Study of hailstorms cells producing big damages in Mendoza (Argentina)

PÉREZ, RAÚL, ; PULIAFITO, E.

Barcelona, España

Conferencia; Fourth European Conference on Radar in Meteorology and Hydrology, ERAD 2006; 2006

The analysis and studies of the hailstorm cells in Mendoza (Argentina) during five seasons (1999-2004) allowed interesting finding and conclusions about the hailstorm problem in the Mendoza region. The principal data sources were the meteorological C band radar measurements and the TITAN system (Thunderstorm Identification Tracking Analysis and Nowcasting), it was developed by Dr. Mike Dixon in the National Center Atmospheric Research (NCAR), in the year 1990, in order to identify and to characterize the storm using radar data. The results showed that the volume parameter value of 2000 km3 is a threshold for the efficiency of the hailstorm clouds seeding method with aircrafts in Mendoza. The observations had clearly indicated that, when the seeding hailstorm cells had a volume bigger than 2000 km3 always was followed by important damage on the crops and big hail on the ground. Alternatively, when this parameter was lower than this threshold, the seeding methodology efficiency using the aircraft was very high. The conclusions of the present are summarized in the following two statements: a) The annual frequency of these big hailstorm cells (volume bigger than 2000 km3) was relatively low, with an occurrence average of two events per year over the Mendoza northern cultivated oasis and southern oasis (about 200 km south from the northern oasis). In the central oasis (about 80 km south from the Mendoza northern oasis) none of these big cells events were detected during the five-year study. b)The cells with volume bigger than 2000 km3 (40 Dbz. zone) were responsible for almost 80% of the crops damage during the last five seasons with diameter of hail on the ground bigger than 2 cm. Therefore, it is necessary to further develop this research works in order to deepen the knowledge on this type of hailstorm cells, since they are the responsible for big damages on the Mendoza cultivated oasis. A better understanding will very probably increase the efficiency of the seeding methods used in Mendoza.