Charge separation in updraft of convective regions of thunderstorm

R. E. BURGESSER; R. G. PEREYRA; E. E. AVILA

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

Año: 2006 vol. 33 p. 1 - 4

0094-8276

The experiments described in this work are concerned with ice-crysta1 graupe1 interactions. The influence of the impact velocity on charge separation during collisions is ana1yzed for three different velocities: 6, 8 and 11 m S-l. The ambient temperature was varied in the range -5 to -30°C and the effective water content between 0 to 2 g m-3. Charge diagrams of the sign of the e1ectric current on the graupel as a function of the ambient temperature and  the effective 1iquid water content for each velocity are presented. The results indicate that increasing the velocity 1eads to negative particle charging during riming at higher velocity and the implications of these findings to non-evere thunderstorrn are discussed. Citation: Bürgesser, R. E., R. G. Pereyra, and E. E. Avila (2006), Charge eparation in updraft of convective regions of thunderstonn, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L03808, doi:l0.1029/2005GL023993