Impact of Cloud Dynamics on Chemical and Electrical Properties of Storms Observed During Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3)

University Of Oklahoma Norman Campus, Norman OK

Investigators

Abstract

The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field campaign to be conducted May-June 2012 is a multi-regional, multi-platform effort to determine the impact of deep midlatitude continental convective clouds and their intrinsic dynamical, microphysical, and electrification processes upon upper tropospheric composition and chemistry. This award will support focused measurements in the Oklahoma-Texas subregion, but supported research will be conducted in close coordination with other studies focused on deep convective cloud-chemistry interactions along the Front Range of Colorado and in the southeastern U.S., allowing characterization of contrasting modes of convective behavior and background chemistry across these diverse regions. Support of this particular effort will facilitate data collection and analysis emphasizing mobile truck-mounted C- and X-band polarimetric radars capable of characterizing storm lifecycles within the context of lightning mapping array (LMA) observations and in coordination with overflight of DC3 aircraft especially instrumented for atmospheric chemistry measurements, viz. the NSF/NCAR GV high-altitude jet and NASA DC-8 platform. The intellectual merit of this research centers on comprehensive description of convective motions responsible for rapid transport of water substance and chemical constituents from the boundary layer up to the troposphere-stratosphere interface, as well as requisite microphysical interactions pivotal to cloud electrification and ensuing influences upon atmospheric chemistry. These measurements will be conducted within a region prone to development of especially long-lived and severe "supercellular" type thunderstorms. Broader impacts will come through graduate student education and a combination of media-based public and local school outreach, and ultimately through improved knowledge of the influence of deep atmospheric convection on the chemical composition of earth's atmosphere in the presence of natural and anthropogenic emissions.