroclinic zone with a well-defined (≥60 ms-1) jet structure aloft, 3) cold air of appreciable depth and areal extent drawn much closer to the equator than is typical, and 4) a moist neutral to conditionally unstable layer above the frontal zone

Characteristics of sprite and gravity wave convective sources present in satellite IR images during the SpreadFEx 2005 in Brazil

We developed a technique to identify and estimate the size, intensity, and Tropopause overshoot of thunderstorm convective cores expected to be significant sources of gravity waves. The work was based on GOES IR images of South America on the night of 30 September to 1 October and 25–26 October 2005, as part of the Spread F Experiment (SpreadFEx) in Brazil in 2005. We also characterized, for the first time, the convective activity of three small TLE producing thunderstorms that yielded 11 TLEs on 25–26 October 2005. The campaign occurred during the dry to wet season transition in central Brazil, marked by the presence of extra-tropical cyclogenesis over the Atlantic Ocean, and cold fronts penetrating inland. The Tropopause temperature was typically −76°C with a corresponding altitude of ~15 200 m. Vigorous convective cores capable of generating strong gravity waves were located in convective regions having areas with cloud top temperatures ≤−76°C. They had typical cloud-top temperature deficits of ΔT−2.0°C to −8.0°C from the average surroundings, implying overshoot heights of 200 to 3100 m, which are within the typical range. Fast vertical development and high horizontal growth rates were associated with a large number of simultaneously active vigorous convective cores, indicating that their dynamics may have determined the spatial-temporal development of the thunderstorms analyzed. Moderate convective cores were also present in areas with cloud top −76°C≤T≤−70°C. They had ΔT of −1.9°C to −5.3°C producing overshoots between 80–300 m. All convective cores had typical diameters of 5–20 km and their size tended to increase with ΔT, there was a 57% correlation between the two parameters. Analysis of the relationship of cloud top T with positive and negative cloud-to-ground lightning (+/−CG) occurrence rate and with peak current showed that lighting activity may provide an independent way to identify convective cores and measure their intensity, since they were characterized by a high incidence of low peak current −CGs that forms the bulk of the −CG population