Early electrification and precipitation development in a small, isolated Montana cumulonimbus

Instrumented aircraft and radar were used to investigate the microphysical, electrical, and dynamic evolution of the life cycle of a small thunderstorm which occurred in southeastern Montana. The observations commenced as precipitation development was just beginning, continued through the active stage of growth as the cloud produced graupel up to 8 to 9 mm diameter and reflectivities aloft of 45 dBZ, through the dissipation stage when only an anvil with a trail of light precipitation remained. The largest particles and the primary development of precipitation were found to occur in the fringes of the updraft. The electric fields inside the cloud did not exceed 100 V m−1 until 5 mm graupel, ice particle concentrations of 10 L−1, and reflectivities of 35 dBZ were already present, but then rapidly electrified to produce a single intracloud discharge 8 min later, near the peak of microphysical development. Early in the electrical development of the cloud when observed electric fields were only 200 V m−1, negative charge accumulation was observed near the 7 km (−20°C) level and was associated with the high reflectivity region. In the early stages of precipitation fallout, particle charge measurements near 4.5 km showed primarily negatively charged particles which appeared to be associated with precipitation falling from the cloud. Less than 5 to 10% of the observed particles larger than 100 μm were carrying charges larger than 5 pC, the detection limit of the instrument. These observations are discussed from the point of view of charge generation in thunderstorms, particularly, charge transfer between colliding ice particles.

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